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If you have been shopping for a new hair dryer lately, you were no doubt confronted with a wide range of choices. From inexpensive conventional hair dryers that cost about $10 to professional hair dryers that can cost ten times that much, there really is a large and confusing array of hair dryer options to choose from.

So, how can you sort through the many to find the perfect hair dryer for your particular needs and hair type? The answer lies in becoming familiar with the different types of hair dryers so that you can purchase the one that you really need and avoid the ones that are unnecessarily tricked out.

As mentioned earlier, the purchase of a new hair dryer can be quite inexpensive or very expensive depending on the hair dryer that you choose. While, choosing a hair dryer because it is dirt cheap is never a good option, you can cut your costs by choosing a hair dryer that has only the options that you will really use. In order to aid you in your quest, I have separated, according to cost, the different types of hair dryers that you will likely see on your next shopping trip.

• Inexpensive hair dryers ($5 - $20) can be found in almost any store. While inexpensive hair dryers may not cost a lot when you first purchase them, they can cost you a great deal when it comes to hair damage. Since most inexpensive hair dryers only come equipped with one temperature setting, you can literally blast your tresses to death with the unchecked heat from one of these babies. The only time an inexpensive hair dryer is a good idea is if you hardly ever use one, if your hair is extremely short or if you only use a hair dryer briefly to set your gel.
• Moderately expensive hair dryers ($20 - $50) come equipped with most of the settings that you will need for daily use of the hair dryer. Most feature multiple temperature settings and a cool blast button for drying brittle hair or for setting in curl. Most often this is the hair dryer that is perfect for everyone.
• Professional hair dryers ($50 - $100+) can only be purchased at a beauty supply store or through a professional catalogue. While these hair dryers are geared toward repeated use by professionals, they can be beneficial to use at home if you are willing to pay the price. Many of these hair dryers are ultra quiet and feature new drying technologies such as ionic energy to cut your hair drying time in half. They infuse moisture and only cause very minimal damage.

As with all thermal styling tools, hair dryers cause damage to the hair shaft. Incorrect or repeated, high-temperature use of a hair dryer can leave your hair looking dull and frizzy. To make sure that this does not happen to you, always keep the hair dryer 10″ from your hair and point the stream of air down the hair shaft. Failure to do so can result in heat bubbles forming on the hair shaft or a blown cuticle, which causes dullness and frizz.

While the type of hair dryer that you purchase may have an impact on how much damage you get from using a hair dryer on your hair everyday, the main culprit of damage is misuse of the hair dryer. So, make sure that you have a good quality hair dryer and that you are using it properly. Your hair will thank you for it by remaining shiny and healthy for years to come.

Michael Barrows’ website gives great advice for good hair. Get your free ebook packed with hair style and hair care tips and advice, visit Great-Hairstyles.com.

To all bald-headed men.

When you drive at night do you have to turn your head down to low beam?

Yes, there are many such thoughtless jokes about baldness, in both males and females. However, loss of head hair really is a problem, which causes a great deal of worry and unhappiness, to those afflicted.

Hopefully, there may be some help and answers for you, within this web site. It is often easier to reduce the ageing and thinning of healthy hair, than to regrow into follicles that are already dormant.

Reversing and preventing further hair loss may also be possible. Some products and techniques could be:

Topical ketokonazole, an anti-fungal/5-alfa inhibitor of reductase.

Finasteride and/or minoxidel, known in the United States as propecia and Rogaine, or Rogeine, respectively.

Placebos have average results, but not usually as high as other specific products

Hair cloning, or multiplication, using self replenishing follicle stem cells.

Hair transplants have been used for many years.

To lower androgen levels, aerobic exercises may be beneficial. This may also help stress reduction which can be an aid to slow the loss of hair.

Senanoa repens/saw palmetto, a DH T inhibit talk and a herb. Fewer side-effects and less expensive than products such as dutasteride, or finesteride.

Resveratrol is a lipase inhibitorl, made from grape skins.

Chinese herbs and Chinese medicine may be tried. Seek help from qualified acupuncturists, herbalists and holistic medicine practitioners.

Beta Sitosterol, found in oils of seeds, may also help by lowering cholesterol. Use an extract, as the heavy consumption of oils can aggravate the hairloss problem.

