Can Your Hair Texture Change?

Can Your Hair Texture Change?

It seems like no one is ever happy with their hair. People with curly hair want straight hair, people with straight hair want curly hair, and everyone wants more hair. So can your hair texture change over time? Yes, for a variety of reasons, some good and others less desirable.
 

What Causes Your Hair Texture To Change?

Several things, natural and otherwise, can cause hair texture to change. Here are the main reasons:

  • Hormones

    During pregnancy, some people’s hair becomes fuller, thicker, and shinier due to the increased hormones. Unfortunately, it doesn’t affect everyone that way. Hormones can change hair texture for other reasons too. Thyroid imbalances can make hair coarser, more brittle, or change texture. Insulin and androgen changes can also affect hair.

  • Medicine

    Medication is well known for affecting hair, especially chemotherapy treatments. Because chemo targets fast-growing cells, it can also affect hair, generally causing hair loss. However, some cancer patients have had their hair texture change drastically when it regrew after treatment ended. Other medicines that can affect hair and hair texture are beta-blockers, antidepressants, blood pressure medication, acne treatments, and painkillers. On the plus side, when you stop those kinds of medications hair usually reverts to its prior state.

  • Diet

    While diet changes won’t usually make hair curly or straight, it can affect how strong, brittle, healthy, dry, etc. it is. Nutrients like iron, zinc, biotin, vitamin E and omega fatty acids all contribute to healthy hair. Foods that are good for your hair include salmon, spinach, eggs, avocado and more.

  • Chemical Treatments

    In addition to the obvious culprits, like hair straightening or permanents to curling hair, dyeing/bleaching hair can change texture because it involves opening the hair cuticle – especially if the treatment does nothing to reseal the cuticle.

Does Your Hair Change Every 7 Years?

Sort of. Hair has a three-phase growth cycle. In the Anagen Phase, hair is actively growing. The Catagen Phase follows, which is a transitional stage. The last phase is Telogen phase, which is the resting phase when a hair follicle is dormant. Then it sheds that hair so the Anagen phase can restart.

People refer to this as a seven-year cycle, but technically it can take 4-7 years or even less. Spontaneous hair texture changes can happen when a new cycle begins, though drastic spontaneous texture changes, like straight hair turning curly, are rare. More commonly, changes between cycles are things like shorter cycles or thinning hair. Baby hair begins with one strand per follicle. As we grow up, that changes to two-, three- and four-strand bundles, then gradually over time, it can shift back to less strands per bundle.

Hair Changes? RHRLI Are the Experts

Regardless of your hair texture, if you’re experiencing hair loss, call RHRLI for a free hair analysis. Hair restoration surgeon Dr. Baiju Gohil has a state-of-the-art facility in Jericho on Long Island and in Manhattan as well. At Robotic Hair Restoration of Long Island, the ARTAS® Robotic Hair Transplant System is used for a virtual painless, accurate, and fast procedure. Contact RHRLI for a personal hair analysis with Dr. Gohil himself to assess whether robotic hair restoration is appropriate for you.

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