Types of investments

The term "investment" is used differently in economics and in finance. Economists refer to a real investment (such as a machine or a house), while financial economists refer to a financial asset, such as money that is put into a bank or the market, which may then be used to buy a real asset.

Business Management

The investment decision (also known as capital budgeting) is one of the fundamental decisions of business management: managers determine the assets that the business enterprise obtains. These assets may be physical (such as buildings or machinery), intangible (such as patents, software, goodwill), or financial (see below). The manager must assess whether the net present value of the investment to the enterprise is positive; the net present value is calculated using the enterprise's marginal cost of capital.

A business might invest with the goal of making profit. These are marketable securities or passive investment. It might also invest with the goal of controlling or influencing the operation of the second company, the investee. These are called intercorporate, long-term and strategic investments. Hence, a company can have none, some or total control over the investee's strategic, operating, investing and financing decisions. One can control a company by owning over 50% ownership, or have the ability to elect a majority of the Board of Directors.

Economics

In economics, investment is the production per unit time of goods which are not consumed but are to be used for future production. Examples include tangibles (such as building a railroad or factory) and intangibles (such as a year of schooling or on-the-job training). In measures of national income and output, gross investment I is also a component of Gross domestic product (GDP), given in the formula GDP = C + I + G + NX, where C is consumption, G is government spending, and NX is net exports. Thus investment is everything that remains of production after consumption, government spending, and exports are subtracted.

I is divided into non-residential investment (such as factories) and residential investment (new houses). Net investment deducts depreciation from gross investment. It is the value of the net increase in the capital stock per year.

Investment, as production over a period of time ("per year"), is not capital. The time dimension of investment makes it a flow. By contrast, capital is a stock, that is, an accumulation measurable at a point in time (say December 31st).

Investment is often modeled as a function of Income and Interest rates, given by the relation I = f(Y, r). An increase in income encourages higher investment, whereas a higher interest rate may discourage investment as it becomes more costly to borrow money. Even if a firm chooses to use its own funds in an investment, the interest rate represents an opportunity cost of investing those funds rather than loaning them out for interest.

Finance

In finance, investment=cost of capital, like buying securities or other monetary or paper (financial) assets in the money markets or capital markets, or in fairly liquid real assets, such as gold, real estate, or collectibles. Valuation is the method for assessing whether a potential investment is worth its price. Returns on investments will follow the risk-return spectrum.

Types of financial investments include shares, other equity investment, and bonds (including bonds denominated in foreign currencies). These financial assets are then expected to provide income or positive future cash flows, and may increase or decrease in value giving the investor capital gains or losses.

Trades in contingent claims or derivative securities do not necessarily have future positive expected cash flows, and so are not considered assets, or strictly speaking, securities or investments. Nevertheless, since their cash flows are closely related to (or derived from) those of specific securities, they are often studied as or treated as investments.

Investments are often made indirectly through intermediaries, such as banks, mutual funds, pension funds, insurance companies, collective investment schemes, and investment clubs. Though their legal and procedural details differ, an intermediary generally makes an investment using money from many individuals, each of whom receives a claim on the intermediary.

Personal finance

Within personal finance, money used to purchase shares, put in a collective investment scheme or used to buy any asset where there is an element of capital risk is deemed an investment. Saving within personal finance refers to money put aside, normally on a regular basis. This distinction is important, as investment risk can cause a capital loss when an investment is realized, unlike saving(s) where the more limited risk is cash devaluing due to inflation.

In many instances the terms saving and investment are used interchangeably, which confuses this distinction. For example many deposit accounts are labeled as investment accounts by banks for marketing purposes. Whether an asset is a saving(s) or an investment depends on where the money is invested: if it is cash then it is savings, if its value can fluctuate then it is investment.

Real estate

In real estate, investment is money used to purchase property for the sole purpose of holding or leasing for income and where there is an element of capital risk. Unlike other economic or financial investment, real estate is purchased. The seller is also called a Vendor and normally the purchaser is called a Buyer.

Residential real estate

The most common form of real estate investment as it includes the property purchased as other people's houses. In many cases the Buyer does not have the full purchase price for a property and must engage a lender such as a Bank, Finance company or Private Lender. Herein the lender is the investor as only the lender stands to gain returns from it. Different countries have their individual normal lending levels, but usually they will fall into the range of 70-90% of the purchase price. Against other types of real estate, residential real estate is the least risky.

Commercial real estate

Commercial real estate is the owning of a small building or large warehouse a company rents from so that it can conduct its business. Due to the higher risk of Commercial real estate, lending rates of banks and other lenders are lower and often fall in the range of 50-70%.

