Blog: Hair Care Tips & Advice | Miami Hair Institute

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January 24, 2022

With Hair Care, Don’t Be Your Own Worst Enemy

The reasons behind hair loss often come down to the age-old question of nature v. nurture. Most hair loss cases are caused by nature, that is, the genes you were born with. If you suffer from pattern baldness or androgenetic alopecia, your genetics are to blame. Sometimes, however, it is the way we nurture our hair – the styles we wear and the products we use – that can inadvertently weaken our follicles and lead to hair shedding and loss.

We all want our hair to look good, but not at the expense of our hair health. Don’t be your own worst enemy and try to avoid the following damaging hair care practices:

Brushing and Styling Wet Hair

Your hair is at its most vulnerable and more prone to damage when it is wet. Combing or brushing your hair while wet can stretch and break your hair follicles. Towel-dry your hair and wait a little bit before styling or blow-drying your hair.

Using Too Much Heat

Blow dryers and flat irons may help you style and dry your hair, but too much heat is far from helpful. If your flat iron is too hot, it will make your hair follicles brittle and dry, increasing the likelihood of hair breakage. Similarly, turn down the heat on your hairdryer or attach a diffuser to prevent frying your follicles.

Wearing Tight Hairstyles

Traction alopecia is a hair loss condition that can develop if you subject your hair to constant tension and strain because of how you style and wear it. When you keep stretching your follicles to their breaking point, they will, in fact, break. Once they do so, they will eventually die and fall out. Avoid wearing unnecessarily tight pigtails, braids, or ponytails for extended periods or hairstyles that keep hair tightly wound for a prolonged time.

Letting Product Buildup

Gels, hairspray, mousse, and other styling products are not inherently damaging and do not on their own contribute to hair loss. But leaving product in your hair too long without washing it out can cause follicular damage, which could lead to hair shedding. The key to safely using styling products is to wash your hair regularly to prevent styling products from contributing to any long-term buildup of sebum-based plaque, which could lead to a condition called scalp folliculitis. Over time, the irritation that is the most prominent symptom of folliculitis may make it impossible for the hair follicle to support a normal hair growth cycle. This irritation can become so acute that it damages the hair follicle permanently.

How To Detect Hair Loss

Detecting hair loss is a crucial aspect of maintaining healthy locks. To effectively identify signs of hair loss, start by paying close attention to your hairbrush or shower drain for an increased amount of shedding. Additionally, examine your scalp for widening part lines, thinning areas, or receding hairlines. Monitoring these changes over time can help you determine if you’re experiencing hair loss. It’s also wise to consult with a dermatologist or a hair specialist who can provide a professional evaluation and recommend personalized treatments to address any concerns about hair loss. Early detection and proactive measures are key to preserving your hair’s vitality and fullness.

Schedule an Appointment for a Hair Loss Evaluation Today

While avoiding bad hair care and styling behaviors can help you prevent follicle damage and reduce the chances of avoidable hair loss, restoring any hair you’ve already lost may require treatment by a hair loss physician. At the Miami Hair Institute, we know how to help men and women restore their hair no matter the underlying cause of their hair loss.

To schedule your personalized hair loss evaluation, contact us online or call our office directly at 305-925-0222.

January 17, 2022

Too Young, Too Soon: Hair Transplants

Losing your hair can be troubling no matter how old you are, but it can be even more alarming when you’re young and in the prime of your life. Unfortunately, plenty of men and women start to notice thinning hair or a receding hairline at a relatively early age, including in their late teens and early 20s.

No one wants to feel old before their time, and if you’re losing your hair before you can even have a legal drink, you may wonder if you can and should take steps to address the issue. Medication, lifestyle and diet changes, and other non-invasive treatments can, in fact, effectively combat hair loss in younger adults. But if you’re thinking about hair transplant surgery, your relative youth may preclude it as a viable or desirable option. Here’s why.

Your Hair Loss Pattern May Not Yet Be Known

The primary reason to be cautious about a hair transplant in your 20s is that it can be difficult at that early stage to know how your hair loss pattern will progress and ultimately manifest itself.

