Long hair and balding can seem complex, with many assuming that either the length of their hair is contributing to hair loss or that advanced hair restoration treatments are only suited to people with shorter hair or require a severe haircut.
In reality, long hair isn’t directly responsible for balding. Although wearing longer hair in tight and restrictive styles can damage the follicles, which we’ll explain shortly, the typical causes are more likely to be hormonal and genetic.
Today, we’re examining the links between longer hair and hair loss, some of the underlying issues that can prompt shedding and thinning, and the ways to manage balding without needing to shave your hair completely or make radical changes to your appearance.
Takeaway Facts: Long Hair and Balding
- For most, hair loss is caused by androgenetic alopecia or pattern hair loss—this is hereditary. While you can take steps to slow hair loss, it isn’t normally something you can prevent, and your likelihood of experiencing hair loss will not relate to the length of your hair.
- Some issues related to long hair involve the follicles being under strain from tight, heavy, or restrictive styling, which can cause balding. Proper hair and scalp care and targeted therapies can often resolve the problem.
- Common apprehensions about other solutions, like hair transplants, include worrying about shaving your head. Our cutting-edge, precise techniques ensure this is incorrect, and while trimming the hair around donor sites may be necessary, this is completed with care to ensure your other hair can easily cover the area.
Does Having Long Hair Contribute to Balding?
Long hair is not the direct reason you may have seen hair loss. We all have different genetics, and some people can take impeccable care of their hair, but it will only grow to a certain length before snapping – and this isn’t anything you can change without interventions like hair extensions.
Others grow their hair to incredible lengths with little effort, and provided it is healthy and well looked after, long hair is often seen as a beauty aspiration.
Suddenly noticing patches of hair loss or balding within longer hair can be alarming and distressing, but there are numerous possible resolutions, strategies, non-surgical therapies and treatments we can recommend.
Traction Alopecia and Longer Hairstyles
The exception to the rule is where your hair styling affects the health of your follicles, especially if you have long hair that is very coarse, dense or thick. Traction alopecia occurs when the weight or abrasions on your scalp impact the follicles underneath.
Potential reasons for this can include:
- Very tight hairstyles, like braids or extensions, which put stress on the scalp and repeatedly pull at the follicles.
- Using excessive heat during styling. This can impact the thickness and brittleness of each strand and can make shedding and hair loss more noticeable.
- Hair treatments, including chemical sprays, perming solutions, and high-dosage cosmetic masks, can cause damage and breakage. This doesn’t necessarily activate shedding but can make thinning easier to see.
Step one is to correct your hair care routine and avoid anything that is thought to be contributing to the damage—especially if you wear dreadlocks or long extensions that add to the weight of your existing hair and put pressure on your scalp.
Pattern Hair Loss and Hair Lengths
Hair shedding is entirely normal, and we usually lose between 50 and 100 hairs every day through brushing and washing. Therefore, spotting a few hairs on your brush or in the bath or shower isn’t necessarily an indication that you are going bald.
The challenge occurs when new healthy hairs don’t replace hair that sheds, and if you have longer hair, you might find that shedding and hair loss are more apparent simply due to the length of the strands.
When this happens, often due to pattern hair loss, the follicles start to shrink, and you’ll see your hair becoming finer and more sparse over time, long before there is visible baldness.
It is important to clarify that the hair you can see is a type of protein and isn’t actively growing. The follicles underneath and the health of your scalp are the primary factors in balding, so once a follicle becomes inactive or dormant, this means you may see early-stage thinning – regardless of whether your hair is long or not.
Many people with long hair initially brush their hair over or change their parting, but if you have darker hair and lighter skin or vice versa, you may wish to take decisive action to replenish your hair before it becomes visible.
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Treating Balding in Clients With Long Hair
The treatment options will depend on the extent and severity of hair loss, the areas impacted, and the results you’d like to see.
For instance, if you have early-stage hair loss, we might recommend topical medication or non-surgical therapy like laser light therapy or platelet-rich plasma therapy to reactivate those inactive follicles or slow down the speed of pattern hair loss.
Clients also consider hair transplants, in which we select individual donor follicles from discreet areas of the se.
FUE hair transplants are exacting, permanent, and entirely natural. They may be the best way forward if your hair loss is pronounced or more advanced and you have sufficient donor follicles to restore the density and thickness of your hair.
Addressing Common Concerns With Hair Transplants for Longer Hair
Traditionally, hair transplants were largely reserved for men, many of whom shaved their hair very short before undergoing a transplant to make the procedure easier. This is an obvious issue for clients with long hair, who would consider shaving their heads unacceptable.
Our innovative, safe, and highly effective hair restoration treatments never require complete shaving. Instead, we can trim small areas of hair to ensure donor follicles can be extracted without having any noticeable impact on your appearance.
If you’d like more information about the potential causes of balding with long hair, are interested in exploring therapies and treatment options, or want to review case studies of hair transplants we have completed for clients with a similar hair length, you are welcome to contact us.