Investment specific technological progress

Introduction

To model how something is produced, think of a box that in one end takes in inputs such as labor (employees) and capital (equipment, buildings, etc.) and in another end spits out the final good (see Figure 1). With this picture in mind now one can ask, how does technological progress affect production? One way of thinking is that technological progress affects specific inputs (arrows going in) such as equipment and buildings. To realize the benefits of such technological change for production these inputs must be purchased. So for example, the advent of the microchip (an important technological improvement in computers) will affect the production of Ford cars only if Ford Motor Co.'s assembly plants (the red box) invest in computers with microchips (instead of computers with punch cards) and use them (they are one of the arrows going in the box) in the production of Mustangs (the arrow coming out). As the name suggests, this is investment-specific technological progress---it requires investing in new machines or buildings which contain or embody the latest technology. Notice that the term investment can be very general: not only must a firm buy the new technology to reap its benefits, but it also must invest in training its workers and managers to be able to use this new technology (Greenwood & Jovanovic 2001) .

Importance

Identifying investment-specific technological progress is important, because knowing what type of technological progress is operating in an economy will determine how someone (should) want his or her tax dollars to be spent and how he or she may want to invest his or her savings (Gort et al 1999). If "investment-specific" technological change is the main source of progress, then one would want his or her dollars spent on helping firms buy new equipment and renovate their plants, because these investments will improve production and hence what you consume. Furthermore, one may want to help pay for current employee training in using new technologies (to keep them up to date) or subsidize the education of new employees (who will enter the job market knowing how to use the new technology). So, the type of technological progress will also matter for unemployment and education issues. Finally, if technological progress is "investment-specific" you may want to direct your money towards the research and development (R & D) of new technologies (like quantum computers or alternative energy sources) (Krusell 1998).

More generally, why is any type of technological progress important? Technological change has made our lives easier. Because of technological progress, people can work less, make more money and enjoy more leisure time (Greenwood & Vandenbroucke 2006). Women have been able to break away from the traditional "housewife" role, join the labor-force in greater numbers (Greenwood et al 2005) and become less economically dependent on men (Greenwood & Guner 2004). Finally, technological progress has been shown to affect the fall in child labor starting around 1900 (Greenwood & Seshadri 2005). Figure 2 illustrates this last point: as of 1900 child labor's share of the paid labor force began to fall.

Figure 2

A Simple Example: the microwave oven

An example of investment-specific technological progress is the microwave oven. The idea of the microwave came to be by accident: in 1946 an engineer noticed that a candy bar in his pocket had melted while working on something completely unrelated to cooking (Gallawa 2005). The development of this good, from melting the candy bar to the home appliance we know today, took time and the investment of resources to make a microwave small and cheap. The first microwave oven cost between 2000 and 3000 dollars and was housed in refrigerator-sized cabinets (Gallawa 2005)! Today, almost any college student can enjoy a 3-minute microwaveable meal in the smallest dorm room. But a microwave's uses do not stop at the dorm room. Many industries have found microwave heating advantageous: it has been used to dry cork, ceramics, paper, leather, and so on (Gallawa 2005). However, for either college students or firms to reap the benefits of quick warming, they must first "invest" in a microwave oven (that "embodies" the technological advance). To realize the benefits of investment-specific technological progress you must first invest in a technology that embodies it.

How do you measure investment-specific technological progress?

While measuring technological progress is not easy, economists have found indirect ways of estimating it. If "'investment-specific'" technological progress makes producing goods easier, then we should expect the price of these goods (relative to the price of other goods) to decrease. In particular, "investment-specific" technological change has affected the prices of two inputs into the production process: equipment and structures. We think of equipment as machines (like computers) and structures as buildings. If there is technological progress in the production (or creation) of these goods, then we should expect the price of them to fall or the value of them to rise relative to older versions of the same good.

Figure 3 (the pink line) shows how the price of new producer durables (such as equipment) in the US relative to the price of new consumer nondurables (like clothing) has consistently declined over the past fifty years (Gort et al 1999). By relative price of producer durables we mean dividing the price that firms pay (for inputs of production) by the price that a regular consumer pays (for things like jeans). We use relative prices so we can say how many units of equipment can be bought instead (or in terms) of buying one unit of consumer goods. Figure 3 (the pink line) says that over time, firms have been able to buy more and more units of equipment instead of one unit of consumption, especially when we take into account that the quality of equipment being acquired has increased (a computer today is much faster than a computer five years ago and we should take that into account when comparing their prices). If we do not take into account quality (which is wrong) it looks like the price of equipment has not decreased as much (see the black line in Figure 3).

Figure 3

Measuring the price of structures is more complicated than measuring the price of equipment, but economists have again been able to get an idea of how much progress there has been in structures (such as buildings). One approach is that if newer buildings were constructed or designed using newer technologies then they should be worth more than older buildings (because they embody the new technology (Gort et al 1999). In particular, they should rent for more. As Figure 4 shows, this is true. Renting a square foot in a new building is much more expensive than renting a square foot in a building forty years old. So it must be the case that you are paying for a nicer, more functional and maybe even safer building.