While a hair transplant might effectively address existing problem areas, the possibility that you could start losing your hair elsewhere on your scalp can result in an “island” of transplanted hair surrounded by new thinning or balding areas. Similarly, a hair transplant focused on lowering the hairline can become unnatural and awkward-looking if the hair above the transplant area begins to thin or fall out.

Trying To Do It On The Cheap

Another issue young adults often face that may make a hair transplant a bad idea is more financial than physical. Hair transplant surgery is, in fact, surgery, and surgery can be expensive, especially since most hair transplant surgeries are not covered by health insurance.

Only a highly trained and experienced hair transplant surgeon should perform your procedure. Unfortunately, there are plenty of clinics or supposed hair “specialists” who offer cheap prices for a hair transplant. But remember, you get what you pay for, and bottom-barrel prices often reflect the quality of work they perform. Young adults may not yet have the financial means for a hair transplant done right. By waiting until you can afford to have your hair transplant surgery performed by a first-rate surgeon may be worth more in the long run than subjecting yourself to a substandard operation which will leave you disappointed and full of regret.

Schedule Your Consultation With the Miami Hair Institute Today

All of that said, hair transplant surgery may be a viable option for someone in their 20s if the hair loss is particularly advanced. The only way to know which hair loss treatment is best for you is to schedule a comprehensive evaluation with a hair loss physician who can diagnose the cause and progression of your hair loss and work with you to develop the best treatment plan.

Schedule an appointment with the Miami Hair Institute today by calling 305.925.0222. We look forward to assisting you.

January 10, 2022

Free Hair Loss Treatment For All? South Korean Presidential Candidate Tackles Baldness

Imagine it’s 2024, deep into the next campaign for President of the United States. The candidates present their opposing visions for the country’s future and different solutions to the nation’s problems. But among the standard debates about the economy, foreign policy, immigration, voting rights, and all of the other usual issues, one of the candidates decides to make another societal problem the centerpiece of his campaign: fighting baldness.

That is exactly what is currently happening in South Korea. As recently reported by CNN, Lee Jae-Myung, the South Korean Democratic Party presidential candidate, has made free hair restoration treatment a major campaign issue. Specifically, Lee has proposed allowing the country’s public healthcare insurance to cover hair loss treatment.

When making his pledge, Lee pointed out that almost 10 million people suffer from hair loss, but many of them order medicines from other countries or resort to prostate drugs as an alternative due to high treatment costs. He said that hair loss coverage is necessary from the aspect of “body completeness.” His campaign is studying its potential financial impact on the nation’s healthcare system.

In the United States, the issue of insurance coverage for hair restoration treatments hasn’t quite made it to the presidential level, or any other significant level for that matter. Except where hair loss is related to an underlying medical condition, most U.S. health insurance providers won’t cover hair transplant surgery or other treatments. But you should always check with your insurance company before presuming that your hair loss treatment isn’t covered in whole or in part.

Call the Miami Hair Institute Today For Your Personal Hair Loss Consultation

If you’re losing your hair, you don’t need a politician to tell you that it’s a problem. If you’re ready to take action, the first step is scheduling a personalized hair loss consultation with the world-renowned hair restoration physicians at the Miami Hair Institute. To receive your personalized evaluation and treatment plan, contact us online or call our office directly at 305-925-0222.

January 3, 2022

Body Hair Transplants Offer Hope For Patients With Advanced Baldness

Not everyone who wants hair transplant surgery is a good candidate for hair transplant surgery. Typically, we harvest donor hair from areas of the scalp with robust growth and subsequently transplant those follicles to balding or thinning areas. But for many patients, their hair loss has progressed to the point that there simply isn’t enough hair remaining on their scalp for us to extract and use in a transplant.

Fortunately, for some patients with advanced cases of hair loss, new technology and techniques have made it possible for us to use hair from other parts of the body – such as the chest, beard, arms, or legs – in hair restoration surgery. While they account for a relatively low percentage of all hair transplant procedures, Body Hair Transplants (BHT) offer hope for those who may need supplemental donor hair to add to hair we harvest from their scalp.