As we all know, baldness in males, is more common than females – thank goodness!

Baldness can be caused by a number of factors, including the trigger, an enzyme called 5-alfa reductase, which converts testosterone into dihydrotestosterone - DHT, which can inhibit growth in genetically fine hairs. Some female baldness may be a result of an oestrogen reduction. Oestrogen usually counteracts testosterones balding action. Tight ponytails and corn rows, could also contribute to female hair loss, as may constantly wearing a hat.

This short article can, in no way, cover the wide spectrum of causes and treatments for hair loss. Search the internet through search engines such as Google, etc and seek help from alternative health practitioners, as well as traditional western medicine.

Ray Cunningham is an owner of two diplomas of acupuncture. One from Australia. The other from Hong Kong.

At the moment he resides in Central Florida, U.S.A.. For more information, on acupuncture and alternative medicine, go to his website at: http://alternative-health-4.us.

Sure, we all want to change our look every once in a while and sometimes that involves changing our hair color also. But there are a few adventurous souls that have taken changing their hair color to a whole new level with frequent colorings leaving their hair lifeless and damaged beyond repair.

While there are many professional hair coloring systems out there that only cause minimal damage to hair, many people still insist on buying hair color from department stores so that they can apply it at home. In many cases, this type of hair color causes extreme damage and if you use it too often, it could turn into a nightmare.

You see, hair color is a chemical that changes the structure of your hair. Each time you color, the outside layer of your hair is raised so that color can be pushed into the hair strand. With each subsequent coloring, this outside layer finds it more and more difficult to close to its natural and healthy position.

It is this layer that first takes the brunt of hair color damage. It is also this layer that is responsible for the shine and vibrancy of your hair color. If you color too much, you will first notice a dull or dry appearance coming from the roughened up outer layer of your hair strand.

In addition to making your hair look healthy and shiny, the outside layer or cuticle layer is also responsible for holding your color in. Once it refuses to close properly, your color will start to fade and over time, become completely washed out. Trying to color your hair again, will only be a temporary fix with the color always seeping out of the damaged areas.

If you ignore all of these damage signals and continue to color your hair, you will eventually break down the entire make up of your hair strands. At best, hair will become brittle and break. At worst, it will turn into mush and disintegrate right before your eyes.

To keep all of these dire hair color consequences from becoming reality, be sure to leave enough time in between colors for your hair to recuperate. Try not to do any drastic color changes for at least 6 months unless your hair is short. Also, do not color your hair from root to tip for each and ever color touch up. Color the roots only so that you can avoid further damage to the ends. And get those trims when you need them.

Jenny Andrews is a hair expert, and the author of an incredible free minicourse, that explains how to find your unique style, how long or short you should have your hair, how to find the right hair color for you, how to find the right salon, and a lot more. Go to HairStyleVillage.com now and get this amazing hair minicourse – absolutely free.

In the 80s, the hair accessory was invaluable. Almost every style involved some sort of hair accessory or embellishment to really set it off. Today, the hair accessory is not a part of everyday style and care should be taken as to when and how to use the hair accessory so that you will not look dated.

With that said, there are some occasions that scream for hair accessories: Work, social occasions and formal events may all have you searching for the perfect hair accessory to set off your look. While different occasions will call for different hair accessories, a good rule of thumb to follow is to choose the sedate hair accessory over one that could not go unnoticed in a crowd of a few hundred or a few thousand.

While choosing the right one can be tricky, there are a few pointers that you can follow to help you pick the perfect hair accessories to complete your look. Here are just a few:

• Work. In many work situations, you will likely have to wear your hair up. No matter if your type of employment requires it or you simply like to change your look now and then, wearing your hair up calls for the right hair accessory to do the job. The number one rule to finding the right hair accessory for work is to avoid banana clips at all costs. I mean, who still makes these things? Apparently they’re making money at it or they wouldn’t still be producing these torture devices of the 80s. Don’t further their cause: stop buying this hair accessory. The second rule is to choose hair accessories that closely match your hair color or that blend nicely with it. Matching a hair accessory to your clothes is only cute when you are 5-years-old. What you choose will depend largely on your length of hair and how you like to wear your hair up. For French twists, choose hair accessories that resemble over-sized hair clips. Simply twist and clip.
• Social and formal occasions. In social and formal occasions you have a greater opportunity to express your artsy side through hair accessories. Again choose sedate pieces over garish hair accessories. Classy pieces can be perfect for social occasions, whereas a little sprig of flowers or garnishment may be needed for formal occasions. Formal occasions are the only time that is okay to match your hair accessory to your clothing. But still, do not go overboard. What attracts the eye should be the beauty of your hair, not too-busy hair accessories. If in doubt about what hair accessory or how much of it to include, opt for the simple solution: use as little as possible.

