What’s The Deal With A Shiny Scalps?

The words shiny and luminous may have positive connotations when talking about your actual hair. However, they are not words you want associated with a shiny bald head.

If you’re one of the millions of men struggling with male pattern baldness you may have noticed a certain “shine” to your head. If so, you may be wondering what this means for your hair loss treatment options. And that’s exactly what we’re going to cover in this article. So read on!

The Difference Between Male and Female Balding

You may have heard that laser hair therapy can be more effective for women than for men. While it is still incredibly powerful for men, there are circumstances that make it more challenging.

The reason? Male and female baldness patterns differ drastically. Male baldness is often characterized by receding hair in the temple area. This gradually forms a wedge-shaped pattern. Experts use the Norwood scale to measure baldness for men. However, doctors and scientists use the Savin scale to measure hair loss for women. This measures the width of women’s parts. This part grows progressively wider as baldness progresses. However, the chance that a women will develop a shiny bald scalp is virtually non-existent. This means women who experience hair loss have more hair follicles to harvest, ready to benefit from the energy of laser hair therapy.

The Challenge with Shiny Scalp

Unfortunately, areas with “shiny scalp” cannot benefit from Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) alone. The lasers simply cannot reach hair follicles in these areas, so they cannot stimulate growth. This includes spots caused by a number of outside factors, such as trauma, surgery, damaging hairstyling habits or excessive pulling triggered by obsessive-compulsive disorders like trichotillomania.

Why is that? In simplistic terms, a shiny bald head means there are no hair follicles. This occurs due to increased production of epidermal growth factor (EGF), a factor responsible for cell growth stimulation and proliferation. Unfortunately, the cells that are stimulated and multiplying are not your hair follicles’, but as implicated by its name, epidermal refers to the epidermis– the outermost layer of the skin. As the skin cells of your scalp multiply, inflammation occurs as a result (or occurs simultaneously).

This causes your pores to narrow, and hair cannot grow. At this advanced state of baldness, terminal hair is replaced by vellus hair– thin, short, light-colored hair. Typically this kind of hair is only present on teenagers during puberty. This is probably not quite what you imagined when “turning back the clock” and trying to shed a few years off of your real age.

With all of the above, we can sadly conclude that any medications meant to act as a possible non-surgical hair replacement option, such as laser hair therapy will most likely be ineffective when used on bald patients with shiny scalps or plagued with slick areas.

The Solution

If you are in the early stages of hair loss and have not developed shiny bald head, your best is to begin laser hair therapy as soon possible.  Time is of the issue when it comes to hair loss, especially with bald areas that might become slick with time.

However, even if you do have shiny bald head there is still hope! You are likely a great candidate for hair restoration surgery. While hair restoration surgery was previously not very effective, new research has found that it produces far better results when paired with laser hair therapy.

The reason? Freshly harvested hair benefits immensely from high doses of energy. Laser hair therapy devices deliver a precise dose of energy via medical-grade lasers. This energy helps hair stay firmely rooted and grow to its full potential. Most patients who undergo hair transplants end up losing a substantial amount of new hair, and thus their financial investment, in the following year. So feed your new hair with the energy it needs with the Theradome LH80 PRO and your chances of undergoing a successful hair transplant drastically improve.

Like all things medical, prevention is half the battle when fighting health issues. You should begin laser hair therapy as soon as you notice a problem. Shine on a scalp is equivalent to more obstacles down the road for achieving a full head of healthy hair. With at home solutions for hair growth now readily available like Theradome PRO or EVO, you have the choice to be pro-active and act sooner than later, preventing any shine from dulling your happiness and self confidence in life.