Understanding Hair Loss in Women

Understanding hair loss is not just for men. If you are one of the millions of men and women suffering from hair loss, then you truly understand how frustrating and stressful the situation is. Not knowing what causes hair loss can be part of the problem and once you determine what causes hair loss, you can stop spending thousands of dollars on unnecessary products and stop wasting thousands of nights fussing about your lack of locks. Stop the Houdini hair act and work towards the solution by determining what is causing your hair to fall out.

Your hair goes through a cycle of growth and rest. In addition to this, your old hair is constantly falling out to make room for your new hair. On average, you will lose 50-100 strands of hair a day but this is nothing to worry about. The problem of noticeable hair loss comes when the growth of your hair starts to slow down. This is when you need to looking into the specific causes of hair loss.

Causes of Hair Loss in Women

So why is your hair falling out? Well, it could be for several different reasons. Some are internal and unpreventable while others can be external and completely treatable.

• The most common cause of hair loss is male and female pattern baldness which is a hereditary condition usually passed on by your grandparents.
• However, your hair loss could also be causes by scars and damage to your hair follicles usually associated with skin conditions such as lupus erythematosus and lichen planus.
• Another reason for hair loss is severe stress usually caused by a physical or emotional blow to your body. This could be a death of a loved one, a horrible car accident or any other severely traumatic situation. The medical term for this is telogen effluvium and your hair will begin to re grow as your body starts to heal.

Apart from the male pattern baldness, skin irritations and severe stress, there are also environmental elements that can cause hair loss. Fortunately for you, most of these can easily be treated and prevented with small changes to your diet and lifestyle.

• An unhealthy diet can be a major cause of hair loss and may result from fad dieting, crash dieting and eating disorders. If you have a lack of iron or protein in your diet, you may also lose your hair.
• Vitamin deficiencies, such as lack of B12, can cause hair to fall out.
• Certain medications for treating heart disease, high blood pressure, gout, arthritis and depression can also lead to hair loss. You may be able to cure this yourself by switching medications or, in certain instances, altering your life style so no medication is needed.
• Diabetes and lupus have also been known to cause hair loss.
• Excessive hair styling and over-treatment can cause severe hair loss. This includes over brushing, dying, tinting, bleaching, perming or straightening. You need to be extra cautious that you are not styling your hair to death.
• If you are also itchy and experience a dry scalp on top of the hair loss, you may have a scalp infection such as ringworm. There are medications to cure this.
• Finally, hormonal changes can cause hair loss. This can include menopause, pregnancy, childbirth and the use of birth control pills in females, and an overproduction of testosterone in males.

The causes of hair loss are widespread but once you have determined what causes your hair loss, you can work on finding the best treatment possible and welcoming back a full head of hair.

Have you ever experienced excessive hair loss?