Figure 4

Based on Figures 3 and 4 we can conclude that investment-specific technological change is operating in the US. Estimates suggest that the rate of technological progress in equipment and structures is about 3.2% and 1%, respectively (Gort et al 1999) (Greenwood et al 1997).

Conclusion

In the second section it was mentioned that "investment-specific" technological change is important since it will affect production (both in quality and size). An important question then is, just how much "bang for your buck" do you get with "investment-specific" technological change? The answer is quite astounding; economists have found that 37% of growth in US output (production) is due to technological progress in equipment and 15% is due to technological progress in structures (Gort et al 1999) (Greenwood et al 1997). All in all, more than half (37% + 15% = 52%) of the growth of the US economy is due to "investment-specific" technological change (Gort et al 1999) (Greenwood et al 1997).

Value Investing Performance

Performance, value strategies

Value investing has proven to be a successful investment strategy. There are several ways to evaluate its success. One way is to examine the performance of simple value strategies, such as buying low PE ratio stocks, low price-to-cash-flow ratio stocks, or low price-to-book ratio stocks. Numerous academics have published studies investigating the effects of buying value stocks. These studies have consistently found that value stocks outperform growth stocks and the market as a whole.^[3][4][5]

Performance, value investors

Another way to examine the performance of value investing strategies is to examine the investing performance of well-known value investors. Simply examining the performance of the best known value investors would not be instructive, because investors do not become well known unless they are successful. This introduces a selection bias. A better way to investigate the performance of a group of value investors was suggested by Warren Buffett, in his May 17, 1984 speech that was published as The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville. In this speech, Buffett examined the performance of those investors who worked at Graham-Newman Corporation and were thus most influenced by Benjamin Graham. Buffett's conclusion is identical to that of the academic research on simple value investing strategies--value investing is, on average, successful in the long run.

During about a 25-year period (1965-90), published research and articles in leading journals of the value ilk were few. Warren Buffett once commented, "You couldn't advance in a finance department in this country unless you thought that the world was flat."

Well Known Value Investors

Benjamin Graham is regarded by many to be the father of value investing. Along with David Dodd, he wrote Security Analysis, first published in 1934. The most lasting contribution of this book to the field of security analysis was to emphasize the quantifiable aspects of security analysis (such as the evaluations of earnings and book value) while minimizing the importance of more qualitative factors such as the quality of a company's management. Graham later wrote The Intelligent Investor, a book that brought value investing to individual investors. Aside from Buffett, many of Graham's other students, such as William J. Ruane, Irving Kahn and Charles Brandes have gone on to become successful investors in their own right.

Graham's most famous student, however, was Warren Buffett, who ran successful investing partnerships before closing them in 1969 to focus on running Berkshire Hathaway. Charlie Munger joined Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway in the 1970s and has since worked as Vice Chairman of the company. Buffett has credited Munger with encouraging him to focus on long-term sustainable growth rather than on simply the valuation of current cash flows or assets

Another famous value investor is John Templeton. He first achieved investing success by buying shares of a number of companies in the aftermath of the stock market crash of 1929.

Martin J. Whitman is another well-regarded value investor. His approach is called safe-and-cheap, which was hitherto referred to as financial-integrity approach. Martin Whitman focuses on acquiring common shares of companies with extremely strong financial position at a price reflecting meaningful discount to the estimated NAV of the company concerned. Martin Whitman believes it is ill-advised for investors to pay much attention to the trend of macro-factors (like employment, movement of interest rate, GDP, etc.) not so much because they are not important as because attempts to predict their movement are almost always futile. Martin Whitman's letters to shareholders of his Third Avenue Value Fund (TAVF) are considered valuable resources "for investors to pirate good ideas" by another famous investor Joel Greenblatt in his book on special-situation investment "You Can Be a Stock Market Genius" (ISBN 0-684-84007-3, pp 247)

Joel Greenblatt achieved annual returns at the hedge fund Gotham Capital of over 50% per year for 10 years from 1985 to 1995 before closing the fund and returning his investors' money. He is known for investing in special situations such as spin-offs, mergers, and divestitures.

Value investing

Value investing is an investment paradigm that derives from the ideas on investment and speculation that Ben Graham & David Dodd began teaching at Columbia Business School in 1928 and subsequently developed in their 1934 text Security Analysis. Although value investing has taken many forms since its inception, it generally involves buying securities whose shares appear underpriced by some form(s) of fundamental analysis.^[1] As examples, such securities may be stock in public companies that trade at discounts to book value or tangible book value, have high dividend yields, have low price-to-earning multiples or have low price-to-book ratios.

