Women absolutely love their hair, and to think about losing it scares them to death. They don’t want to lose even one hair. Hair loss in women is becoming a more serious problem than ever before. It is even affecting teenage girls at an alarming rate. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, nearly 30 million women in the just the US have a serious hair loss problem. That adds up to just about 40% of all the people who have lost or are losing their hair.

Natural hair loss is a natural occurrence in every woman. Each person loses somewhere close to 100 hairs every day. Since this type of hair loss is normal, the hairs are rapidly replaced, and there is no baldness.

Are you aware that in normal hair growth, the hair grows one-half inch every month? Each hair grows anywhere from two to six years. When they stop growing, they go through a rest period and then fall out. A new hair quickly begins to grow in the empty follicle and replaces the one that was lost. This cycle doesn’t even stop in the retiring years.

For some people, the androgen hormone interferes with the hair loss and re-growth cycle. Androgen is the root cause of the follicle starting to shrink which, in turn, changes the hair cycle. This causes the follicles to dry up or die, making them unable to grow healthy, new hairs. The result is hair loss. Unlike in men, hair loss can occur in women at any age. Doctors have, of yet, not been able to figure this out.

If a woman has an undiagnosed medical problem, it can cause her hair to fall out. There is a different kind of hair loss problem that occurs when a woman has an autoimmune problem. The inflammation that results causes the hair to fall out in bunches, and there are bald spots in different places on her head.

Childbirth, surgery, crash dieting or a traumatic emotional event can cause a change in the natural hair growth cycle that will make the hair shed. When a woman brushes her hair, it will often fill the entire brush. Hair loss can also be caused by chronic illness, thyroid problems, anemia or the use of certain types of medication. For this reason, it is very important that a woman have the reason for the doctor to find the root of her hair loss problem.

To be able to treat a hair loss problem effectively, a doctor must find out if there is an underlying medical problem that is causing the loss. Most specialists that deal with hair loss problems in women will order blood tests and, in some cases, a scalp biopsy. It is much simpler to treat the problem after medical problems are discarded.

Even though it is a difficult decision, many women choose to just accept their hair loss and not to think about it. This is hard for them to do because their hair plays such an important role in their lives. Others choose to use hair thickeners, natural remedies or a wig. They can talk with their doctor about the different medical therapies that are available. If all else fails, and it is sufficiently important to her, she can opt to have hair-replacement surgery.

A woman’s hair plays a very important part in her life because it is her crowning glory. This makes hair loss very difficult to live with. A doctor should always be consulted to see if there is an untreated medical problem that is causing the loss.

Tags