Life & Beauty Weekly: Healthy You

Making Sense of Hair Loss and Scalp Conditions

By Elizabeth Hurchalla for Life & Beauty Weekly

“My hair was falling out in what seemed like handfuls,” says 31-year-old Samantha Ames*, who began losing her hair 10 years ago. “I even started showering in the dark to avoid seeing all the hair go down the drain.”

To women, hair is often a huge part of our self-image and what makes us feel attractive. Hair loss isn’t merely scary, it’s traumatic. Even the prospect of losing it can make you, well, lose it.

“There’s a stigma attached to women who lose their hair. When I began to lose my hair, I began to lose myself,” says Ames, who founded a Web site called the Women’s Hair Loss Project to unite and support women who find themselves with the same condition.

Yet even though she does a lot to help others with hair loss, she herself does not reveal her true identity publicly. No one who follows the blog or joins the support network knows her real name.

“I’m anonymous so I can be completely honest about my own hair loss situation,” says Ames. “That’s something I would never be able to do if I lived with the fear that a family member or co-worker could Google my name and find out my innermost thoughts.”

Understanding Hair Loss and Scalp Conditions
As with any issue we face, when it comes to hair loss, the more information you have, the better you can deal with the myriad feelings that arise if you start seeing more hair in your drain. Read on to learn about three common types of hair loss -- and what you can do.

1. If you lose about 100 hairs a day …

Diagnosis: normal hair loss
Finding some hair in your shower drain or brush is nothing to worry about. It’s considered normal and a part of the regular growth cycle. “Hair grows for approximately three years, sits dormant for three months, then falls out,” says Dr. Jeffrey Epstein, a hair restoration surgeon in Miami and New York.

What to do: If you’re worried you’re losing too much, gently tug on about 50 strands of hair. If more than one or two come out, you may have abnormal shedding.

2. If your hair falls out after childbirth, an illness or stressful event …

Diagnosis: telogen effluvium
Hair can be affected by any significant shock to the system, including a high fever, starting or stopping use of birth control pills, having surgery or experiencing some other stressor, either psychological or physical.

What happens: The stress causes a significant portion of hair follicles on the scalp to transfer from the growing phase to the dormant phase, called telogen. Six weeks later, those hairs start shedding en masse and can continue falling out for several weeks or even months.

Although it’s alarming to wake up with lost hair on your pillow morning after morning, rest assured that new strands start growing immediately after hair falls out. Plus, since telogen effluvium causes shedding all over, it’s unlikely anyone else will even notice. In most cases, hair is back to normal within six months of when the hair loss started.

During this time of regrowth, it’s important to continue treatment of any scalp conditions. “Inflammatory scalp conditions such as psoriasis or dandruff can reduce the rate at which hair that has fallen out gets replaced,” says hair-and-scalp expert James Schwartz, who holds a doctorate in chemistry. “It’s similar to a plant that’s growing in soil: If the soil is unhealthy, plants tend not to look so good either.”

What to do: Watch for baby-fine strands around your hairline -- the first sign hair is growing back. It’s a good idea to confirm the diagnosis with a dermatologist who specializes in hair loss.

3. If the part in your hair gradually grows wider …

Diagnosis: female pattern hair loss
“One of the earliest signs of female pattern hair loss is seeing more scalp when you part your hair,” says Epstein. “Or your ponytail feels lighter, or your hair is thinner on top and at your hairline.”

Hormonal changes cause most women a little thinning as they get older, which may make your scalp slightly more visible through your hair or at the part. But some women are more sensitive to the changes and are genetically predisposed to significant hair loss. You might experience more extreme, noticeable thinning, and hair loss could start as early as your teenage years.

Although the trait can be passed down from either side, the maternal side is the best predictor. That means if your mother suffers from hair loss, you probably will too.

Life & Beauty Weekly: Happy You

Stand up for Yourself (Without Creating Conflict!)

By Elizabeth Hurchalla for Life & Beauty Weekly

When you’re juggling work, family and other responsibilities, adopting a go-with-the-flow attitude can make things easier. But the tactic may backfire: If you never stand up for yourself, you’ll never get what you need or want -- and you may end up feeling helpless.

Fortunately, there are ways you can stand up for yourself without alienating others or creating conflict. One rule, regardless of the situation: Always begin with “I” statements, such as “I feel … ” or “I’m worried about … ,” says Helene Rothschild, a marriage and family therapist in San Jose, Calif. That way, you’re taking responsibility for your feelings rather than blaming someone.

Life & Beauty Weekly: Happy You

Family Room Clutter Busters

By Elizabeth Hurchalla for Life & Beauty Weekly

Your family room or living room is the one place your whole clan comes together to hang out. And, as such, it’s probably the default dumping ground for everyone’s stuff. If your family is like most families, that means clutter and disorganization.

But you can transform this room from the messiest area in your home to the organized, relaxing family haven you desire. Here’s how:

1. Get rid of what doesn’t belong.
Think about the function of the room, says Lorie Marrero, author of The Clutter Diet and founder of the Web site ClutterDiet.com. How do you use the space? Most people use family rooms to watch TV and movies, listen to music, read, talk, play games and play with toys.