Notable proponents of value investing, including Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett, have argued that the essence of value investing is buying stocks at less than their intrinsic value.^[2] The discount of the market price to the intrinsic value is what Benjamin Graham called the "margin of safety". The intrinsic value is the discounted value of all future distributions.

However, the future distributions and the appropriate discount rate can only be assumptions. Warren Buffett has taken the value investing concept even further as his thinking has evolved to where for the last 25 years or so his focus has been on "finding an outstanding company at a sensible price" rather than generic companies at a bargain price. This concept is important as you are actually buying into a business.

History

Benjamin Graham

Benjamin Graham

Value investing was established by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, both professors at Columbia Business School and teachers of many famous investors. In Graham's book The Intelligent Investor, he advocated the important concept of margin of safety — first introduced in Security Analysis, a 1934 book he coauthored with David Dodd — which calls for a cautious approach to investing. In terms of picking stocks, he recommended defensive investment in stocks trading below their tangible book value as a safeguard to adverse future developments often encountered in the stock market.

Further evolution

However, the concept of value (as well as "book value") has evolved significantly since the 1970s. Book value is most useful in industries where most assets are tangible. Intangible assets such as patents, software, brands, or goodwill are difficult to quantify, and may not survive the break-up of a company. When an industry is going through fast technological advancements, the value of its assets is not easily estimated. Sometimes, the production power of an asset can be significantly reduced due to competitive disruptive innovation and therefore its value can suffer permanent impairment. One good example of decreasing asset value is a personal computer. An example of where book value does not mean much is the service and retail sectors. One modern model of calculating value is the discounted cash flow model (DCF). The value of an asset is the sum of its future cash flows, discounted back to the present.

What Do You Know About Hair Transplants

When you suffer from hair loss, you may want a permanent solution. One of the modern technique in solving this problem is hair transplant. Celebrities also seek this treatment which have made this cosmetic surgery so well accepted by the today's society. In addition, the techniques have improved over the last decades and are suitable for women as well.

The process of hair replacement is a matter of moving some grafts from a donor site to the area that is suffering from baldness. It can help to reverse the symptoms of hair loss or poor hair density. Medical conditions such as androgenetic alopecia, scarring alopecia and other types of permanent alopecia can be corrected through this surgical procedure.

When you decide to undergo hair transplant surgery, the doctor will administer local anaesthetic. Depending on how many hair grafts you need, each session can take from two to eight hours. A ordinary treatment may require an implant of between 1,000 and 2,000 hair follicles. However, some areas may need up to 4,000 grafting.

The advanced hair restoration uses Follicular Unit Transplantation. It is internationally accepted as the gold standard in hair treatment. It uses a strip of hair that is taken from your body. The strip has approximately 1 millimeter of hair that projects from the surface. Each unit will have one to four hairs which resembles the natural growth of hair on the scalp. Then the surgeon will transplant the follicular unit transplants on the balding areas.

Before you can choose this option, you need to make sure that you have enough think and healthy hairs on the back or the sides of your scalp. Otherwise, the restoration cannot be performed.

The cost of surgery can be high. It depends on the amount of grafts required and the size of area that needs treatment. Moreover, the graft comes in various sizes and shapes. It is best that you consult the surgeon first to ascertain the expenses that you need to prepare. Now, financial companies are offering loans for cosmetic surgeries which include hair restoration. If you want to opt for this option but you can't bear the cost, you can approach the firms for loans.

If you are going weigh the cost of the surgery against hair loss products, you may save money in the long run. You will realize that it becomes affordable although it looks expensive initially.

Hair loss may affect your physiological health. Once you have the hair transplanted, you will notice an improvement in self-confidence and self-esteem.

You can't find "plugs and corn rows" anymore that were the common feature during the early stage of hair transplant. Now this new transplantation is focused on micro or mini grafting. This treatment provides a natural looking hair. Unlike the plugs, people will not notice any changes on your hair. Author Resource:- Do you want to solve your baldness or have higher density of hair? Hair transplants are becoming a choice in treating this disorder. Discover how this cosmetic surgery can restore your self-esteem at FumeWall Hair Transplants 101. It contains a number of topics on hair restoration that you need to know before you opt for this surgical option.

Home Remedies for Hair Loss - Regrow your Hair Tips

Hair loss as it is commonly understood is losing the hairs from the head. Medically, the hair loss refers to the baldness or alopecia. This is losing the hairs from the scalp in abundant quantity. Generally, losing 50-100 hairs per day can be considered as a normal physiological procedure as all those hairs can be replaced with new growing hairs. Hair loss becomes significant when one starts losing more than that figure of hairs a day.