The bottom line with hair accessories is that too much of a good thing can confuse the eye and make your do look garish. Simple hair accessories, on the other hand, can make a bold beauty statement that makes your hair the talk of the office or party.

Michael Barrows’ website gives great advice for good hair. Get your free ebook packed with hair style and hair care tips and advice, visit Great-Hairstyles.com.

In many families, balding has become almost an expected occurrence as a man ages. Even though these men are expecting male hair loss, they don’t escape the emotional turmoil that this condition often causes.

The medical term for genetic male hair loss is “androgenetic alopecia”. For most men, the technical term falls far short of describing the condition. Understanding the cause of hair loss doesn’t guarantee cheerful acceptance, but it can go a long way in helping the victim to cope.

The cause of male hair loss in the vast majority of men is genetic, or a trait inherited from one’s parents. Basically, if one’s family is genetically predisposed to male hair loss, the hormones that developed masculine traits during puberty will begin working against oneself at some point, causing hair to thin and fall out. A certain gene causes the hair follicles to change after puberty, although hair loss may occur until much later. As a man matures, a form of testosterone called DHT begins to rise, and the already affected hair follicles to function less effectively. The hormone imbalance caused by the DHT causes the hair follicle to work less and less, causing the hair that grows there to grow thinner and eventually die and fall out.

This process is called “androgenetic alopecia” by the medical establishment, but many men have much more colorful names for it. Of course, anyone watching late night television knows that there are many hair loss remedies marketed to men and often women. Some medical treatments include the FDA approved Rogaine and Propecia, retail names for the drugs minoxidil and finesteride, respectively. Many companies market hair thickeners and gels, designed to help the hair remaining look thicker, but not providing a solution to the underlying problem.

Of course, there are many “natural” and herbal treatments that claim to regrow hair, some more effective than others. Billions of dollars are spent each year on these treatments. Many men choose hair replacement, plugs or reseeding and some even try a toupee.

Understanding male genetic hair loss is necessarily the first step to searching for a hair loss remedy or even one’s acceptance of baldness. The ultimate goal in either situation is to eliminate male hair loss as a cause of one’s emotional stress.

Evelyn Lim owns and manages an article directory, with more than 100 topic categories and a growing database of articles. To submit your articles or for reprint articles, please visit ArticleMap.com.

Have you ever been to a medical doctor with persistent health symptoms, but the doctor can’t see anything wrong and all the expensive lab tests merely determine nothing’s there?

YOU know something’s wrong though, because you are on the receiving end of the pounding headaches, the uncontrollable twitches in your arms and legs followed by shooting pains. YOU are the one who cannot get a good night’s sleep. YOU know you are experiencing heart palpitations, dizziness, and blurred vision. And YOU are tired of STRESS as the blame while your doctor suggests you see a psychotherapist.

Well, your body can tell you what traditional medicine cannot…but you have to pay attention to what it’s trying to translate using those disturbing health symptoms. Two ways to understand your body’s “cries for help” are to remove ALL foreign, man-made food chemicals from your diet, clean-up your outside environment, and get a hair analysis to determine what’s going on inside of you.

The protein in your hair holds the composition of your body’s tissues for a permanent period of time. This is why hair testing is used in forensic medicine. By analyzing toxin and nutrient levels using a hair analysis, a trained nutritionist can typically tell what toxins have accumulated in your body and what vitamins and minerals are depleted (in turn, causing an imbalance in body function). The hair analysis can clearly spell out what your body is trying to tell you using its symptomatic warning signs such as those nasty migraine headaches.

