Have you ever washed your hair and it not feel the same as the last time you washed it? Maybe you washed you hair and it felt dry, brittle, and your hair broke as you were combing it out. If this has happened to you I'd like to talk about a subject that was discussed over and over again when I was working in the beauty salon. I'm talking about hair and medication. It was an issue when I started in the beauty industry over 40 years ago and continues to be an issue today. I had been a stylist for only a short time when I encountered the hair/medication issue. My client had a large amount of hair shedding and I began to ask all the usual questions, her stress level, medication, diet, chemicals she was exposed to. Her response was "no" to all these questions. There had to be a reason for the hair loss. It wasn't a normal amount. So, I kept asking myself what could the cause be? Finally, I remembered that some ladies don't consider birth control a medication. So, I asked again about birth control. She then told me she wasn't on the pill but she did have the IUD. That was the culprit. I learned that the IUD could cause hair loss and even hair texture change. These conditions were caused by what was called hormone shifts.
That incident really made me hyper aware of hair/medicine issues. However, over the years I learned that the effects were not the same for everyone. Some had positive effects and some had no effects at all.
Several medications were a real source of irritation to me but I'll only talk about a few more. Hypertension medicine and diuretics are enough to make you pull your hair out.
I've had clients who were using one or both of them and the hair was like straw. It lacked luster and usually broke easily and shredded a lot. A lot of these physical conditions used to mainly affect seniors but things have changed. Hypertension is an equal opportunity disease. There's no satisfaction in telling a client that the medicine they're taking for one condition is causing another. Diuretics don't just dry out the hair they dry the body out. I found it to be very helpful to stop doing as many chemical procedures as possible. I have a sister who takes more meds than I have fingers and her hair amazes me. I always tell her she has the healthiest medicine hair I've ever seen. My next enemy of hair is antihistamines. Antihistamines also dry the hair and skin out. https://www.studioannapolis.com/single-post/2019/05/30/how-medications-affect-your-hair
While stylists have the knowledge that these medications can have adverse affects on the hair many non stylists don't. This was just a short blog to help inform those who don't know. I also don't want you to think that these medications just shouldn't be taken because they can possibly negatively affect the hair. It's possible to ask your doctor to try another medication for the the condition. I've seen this help many times. https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/hair-loss/drug-induced-hair-loss-2
Also your stylist can give treatments that can help with the side effects. However, these external hair treatments are not a cure all for an internal condition or medications that are adversely impacting hair health. One hair treatment I highly recommend is a reconstructor hair treatment , that is very effective in treating very damaged hair by providing strength, moister , acid balance, protein , iron , shine and elasticity. This product https://ctbeautypalace.com/products/streagnth-1000 will aid in strengthening and conditioning damaged hair and can stop breakage immediately.
If you are at lost to why your hair is breaking, damaged, or unhealthy come in to book a Cosmetologist Hair & Scalp Analysis today. https://ctbeautypalace.com/pages/services
Thanks for taking the time to read this blog and have a blessed day!
Roxanne