Hair Powder for Bald Spots: Good or Bad Idea?

Hair Powder for Bald Spots: Good or Bad Idea?
Hair Powder For Bald Spots: Good Or Bad Idea?

Having bald spots or areas where your hair is obviously thin can be embarrassing.

While the most obvious solution is to encourage your hair growth, hair growth treatments can take months to work.

Some treatments will even thin your hair out even more before starting new growth.

In the meantime, the best thing for your hair that you can do is to hide your bald spots. Since wearing a wig or a hat is not exactly comfortable or feasible all the time, hair powder is essential.

There are pros and cons to applying hair powder, but it is definitely worth considering.

How Hair Powder Works For Bald Spots

The main thing that clearly identifies a bald spot is the sight of your pale scalp.

For those with dark hair, glimpses of a pale scalp is a dead giveaway.

Those with light hair will find that bald areas are slightly less obvious, but it can still be noticeable.

Hair powder itself is a fine colored powder, though it can be found as a form of dry spray instead. This powder is made up of particles that are actually fibers and which have a type of static cling to them. It is this cling that keeps the powder in place on your scalp.

Therefore, what hair powder does is it hides your scalp by coating it. You can usually find hair powder in a variety of colors.

By picking a color close to that of your hair and applying it, your scalp gets hidden. This gives the illusion of hair covering that area.

Although this illusion may not pass close inspection to someone who is really looking closely, it is more than enough to pass a casual glance. This is especially useful for areas that have just a little hair, making it seem thicker.

While it can be used even on areas that are completely devoid of hairs. However, the result is not as good as it is on areas where there are a few hairs left. This is in part because the shadows and lines from even a few hairs being there gives others the impression that there is more hair there.

blad spots on man

How To Use Hair Powder

Most hair powder for bald spots will come with instructions on how to use it. However, sometimes you have to figure out yourself. Then again, some hair powders use different methods to get the powder on your hair.

Some hair powders use a brush delivery system, and a few come with this system included. Meanwhile, other hair powders can feature a pump delivery system. This type of system delivers a light mist of an extra-fine powder.

Typically, hair powder is used by sprinkling it either directly onto your hair in some way or onto your fingers. In the latter case, the hair powder is then rubbed lightly into your scalp using your fingertips.

If you are using the hair powder for more than simply your bald spots, you can then run your powdered fingers through your hair to get the most use out of all of it.

Perhaps the most important thing about using hair powder is that you don’t use too much of it.

Too much hair powder will almost always stiffen.

In a way, hair powder can be rightly compared to adding salt and pepper to your food.

By this, I mean that a little powder can go a long way, and it is almost impossible to take it back if you add too much.

You can always add just a little more powder. It is also nicer for your hair if you have too little than too much.

Finally, a small amount of the powder is easy to keep on hand. Over the course of the day, the hair powder may lighten up.

Therefore, you may need to reapply a little in the evening. However, you may be able to ‘reactivate’ the powder a little by lightly massaging the area with your fingertips.

What To Look For In Hair Powder

Hair powders from different companies are going to have different ingredients.

The differences in the ingredients are going to change the results of the powder to some degree. For example, some powders can make your hair stiff.

Part of this can be if you use too much of the powder, but some hair powders will stiffen your hair no matter what you do. This feature is undesirable in hair powders, so look at the reviews to see if other customers are having this problem with a particular powder.

However, more importantly, there is a wide variety of kinds of hair powder.

Some hair powders are called volumizing powders, hair texturizing powders, or any number of other names.

To cover up your bald spot, you should focus on getting a hair powder that is specifically for this. Other types of hair powder may work, but not as well.

There are three main forms of hair powder too.

The first is a loose powder that often comes in a shaker.

The second is a very fine powder that comes in a spray of some kind.

Finally, the third type of powder is more of a coarse powder that uses a comb applicator.

The spray-on hair powders tend to be the simplest to apply to your hair. However, the spray can be hard to control, and the fineness of the powder tends to cloud the air.

The coarse powder with the comb applicator allows you to re-brush over areas later on.

Finally, when getting a hair powder, you should also try to get a color that matches your own hair color.

The closer you can get the powder to your exact shade, the better. If your hair is colored, you should go with a color that matched your hair when dyed.  

Concerns When Using Hair Powder

Hair powder may be great for hiding your bald spots, but it is not without its disadvantages as well.

First, most hair powders tend to increase the amount of friction between the strands of your hair. This is especially true of volumizing hair powders, and it can make your hair seem frizzy and give it static.

Hair Powder for Bald Spots: Good or Bad Idea?

The powder can also cause your hair to mat, particularly if it gets wet or moist at all.

Speaking of getting wet, even simple humidity can cause hair powder to cake and clump. Combined with heat, the powder can then dry and form cracks.

In addition to being unsightly, this drying and cracking can be extremely irritating to your skin. This is not to even mention that hair powder is exceptionally good at absorbing oil.

If your scalp is already dry, hair powder will dry out your scalp even more.

The longer you leave the powder in your hair, the more likely your scalp is to dry out. A dry scalp will be more prone to redness, irritation, and can even start flaking and showing signs of dandruff. You should always wash the powder out regularly and give your scalp part of the day without having any powder.

On the note of washing, hair powder will not mix well with pools, swimming, or anything that involves water.

Even sweat can be a big problem as far as hair powder is concerned. If the water doesn’t completely wash the powder out of your hair, it will, once again, clump and mat.

Other Uses For Hair Powder

The first use for hair powder is, of course, to hide bald spots. This is very easy to do with hair powder since the color of the powder hides your scalp. However, hair powder can be used for much more than this.

Often, when your hair is thinning, it shows up first at your part line.

Even if you don’t have an actual bald spot, hair powder can be invaluable in covering your part line. This can even help with colored hair to hide your roots that are growing out as their original color.

Another thing that hair powder can help with is softening your look some. If you curl your hair and the curls come out a little too perfect, you can soften the look by applying the hair powder to them. This won’t weigh down your hair, and it can also help hold the curls without stiffening them as hairspray would.

Hair powder is also great for braids. If you want your elaborate braids to look thicker and fuller, adding some hair powder to your hair is extremely helpful. It also helps prevent the braid from getting a frayed look throughout the day.

Most hair powders can be used in combination with hairsprays. Though this does make your hair extra stiff, it also keeps the powder in longer.

Verify before you combine them that your hair powder and hairspray do not have any chemicals that you should not combine.

Hair Powder for Bald Spots: Good or Bad Idea?

Final Thoughts

Everyone prefers the idea of thick, healthy hair. However, some people struggle to get any thickness to their hair at all. While the shorter hair that most men have does show bald or thin spots sooner, women struggle with this too.

This hair can make you feel compelled to either hide your hair or to not go out with others who might see it.

While hair powder is great for this, it is only a temporary solution to the problem that is thin hair.

Considering the fact that hair growth is a long process, however, hair powder can help you in the meantime.

Also, getting out of your house and getting the Vitamin D you need is something that will help your hair.

If you are in a pinch one day and don’t have hair powder, you can use baby powder in your hair. This powder option only really works if you have very light hair, since baby powder is white after all.

Also, like with regular hair powder, you should rinse it out of your hair as soon as possible.

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Christopher is the founder of Hair Loss Geeks, which launched back in 2011. At the time there wasn't any credible information on the internet about hair loss. As someone suffering from hair loss himself, Christopher began his extensive research journey. After launching the site, he later graduated from Boston University in 2012 with his PhD in Biochemistry. What started off as a hobby project quickly became a bigger focus as it grew. Christopher hopes everyone can learn from both his experience and research.

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