Hair loss could be due to many reasons, hereditary, being number one. Other causes include certain drugs, hormonal changes, pregnancy, therapies (like chemotherapy), salty water (for bathing and for drinking), makeup and dandruff. Men are more suffering from hair loss as compared to females. Baldness will be in men and not in female due to genetic reasons.

Home remedies for hair loss

1. The Indian gooseberry has been showing great results. For this, oil containing Indian gooseberry will be great to use.

2. Lettuce is another great home remedy for treating hair loss. A mixture of lettuce and spinach juice is considered to help the growth of hair if taken up to half liter a day.

3. Another is Amaranth. Its fresh leaves juice should be applied to the hair and this can help growing new hairs.

4. An application of coconut milk over the scalp will be helpful treating hair loss. You can take coconut milk and then massage it into the hair roots. It nourishes the hair and promotes the hair growth.

5. The most valuable home remedy is using seeds of lime and black pepper. Ground it together and then make it into fine paste. Use this paste as an application on the patches. This might irritate but simultaneously it stimulates the hair growth and promotes the hair follicles to grow firm hairs.

6. The leaves of the tree margosa will be useful. It should be used as a decoction. This will stop hair from falling and will stabilize them into their roots. It also kills the hair lice.

7. Another remedy for hair loss is using the paste of liquorice. It can be made by grinding the liquorice pieces in the milk with a pinch of saffron. The paste should be applied over the bald patches at night before retiring to the bed. This works wonderfully for treating alopecia condition.

8. Onions have also been found beneficial patchy baldness along with hair falling condition. The affected part must be rubbed with onions in the morning and evening. The juice of onion is stimulant to the hair follicles and hence will prevent falling too.

9. A fine paste made form pigeon pea or red gram is also considered good. Use this for longer period for maximum benefit.

10. One of the proven ones is rubbing olive oil onto the scalp and affected area. Author Resource:- You can find more information on Home Remedies for Hair Loss at Herbal Remedies. For most effective Home Remedies visit

The Most Common Causes Of Hair Loss

For centuries people have been frustrated by hair loss. It is a common problem.

Hair loss affects both men and women, although it is more common in men. Hair loss generally has a negative effect on one's sense of self-image. Frequently hair loss will cause a loss in self-confidence. In order to get the best kind of treatment for hair loss, it is important to separate the myths from the truth and understand the various kinds of hair loss.

There are many causes of hair loss. The most common cause of hair loss in men is believed to be genetics and DHT. A genetic predisposition to hair loss can be inherited from either one parent or from both parents. A popular belief states that hair loss is inherited through the maternal side, but this is not correct since the trait can come from either side.

This genetic theory of what causes hair loss also involves DHT or dihydrotestosterone. Many scientists believe that DHT is a key factor in male pattern baldness. DHT is a male hormone found in the body that can shrink the hair loss follicle until it ceases to produce visible hair. Many scientists are of the opinion that your genetic predisposition, combined with DHT, are the key factors in hair loss, especially in men.

Male pattern baldness is characterized by a receding hairline and thinning in the temple, crown or vertex area of the head. So Male Pattern Baldness, or MPB, which is the most common type of hair loss in men, is believed to be primarily caused mostly by a combination of two factors, a genetic predisposition to hair loss and Dihydrotestosterone or DHT.

DHT is a byproduct of the hormone testosterone and is present in every male. Scientists have shown that if DHT can be suppressed, the hair follicles will continue to thrive and the hair will grow.

DHT deprives the hair follicles of food and oxygen. As the hair follicle weakens, the hair it produces will get thinner and thinner. Eventually, the hair follicle dies and stops producing hair altogether. When enough hair follicles die off, people begin to notice the thinning of the hair and eventually balding occurs.
While we all produce DHT, there is an inherited genetic trait that comes from either side of the family which make many of us much more susceptible to the negative effects of DHT on hair.

In 1949 an experiment was performed to help understand the causes of Male Pattern Baldness or MPB. A group of castrated prison inmates, males who were therefore not producing testosterone since they were castrated, were divided into two groups. The first group had a family history of male pattern baldness while the second group had no family history of baldness. Both groups were then injected with testosterone. The group with a family history of baldness began losing their hair within weeks. The group with no family history did not lose hair. When the injections of testosterone were halted , the progression of thinning hair stopped.

This experiment helped show that male pattern baldness was an inherited trait that is triggered with the addition of testosterone.

Since that early experiment, we have learned that it is not actually testosterone but the testosterone by-product DHT that causes the hair loss.

There are still many factors about the inheritance of baldness that are not understood and more research to be done.

Many hair loss treatments and products attempt to fight hair loss by fighting the effects of DHT on our hair.

Keep in mind that hair loss can also be caused by other factors. These factors include disease, stress, some prescription medicines, exposure to certain chemicals and other factors including improper nutrition and diet.

