Hair Loss in Women and Its Causes

While major hair loss in women is relatively rare, it can be rather distressing when it does occur.

The main reason as to why hair loss in a woman can be such a distressing affair is because most societies expect every woman to grow at least some hair, and a woman who fails to do this is viewed as a social rebel in most cases, and consequently treated with some level of curiosity – and possibly even hostility – in the worst cases. Add to this the fact that most societies actually view hair as a component of a woman’s beauty, and it follows that a woman who experiences major hair loss could end up being viewed as ‘less than beautiful’ leading to a plunge in her self esteem. And it gets worse when the people in the woman’s circle start making up stories to explain her hair loss to themselves (with the woman in question eventually getting a wind of this), typically pushing her even deeper into depression.

Thankfully, most cases of hair loss in women are treatable. But in order to be in a competent position to treat any case of hair loss, one has to understand what could be causing it.

And as it turns out, one of the major causes of hair loss in women is ‘hormones falling out balance.’ A great variety of hormones could be to blame for hair loss in women; including the female hormone estrogen – since falling levels of estrogen have been associated with some cases of hair loss, with the women who whose estrogen levels were falling starting to experience much improved hair growth when their estrogen levels are artificially raised through oral or topical intake of estrogen (through compounds such as ethynodiol diacetate).

Like men, women are also susceptible to androgenetic alopecia (baldness). And as the name suggests, Androgenetic alopecia is attributed to the male hormones in the body (called Androgens), which women are also endowed with, only in smaller levels than men. Luckily for women though, their cases for baldness tend to milder due to their lower androgen levels. Still the fact that the level of baldness women are susceptible to is relatively low does not make it less distressing, especially since such baldness in a woman is ’simply not the expected thing.’

Besides hormone-related causes, another major cause of hair loss in women (and indeed in all people) is an immune disease called Alopecia Areata – which affects about 1 in every 50 people in the general population. It is alopecia Areata that is responsible for those patches on the scalp on which hair simply won’t grow. And while the milder cases of Alopecia Areata might be ‘hidden’ through careful hair grooming, more serious cases of the disease can be harder to disguise.

You can learn how to stop hair loss by using the tips on avoiding hair loss found on the author’s site.

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Written by Jane Smith on December 10th, 2009 with no comments.
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