BHT and Follicular Unit Extraction

The reason that BHT is now a much more accessible hair restoration option is because of Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE). The precise, computer-assisted FUE we perform to remove donor hair follicles from the scalp does not leave behind linear scars. Such scars were one of the main downsides to BHT that long limited its appeal.

In an FUE procedure, we harvest selected follicular units, precisely removing them from the donor area with an image-guided 0.8-1-millimeter circular tool. We extract the follicles in a scattered pattern, leaving most donor area hair untouched so that it retains its original natural appearance. Because the resulting scars are tiny and dot-like, the donor area on patients who undergo a hair transplant should look unscathed.

Now, using FUE, we can similarly harvest hair from other body areas without leaving behind a visible, unattractive scar. We can leverage the advantages of FUE either alone or in conjunction with scalp hair in advanced cases of baldness, for improving the aesthetic appearance of hairlines, and in scarring alopecia when there is an insufficient amount of donor scalp hair.

We many consider BHT a good option for you if:

You are relatively hirsute with adequate terminal hairs over your beard, chest, legs, arms, and other body parts.
Your androgenetic alopecia is in an advanced stage and the donor hair on your scalp is inadequate to provide complete or sufficient coverage.
You have exhausted available scalp donor hair in a previous restoration surgery, with inadequate coverage of existing bald areas requiring more follicular units.

Call the Miami Hair Institute Today to Learn More About Body Hair Transplants

If you would like to learn more about body hair transplants and whether the procedure can help address your hair loss issues, we invite you to schedule a hair loss evaluation at the Miami Hair Institute. Contact us online or call our office at 305-925-0222 today.

December 27, 2021

COVID-19 May Cause Hair Loss, But COVID Vaccines Do Not

As we frustratingly approach two years of living through the pandemic, it is pretty well established that temporary hair loss – telogen effluvium – is one of the more common complications associated with COVID-19. Many of the physical and psychological impacts of COVID-19, such as high fever, severe infection, illness, significant weight loss, physical trauma, and emotional stress, are precisely the kinds of disruptions that lead to telogen effluvium. Quarantines, worries about jobs and finances, juggling the responsibilities of parenting and career – these common pandemic-related stressors alone are more than enough to cause hair loss, even for those who aren’t otherwise sick.

However, one aspect of the pandemic that DOES NOT appear linked to hair loss is COVID-19 vaccines. Plainly put, scientists have found no connection between any of the widely available COVID-19 vaccines and increased hair loss.

Anytime someone goes through an infection, gets a fever, or experiences significant stress, as is the case with COVID-19, they can experience telogen effluvium. Many vaccinated people experience side effects from the shot, including fever and mild illness. But those side effects do not appear to create the conditions that cause temporary hair loss like COVID infection itself.

As reported recently in the Boston Globe, “Dr. Shira Doron, infectious disease physician at Tufts Medical Center said hair loss following coronavirus vaccination has not been detected in any surveillance.”

Nevertheless, many fully vaccinated individuals and those who have not been infected with COVID-19 can and do experience pandemic-related hair loss. This is due to the immense stress, disruption, and uncertainty that COVID-19 continues to cause for so many people. Quarantines, worries about jobs and finances, juggling the responsibilities of parenting and career – these common pandemic-related stressors alone are more than enough to cause hair loss, even for those who aren’t otherwise sick.

During this time, the physicians and staff at the Miami Hair Institute remain committed to helping our clients address their hair loss issues safely and effectively through our

To receive your personalized evaluation and treatment plan, contact us online or call our office directly at 305-925-0222.

December 20, 2021

What Happens At An Initial Hair Loss Evaluation

You can’t fix a problem unless you know what the problem is. That is why understanding the reasons behind a person’s hair loss is an essential first step in the hair restoration process. By knowing the cause of a patient’s hair loss, our hair restoration physicians can develop the most effective treatment plan specifically tailored to their unique characteristics.

