Dr. Vaishali

An oil massage is one of the best remedies for dry skin. Using an anti-aging oil would be best as it would be highly absorbant.

Causes of Hairfall and Solutions to Treat Them

In general, you lose about 50-100 strands of hair each day, but the loss is not visible as new hair grow in their place. However, if you lose more than a 100 strands in a day and more than 200 strands on the day you shampoo, you may be suffering from what is known as excessive hair fall. 

Certain factors or reasons may cause you to lose hair at an alarming rate, which are,

1. Thyroid problems
Your thyroid is responsible for your body?s overall functioning. The hormones (primarily T4 and T3), which it produces help in regulating metabolic activities. Problems with your thyroid gland can cause your hormone levels to rise or fall to unhealthy levels, which can result in hair fall. You can improve the functioning of your thyroid gland through a diet rich in calcium, iodine, magnesium, protein and Vitamins A, B and C.

2. Scalp infections
Infections of the scalp can also be one of the factors that may cause your hair to fall at an alarming rate. Of the different scalp infections, the ringworm scalp infection is the most common. Although this fungal infection can occur in any part of your body, when it develops on your scalp, you end up losing clumps of hair. Alongside the use of anti-fungal medications, even anti-fungal shampoos and creams can provide you with respite from the problem.

3. Poor diet
Gorging on unhealthy foods or going on a crash diet can result in the lack of essential nutrients in your body, which are required to maintain healthy hair. Furthermore, since hair is made of protein, having a balanced diet consisting of proteins and vitamin- rich foods is a must.

4. Stress
Stress gives rise to certain conditions such as alopecia areata, telogen effluvium (hair loss caused post-pregnancy or surgery) and trichotillomania (an impulsive need to pull your hair out), which can cause you to lose significant amount of hair. To avert a hair loss crisis caused by stress, make it a point to do some simple stress-reducing exercises, such as meditation or breathing exercises.

5. Hair styling products
Using hair styling products like hair colours and straighteners can cause you to experience hair fall problems. Your hair not only becomes dull and dry due to their use, but also becomes weak and brittle, leading to a gradual loss of hair. Regular oiling and use of homemade hair masks are some of the ways you can try to counter the negative effects of these hair styling products.

6. Cancer treatment
The drugs that are used in the treatment of cancer not only destroy the fast-growing cancer cells, but also the healthy blood cells in your body. For this reason, consuming foods that possess cancer-fighting properties (like oatmeal, tomato, almonds, garlic etc) is a sure-shot way of fighting the disease as well as averting any side-effects that may arise because of the treatment.

7. Alopecia areata
Lastly, hair fall can also be caused by alopecia areata, which is a kind of hair loss that takes place when your body?s immune system erroneously attacks your hair follicles, and prevents growth of new hair.

8. Genetics
The origin of your severe hair fall or baldness can be traced back to your ancestors. So, your genes can be a factor behind your hair fall problem. If this is the cause, your body then becomes unable to produce new hair.

Apart from the changes that you can make in your lifestyle to address the causes of your hair fall, there are also techniques out there that you can employ to permanently treat your problem, such as platelet rich plasma, mesotherapy, stem cell therapy, ozone activated platelet rich plasma & hair transplant.

• Facial skin fairness and desire to have acne-less and blemishes-less face has been a need of men and women (esp. young girls) since time immemorial. Modern market forces exploited this demand by selling chemicalized and synthetic facial creams without caring for side - effects to the users. Users also, in a quest to get quick remedies, became careless and ruined their skin tone and glow for years in most of the cases.
• Its a good sign now that people have understood the principles and benefits of Ayurveda and demand for these things have increased manifold in recent decade.
• But frankly speaking,  it will benefit those perfectly and GUARANTEEDLY who follow the basic principles laid down for taking such treatment.  
• Cleansing the intestines, detoxification of the body, controlling and modifying food habits, following the intake of medicines with permissible vehicles (Anupaana) i.e. some herbs to be taken with water, some with honey, some with turmeric or honey as per DOSHAS vitiation. Then timing of taking medicines such as before or after food or mid way of food intake are important.  
• Avoiding certain foods or food combos are very important.  In acne and blemishes  salt is to be taken in restricted quantity -or not at all- to get rapid benefits. Similarly certain do's if advised such as taking certain herbs, foods etc, if instructed,  should be followed such as Guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia) or Neem decoction, turmeric milk etc should be honoured.
• Cleansing the intestines by soft laxatives and herbal bitters doing 'pittavirechan'  (bile excretion), raktashodhan (blood purification) by certain simple Kwathas (Decoctions) of herbal combos, application of facial scubs and packs by 'Varnyadi Gana' herbs (classic herbal group of ten herbs advised in Ayurveda)  are of unique importance.
• As we see in day to day interactions, people are not very careful about following the restrictions of food such as salt as told above or avoiding 'abhishyandi' (channel blockers such as curd) food.  There's  still no side effect but expected response period or degree of effect certainly goes down. However in Rasa Chikitsa (calcined metals and precious stones) 'Anupaana' gains more importance else some unwanted effects may be seen.
• So its better to follow Vaidya's (Ayurvedic Doctor's) instructions for any kind of Ayurvedic treatment.  When you are using herbs for BEAUTY, it becomes more important to follow the instructions so that effects and perception are clearly visible in shortest possible time period.