Information in this article is provided for informational purposes only, and is not meant to substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professional. You should NOT use the information contained herein for diagnosing, preventing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication.
When shopping for nutritional supplements or herbal formulas you should carefully read all product packaging and information on the product label or product web site. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, promptly contact your health care provider. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are NOT intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease

How to Stop Hair Loss Naturally

It appears that, like wrinkles and belly fat, baldness is largely inherited. However, the theory that baldness is inherited from the mother's side may have been debunked.

Newer studies have concluded that male pattern baldness may come from either parent; though the mother's side may be slightly more influential. What this means to the average male is this: look to your family.

Pay particular attention to your father, grandfathers and uncles. If the grass is thick everywhere, breathe a
fairly confident sigh of relief. If there are more shiny skulls than not, you may be at risk for baldness.

The good news is that hair follicles do not die. Instead, they simply become unproductive. The trick to preventing hair loss is figuring out how to keep those hair follicles from becoming dormant. It may even be possible to re-awaken unproductive hair follicles and re-grow hair.

If family history suggests that hair loss is a likely scenario for you, there are some things that decrease your risk.

Using natural products to help prevent baldness is cheaper than trying to replace lost hair once it's already gone. Consider the power of these natural ingredients to stave off thinning hair:

* Saw Palmetto: This herb is sometimes used to treat enlargement of the prostate. This is because Saw Palmetto blocks the production of DHT (a metabolite of testosterone), a contributing factor to enlarging of the prostate. Because DHT production also causes hair loss, Saw Palmetto has been shown to be effective for preventing hair loss in some men.

* Nettle root: Those little plants with the big sting are good for something after all. Nettle root is another treatment which blocks the production of chemicals which enlarge the prostrate.

They are the same ones that can cause hair loss. Evidence suggests that nettle root may not only stave off baldness, but may actually regenerate hair growth.

* Vitamins: Your mother told you they were good for you, but you may not know they're good for your hair too. Vitamin A is an anti-oxidant which promotes healthy production of sebum in the scalp.

Vitamin E stimulates circulation. Good blood circulation in the scalp is important in keeping hair follicles productive. The 'B' vitamins contribute to melanin, which gives hair its healthy color and also stimulates blood circulation.

In addition to these ingredients, which help stop hair loss naturally, massage is also beneficial. Massage stimulates circulation. As already noted, good circulation in the scalp keeps hair follicles active. Experts suggest a few minutes of daily head massage by hand. Circulation through massage may be improved by using a few drops of lavender or bay essential oil in an almond or sesame oil base with massage.

Don't panic when your next family reunion nets a sea of bald heads. There's hope for you. Since all of these natural remedies also have other health benefits on the body besides stimulating the scalp, there's little reason not to try them.

What to Do When You Start to Lose Hair Fast

Hair loss affects more than 35 million men just in the United States alone, and more than 10 million men in Europe. And let's not forget the many more increasing millions who experience symptoms of hair loss every day.

Some Major Signs of Hair Loss Include:
- Fallen hair on your pillow every morning.

- You see random strands of hair around your room or house.

- You notice clumps of hair falling out every now and then.

What Not To Do:

Most people will try to look for "home remedies for hair loss" on the internet, because we all try to solve our problems our own way. Some people do nothing and wait for the hair falling to stop. Not doing anything about hair loss will cause you to:

- Start losing hair on the front hairline and forehead and on top of the head

- And eventually only hair around the ears, the sides and back of the head will remain.

Don't feel frustrated about your hair situation, and believe that you can easily solve the problem by taking the most efficient steps. Many men give up on stopping their hair thinning and stay bald for years, and some during their lifetimes. Don't be that person who gives up easily, because you will regret it.

You'll start to see your hair again the earlier you start taking action.

What to Do:

Having said that, here are a few suggestions for solving your hair problem and regenerating lost hair:

- Try to drink at least a gallon or 8 cups of water every day.

- Eat a balanced diet, and a diet especially high in protein.

- Try to look for hair loss cures that have been proven to work. They may be products recommended by friends who successfully used them and experienced positive results, or they may be products recommended by experts.

- Watch out for scam or faulty products that claim to "stop hair loss in 3 days" because that sort of result is impossible.

You are fully aware that bodybuilding supplements boost the muscle growth in bodybuilders, and that is why supplements are so popular among bodybuilders looking to accelerate their muscular growth as fast as possible without spending thousands of dollars.

You can look at regenerating hair the same way. Most men think they'll need to pay thousands of dollars over a lifetime to have their natural looking, fully-controllable hair back, but they don't know that there are supplements out there that can help them accomplish what they want without wasting time and lots of money. Author Resource:- Be sure to watch out for products that don't live up to what they claim to do, by thinking and shopping smart. You can start here.