At the Miami Hair Institute, we use a comprehensive methodology when conducting initial hair loss evaluations. While every patient is different, here are some of the things that may be part of your first visit with us.

Thorough Examination

We’ll begin our evaluation by gathering a detailed medical history, performing an in-depth scalp examination using state-of-the-art diagnostic and imaging tools, such as Fotofinder computerized photos and dermoscopy, as well as hair mass measurements.

Battery of Tests

We may also conduct tests to measure hair mass and density. Using trichometry, we can measure hair mass in 10 minutes without the need to cut any hair. The precision and accuracy of this method are superior to other methods available today. It detects the smallest changes in hair number or caliber and can be used to predict baldness years before it becomes apparent.

We also measure hair density to determine how many hairs are present per square centimeter of scalp. We conduct the test by trimming a small area of scalp to the length of 1mm, and then photograph, enlarge, and count the hairs in the area.

If appropriate, we may also perform blood tests to identify any hormonal imbalances or deficiencies that might be contributing to a patient’s hair loss issues.

Scalp Biopsy

When a follicle scarring process appears to be the cause of a patient’s hair loss, a scalp biopsy is often needed to establish or confirm a diagnosis. We can use the results of a biopsy to make or confirm a diagnosis of alopecia. We can also obtain important information in cases of unexplained hair loss or when the potential for regrowth is in doubt.

When we perform a scalp biopsy, we extract one or two small specimens of scalp tissue and hair follicles for analysis. Each sample is about the size of a pencil eraser. To gather the specimens, we clean a discreet area of the scalp, trim the hair in that area, and administer a local anesthetic. Once we remove the samples, we close the small scar with stitches that we will take out a couple of weeks after the biopsy. The whole procedure takes approximately 15 minutes. After gathering the specimens, we submit them to a skin pathologist specializing in diagnosing hair loss problems.

Call the Miami Hair Institute Today For Your Personal Hair Loss Consultation

The first step in discovering why you are losing your hair and what you can do about it is to schedule a hair loss consultation. We invite you to schedule an evaluation at the Miami Hair Institute. Drs. Nusbaum and Rose are internationally acclaimed hair restoration surgeons with more than 40 years of combined experience. To receive a personalized evaluation and treatment plan, contact us online or call our office directly at 305-925-0222.

December 13, 2021

Can You See Your Hair Loss Future When You See Your Family?

During the holidays, we tend to get together with extended family members who we may not have seen for long stretches of time. You can learn a lot about your family history during these gatherings from all of those uncles and aunts, grandparents, and cousins. And when it comes to whether you may experience hair loss, you may also be able to see into your future when you see your family.

While your genes aren’t the only things that will play a role in determining whether you will lose your hair, if your family history includes baldness, the odds are pretty good that at least some hair loss may await you. Also called androgenetic alopecia, pattern baldness is a hereditary hair loss condition responsible for 95 percent of all hair loss cases.

But when you look around that family gathering and see a balding parent, grandparent, aunt, or uncle, does that necessarily mean you need to be resigned to the same fate?

The reality is that in terms of your genetic predisposition to pattern baldness, not all relatives are created equal. For men, their maternal grandfather and their dad will be the ones who can give them an idea of what to expect from their hair as the years go by.

Many of the genes responsible for baldness and hair loss tend to come from your maternal grandfather, even though genes from both of your parents and all of your grandparents can also play a role. If your maternal grandfather is bald or is losing their hair, you are a likely candidate for hair loss problems yourself.

A maternal grandfather’s genes play an oversized role in predicting hair loss because men only have one set of X chromosome genes instead of two sets of autosomal genes. For the latter, men can have one set that causes hair loss and one that doesn’t, giving them a moderate chance of going bald. However, since males only have that single set of X chromosome genes, shared with their maternal grandfather, a baldness-related gene will be the only game in town. This means a much higher risk of developing androgenetic alopecia.

