Causes And Treatment For Hair Loss

On average, people lose about 10% of their hair during a resting phase. Then after about three months, resting hair falls out and new hair begins to grow. The phase of new growing hair typically lasts anywhere from two to six years with hair growing about one-half to one-inch per month. The interesting thing is that as much as 90% of hair on your head is growing at any given time.

Shedding hair is a normal process. In fact, on a normal day, you would lose about 100 hairs although more if you were actually going through significant hair loss. Now, hair loss is usually associated with men but women can also go through hair loss. The cause of excessive hair loss could be a number of things. For starters, if you have undergone major surgery or illness, you might lose more hair for the following three months than you normally do because of stress.

Another common cause of excessive hair loss is due to hormonal changes within the body. This in itself could be from several things such as having a baby, dealing with an under or overly active thyroid, having estrogen or androgens out of balance, and so on. Then, certain types of drugs can also cause hair loss. In this case, once the medication is stopped, the excessive hair loss usually stops as well. The most common culprits include blood thinners, chemotherapy, excessive vitamin A, antidepressants, gout medication, and birth control pills.

Then, if you have a fungal infection of the scalp, you might also find your hair falling out more than usual. Finally, underlying disease can also be a challenge. For instance, if you are living with something such as diabetes, lupus, or another autoimmune disease, excessive hair loss is common. Remember, by taking the right medication to treat the problem, hair growth generally returns to normal.

Although some types of hair loss are genetic, you can also do a few things to help slow down or stop the process. For starters, avoid wearing your hair in cornrows, ponytails, or hot rollers, which tend to pull and stretch hair to the point of breakage. In addition, if hair follicles should become inflamed, excessive hair loss may occur. In this case, having your hair permed, colored, or treated with hot oil could be damaging. The key here is to only, have a professional work on your hair, using professional and safe products.

If the hair loss is extreme and you have tried everything you know from eating healthy to using good hair care products but nothing is working, you might visit with your doctor. First, he or she will look at what is going on with your body to see if medication, infection, or illness could be the problem. If not, blood work may be performed to look further at a possible cause. In some cases, your doctor may prescribe certain medication such as hormones for an imbalance or antibiotics for an infection. Other than that, you will find a number of excellent products now on the market that can help maintain the current amount of hair and in some cases, help with regrowth.

Balding Solution for Men and Women

Androgenetic alopecia (male and female pattern balding) is by far the most common cause of hair loss amongst men and a serious problem for many women. There are three important components which are responsible for both female and male balding:

1. A genetic predisposition for balding to occur.

2. Excessive presence of male hormones.

3. Aging - enough time for the first two factors to occur.

Both men and women produce male hormones that have a useful role to play in both sexes; but the fact that androgens occur in much higher concentrations in men explains why male pattern baldness is more common than the female balding.

DHT the root cause of hair loss
It is metabolism of male hormones (androgen/testosterone) which is main cause of hair loss and male and female pattern balding both in men and women.

The metabolism of androgen involves an enzyme called 5 alpha reductase which combines with the hormone (testosterone) and converts it to DHT (Dihydro-testosterone). DHT is a natural metabolite of our body.

The cause of male and female pattern balding
Some individuals, both men and women, are genetically pre-disposed to produce more DHT than the normal individuals. It is this accumulation of DHT and its effect on the cells inside the hair follicle and root which is one of the primary causes of male and female pattern balding.

When DHT gets into the hair follicle and root, especially a region called the dermal papilla, it changes the cell' activity and prevents necessary proteins, vitamins and minerals from providing nourishment needed to sustain life in the hairs of those follicles. Consequently, hair follicles are reproduced at a much slower rate. This shortens their growing stage (anagen phase) and or lengthens their resting stage (telogen phase) of the follicle. DHT also causes hair follicle to shrink and get progressively smaller and finer. This process is known as miniaturization and causes the hair to ultimately fall. DHT induced androgenetic aloepcia is responsible for 95% of all hair loss.

Blocking the synthesis of DHT at the molecular level forms the basis for the treatment of MPHL (male pattern hair loss) and FPHL (female pattern hair loss). There are many natural DHT blockers and a number of drugs which are used for medical hair restoration.