How to Style Thinning Hair
Tips for Making Hair Look Thicker and Growth Treatments for Baldness
Mar 16, 2008
Styling tips to make thin hair look thicker and more stylish. Suggestions to treat baldness and to encourage regrowth or new growth.
The comb-over is no longer the solution to camouflage thinning hair or baldness. There are a variety of updated styling options to make thin hair look thicker, and to reduce unwanted attention to a balding scalp.
- Cut it short. Having a short, proportioned haircut is neater and more fashionable. The hairstyle becomes the focus and not the lack of hair. Men and women with long hair who are noticeably thinning on top may think their length is distracting from their hair loss, but the long hair is really only drawing attention to the contrast. There is no consistency in this style and the first thing people notice is what’s missing—no matter how long or healthy the rest of your hair is.
- Shave it off. More men are going completely bald at the first sign of hair loss. Celebrities like Bruce Willis and Vin Diesel, along with hundreds of professional athletes, have made this style very trendy, acceptable and even sexy. Demi Moore and Natalie Portman shaved their heads to portray movie characters, but ultimately made more of a personal style statement. Irish singer Sinead O’Connor emphasized her wide eyes and delicate features with her signature bald head.
- Colour it carefully. The wrong colour can draw attention to sparse hair. Very light blonde exposes too much of the scalp and dark colour shows too much contrast. Do not highlight, frost, or tip the ends as this draws the eye right to the area you are trying to conceal. Stick to natural, medium brown and auburn to create overall consistency. The eye will be drawn to the colour of your hair and not the spaces between the strands.
- Use the right styling products. Gel is the worst product for this hair type. Gel binds thin hair together in clusters, making the scalp even more exposed and adding shine—attracting unwanted attention. Mousse is best, as it dries soft and each strand remains independent. Mousse is virtually unnoticeable, with light to medium hold. Thin hair does not need a high-hold product.
- Use the best treatments. Since hair grows from a healthy follicle, treatment needs to address the scalp condition and reasons for hair loss. Skinceuticals such as Nioxin cleanse the scalp to remove environmental residue and DHT (dihydrotestosterone). It also adds vitamins and enzymatic complexes. This combination unclogs follicles and creates the optimal environment to stimulate new growth. Propecia and Rogaine are FDA approved pharmaceuticals. Rogaine revitalizes hair follicles and causes them to shift from a dormant phase to an active growing phase. Propecia prevents the conversion of testosterone to DHT in the body. It can prevent continued hair loss and, in some cases, encourages regrowth.
A combination of these products and styling tips will help style thinning hair in a more effective way, but confidence in yourself no matter how much hair you have, is the best tip of all.
The copyright of the article How to Style Thinning Hair in Hair Styling is owned by Jill Nessel. Permission to republish How to Style Thinning Hair in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