Call the Miami Hair Institute Today For a Hair Loss Evaluation

While looking at your family’s genetic heritage will provide some clues as to what to expect on your scalp in the years ahead, genes are not definitive, and hair loss is not a foregone conclusion. But if you do start experiencing hair loss, advancements in medicine, technology, and techniques have made hair restoration more available, more effective, and more convenient than ever before.

At the Miami Hair Institute, we offer the most innovative approaches to hair restoration available. Schedule an appointment with the Miami Hair Institute today by calling 305.925.0222.

December 6, 2021

How To Avoid Holiday Hair Loss

The holidays can be a stressful time for lots of folks. But after almost two years of living with the ups and downs and worries and disruptions of a pandemic, even people who in the past have been chipper and worry-free during the holiday season may feel the burn this year. Holiday stress not only can put a damper on what is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, but it can also cause health problems, including hair loss.

Increased hair shedding is an annual lump of coal in many people’s stockings during the holidays, and it’s not only because of all of the running around and stress. As fall turns into winter, the dryer, cooler air that accompanies the change in the seasons can also lead to more significant amounts of hair loss.

Here are three common reasons for holiday hair loss and simple tips you can use to keep you and your hair full of holiday cheer.

Holiday Stress and How To Manage It

Holiday stress now seems as much a part of the season as Santa and egg nog. All of the accumulated stress we’ve all been under can become magnified during the hustle and bustle of the holidays and can be a huge contributor to increased hair loss. Also known as telogen effluvium (TE), stress-related hair loss usually appears a few months after a highly stressful event or time.

Finding effective ways to manage and reduce stress is important all year long for many health reasons other than hair loss. While it may take more effort to make time for stress management during the busyness of the holidays, try to take regular breaks from the tumult to take care of yourself. Keep to your regular exercise regimen to the extent possible, set aside short periods for quiet time, meditation, or reading, and turn off your phone and other gadgets from time to time. All of these simple adjustments can help reduce your holiday stress levels and keep any stress-induced hair loss at bay.

Be Mindful of Your Holiday Eating and Drinking

Our diets impact our health and well-being in several ways, including the strength of our hair follicles. During the holidays, our diets often change, not just in terms of how much we eat and drink, but also in the kinds of things we consume.

When the body lacks the nutrients needed to function properly, some of those functions can shut down. This can include hair growth and regeneration. As you stuff yourself with turkey and ham or devour those holiday cookies, try to make sure that your body is getting enough of these nutrients, vitamins, and minerals necessary for hair growth and overall good health.

Fight Dryness

Even here in South Florida, winter can bring drier air, outside as well as indoors. Hair needs moisture to stay healthy. After you wash your hair with a gentle shampoo that exfoliates and cleanses your scalp, use an ultra-light moisturizing conditioner that can nourish your follicles and soften brittleness that often comes with dry hair.

The Miami Hair Institute: Excellence In Hair Restoration No Matter The Season

Hair loss can be an issue no matter what the season. There is no time like the present if you are ready to do something about your thinning hair. At the Miami Hair Institute, our world-renowned hair restoration physicians diagnose and treat hair loss cases through the most advanced hair transplant surgery techniques and alternative non-invasive treatments available. To receive your personalized evaluation and treatment plan, contact us online or call our office directly at 305-925-0222.

November 29, 2021

Debunking The Most Common Hair Loss Myths

We are living in a world of misinformation and information. From politics to the pandemic, it can often be hard to separate fact from fiction. Somewhere on the internet, someone is no doubt claiming that 2 + 2 = 5. Bad information predates the internet, of course, and the subject of hair loss has been the subject of myths and misconceptions for centuries.

If you are currently experiencing excessive hair loss, you may spend a lot of time trying to figure out why. There are several very real reasons you might be losing your hair, from androgenetic alopecia to stress to poor diet, among others. But there are some “causes” of hair loss that you can disregard because they are simply not true. Here are three of the most common hair loss myths and why they are bunk:

Myth #1: It’s Your Mother’s Fault

One of the most enduring myths about hair loss is that you inherit the condition from your mom’s side of the family. People grow up believing that if their mother’s male relatives are bald or have thinning hair, then hair loss is their inevitable fate as well. This is simply not the case.

