Cause of hair loss in a woman

There are several reasons for hair loss in a woman. Often the problem is as simple as having the wrong hair style. Hair that is frequently worn pulled back very tightly suffers torsion and eventually there will be a loss of hair at the temples. This is known as traction alopecia.

Secondly, although we associate hormonal based hair loss with men it can also affect women. By the age of 50 50% of women will experience some degree of hair loss. Short term conditions such as stress, pregnancy, diet and medication can all result in hair loss. In the case of pregnancy hormonal changes mean that many more follicles than usual enter the growth stage at the same time. This means that a few weeks after the end of the pregnancy all these hairs reach the shedding stage and the woman notices a larger hair loss than normal. After a few months her hair growth pattern will normally return to normal. The discontinuation of birth control pills can also have a negative effect, but 70% of loss is caused  by androgenic alopecia ( female pattern baldness. Unlike men hair loss in women tends to be more diffuse – a general thinning rather than total loss in one place. What happens is that within the hair follicles testosterone is converted into Dihydrotestosterone, a much more powerful hormone which inhibits metabolism in the hair cells. The result is a gradual loss in the numbers of hairs produced and those that are grown tend to be much finer than previously. The follicle gradually shrink and the final result is irreversible baldness.