Dubai Hair Doctor

An age-old hair myth is that hair can turn grey or white overnight. Scientifically, it is impossible for your hair to turn grey or white overnight. The hair that you see on your head has its colour genetically formed. Hair colour can only be changed by applying a bleach or colouring agent. Therefore, unless someone has snuck into your room at night and treated you to a set of highlights, you cannot wake up one morning to find all of your existing hairs have turned grey or white overnight.

‘My hair has gone grey / white overnight’ is also one of those dramatic statements used to convey the degree of stress somebody has undergone. Stress can in fact affect hair colour and cause it to turn grey or white, but this happens gradually and as the hair is growing. A huge shock to your body or system can also cause hair to turn grey or white more rapidly. It is thought that both stress and shock interfere with the production of melanocytes,which make melanin, the pigment granules which give hair its colour. However, unless you are Rip Van Winkle, it is impossible for this to happen overnight.

That said, all myths must come from somewhere and have an underlying element of truth or plausibility. The hair turning grey or white overnight myth is probably linked to alopecia areata . Alopecia areata causes clumps of hair to fall out and these fallen hairs are replaced initially with white hairs or, more accurately, unpigmented hairs. However, even this change in your hair can’t occur overnight.

An emotional trauma can cause sudden hair loss; this reversible, normal condition is called telogen effluvium.

How can something that has nothing to do with your hair or scalp cause your hair to fall out? Well, according to doctors and hair loss experts, anything that disrupts your body’s normal rhythms or hormone levels can also disrupt the hair growth cycle. Sometimes, this disruption causes hair follicles to get stuck in the telogen, or resting, phase until they are pushed out in the exogen (shedding) phase. Because follicles do not return to the normal anagen (growth) phase, hair loss appears to be sudden and noticeable.  This condition is known as telogen effluvium. Continue reading “Dubai Hair Loss, Telogen Effluvium: Emotional Causes”

You know you want it. You strive to attain it. But do you know what “healthy hair” really is, and how to achieve it?

Long flowing locks, crisp cuts, vibrant colour, no split ends, super shiny hair. All obvious indicators of healthy hair. But what you might think is conducive to healthy hair, may not always be the healthiest way of caring for your tresses long term.

In essence healthy hair is that which is in optimum condition, i.e. not stressed or suffering from damage, which may be caused by external factors such as processing (straightening, blow-drying), or internal (such as poor diet). The key to healthy hair, as well as healthy-looking hair, concerns your scalp almost as much as your hair, along with both your everyday care and maintenance as well as your styling and cutting habits. Continue reading “Healthy Dubai Hair”

Residing in a land of year-round sunshine & outdoor lifestyle, it may come as a revelation that many people here in Dubai and UAE are Vitamin D (25(OH) D) deficient. Vitamin D (as Cholecalciferol) is synthesized from sunlight when our bare skin is exposed. In a further conversion cascade involving enzymes from the liver & kidneys, the active & most potent form of Vitamin D – termed Calcitriol – is produced & stored in the liver & to a lesser extent, the tissues of the body.

Continue reading “Vitamin D – the Re-discovered Key to Illness Prevention”

Contrary to some popular rumors, the sun does not actually contribute to hair loss. However, it’s always a good idea to protect your hair and scalp against the sun’s harmful UV rays with a hat or scarf, or use UV hair protectant products such as a liquid sunblock. Long term exposure to UV rays may damage your hair, leaving it dry and brittle, and more prone to breakage as well as split ends. So, don’t forget to deep condition your hair on a regular basis. Continue reading “Sun and hair loss”