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.

Andropause and Hair Loss

Andropause and hair loss often go hand in hand. Imagine clumps of hair falling off your head, or observing strands of once healthy hair collecting in the shower drain. Maybe you run your hand through your hair and feel it thinning. It can feel daunting and quite scary.

Typically, hair loss is a result of an imbalance of male testosterone hormone in the body. Instead of infusing the hair with healthy testosterone, enzymes break it down to a simpler form known as dihydrotestosterone.

An excess of this hormone has the effect of decreasing the size of hair follicles which eventually break down and make your hair fall off sporadically. The medical condition that is best associated with hair loss in Andropause sufferers is hyperthyroidism. Hyperthyroidism is a by-product of decreasing levels of Human Growth Hormone, which is responsible for regulating our aging process. Andropause sufferers’ hormones have a profound effect on the rate and consistency of hair loss. Dihydrotestosterone (considered by medical circles the strongest, most potent form of testosterone) is responsible for building and growing body hair in men (at normal levels - an excess causes hair degeneration.)

This includes body hair, pubic hair, head hair, armpit hair – any hair. DHT is directly produced in the skin, made to work by supporting enzymes that break it down for distribution throughout the body. DHT levels are present more in certain areas of the body than in others – explaining why we may have a full crop of hair on our heads and little bushes of hair on our chests and backs. Realize, women also have DHT in their bodies but produce less of it.

That explains why women don’t have body hair. Case in point: an excess of DHT is prevalent in Andropause sufferers, explaining the reason for hair loss. The enzyme used to break down testosterone to dihydrotestosterone is ¨over activated¨ - working too hard and too fast.

This is the primary cause for this Andropausal condition. As aforementioned, dihydrotestosterone is present more in certain areas of the body than in others. For this reason, men’s hair can fall into funny patterns. You know, the balding train station clerk you might have seen with more hair on his scalp than the top of his head. The shrinking of hair follicles as a result of the production of DHT is attributed to this.

How hair grows is a wondrous thing in itself that needs to be recognized. Typically, hair grows at a rate of a quarter inch every 2 weeks. Andropause sufferers have their ¨hair growth cycles¨ disrupted when there is erratic growth of some hair strands where ¨new¨ hair pushed ¨old¨ hair out. Because Andropause is a period of hormonal imbalance, a lack of hormonal stability and poor homeostasis (holistic balance) in the body pushes things out of whack.

If you want to maintain healthy strands of hair, one thing you can do is hit that stair climber machine fellas! Exercise reverses the aging process and may certainly reverse this symptom. There are also hair loss products that can help you recapture your hair.

Secondary causes of hair loss in men suffering Andropause is stress. More specifically, stress raises the levels of cortisol and cortisone (known as stress hormones) in the body. Eating non-nutritional foods also speeds up hair loss.
Pretty much any activity that speeds up the aging process will speed up your hair loss.

Stay away from caffeinated drinks, fast foods, and cigarette smoking to keep running your hands through your thick mane longer. Participate in recreational activities to reduce stress and light up your life with a proper exercise regimen.
If you’re suffering from this condition, don’t let it affect you in the least bit! Andropause should not serve as a punishment – rather, a realization of a future for the better.

The information in this article is for educational purposes only, and is not intended as medical advice.