Here’s What No One Tells You About Hair Loss
On average, the scalp has 100,000 hairs that cycle through periods of growing, resting, falling out, and regenerating, Hair loss may be linked to a person’s genetics, although many medical and behavioral conditions may interrupt the growth cycle and cause hair loss.
If you take certain medicines or have chemotherapy for cancer, you may also lose your hair. Other causes are stress, a low protein diet, a family history, or poor nutrition.
Alopecia (Hair Loss)
Hair loss (Alopecia) is a disorder caused by an interruption in the body’s cycle of hair production. Hair loss can occur anywhere on the body, but most commonly affects the scalp.
A hair growth cycle consists of three phases:
• During the anagen phase, hair grows actively. This phase may last for years.
• During the catagen phase, hair stops growing and separates from its follicle, which is the structure beneath the skin that holds the hair in place. The catagen phase lasts about 10 days.
• During the telogen phase, the follicle rests for two or three months, and then the hair falls out. The next anagen phase begins as new hair grows in the same follicle. Most people lose 40 to 90 hairs per day as part of this natural cycle.
If this cycle is disrupted, or if a hair follicle is damaged, hair may begin to fall out more quickly than it is regenerated, leading to symptoms such as a receding hairline, hair falling out in patches, or overall thinning.
Androgenetic Alopecia:
Androgenetic alopecia is the most common type of hair loss, affecting more than 50 million men and 30 million women in the United States. Commonly known as male pattern hair loss or female pattern hair loss, androgenetic alopecia is hereditary but can be managed with medication or surgery.
While the patterns of baldness for men and women differ, they both have a common genetic cause.
Male Pattern Hair Loss:
With male pattern baldness, hair loss typically occurs on the top and front of the head. In men, hair loss can begin any time after puberty and progress over years or decades.
It starts above the temples and continues around the perimeter and the top of the head, often leaving a ring of hair along the bottom of the scalp. Many men with male pattern hair loss eventually become bald.
Female Pattern Hair Loss:
With female pattern baldness, thinning occurs on the top and crown of the head. This thinning in women often starts as a widening of the center hair part that leaves the front hairline unaffected.
In women, the hair slowly thins all over the scalp, but the hairline usually doesn’t recede. Many women experience this type of hair loss as a natural part of aging, although hair loss may begin any time after puberty.
Female pattern hair loss can cause hair to thin dramatically but only rarely does it lead to baldness.
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