3 Reasons to Try Natural Hair Loss Cures

Men suffering from male pattern baldness easily give up on regenerating their hair mainly due to the long time taken to stop their hair from thinning. Below are 3 reasons why they should consider going natural instead of taking chemical drugs.

1. Natural hair loss cures are cheaper.

Prescription drugs for hair loss, namely Propecia (Finasteride) and Rogaine (Minoxidil), can cost you a lot of money in the long-run. Expect to spend at least $300 for the full hair restoration cycle you'll go through.

You can spend half that amount and still have your hair back in a few months time with natural alternatives.
You need to keep taking hair loss drugs or you'll lose your hair again. That's not the case with hair loss supplements. Some hair loss supplements have given permanent results to some men.

2. Natural cures have no side effects.

What's astonishing about natural hair growing supplements is that they have absolutely no side effects, unlike the chemical prescription drugs for hair loss. The main reason behind this is because these supplements are made from natural ingredients that cannot by any chance cause any side effects. It's a comfortable feeling to know that the hair loss pills you're taking aren't causing any harm to your body.

There was a clinical study once that involved a number of males taking 1mg of Propecia (Finasteride) every day, until they experienced side effects such as erectile dysfunction, and lower sex drives.

There have been documented cases of gynecomastia (the growth of breasts in men) after the use of Propecia.

Itchy scalp, acne, headaches, extremely low blood pressure, fast heart beat, chest pain and blurred vision are the reported side effects for Rogaine (Minoxidil).

Although these side effects may sound not so dangerous, they can be truly painful and harmful to your body, in the long term.

And remember, you can have none of these side effects if you use natural alternatives to stop hair loss. Be aware that some natural products contain contaminated ingredients which you don't want.

3. Natural alternatives work just as well, if not better

While many people believe hair loss drugs are the best solutions to restoring their lost hair, this is not true. The natural alternative products work can deliver the same or better results in stopping the thinning and falling of hair.

Most alternatives contain effective ingredients that work to block DHT (Dihydrotestosterone), the hormone mainly responsible for the loss of hair. This stops the hair from thinning and eventually falling; and helps your body to restore the nutrients in your hair follicle.

You can regrow your hair within a matter of months, without any unwanted side effects, and save some cash that could have been wasted. Author Resource:- And you can also find out which hair loss product is worth the "bang for the buck" by going to

What Causes Female Hair Loss?

For a female, hair loss can feel incredibly shameful. Our hair speaks volumes about our personality and is a big factor in the way we evaluate our looks. A healthy head of hair indicates vitality, youthfulness, and health. When women begin to lose their hair, it can be a huge blow to their self esteem, but there are ways to restore it. Before seeking treatment, it's important to understand it's causes.

Hair Style

For some women, hair loss may be attributed to hairstyle! Wearing your hair in styles that pull tightly such as pigtails, braids, and cornrows can pull hair out at a faster rate than normal. At any given time, about 90 percent of your hair is in a growth state and 10 percent is in a relaxed state where it will eventually fall out naturally. If your hairstyle causes the growing hair to become pulled out, this can severely reduce the amount of hair on your scalp.

A hair follicle will grow for approximately 2 to 6 years. If you suspect that hair style may be at the root of your female hair-loss condition, change your hairstyle right away, but expect that it will take several years to grow back to it's natural fullness.

Hormones

Hormones are perhaps the most common cause of female hair loss. Women tend to experience loss after having a baby, after surgery, during menopause, or at other times in their lives when hormones change. The onset of female hair loss may be an indicator of an over or under-active thyroid gland. If you are experiencing hair-loss at a time in your life where your hormones should otherwise be stable, you may want to have your doctor run some tests to check your thyroid.

Medications

Some types of medications such as blood thinners, vitamin A, anti-depressants, birth control pills, and medications used to treat cancer or gout can cause female hair loss. One way to determine if medication is the cause of your condition is to see if the condition improves when you stop taking the medication. However, many of these medications cannot just be stopped, and because hair growth is such a slow process, it may be quite some time before you can tell if the condition has improved. Ask your doctor if any of the medications you are taking cause female hair loss and look for alternatives.

Diseases and Infections

Female hair loss may be an indicator of an underlying disease such as lupus, diabetes, or a fungal infection of the scalp. If your hair loss symptoms don't seem to have other causes, it's a good idea to check with your doctor about possible diseases or infections that could be the core of the problem.

Unfortunately, in many cases losing hair is not something that can be reversed by changing hairstyle or stopping a medication. For many women, hair loss is a fact of life. However, this doesn't mean that women have to live with thin hair and bald patches. Today's hair restoration technology has improved dramatically in recent years and can quickly and painlessly give women back a full head of hair and their sense of self-esteem.