Humans are exposed to over 14,000 food chemicals daily. And, this doesn’t take into account the abundant environmental toxins we are exposed to. The hair analysis is an excellent tool to identify specifically which toxins are inside your body and what vitamins and minerals they may have depleted.

As I discovered through my own disease recovery from an inaccurate diagnosis of “Graves’ Disease,” I couldn’t fight what I couldn’t see. It wasn’t probable I would cure my disease if no one knew the cause, and unfortunately my internist didn’t have a clue as to what caused my thyroid symptoms. The hair analysis was the “road map” I used to see what was going on inside of my body, and it helped me save my thyroid gland. I cured my “incurable disease” in thirty days.

In most cases, the hair analysis can mark the root cause(s) of illness. But, the key to a good hair analysis is in the interpretation - a lost art amid traditional medicine, yet a critical step in disease recovery.

For more information about the benefits of a hair analysis or to submit a hair sample, contact Dr. Hull at JanetHull.com or HairAnalysisProgram.com.

Dr. Janet Starr Hull publishes a monthly health newsletter covering a wide range of important health topics. To sign up for her free newsletter or to view past articles, visit http://www.janethull.com/newsletter/index.php.

An artificial sweetener expert, Dr. Hull is the author of “Sweet Poison” an expose on the dangers of aspartame, and “Splenda®: Is It Safe Or Not?”, her newest book on the dangers of sucralose found in Splenda. Dr. Hull also features her detoxification program and Detox Kit, proven highly effective in cleansing the body of food chemicals and environmental toxins.

Finding the right hairstyle for that special occasion can be a big chore. No matter whether it is your wedding day or a formal work party, looking your best is always your top priority and you pay just as much attention to your hair as you do your dress. So, how can you find perfect updos and formal styles to suit your individual personality and style of dress?

Probably the best place to start is online. There are literally hundreds of photo galleries dedicated to updos and formal hairstyles alone. By browsing these sites, you can find numerous styles and print them out so that you can share them with your stylist. All you need to do to find these photo galleries is perform a quick search for updos in your favorite search engine. Many of these sites also have how to articles to help you do your hair yourself at home.

Another great way to find unique formal styles is to browse through your salon’s style books and portfolios. In most salons, there are stylists that specialize in different updo techniques. A salon might have one stylist who can create amazing braided and basket weaved updos whereas another stylist may be able to create sleek timeless classics perfectly. By looking through a portfolio and seeing each stylist’s actual work, you can get a feel of whether or not their style would suit your preferences. And you can get a glimpse of signature styles that you cannot find anywhere else.

You can also find photos and how to articles in many magazines that are geared toward wedding preparations. Hair style magazines also come out with an updo issue occasionally.

Once you have found a good source of formal hairstyle photos, you need to narrow your choices down to a few favorites. When doing this, pay attention to the model’s hair. If she has extremely thick hair, you may not be able to achieve quite the same look if your hair is thin and fine and vice versa.

After you have narrowed down your choices, begin experimenting with the different styles by pulling your hair up in mock positions. Find one or two combinations that you think would look the best and take them to your hairdresser for a trial run.

Granted, finding a style this way rather than letting your stylist have his or her lead may take a little bit of time, but when you help in the planning process, you will ensure that you get a perfect formal do that will be the envy of the party.

Jenny Andrews is a hair expert, and the author of an incredible free minicourse, that explains how to find your unique style, how long or short you should have your hair, how to find the right hair color for you, how to find the right salon, and a lot more. Go to HairStyleVillage.com now and get this amazing hair minicourse – absolutely free.

Most of us have heard that too much hat-wearing or poor circulation to the scalp can cause hair loss. Theses causes all have been proven to be myths, and the real causes of hair loss are stress, health, and hormones.

Stress can cause your hair to literally fall out. Usually the hair loss occurs 3 months after you`ve gone through the stressful period. Then you will need another 3 months after you begin losing hair for your hair growth to begin again ( if the stress has been diffused ). Your bodies built in healing process considers your emotional problem so important, that it ignores your hair putting it into a resting phase. This resting phase is known as Telogen Effluvium. Stress can also trigger genetic hair loss. If your already losing hair stress will cause you to lose hair even faster. So stress plays a big role in hair loss, keep your blood pressure down!

