Does Smoking Cause Hair Loss and How to Stop It

Increasing hair loss problems are being identified among people of all age groups owing to a multiplicity of factors such as lifestyle change, improper nutrition, and lack of hair maintenance. Hair loss due to lifestyle changes and carelessness is often accompanied by excessive stress that makes the situation worse.

Besides hereditary problems, health problems, and the absence of a hair care routine, hair fall can also be caused by excessive smoking. Uncontrolled smoking and drinking can cause unimaginable damage to the body. Smoking especially has a deeper impact since it shrinks the blood vessels that carry the necessary nutrients such as vitamins and minerals as well as oxygen to the hair follicles.

The main reason behind thinning hair is dormant or dead hair follicles. Because of smoking, your hair follicles do not get the required nutrients and they die over time leading to hair thinning. Once the hair follicles get damaged it becomes difficult to regrow new hair or even to continue the growth of the existing hair. With its toxic substances, therefore, excessive smoking can mess up your hair growth cycle completely.

Read these articles on our platform to know the impact that smoking can have on your hair and know more about smoking hair loss and hair regrowth.

Will My Hair Grow Back if I Stop Smoking?

Smoking causes hair loss by restricting proper blood and nutrient flow to the hair follicles. If you decide to quit smoking your blood vessels will no longer shrink and your hair follicles will become active and healthy again. Further, since a hair grows out of a hair follicle, this would mean that your hair will grow back healthy.

Therefore, it is possible to regrow hair if you stop smoking. The body has a natural way of rejuvenating the loss if you keep your scalp tissues away from the harmful toxins of cigarettes. To quit smoking is in fact the best way to reverse the damage it has caused and try to regrow healthy hair once again.

However, if you do not witness a considerable change even after quitting smoking you must seek professional advice. There might be some other medical reason underlying your hair loss condition which must be identified at the earliest. Hair experts, specialists, hair doctors and hair surgeons can help you regrow hair with a plethora of medical and surgical as well as non surgical techniques.

Does Smoking Make Your Hair Thin?

If with every cigarette you smoke, you wonder “does smoking cause hair loss?”, the answer to that is yes. Smoking occasionally might not be so harmful but if you are a habitual smoker then you are doing considerable damage to not just your lungs but also your hair.

Here is why smoking causes hair fall:

• Poor blood circulation: The toxins generated by smoking causes the blood vessels to shrink which restricts the necessary nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and oxygen to reach the hair follicle thereby compromising their health. You can only have healthy and strong hair if the hair follicles are active.

  Therefore, without receiving the necessary nutrients from blood, the hair follicles die and the hair growth cycle is disturbed leading to considerable hair loss.

• Weak immune system: Since smoking interferes with the blood flow in the body, it gives birth to numerous troubles. Because of the lack of necessary nutrients reaching the scalp, there might also be excessive oil production which can result in dandruff and other scalp infections. These infections can further contribute to hair loss problems.

• Pollutants: Because of the presence of harmful pollutants in cigarettes, it doesn’t only harm the smokers but also the passive smokers. The pollutants such as nicotine and cotinine are released in the air when someone smokes which can get deposited in the hair shaft. Coming in contact with polluted air can cause irreversible damage to the hair structure.

  Additionally, the alkaline nature of the toxins released from cigarettes can also disturb the pH level of the scalp which affects hair growth.

If you have already been experiencing genetic hair loss, it can further be heightened and preponed by smoking. Lastly, the carcinogens present in the air polluted by smoking might even block the hair follicles from producing hair protein necessary for hair growth and maintenance.

These are the reasons behind the connection between smoking and hair loss. Since smoking can affect your hair health in multiple ways, you must eliminate it however much difficult a task it is for you.

Will Quitting Smoking Help My Hair?

Smoking affects hair growth and hair health in so many ways directly and indirectly. Therefore, you will be able to witness visible results once you quit smoking. Along with quitting smoking, however, you might have to follow a basic hair care routine and take care of your hair health to speed up the process of hair regrowth.

Employing some natural remedies such as using aloe vera gel in your hair that helps in unclogging the hair follicles as well as in controlling dandruff can be very helpful. You must also make sure that you are providing substantial nutrients to your hair, both internally as well as externally so that they can grow fast. Alongside this, you must also massage your hair every day with coconut oil or any other oil that suits you to ameliorate the blood circulation that has been disrupted due to excessive smoking.

Here are some ways you can ensure hair growth after you quit smoking:

• Nutritious diet: Just like the rest of our body, hair needs nutrients to grow. Eat a balanced diet rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc, iron, and protein to ensure faster hair growth. It will not just directly impact your hair health but also provide you with a strong immunity to fight any diseases that you may have caught.
• Hair Care routine: Along with eating healthy, you must also provide external nutrients to your hair. Make it a habit to massage your hair at least twice a week for 5 minutes to ameliorate blood circulation. You must also use hair masks and conditioners to nourish and moisturize your hair.
• Destress: One of the major reasons behind excessive hair fall is also stress. You must perform activities such as yoga and meditation to control stress. This will not just help ameliorate your hair health but also aid in keeping yourself away from the temptation of smoking.

Additionally, you can always incorporate some ayurvedic practices to reverse the impact of smoking. These practices include performing neti kriya and Bhastrika pranayam every day. You can also try consuming 1 teaspoon of Triphala powder every night before sleeping to eliminate the nicotine tar deposits from your body.

Natural herbs including ashwagandha, Shatavari, Bala, and ginseng can also aid in the process of detoxification. Further, to resist the temptation of smoking you can consume 1 teaspoon of ajwain and cinnamon or 2-3 basil leaves.

The above mentioned are the ayurvedic and natural remedies that can help you pacify the side effects of smoking. If however, you do not find these remedies effective you for hair growth you must immediately consult a hair specialist to undergo a professional diagnosis and start following a personalized medical treatment to cure your hair loss.

How Long Does It Take for Hair To Grow Back After Quitting Smoking?

The time taken to regrow hair after quitting smoking varies from person to person. It is dependent majorly on the intensity of damage that has been done to the hair follicles. Broadly speaking, you must be able to see a significant difference in 6 months if you follow some natural remedies and an appropriate hair care routine.

However, there might be cases in which the hair follicles have been damaged entirely or are nearly dead. It will take a longer time to cure such a situation. The treatment that you undergo would also depend on the intensity of damage that has already happened. In case your hair follicles are just in a dormant stage, you can regrow hair with the aid of some natural remedies. However, if the hair follicles are dead, you might have to undergo specialist medical treatment.

Numerous medical treatments can help you regrow hair irrespective of the damage that has already occurred. These include laser therapy, flashpoints, Strand-by-Strand Ultimate, hair thickening fibers, medicinal shampoos, and drugs among many others. You can also undergo surgical treatment such as a hair transplant if the situation cannot be controlled otherwise.

It is integral that you consult a hair specialist at the earliest to diagnose the problems behind hair loss and commence suitable treatment. The earlier you will start your treatment, the better results you can expect. Smoking does cause hair fall but it is never too late to quit it and start following the suitable treatment to cure the hair loss problems.

At Advanced Hair Studio, our experienced and skilled hair specialists and hair surgeons can pose solutions to all your hair troubles. We have been providing extraordinary hair treatments to our clients for over 45 years to send them home with their dream hair look.

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Book an appointment with Advanced Hair Studio today and get the best hair treatment along with an answer to all your queries such as can smoking cause hair loss, can you regrow hair, how to stop hair fall and what are the natural remedies to control hair loss.

All your hair troubles can be solved just by booking an appointment with our specialists.