All of us lose a bit of hair every day whether we are male or female, young or old. Every two to three months we may find we lose up to 10 percent of our hair. New hair grows, and other hair falls out because they have reached the end of their life cycle which varies from between two and six years. Most of us lose hair every day; you only have to look at your hair brush or comb to see this is true. Some people though, lose a bit more than ‘normal’ and this can affect both men and women.

There are varying reasons as to why someone may lose more than the normal amounts of hair. It could be hormonal – relating to the thyroid or the male or female hormones may be out of balance. Sometimes people may lose hair some months after they have experienced an illness or major surgery. Sometimes after giving birth some women may experience more hair loss than normal – this is due to the hormones returning back to their normal levels.

There are some medicines that may also cause hair loss – these may be medicines such as blood thinners (anticoagulants), those used to treat gout, chemotherapy, contraceptive pills and some antidepressants. Too much vitamin A can also lead to a loss of hair. Hair loss may also occur due to an underlying disease that may not have been diagnosed, such as Lupus or diabetes, so any unusual hair loss is always best to get checked out by your physician.

Other ways in which hair loss may occur are due to the way a person looks after their hair. If someone has their hair tied up often (pig tails or cornrows), or even if they use tight hair rollers on a regular basis, they can develop a form of alopecia (the general term referring to hair loss), due to the constant pull on their hair. This pulling can cause a type of scarring and in the long term could cause permanent hair loss. Also, prolonged use of hot oil hair treatments or chemicals used in perms may cause swelling of the hair follicle, which can result in scarring and lead to hair loss.

Then of course, there are the more common or well known types of hair loss – male pattern baldness – which is more often than not inherited. This usually starts off with a receding hair line and baldness eventually appearing on top of the head.

Women may also suffer from the female version of this type of Alopecia whereby the hair becomes thin over their entire scalp.

In some of the forms of hair loss mentioned above, it can be reversed, either by changing medication, balancing hormones, and letting nature take it’s course. Others though, such as male or female pattern baldness cannot be reversed – though there are always people who claim to be able to make hair grow back. These types of claims should always be treated sceptically until they can be definitely proved. 

Tags: types of hair loss, hair loss