Can Wearing Headphones Cause Hair Loss? Understanding the Facts

Losing hair is a major concern that affects everyone. Approximately 80% of men and 50% of women experience hair loss during their life. It's really heart-wrenching, and rightly so. No one wants to have bald patches or a receding hairline on their head. 

Unfortunately, you can also suffer from this bad experience. However, if you can understand the mysterious cause behind it, you may get the key to preventing hair loss or at least minimize its effect. Out of many reasons, one possible culprit can be wearing headphones. Wondering how can wearing headphones cause hair loss? So, without further ado, let's go down the rabbit hole! 

What Causes Hair Loss?

Before any further digging about can wearing headphones cause hair loss, we need to understand other common hair loss reasons to give you a cause that fits your condition the best. 

Common Reasons for Hair Loss

Besides wearing headphones, there can be a number of natural and accidental causes for hair loss. Here, we have listed the most common culprits that may be the cause of your hair fall:

• Traction alopecia– if you often wear your hair tight in braids, buns, or ponytails, chances are you lose hair due to excessive pulling. 

• Genetics– your genes play a significant role in patterned baldness, which may or may not put you at risk of hair fall at some point in your life. 

• Medical treatment– chemotherapy or similar medical treatments are known for causing temporary or sometimes permanent hair loss.

• Mental health– too much stress or pressure from mental exhaustion can make your hair fall rapidly, causing temporary baldness.

• Poor nutrition– like your body, your hair needs nutrition as well. A poor and unbalanced diet can cause your hair to fall out.

• Age– aging is a natural cause of hair loss. Most people experience thinning hair or a receding hairline in their 50s. 

• Medical conditions– thyroid, infections, and autoimmune diseases are known culprits of hair loss.

• Accidental scarring– if you have experienced an accident and had head injuries or burns, chances are scarring on those sites may create bald spots.

Temporary vs. Permanent Hair Loss

If you are already losing your hair, there might be some hope left for you, as not all types of hair loss are permanent. Many times, if you deal with the underlying cause, your hair will start to grow back. However, some causes are not reversible like aging, genetics, medical conditions, scarring, or hormonal imbalance. 

The Connection between Headphones and Hair Loss

You must be worried, knowing wearing headphones can cause baldness, right? It's surely a regular part of your life to wear headphones during walks, traveling, or just chilling in your room. So, let’s take a closer look and take care of all your worries with tips to avoid hair loss due to headphones. 

Can Wearing Headphones Cause Hair Loss?

Honestly speaking, it does not. However, there are a few ways. So, let's find out when can wearing headphones cause hair loss. 

Mostly, we don't use headphones for much longer. Generally, it’s for a couple of hours, or if you really go overboard, it still stays under a few hours. However, if you are into some serious business, such as radio hosting, telemarketing, streaming, or gaming, you are more likely to lose your hair due to constant moving, stretching, and tension. 

Traction Alopecia: A Hair Loss Risk to Watch for

If your hairs are under constant tension, it may risk traction alopecia. Besides wearing tight hairstyles, wearing a headband can also cause this. Using a headphone with a very tight headband may pull on your hair and can cause traction alopecia. 

Myths vs. Reality: Headphones and Hair Loss

Although wearing headphones does risk hair loss, there are some myths surrounding the question, "Can wearing headphones cause hair loss?". So, let's weed out these myths from facts:

How to Prevent Hair Loss while Using Headphones

We have carefully answered the burning question "Can wearing headphones cause hair loss?". Although the answer is a disappointed yes, there are ways you can prevent hair loss due to headphones. 

Choosing the Right Headphones

Using open-ear headphones of high quality is the best choice to minimize hair loss. You can pick one that fits you perfectly, like the OpenFit Air. Open-ear headphones have interesting features that reduce the risk of hair loss. 

• Bone Conduction Technology: Open-ear headphones use bone conduction technology to transmit sound, meaning no ear cups to pull your hairline. 

• Quality material: These headphones are made with quality material like silicon to prevent your hair from breaking due to rubbing or friction.

• No overhead band: Instead of overhead bands which pull hair, they wrap around your ear, preventing any hair loss.

Adjusting Your Headphone Usage Habits

You can also minimize hair loss by adjusting your headphone usage. The following tips will significantly reduce the risk of hair loss due to wearing headphones:

• Take breaks while wearing headphones to reduce tension.

• Keep your hair and scalp clean to minimize friction breakage.

• Try to wear headphones that wrap around instead of pushing down the crown. 

• Minimize friction by wearing some kind of fabric underneath.

Wrapping Up!

So, now you know the answer to "Can wearing headphones cause hair loss?". Although the answer can be a disappointing yes at times. You can reduce the risk by following a few tips. But you should assess first what is causing this hair fall as there are many other reasons for it as well. 

However, if the reason is headphones, you should simply switch to a model that does not add tension to your head, like the OpenFit Air. you can find the best open-ear bone conduction headphones at Shokz that will surely reduce the risk of hair loss from headphones.