Start by going through each item with that in mind. Keep what fits and move out what doesn’t. That means board games, magazines and DVDs are in; backpacks, a briefcase, mail, keys, cold medicine and other miscellaneous items are out.

2. Sort your stuff.
Focusing on the stuff that you decided to keep, sort everything by how often you use each item, advises Marrero.

Things your family uses daily or almost every day (magazines, remotes, toys, etc.) should be easily accessible. Items you use a few times a month (playing cards, scrapbooks) can go out of the way in a cabinet or drawer. Gather anything you rarely need (holiday decorations, your grandmother’s tablecloth, old report cards) into storage bins and send them off to the garage, closet, attic or basement.

3. Ditch DVD and CD cases.
One of the quickest ways for a room to look and feel neater is to transfer discs to CD wallets or binders and get rid of the cases by either recycling them or donating them to charity. This way, you convert many shelves of storage or display space to just a few inches, and your CDs remain accessible. In fact, it’s even easier to find the CD you need. “Because you flip through binders like a book, it’s easier to find specific discs,” says Marrero.

4. Clear the coffee table.
Because of its prominent spot in the room, the coffee table can amass clutter and make an otherwise tidy room feel disorganized. Here are some ideas on how to deal with the messy inhabitants:

• Move magazines. Magazines and catalogs can easily pile up. Place them in a basket in a corner, instead. It serves as a natural “limiting container,” says Marrero. “When the basket is full, it’s a visual reminder to clean it out.”
• Rein in remote controls. A universal remote is an extra expense, but what you spend to turn four remotes into one, you’ll earn back in sanity. Also, give it a designated home: Attach the soft side of Velcro to the back of the remote and stick the rough piece to the side of the sofa or another easy-to-reach, hidden spot.

5. Tidy up toys.
Some people think that all toys can be thrown into one place, but if you want to stay organized, that might not be the best strategy. “One big toy box encourages kids to dump the whole thing out,” warns Marrero. And then what do you have? Clutter city! Instead, store toys in small containers by type -- one bin for dolls, one for blocks, one for games, and so on. And skip lids if possible. “Using open bins means that kids can just throw things in, making cleanup easier for everyone,” says Marrero.

6. Corral your cords.
A mess of exposed electrical cords is just that -- a mess. Fish cords through the back of furniture and use Velcro cable ties or even garbage-bag twist ties to bundle them. “That way, they don’t become a giant octopus,” says Marrero. Attach label stickers on the ends so you can unplug one electronic without the guessing game.

7. Stay clutter-free.
Once the room is organized, keep it that way!

• Stop collecting stuff. “Try to prevent things from coming into the room in the first place,” says Marrero. Unsubscribe from magazines you rarely read, and buy music or movies online instead of getting them in discs. And, before you buy anything new, ask yourself, “Where am I going to store this?”

• Think beyond the family room. If items like backpacks and mail keep showing up, give them a permanent home elsewhere. Create what Marrero calls a “destination station.” Hang hooks by the door for keys, put a basket in the hall for mail and give purses, backpacks and shoes space in your mud room or hall closet.

• Straighten up on the spot. “Organizing is about decision making,” says Marrero. It’s easy to put an item somewhere “just for now.” But doing so instantly creates clutter. The rule: Put items away as soon as you finish with them, and find suitable homes for new things right away.

• Enlist your family’s help. Talk about maintaining the order, then post a checklist reminding your kids that they have to put away toys, homework and other stuff before they can watch TV. Or set a policy that everyone spends five minutes before bed to get organized -- folding blankets, putting back the remote, picking up socks and so on.

Every Day Connected: Socialize

4 Steps to Quicker Photo Sharing

By Tara Swords for Every Day Connected

Like most people on vacation, you run amok with your digital camera knowing that you can delete the photos you don’t like later. You know what happens next: You don’t delete anything. You come home, download the photos from your camera to your computer, and then publish every last one of them to Shutterfly. Now everybody on your friend list is slogging through the blurry outtakes of you with your eyes closed.

The alternative isn’t to waste hours editing your photos down to a more manageable, audience-worthy bunch. Try these tips to get it done in a few minutes. (Your friends and family will thank you.)

Step No. 1: Tag the good photos.
After you download your pics to your computer, scan them quickly and mark the good ones. If you use Windows Vista or a more recent version of Windows, you can assign keywords -- which are called tags -- to files. Tag the good ones with “Good” or “Share” or anything you want. If you have a Mac, you can label files by doing a two-finger tap on the file name and selecting a color (or get a third-party app like Tags). Then, just drag the good photos to a subfolder.

If you have five shots of yourself holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa, pick just one. Don’t agonize over this part. Nobody will be as enamored with your vacation photos as you are.

Step No. 2: Batch-edit your photos.
If you have local photo-editing software -- such as Lightroom, Photoshop Elements or Aperture -- you can apply edits to all of your photos with a single command. This is called batch editing, and it’s ideal for functions such as removing red-eye, converting to black-and-white or bumping up your exposure when your images are too dark. You just tell the program where your photos are, select an action and sit back. In a few minutes, the software does the work for you. You can take advantage of batch editing with some online photo services too, such as Google’s Picasa.