Health is also a factor in hair loss. Damaged blood vessel linings can inhibit your hair growth. This is because these blood vessel linings normaly produce endothelium-derived relaxing factor (E.D.R.F.) or nitric oxide (N.O.). Studies also show that there is a strong relationship between people with heart disease experienceing hair loss. Also, diabetics have a higher risk of experiencing hair loss.

Lastly, male hormones called dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is known to be the most common reason for male pattern hair loss. DHT is produced from testosterone which is produced by the enzyme 5-apha reductase. DHT has a very high affinity being up to ten times more potent than testosterone. Your DHT hormones can be balanced which medication, these medications will resurrect your hair follicles bringing them out of their resting phase and your hair will begin to grow again. The most popular hair loss medication is Propecia, Propecia can be bought through the online pharmacy I will link to at the bottom of this article. An inbalance of DHT triggers and autoimmune response in pattern loss, which initiates an attack on your hair follices. Gradually your hair follices will become inflammed putting your hair in a resting phase which causes hair to only fall out not grow.

Half of the men and women in just the U.S. suffer from hair loss. The good news is hair loss is no longer something you have to live with. There are many treatments out there, some will correct the inbalance of DHT in your body to allow you to grow your own hair again, some simply need patience or counseling, and of course you can turn to expensive hair transplant surgery. But why get to this point, just know the three factors that cause hair loss and your chances of having a full head of hair, go way up!

Nick Phagan is a health expert representing MyQualityMeds.com online Mexican pharmacy where you can order Propecia for less at http://www.myqualitymeds.com/finasteride_propecia.html.

Waxing is a popular hair removal process for both males and females these days. It’s a method that can be done at your convenience in your home or by a professional at select salons and spas.

Depending on your particular skin, hair type and rate of hair growth, waxing has been known to provide smooth results as long as 3-8 weeks and is suggested as the longest lasting temporary hair removal method.

While there are people who say this method of hair removal is not as painful as it sounds, basically, the waxing solution wraps around the hair and then is pulled. Pulling the hair and its roots out.

If you’re concerned about pain, you can purchase a pain reducing gel or anesthetic numbing spray from your pharmacist, which needs to be applied thirty to sixty minutes before waxing.

And if you have problems with acne, avoid any type of waxing until your skin is clear.

If you’re not totally committed to following through the waxing process, no matter how much it hurts, you may just want to go to a salon and let a professional do it for you. But be aware that waxing at a salon can get pretty pricey, especially if you want to remove hair from large areas. Just to give you an idea, usually it’s about twenty five dollars for bikini line hair removal.

Today, there are several kinds of waxing hair removal products available - With warm waxing being the most often used.

Cold wax comes in a paste or gel that isn’t heated before applying it to the skin. Getting the wax from the container and controlling the thickness to the skin is what makes most cold waxes so messy. It’s not quite as effective and less preferred than a warm wax. But if you have sensitive skin, a cold wax causes less skin irritations.

If you choose to use a waxing hair removal product at home, read all instructions that come with your kit carefully.

Always test a small area of skin for sensitivity or an allergic reaction.

Your hair needs to be a little bit long, about an 1/8″, for the best results with this type of hair removal product. So if your hairs are longer, trim them down. If shorter, allow them to grow in a bit.

With this method of hair removal, you don’t want to bathe beforehand. Hair absorbs moisture which makes it soft and harder for the wax to adhere to. Dry hair is tough and/so easier to pull off. Lightly powder your skin to absorb moisture and natural oils. This will keep hairs easier to pull, which will limit inflammation.

Some people exfoliate the area before waxing to remove dead skin cells that can contribute to ingrown hairs.

Do not overheat the wax. You don’t want to burn your skin. Lower the temperature of the wax for facial hair and only use it on one small area at a time.

The consistency of the wax should be soft, not runny.

Hair removal by waxing can break the hair, which is a main cause of ingrown hairs.

To avoid ingrown hairs, apply a thin layer of wax in the direction the hair grows. If you’re using a strip over the wax, rub it in the same direction. Leave about one third of the strip free so you can get a good grip for pulling it off fast.

Pull your skin taut and then pull the strip back, not up or out, in one smooth movement. Don’t be timid - Slight pulls will only leave patchy areas as well as cause more pain.

