Doctor Yu’s Clinical Notes XII: Restore Your Hair Growth Energy | 快速治疗脱发的秘诀

Previously we have discussed several important factors affecting hair loss, such as sleep, emotion, and nutrition. Dealing with these factors is crucial to let the hair stop falling and start growing again. Obviously there are other factors that may cause hair loss, such as age, inheritance, drug effects, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and body condition, etc.

Traditional Chinese Medicine has done extensive studies about age and hair loss. Normally, the women’s hair has a cycle of 7 years. A young girl’s hair starts growing long and shiny at the age of 7, and her hair is at the best condition at the age of 28. When she is 35-year-old, the hair will start to become thin and less shiny. At the age of 42, she will start to grow white hair. For men the cycle is set at 8 years. A man’s hair starts to mature at the age of 8, and reaches the peak at the age of 32. The hair deteriorates after he is 40, and white hair appears after 48. At the age of 64, most men would have thin hair. This is the law of nature that is found in TCM, and no one can alter the law.

Now some of you probably would ask why some obviously elderly people still have thick shinny hair. The reason is simple. In the cycle of hair, a kind of energy plays a leading role. This is the “Kidney Qi” and in TCM it is considered coming from the “Kidney”. This Qi is very important. If this Qi can be continuously restored, the hair can be healthy and one’s overall health may also be improved. If you are interested, try to search for “Kidney Qi”. You will find many in-depth explanations online.

Conversely, if the Kidney does not have enough Qi, or in other words when the Kidney is weak, the hair would become thin and less shiny. Normally there would also be other conditions such as back pain, weak lower limbs, cold limbs, weak urinating, frequent urinating, fatigue, diminished sexual function, and diminished memory etc.

Taixi Point

Here I would like to introduce a useful acupuncture point to strengthen the Kidney for hair loss patients--- the Taixi point. It is located at the depression between the internal ankle and the tendon behind it. This is the most frequently used point to strengthen the kidney in my practice. There are many TCM doctors throughout the history keep emphasizing the importance of the point. A prominent acupuncture professor of the modern times also used this point to treat diseases caused by weak kidney and achieved exceptional effects. This point can be located easily and is also my favourite. If a hair loss patient who also has weak kidney condition can consistently press the point daily for years, his health will be greatly benefited.

Hair loss associated with weak kidney often appears as thin, soft hair that turns white at early age. It can also be accompanied by fatigue or back pain. There is another kind of hair loss called alopecia, which often shows areas of circle or eclipse bald areas on the head. How can we treat this kind of hair loss with acupuncture? Which acupuncture points and methods should we use? Let us talk about it next time.

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在之前的文章里，我们逐一讨论过导致脱发的几个重要因素，例如睡眠、情绪、营养等，治疗这些因素是让头发停止脱落，重新再生的关键。当然，除了这些因素，还有很多其他的因素可导致脱发，例如年龄、家庭遗传、药物、肿瘤化疗、放疗、自身体质等等。

关于年龄与脱发的关系，中医早有论述。一般来说，女性在七岁时头发开始长长，变的美丽而有光泽，到二十八岁时头发是最好的时期。女人的头发以七年为一个周期发生变化。到三十五岁时头发就开始变薄，光泽也变差了。到四十二岁左右，白发就开始产生了。对于男性来说，头发以八年为周期变化，从八岁开始头发开始变厚变漂亮，到三十二岁头发就发展到了巅峰。四十岁开始头发就开始变薄变细，光泽开始变差，四十八岁开始两鬓有白发生成，到六十四岁开始头发就开始变得稀疏了。这些都是古代中医对人体自然规律的总结，没有人可以改变这个规律。

一定有人会问，为什么有的人年岁很大，但依然满头浓密的头发呢？其实道理很简单，在头发变化的规律之中，有一种能量起着主导的作用。这种能量中医认为是从肾脏而来，称为“肾气”。如果这种能量得到不断的补充，不仅头发会保持长久的健康，身体也会相应的健康长寿。有兴趣的读者可以在网络上搜一下“肾气”，就会懂得其中的重要性，很多网络上的描述非常清晰。

如果肾的能量不足，即肾气虚时，除了头发提前变稀变薄，光泽变差之外，一般还会有腰疼、下肢乏力、小便清长、尿频而无力、四肢发凉、性功能减弱、精力不足、记忆力变差等等症状。

这里我想介绍一下我给脱发病人常用的一个补肾穴位：

太溪：太溪穴位与足内踝高点和肌腱之间的凹陷中。这个穴位是临床上我最常用的补肾穴。从古到今，有不知多少医学家反复强调这个穴位的重要性。现代的一个著名的针灸教授用这个穴位治疗各种肾虚引起的疾病效果非凡。这个穴位非常容易取得，也是我的最爱。如果有脱发伴有肾虚的病人，都可以每天掐按此穴。如能长期坚持，数年后身体将获益不浅。

肾虚脱发的特点是头发细薄，软，早白，伴随腰疼乏力等。还有一种脱发叫斑秃，呈现为一片片的圆形脱发。用什么穴位和方法治疗这种脱发呢？我们下次再讲。