March 30 2006, 9:33 am PT | Posted in: Hair Loss Causes
While it is a reasonable hypothesis that smoking can cause hair loss, will giving up smoking lead to/assist in hair regrowth - or is the damage that has been done by smoking permanent? i.e is it reversible?
Thanks in advance.
Generally it is believed that damage from smoking is additive. We know that about the lungs, heart disease, and emphysema. We also know that for those that stop smoking, the additive impact does slow or stop, but the smoking-induced coronary disease or emphysema does not go away. Now if you extend that logic to hair loss, then by stopping your smoking, you may stop whatever balding smoking is causing, but it would not reverse.
Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):
Related Entries
- Smoking and Hair Loss
- Cigarettes and Hair Transplantation
- Smoking Cigarettes Caused My Hand Hair to Die Off
- In the News - Smoking May Accelerate Hair Loss
- Smoking Cigarettes and Hair Loss
Balding Forum
Okay…it would not reverse you say…okay let me explain..at my point,i’ve been smoking for 5 years and im now quitting(another attempt) and i loss a lot of hair..so if i stop smoking, i cant regain my hair?!WTF $^$^… why stop smoking then?…i prefer smoking and relaxing thinking im losing my hair than.. not smoking and being all stressed and depressed for losing my hair….yeah there’s surgery, but wtf, why it cost so fuckin much? that is fuckin stupid, so why tell me why the high price for a doctor playing with a toy? thats stupid i say, by the time i get a good job and be able to pay, it’ll be late in my life, i need my hair more than ever..and right now
IF I STOP SMOKING WILL MY REMAINING HAIR, BE STRONGER AND MORE HEALTHY,AND THICKER.
I quit smoking 5 years ago when I didnt have any skin or hair related problems at all. Since I quit smoking, and believe me, I know this sounds crazy, my skin became unbelievably oil, I am being literally attacked by skin tags and skin irritations. My hair? Now, this one is really funny! My hair became a pot of grease and I have consistently hair loss which began exactly three months after I quit. Yet, every time I go to the doctor they tell me that in the long run, I will realize that I did the right thing. I dont miss cigarettes, and I dont doubt that they are very very bad for you. But I think doctors will not tell you what will happen to your body once you quit. My weight ballooned in 90 pounds without any major change in food intake or exercise routine. I now am also obese.
That’s a very interesting question. Smoking causes a lot of problems throughout your body, but I never heard of hair loss. When you smoke, you got bigger problems then hair loss!
Cigarettes contain a good deal of carcinogens, many of which effect people quite differently. They wreak havoc on circualtion, etc. And they do actually cause more stress than not smoking. Trust me - I used to smoke two packs a day, then finally quit. But back to your comments: I first noticed I was balding at 21 years of age (ten years ago), so I started using Rogaine and Propeicia. This stopped the balding, but did little to regrow hair. Later, I stopped smoking, and then the hair actually thickened and grew in. Back to normal, actually. No joke. I didn’t even realize the correlation until I started smoking the occasional cigarette (two years ago), and then my hair started to fall out. I have recently cut out the occasional and hope that the hair will grow back in. Of course, there could be no correlation. But this is a ‘risk’ I’m willing to take.
Listen guys, whoever this docter is…he doesnt know what he is talking about. I stopped smoking cannabis and cigerettes 2 weeks ago and i swear i am regaining more and more hair by the day. I am not going mad i know this for sure because i stopped smoking a while back and the same thing happened, then i lost what i gained when i started again. Stop smoking if you want your hair back. Darren
To everyone here that wants to know if smoking causes hairloss or not. i have found myself tht it does. If yopur hair is thinning the best thing to do is just stop smoking or cut down on the amount you smoke. Here are the 3 things i think causes definate hair loss, cocaine, excessive smoking, stress and anger. what i have found myself is that when you stop smoking your hair will be okay again but as soon as you start again it will start thinning again. hope this helps. If your worried about your hair you should never do cocaine it will reck your hair teeth ETC
Its not a debate which is going on here,there are many reason for your hair loss Stress,Living style and lot more,even doctors do not have much to answer this,if you have lost your hair then dont think in a negative way,just be happy that you are not effected by any other disease whicy are not curable,i hope you would understand the disease i am speaking about,and comming to smoking even a kid know that smoking is hazardous to health and even can cuse hair loss in some cases,so than why dont we quit smoking for a good reason to come.
I searched for this site and found my answer. Ive been smoking for 8 yrs and can remember that when i started smoking i started lossing my hair. Genes? Race? Dont know, but ive always had hair at the top that was just “slow growing”. Iv never took a break but after reading this I’m going to try. It never bothered me that i have “thining hair” and i never took rogain or anything. But since i can see my many hair stubs in the mirror, im going to try and stop smoking. I know that my body does’nt hurt yet and that to stop smoking will make me a nervous reck, but i also want to be the person that i used to be. With thick hair, thick longs, and a thick brain. Im goin to go for it!. Whitout one last blow.
p.s.
I feel that people who can handle smoke and drink have the ultimate body of resistance. Even though I still smoke to this day, why keep it up even if we dont hurt. We know that its bad as well as knowing that we can be the ultimate human in our lifetime. What ever you wanted to do you can do far better, than anyone else, if you stop smoking. Think about it. We’ve already inhaled hell. Its only up from here.
Yes I stopped recently, and before that I had slowly started to loose hair in the front and got this hairline curvy things you know what I mean. Well after stopping a lot of hair grew back and it’s now like 5 years ago or so, and still growing more. Also more healthy and strong hair.
i have been smoking since three years and i experienced hair loss 4-5 months after i started it.I haven’t smoked since about a month now,and the hair loss has reduced drastically,i even rub my fingernails together everyday for 10 minutes which is supposed to be a great cure for hairloss,since the nerves in our scalp ends in our fingertips(it is a yoga therapy).I would like to know how much time does it take for the hair to regrow after i quit smoking, i mean when will it be noticeable.
to carlos the growth cycle is generally 3 months, once the hair has miniaturized it can take up to 5 months but after you stop smoking this will decrease and you will notice thicker more healthy hair, i had been smoking 2 packets a day and noticed my hair falling out and very thin and wiry now it has come back like a bush, i have quit for a year
to justin…thanks for your reply,i would also like to know that will my hairline also improve…if yes then how much time will it take for the new hair to sprout up…i would like to tell everyone that its almost 3months since i have quit and i do not experience any hair loss now,there are no hairs on my pillow,on my comb,in the toilet and i think my hairs are a bit thicker now but am not sure.
Strange. I quit smoking about three months ago and I’ve noticed that my temples have become very sparse of hair. I never had a low hairline by any means, but my once reasonably thick widows peak has become a thinning nightmare. I’m not about to start smoking again, but I did consider the option to see if any of my hair comes back. I suspect I will have to suck it up and shave my head as there is no hairstyle for a balding scalp akin to George Costanza. I just find the balding to be a strange coincidence, or just crappy luck. It sure doesn’t help a 40-something having a midlife crisis and then losing his mane. Ah well, my hair was mostly grey up til now. I had colored my hair to hide grey since my mid 20s.
Sam
Not to get your hopes up, but it might be some type of shedding phase youre going through right now. I read somewhere (cant find it anymore though) that compared quiting smoking to using Rogaine. The reason why is because when you quit smoking you get an increase in Nitric Oxide(this is also found in Rogaine).
I have quit going on 5 months now and I see an improvement.I notice shedding phases too and there were times when I lost a lot of hair but it appears to be getting darker and thicker.