After waxing, remove any excess wax with a warm moist towel, being careful not to touch the skin with your hands, which might cause an infection.

When skin is freshly waxed, limit creating ingrown hairs and other skin irritations by not wearing tight clothing around the area.

Another way to limit severe skin problems after using a waxing hair removal product is to exfoliate the skin one to two days later. This will help prevent dead skin cells from building up.

Be careful not to expose the newly waxed area to the sun for at least forty eight hours or the skin may darken, but not in a good way. And always use a good sun blocker thereafter.

Be aware - Using a waxing hair removal product usually leaves a redness, so if you’re doing it for a special occasion, do it a couple of days beforehand.

Now, if you decide waxing may not be for you, there are alternatives. Do some research and you’ll find other hair removal products that are not quite as, uh, “intense”.

Visit a1-hair-removal-product.com for more hair removal product information.

Bodworx International presents hair removal product tips and the latest data for removing hair from your entire body. Visit them at their hair removal product website at a1-hair-removal-product.com for more information.

It doesn’t matter who we are, a famous star or just ordinary people, we all have things that we don’t like about ourselves. The meteoric rise of the cosmetic surgery industry attests to the fact that there are a lot of people who don’t like something about themselves enough to pay lots of money and go through immense agony to change it. I was cursed with bad hair. I often look at those models on TV and wonder why I didn’t get thick, shiny Alberto shampoo hair. But perhaps the problem isn’t with hair, or whatever you don’t like about yourself; perhaps we are comparing ourselves to unreal examples and focusing too much on what isn’t perfect.

I was watching an interview with a super model. The interviewer asked this near perfect woman what she didn’t like about herself. I was thinking, what was there not to like, but she said she didn’t like her feet. She had very ugly feet and it really bothered her. At first I thought, “Oh please! Couldn’t you come up with something better than that?” But the fact here was this picture perfect woman who, instead of focusing on all that she had going for her, was lamenting about her ugly feet. I saw Cindy Crawford in an interview once and they asked her what she said to people who lamented that they don’t look like her. She replied, “I don’t look like me without all this makeup.” So, although Cindy looks perfect when we see her, it isn’t without a lot of help and foundation. Jane Fonda once replied to an interviewer that asked her how she managed to stay looking so good, “I eat right, exercise and spend lots of money.” So perhaps it isn’t that bad hair happens to good people (or whatever you don’t like about yourself). It may be that we have a lot that is really good. We are just too busy focusing on what we don’t like and comparing it to unrealistic examples.

When I am honest with myself, and not obsessing about my hair, there is plenty that I have been blessed with. One big blessing is my health. I think people take their health for granted until it is too late. Trust me! Those I know with health challenges would trade their hair for my health any day. I also have amazing teeth. I was born with perfect teeth. They are white, strong and straight. People always compliment me on them and sometimes think my teeth are capped or otherwise altered, but they’re mine. I also have fabulous skin. I am not sure why I have such great skin because as a young person it was not uncommon for me to spend hours on the beach soaked in baby oil laying on foil trying to get a tan. I don’t tan easily, but somehow my skin survived the torture and looks great. So there really are things I have that are good, even great, but I tend to focus on what I don’t like about myself, and I believe there lays the problem. Instead of focusing on what you don’t like or have, focusing on what you love about yourself might just give you a different perspective.

We all have great features and we have some not so great features. But if all you ever do is focus on what you don’t like, that is the only thing you are ever going to see. If instead of obsessing over whatever it is you don’t like about yourself, focus on what you do like and what is good or even great about you. You are not just your hair, or nose or whatever it is you don’t like. You are an entire package made up of lots of great attributes and features. Begin to focus on what you like and you will be surprised how those features will begin to become more prominent.

Coach Rachelle Disbennett-Lee, PhD, is a Certified Master Coach specializing in working with business owners and professionals in being more profitable and productive while staying sane and balanced. Coach Lee is the publisher of the award winning e-zine, 365 Days of Coaching. Her first book, 365 Days of Coaching – Because Life Happens Every Day (Universal Publisher, 2004) was named a finalist for Best Book 2004 by Publish.com and has a five star rating on Amazon.com. Visit Coach Lee at her websites CoachLee.com and 365DaysOfCoaching.com. True Direction, Inc. Copyright