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What Causes Hair Loss?

Draanor | Jul 3, 2009 | Views: 455 |

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How does hair normally grow?

Hair's normal cycle of growth and loss is about 2 to 6 years. A single strand of hair grows less than a half of an inch per month during this phase. About 90 percent of the hair on your head is growing at any given time. About 10 percent of your hair is in resting phase. After bout 2 to 3 months, the resting hair falls out and new hair grows in that spot.

Every day, normal people will be constantly shedding hair and regrowing it as part of the cycle of hair growth. Some people may experience above normal or excessive hairless however, which can affect men, women, and children.

What cause hair loss?

Excessive hair loss can be caused by a variety of factors such as after a few months after major surgery or sickness you may lose an abundance of hair. This type of excessive hair loss is temporary and really is just related to the stress caused by the illness or surgery.

Sometimes hormonal imbalance can cause hair loss. A malfunctioning thyroid gland can cause your hair to fall out. If you're experience hair loss due to your thyroid gland, treatment for the thyroid gland could help relieve your hair loss problems. Also, if other hormones in your body like androgens and estrogens, are out of balance they can cause hair loss too. Correcting the imbalance will help stop your hair loss. Both men and women can experience hormone imbalance.

If you are a woman, hair loss can occur a few months of having a baby. This hair loss is normal and is related to the hormones during your pregnancy. Basically, during your pregnancy, your body had much higher than usual hormones that kept hair that normally would've fallen out on your body still. Once you had your baby, your hormones went back to normal levels and your body start the normal cycle of hair growth and loss again. The excessive hair loss is only temporary.

Certain medications can also cause hair loss in both males and females. If you're experiencing this type of hair loss, stopping of the medication or switching to another, could stop the hair loss. Some known medicines that can cause hair loss are blood thinners, gout medicines, medicines used for chemotherapy, vitamin A, birth control pills, and antidepressants.

Fungal infections are another cause of hair loss. A fungal infection of the scalp (usually found in children) can cause hair loss. This type of infection can be easily be treated with antifungal medicines.

Hair loss can also be a sign of an early sign of a major disease like lupus or diabetes. If you have unexplained hair loss and cannot find out what is causing it, you'll want to speak to a doctor to make sure you don't have a disease.

Is there something I could be doing to my hair?

Improper care can also cause hair loss. Pig tails, cornrows, or other such styles, the pull on your hair can cause hair loss. If the pulling stops before scarring happens, your hair will grow back normally. If you do experience scarring however, you will have permanent hair loss. Chemicals used for perms, dying of hair, etc., can also cause inflammation which could result to scarring and also result in hair loss.

Genetics could also be the culprit

Sometimes hair loss is in your genes, especially when it comes to males. You've probably heard of male-pattern baldness which is the primary cause for hair loss in men. This trait passed down by your family line will cause you to lose your hair at an early age which will lead to baldness. Signs of male-pattern baldness includes a receding hair line and/or baldness on the top of your head.

A female variant of permanent-pattern baldness has the same causes as the male except the females typically have thin hair over their entire scalp instead of a few areas.