What Causes Hair Loss

Men and women experience hair loss for similar reasons.

Hormonal Changes

Men, unfortunately, experience a more dramatic, specific pattern of hair loss commonly termed "Male Pattern Baldness." This loss is caused by dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT is a hormone linked with testosterone. DHT binds to receptor sites on the scalp and hair follicles, interacting and interrupting the normal chain of events involved in continual healthy hair growth.

Woman, experience many hormonal changes throughout their lives which can lead to hair loss. In general, women may lose hair after a pregnancy, or during menopause. But it is not limited to just these. Any number of hormonal imbalances can trigger hair loss in women.

Hormonal changes in both men and women can cause hair loss by directly affecting the cells responsible for hair growth or by affecting the level of nutrients and blood flow to the follicle. The hair follicle cannot maintain a healthy growth cycle without proper nutrients and may eventually fall out and die.

Stress

Stress affects the hormone balance and it will transmit signals to the hair follicles. The hair follicles then undergo a resting stage. Usually it occurs 3 months after the stressful event has occured and it may take 3 months after the stress period has ended for the hair growth to resume. If the stress continues or is repeated the onset of genetic hair loss may worsen existing hair loss.

Supplements

A series of other factors can cause hair loss, including diets, the use of certain bodybuilding supplements, and environmental factors.

Hairstyle

Chemicals used for dying, tinting, bleaching, straightening or perms can cause hair to become damaged and break off if they are overused or used incorrectly. Also using excessive heat either by use of your normal hairdryer, straightners or curling tongs can lead to hair thinning. Overstating and excessive brushing also can cause hair to fall out if the hair shaft becomes damaged.

SUMMARY: As you can see there are many factors that can cause hair loss in both men and women but they all have one underlying theme in common, hair follicles that are affected by hormonal "clogging" agents and poor blood and nutrient circulation are less likely to experience a healthy growth cycle.

Stress and Hair loss

Your hair has a way of telling you if your body is in balance. If you are healthy - physically as well as emotionally - your hair will be radiant and shining and your scalp pliant and moist.

If you are not well physically, or if you are upset emotionally, your hair becomes dull and lifeless - it will begin to fall out, and your hair will become waxy with the overproduction of your traumatised sebaceous glands.

If your hair is thinning or you are experiencing baldness and it seems abnormal either because you are young or female, it is more than likely that stress is the culprit of hair loss. Your hair is one of the first places your body shows distress. Illness, medication and imbalances in nutrition all show up in you hair and scalp.

Usually, it is not mild job or life stress that triggers hair loss, more likely it is extremely serious stress to the body that causes hair to stop growing and fall out. These types of stress can be initiated by some types of medications, diabetes, thyroid disorders and even extreme emotional stress, but also can be caused by commonplace life events like childbirth, miscarriage and surgery.

Any major change in our lives can be reflected in the condition of our hair, scalp and skin. We reflect our health and well-being in the condition of our hair and scalp.

But how does stress actually effect hair loss? Well hair grows in repeating cycles. The active growth phase lasts around two years and is followed by a resting phase that spans three months, after which the hair falls from the scalp. Normally, every strand of hair in your head is at a different point in this cycle, so the shedding is barely noticeable: a few strands in the shower drain, some more on your brush, a hair or two on your pillow. A normal head sheds at most 100 strands of hair a day.

However, when the body undergoes extreme stress, as much as 70 percent of your hair can prematurely enter the resting phase. Three months later, these hairs begin to fall out, causing noticeable hair loss.

The person will not become completely bald and the thinning will be fairly unnoticeable. However, it is this three month delay and the fact that the trigger seems so unrelated that causes confusion on the part of the patient concerned about hair loss.

Fortunately, in most cases hair will begin to grow back within six months. However, some people may face further periods of severe stress that may trigger the whole process to being again cause more hair loss resulting in a more long-term problem.