Can the way you treat your hair cause hair loss, even if you are perfectly healthy and have no genetic factors for hair loss? The answer is yes, it can.

Hair loss happens for a number of reasons. Most people suffering from hair loss suffer because it is a medical condition or genetic condition. However, there are some people who suffer hair loss because of the way they have treated their hair.

As teenagers, we all heard the horror story of the girl who bleached her hair and had it fall out. That can happen. It can happen because there may be inflammation of the hair follicle that makes the hair loss occur.

However, if you wear pigtails too tight, really tight cornrows, or extra tight hair rollers, you can also have hair loss occur. When you wear these styles you are pulling the scalp and follicles of the hair – most often with a lot of force. This can cause a scarring of the scalp and follicles. When this happens, hair loss can result. If the action isn’t stopped, the hair loss can become permanent. If the action is stopped early enough, the hair loss can generally be reversed.

Other hair treatments like hot oil or chemical treatments (perms and straightening) can also cause hair loss. If the chemicals or oil interacts with your scalp in such a manner that the scalp becomes irritated, hair loss can result. The hair loss will generally heal when the scalp heals. Repeated use of these chemicals can cause scarring of the scalp that will result in permanent hair loss. This isn’t common, and only occurs when the process is done wrong.  However, it is something to be aware of.