Female Hair Loss Causes

Female hair loss causes you far more stress than male pattern baldness causes men. There are some things you need to know about it.

Secrecy about female hair loss

You are not alone. If you've been reading up on this subject, you are learning that female hair loss is a lot more common than you've ever thought. The causes of hair loss are shared by many women, but there is one very specific reason that you have never really heard about much about it -

Shhhh.... Women don't like to talk about hair loss.

The entire subject is not just taboo. No. It's horrifying. Women would rather talk about boob jobs or botox, and will readily admit to having them, but losing their hair? No way.

This is why you may have felt alone or unusual, when in reality the condition is pretty common.

The most common cause of female hair loss

The most common cause of female hair loss is testosterone. DHT, or dihydrotestosterone, to be exact. Yes, this is also the most common cause of hair loss in men.

Testosterone? The male hormone? This is the most common culprit. It's called androgenic alopecia.

Androgenic alopecia

Definitions:

Androgens = hormones that control the sex characteristics.
Alopecia = hair loss.

So Androgenic alopecia means hair loss due to hormones. The primary hormone at work is testosterone.

The medical fact is that women have testosterone in small amounts, as well as estrogen in larger amounts. Just like men have estrogen in small amounts, and larger amounts of testosterone.

Estrogen is good for keeping your hair, and testosterone contributes to losing it. Men can go around with hair loss and say it comes from having too much testosterone, almost bragging to explain the hair loss. But no woman is going to do that.

Now, why these hormones go out of balance and cause female hair loss gets a little more involved. Men have more stable hormones than women in general. Boys go through puberty, become men, and that's pretty much it as far as big hormone changes go, unless something is medically wrong. Women can have mood swings, irritability, and yes, hair loss due to the constant changes.

Women's hormones fluctuate all the time. And there are many things that can make the hormones fluctuate more than normal. Hormonal female hair loss causes include:

• Having a baby
  During pregnancy, the body gets flooded with estrogen, which is why hair loss stops for most women during this time. But then after delivery, the estrogen levels fall significantly, and this often causes hair loss in women.

• Hormone imbalance
  This will need to be tested for by a doctor. This can be an underlying cause of hair loss, and once the hormone levels return to normal, the loss stops. Of course you will want to use our laser as a female hair loss treatment to undo the damage already done, in addition to stopping the hair loss.

• Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
  PCOS hair loss is a known fact. What happens is the body produces excessive amounts of testosterone, some of which get converted into DHT, leading to hair loss.

• Birth control pills
  These deliberately alter the hormone levels in the body, and starting or stopping birth control pills can lead to hair loss.

• Menopause
  During menopause hair loss is common, because the estrogen levels are falling. This not only can cause hair loss, but can cause facial hair growth too.

Other female hair loss causes

There are other factors that can cause female hair loss. These are not necessarily related to hormone levels. Some of these can cause teolgen effluvium.

Telogen effluvium

Telogen effluvium definitions:

Telogen = the phase of the natural hair cycle where the hair falls out.
Effluvium = an emanation, or in this case, an outflowing of hair.

So telogen effluvium means when something causes a whole bunch of hairs to go into the shedding phase. This list contains factors associated with telogen effluvium.

• Allergies

• Anemia

• Anesthetics
  After surgery, women can notice hair loss. In fact, some women have sworn a connection between getting breast implants and losing their hair, and this is most likely due to the anesthetic.

• Certain medications
  Including:
  • ACE inhibitors
  • Amphetamines
  • Anti-cholesterol drugs
  • Beta blockers
  • Bromocriptine
  • Hepatitis B shot

• Stress

• Thyroid problems
  Underactive or overactive thyroid can cause thinning hair in women.

• Too much vitamin A

• Vitamin or mineral, and nutritional deficiencies
  The body needs certain substances to function properly, and deficiencies have been associated with hair loss in women:
  • Zinc
  • Essential fatty acids
  • Protein (vegetarian diets can cause this)
  • Manganese
  • Iron
  • Vitamin B6

Traction alopecia

As covered above, alopecia means hair loss. Traction means pulling. This is very simple to understand, traction alopecia means hair loss from pulling. This is seen with tight

• Ponytails
• Pigtails
• Braids
• Cornrows

Since this is completely under your own control the solution to this is simple. While laser therapy could help, there is really no need for it in this case.

Anagen effluvium

Anagen is the growing phase of the hair follicle. In order to get a hair in the growing phase to fall out, it has to be subjected to a rather large shock. This is seen in certain drug therapies, most commonly chemotherapy used to treat cancer.

Chemotherapy targets cells that are growing and multiplying rapidly. Cancer cells are targeted this way, but so are hair follicles, since these are the most active in the body. (It takes a lot of cellular activity to grow hair) So when the chemo hits, it knocks out the hair cells rapidly.

Fortunately, once the chemo stops, the cells pick back up where they left off. Happily, the laser hair therapy can help speed this process up and help to restore the hair quicker, with faster hair growth.