What to do about oily scalp hair loss

  Alopecia areata is a disorder of hair growth caused by various reasons, among which hair loss with significant scalp oil is often referred to as “seborrheic alopecia”, “androgenetic alopecia”, “male pattern baldness”. The onset of this condition is related to the high level of androgens in the hair follicles of the scalp and requires anti-androgen treatment after removing the relevant causative factors.  It should be noted that although this kind of hair loss can be accompanied by symptoms of oily hair, it is not caused by damage to the hair follicles due to seborrhea; the direct cause of hair loss is excessive dihydrotestosterone in the scalp tissues, which directly causes the hair follicles to gradually shrink to atrophy, while seborrhea is only a manifestation of the action of dihydrotestosterone on the sebaceous glands of the scalp, so simply cleaning the scalp and removing sebum will not help reduce hair loss. Reducing the intake of androgenic precursors such as cholesterol can reduce the amount of dihydrotestosterone in scalp tissues from a source perspective and help improve both hair loss and oiliness symptoms. In addition, although the name suggests that this type of hair loss only occurs in men, “androgenetic alopecia” can actually occur in both sexes and is clearly dominant. Individuals with a genetic background will experience shrinkage of hair follicles and shortening of the hair growth period only under the effect of excessive androgens, which in turn leads to a decrease in the number of hairs in the anagen phase and an increase in the ratio of resting hairs.  Therefore, in addition to topical minoxidil, which can directly stimulate hair growth, oral spironolactone can close the androgen receptors in women to reduce the biological effects caused by androgens; male standardized internal finasteride can inhibit the conversion of testosterone into the more biologically active dihydrotestosterone, which can effectively block the process of hair follicle damage from the etiology; both can effectively improve the symptoms of oiliness and hair loss at the same time.