3 Reasons to Try Natural Hair Loss Cures

Men suffering from male pattern baldness easily give up on regenerating their hair mainly due to the long time taken to stop their hair from thinning. Below are 3 reasons why they should consider going natural instead of taking chemical drugs.

1. Natural hair loss cures are cheaper.

Prescription drugs for hair loss, namely Propecia (Finasteride) and Rogaine (Minoxidil), can cost you a lot of money in the long-run. Expect to spend at least $300 for the full hair restoration cycle you'll go through.

You can spend half that amount and still have your hair back in a few months time with natural alternatives.
You need to keep taking hair loss drugs or you'll lose your hair again. That's not the case with hair loss supplements. Some hair loss supplements have given permanent results to some men.

2. Natural cures have no side effects.

What's astonishing about natural hair growing supplements is that they have absolutely no side effects, unlike the chemical prescription drugs for hair loss. The main reason behind this is because these supplements are made from natural ingredients that cannot by any chance cause any side effects. It's a comfortable feeling to know that the hair loss pills you're taking aren't causing any harm to your body.

There was a clinical study once that involved a number of males taking 1mg of Propecia (Finasteride) every day, until they experienced side effects such as erectile dysfunction, and lower sex drives.

There have been documented cases of gynecomastia (the growth of breasts in men) after the use of Propecia.

Itchy scalp, acne, headaches, extremely low blood pressure, fast heart beat, chest pain and blurred vision are the reported side effects for Rogaine (Minoxidil).

Although these side effects may sound not so dangerous, they can be truly painful and harmful to your body, in the long term.

And remember, you can have none of these side effects if you use natural alternatives to stop hair loss. Be aware that some natural products contain contaminated ingredients which you don't want.

3. Natural alternatives work just as well, if not better

While many people believe hair loss drugs are the best solutions to restoring their lost hair, this is not true. The natural alternative products work can deliver the same or better results in stopping the thinning and falling of hair.

Most alternatives contain effective ingredients that work to block DHT (Dihydrotestosterone), the hormone mainly responsible for the loss of hair. This stops the hair from thinning and eventually falling; and helps your body to restore the nutrients in your hair follicle.

You can regrow your hair within a matter of months, without any unwanted side effects, and save some cash that could have been wasted. Author Resource:- And you can also find out which hair loss product is worth the "bang for the buck" by going to

What Causes Female Hair Loss?

For a female, hair loss can feel incredibly shameful. Our hair speaks volumes about our personality and is a big factor in the way we evaluate our looks. A healthy head of hair indicates vitality, youthfulness, and health. When women begin to lose their hair, it can be a huge blow to their self esteem, but there are ways to restore it. Before seeking treatment, it's important to understand it's causes.

Hair Style

For some women, hair loss may be attributed to hairstyle! Wearing your hair in styles that pull tightly such as pigtails, braids, and cornrows can pull hair out at a faster rate than normal. At any given time, about 90 percent of your hair is in a growth state and 10 percent is in a relaxed state where it will eventually fall out naturally. If your hairstyle causes the growing hair to become pulled out, this can severely reduce the amount of hair on your scalp.

A hair follicle will grow for approximately 2 to 6 years. If you suspect that hair style may be at the root of your female hair-loss condition, change your hairstyle right away, but expect that it will take several years to grow back to it's natural fullness.

Hormones

Hormones are perhaps the most common cause of female hair loss. Women tend to experience loss after having a baby, after surgery, during menopause, or at other times in their lives when hormones change. The onset of female hair loss may be an indicator of an over or under-active thyroid gland. If you are experiencing hair-loss at a time in your life where your hormones should otherwise be stable, you may want to have your doctor run some tests to check your thyroid.

Medications

Some types of medications such as blood thinners, vitamin A, anti-depressants, birth control pills, and medications used to treat cancer or gout can cause female hair loss. One way to determine if medication is the cause of your condition is to see if the condition improves when you stop taking the medication. However, many of these medications cannot just be stopped, and because hair growth is such a slow process, it may be quite some time before you can tell if the condition has improved. Ask your doctor if any of the medications you are taking cause female hair loss and look for alternatives.

Diseases and Infections

Female hair loss may be an indicator of an underlying disease such as lupus, diabetes, or a fungal infection of the scalp. If your hair loss symptoms don't seem to have other causes, it's a good idea to check with your doctor about possible diseases or infections that could be the core of the problem.

Unfortunately, in many cases losing hair is not something that can be reversed by changing hairstyle or stopping a medication. For many women, hair loss is a fact of life. However, this doesn't mean that women have to live with thin hair and bald patches. Today's hair restoration technology has improved dramatically in recent years and can quickly and painlessly give women back a full head of hair and their sense of self-esteem.