An increasing number of men are dealing with different stages of hair loss. While there are a ton of products and many expensive procedures to help you get your hair back, it’s important to take action while you still have it in the first place. Below are five crucial tips that experts recommend to help you proactively prevent hair loss. Check them out!

1. Don’t Wait. Start ASAP

When it comes to hair loss prevention, experts are unanimous — start as early as possible. The moment you start noticing your hair is shedding more than usual — whether you see more hairs on your comb or feel like your hairline is changing, it’s time to take action. Dr. Michele Green, an NYC dermatologist, says that seeking hair loss treatment in its early stages can really increase its efficacy and minimize the overall loss.

2. Make a Plan and Stick to It

Now that you’ve noticed the first signs of hair loss, it’s time to consult with a board-certified dermatologist and explore all prevention and treatment options. Keep in mind that not all treatments are effective for each person, and some require a significant budget. Generally, there are four main options to consider:

1. Finasteride — it disrupts hair growth and helps increase the rest period of your hair.
2. Minoxidil — it works by strengthening and thickening your hair follicles.
3. PRP — it stands for “platelet-rich plasma,” which uses your blood’s platelets to stimulate hair growth.
4. Low-Level Laser Therapy — LLLT uses lasers to stimulate cellular growth in the scalp.

3. Consider Adding Supplements to the Diet

If you already follow a nutrient-rich and balanced diet, you won’t have to add extra supplements to your everyday regime because you will naturally be supplying your body with the necessary vitamins and minerals. It’s important to add B complex, Zinc, collagen, saw palmetto, and ashwagandha to your diet to stimulate hair growth and strength. Consult with your dermatologist on the type of supplements necessary in your case.

4. Focus on the Hair Care Regimen

Just because you’re using a hair loss shampoo, it doesn’t mean you won’t lose your hair. These types of products fall into the “can’t hurt to have” category, but they’re far from enough. What you can do, however, to prevent or weaken the hair loss process is to look for products that have saw palmetto and/or pumpkin seed oil as these ingredients are known to help strengthen the follicles. It’s important to use these types of hair care products long-term and not just “when you feel like it.”

5. Try to Minimize Stress and Bad Habits

It’s no secret that stress and hair loss are directly related. The same goes for lack of sleep, keeping a poor diet, overworking yourself, and living in a polluted environment. If you’re serious about preventing hair loss, you need to minimize the levels of stress you experience on a daily basis. When you’re stressed, your body releases hormones that disrupt the hair growth cycle. As a result, your hair growth is hindered, and you begin to notice thinning or shedding of hair.

While you can’t eliminate stress, you can work on reducing your bad habits and focusing on getting rest, frequent exercising, healthy eating, and staying hydrated. In turn, this can stifle your stress. Make sure to add food rich in protein, oils, and nutrients to help nourish your body and scalp. You got this!

Attending college can be a stressful experience for many young adults. This makes it all the more important to ensure proper attention to mental health through resources such as professional counseling. However, parents can also play a significant role in that regard, which is why understanding the following five points can be invaluable.

Counseling Centers in College Don’t Always Meet Requirements

The associate director of the Center for Counseling and Psychological Service Brett E. Scofield, Ph.D., at Penn State University, explains how the demand for college counseling services has been increasing over the past few decades. The issue is that the treatment capacity at most colleges doesn’t cover demand. That’s why it’s a good idea for parents to investigate their children’s colleges of interest and find out what mental health services are made available.

Open the Doors to Communication

Just because they’re all grown up and off to their preferred colleges doesn’t mean that kids, now young adults, don’t care about their parent’s options anymore. Most young adults still require and appreciate the reassurance that their parents can offer. It’s important to keep lines of communication open, be there when your child needs to talk things out, listen, and advise in a way that helps them navigate their own problems and make their own decisions.

Let Young Adults Advocate for Themselves

Once they’re in college, it’s good to start letting kids take over some of the things parents used to handle for them, such as scheduling dentist and doctor’s appointments. When it comes to matters of mental health, young adults might need a bit of encouragement to remove any stigma or embarrassment of making an appointment with a counselor. It’s good to check if their school offers the Let’s Talk resource that lets kids drop in and talk about anything from exam-related stress to arguments with friends, and more.

Offer Support and Grow Closer

It’s good for parents to remember their college experiences and understand what their kids are going through. Besides being an academic mission, it’s also a time of self-discovery, personal development, and building new relationships. This doesn’t necessarily lead to trouble but mental health counselors are there to implement risk-reduction models to talk through problems and reinforce safe behavior.

Colleges Take Mental Health Seriously

Struggles are a normal part of life and going through them with guidance and support from counselors and parents helps young adults learn from each pitfall and emerge stronger. In today’s age, mental health is a topic that’s more openly talked about than ever before, especially among the younger generations and colleges are taking mental health quite seriously.