The most important consideration for African American hair loss is making an accurate diagnosis.

Because of the curliness of black hair, it is usually more difficult to style.

Thus many aggressive conditioning and styling techniques may be creating long term damage and hair loss by interfering with the hair’s natural protective mechanism, the oil in the hair.

When the natural oils from the scalp sebaceous gland are unable to traverse the length of the hair because it is so curly, then dry, cracking hair can result.

Assuming the there’s no damage to the hair follicle, professional topical hydration can often reverse the damage.

In the case of hair follicle damage, however, hair replacement may be the only good option.

For typical male pattern baldness (which afflicts both African American men & women), although receiving a lot of attention for its side effects, Propecia may also be a solution.

For women, extensions, wigs, falls etc can be a nice aesthetic solution, but ultimately they are probably also causing more damage to the scalp (see Traction Alopecia).

© 2012, John Frank, M.D.