The vitality and strength of your hair are indeed related to your genetics. But the genes which play a role in hair loss come from many places, including your dad’s side of the family. This “polygenic” reason for hair loss means that you should shake all the branches of your family tree if you are trying to see into the future of your hair.

Myth #2: Thinning Hair Means You Have Lots of Testosterone

While men experiencing hair loss may want to take solace in the idea that it means they have robust testosterone levels, there is simply no link between baldness and high testosterone. That said, it’s easy to see why this myth remains out there.

Dihydrotestosterone, or DHT, is a testosterone derivative that is, in fact, scientifically linked to hair loss. But it’s not the amount of testosterone that is the issue, but rather the level of DHT fastening to hair follicle receptors in the scalp. Typically, due to genetics or other hormonal changes, hair follicles develop a sensitivity to DHT and start to miniaturize. This process shortens the hair growth cycle and eventually causes new hairs to stop growing.

Myth #3: Hats Will Make You Bald

If wearing hats a lot caused hair loss, every baseball player would be bald. This myth is absolutely false. Wearing hats frequently will not impact the strength of your hair or accelerate the rate at which you lose hair. But if you wear extremely tight often enough, it can cause stress on your follicles and lead to a hair loss condition called traction alopecia. So it’s not the hat that is causing the problem; it’s how you wear it.

Schedule an Appointment for a Hair Loss Evaluation Today

At the Miami Hair Institute, we know the truth about hair loss, and we know how to help men and women restore their hair and confidence. We will determine the actual cause of your hair loss and develop a treatment plan best suited to addressing it

To schedule your personalized hair loss evaluation, contact us online or call our office directly at 305-925-0222.

November 22, 2021

No-Shave FUE Leaves No Trace Of a Hair Transplant

Hair transplant surgery took a giant leap forward in 2004 with the development and adoption of the follicular unit extraction (FUE) technique. Shortly thereafter, the introduction of the advanced ARTAS System made hair transplants even more precise and natural-looking and caused minimal scarring that was barely visible. These advancements have made it extremely difficult to tell whether someone has undergone hair transplant surgery.

Now, with the introduction of “no-shave FUE,” it’s even harder to detect that a transplant was performed while still delivering exceptional results.

Camouflage and Concealment

As the name implies, no-shave FUE eliminates the need to shave the head in order to obtain donor hairs.

During an FUE procedure, the surgeon precisely removes selected follicular units from the donor area in a scattered pattern using an image-guided 0.8-1-millimeter circular tool.

Until quite recently, however, extracting donor hairs in FUE procedures required shaving the donor area to approximately 1/25^th of an inch so the surgeon could identify and remove the follicular units they would be targeting for transplantation.

With no-shave FUE, the surgeon now only needs to trim the donor follicle hairs that they plan to transplant. The trimmed donor follicles therefore blend in amidst the neighboring full-length hair, leaving behind a donor area that looks completely normal after surgery.

Additionally, the non-shaved natural hairs in the recipient area help hide the transplanted follicular units. As the newly transplanted grafts grow, they blend in seamlessly with the surrounding hairs, thickening the area and providing more density to the scalp.

While no-shave FUE quickly and effectively camouflages the fact that a patient had hair transplant surgery, the procedure itself may take more time. That is because it is more labor-intensive and technically challenging. That is why it is even more critical that your hair transplant surgeon has the skill, precision, and experience to ensure that you obtain optimal results from your procedure

Learn More About No-Shave FUE. Schedule an Appointment for a Hair Loss Evaluation Today

If you would like to learn more about FUE transplants, including no-shave FUE, and discover how we can help you restore your hair, we invite you to schedule an evaluation at the Miami Hair Institute. Drs. Nusbaum and Rose are internationally acclaimed hair restoration surgeons with more than 40 years of combined experience. To receive a personalized evaluation and treatment plan, contact us online or call our office directly at 305-925-0222.