While hair loss is common in women, it's not often discussed — hair loss is typically associated with men, and many resources about hair loss are directed towards a male audience. When hair loss occurs, it's often traumatic and extremely frustrating. Thankfully, women have numerous options available to them to stop or reverse their hair loss — there's no need to live with thinning hair. If you're experiencing hair loss, here's what you need to know about what can cause it and what options are available to you to restore your full, natural head of hair.
What Causes Women to Lose Their Hair?
A common cause of hair loss in women is androgenic alopecia. It's a hereditary condition that causes you to lose your hair gradually, much like a man who is beginning to go bald. If hair loss runs in your family, then you may be suffering from this condition.
It's caused by a sensitivity to dihydrotestosterone (DHT.) DHT is formed when testosterone is the body breaks down, and it is the hormone that's primarily responsible for causing male-pattern baldness. While all women have small amounts of DHT in their bodies, most women don't have hair follicles that are sensitive to the hormone. However, women who have the genes for androgenic alopecia will gradually begin to lose hair in response to DHT circulating throughout their system.
Another common cause of hair loss in women is telogen effluvium, which is also referred to as traumatic hair loss. Your hair goes through three stages of growth: anagen, catagen, and telogen. Your hair grows during the anagen phase, which lasts the longest. Eventually, the hair follicle enters the transitional catagen phase and begins to close. Once the hair follicle has fully closed, catagen ends and the follicle enters telogen. The hair follicle rests during this phase until it begins to open and enters the anagen phase again — at this point, your hair begins to regrow.
Normally, all of the hair follicles on your scalp are at differing points in this cycle — this gives you a healthy, full head of hair. When you experience telogen effluvium, however, a significant amount of hair follicles on your scalp immediately enter the telogen phase. You'll experience rapid hair loss as follicles close and the associated hairs fall out.
What causes telogen effluvium? It's most often caused by stress or rapid weight loss. It can also be caused by rapid hormonal changes that occur during pregnancy or menopause. Telogen effluvium often occurs a few months after the stressful event, weight loss, or hormonal shift when your hair follicles begin to rapidly shed their hair.
How Can Women Stop or Reverse Hair Loss?
Androgen alopecia can often be halted with medication, such as finasteride, that reduces your body's ability to create DHT. However, the hair follicles that have already been affected often don't regrow hair — they stay in the telogen phase and never enter the anagen phase again.
Telogen effluvium often resolves on its own within a few months. After the traumatic event that caused the condition passes, follicles return to the anagen phase and begin growing hair again. Unfortunately, this doesn't occur in some cases — some hair follicles may stay in the telogen phase forever.
If your hair is thin because you have a significant number of hair follicles in the telogen phase, then hair restoration may be the solution for you. While hair restoration procedures are most commonly associated with men who are balding, they're also entirely suitable for women who have thinning hair.
Additionally, new hair restoration techniques have been developed that make the process simpler than ever. One of these is the NeoGraft hair restoration system that uses an automated pneumatic device to transfer healthy follicles from your scalp into areas where your hair no longer grows. The healthy hair follicles will begin to grow hair in the area where they're transplanted, making NeoGraft hair restoration an effective way to eliminate thinning hair.
If you're suffering from hair loss and want a full, healthy head of hair, schedule an appointment with a hair restoration specialist near you for a consultation. You and the doctor will discuss which procedures are available to you and which would best fit your needs to reverse your hair loss.
Share24 April 2019
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