What is main causes of Hair Loss?

Hair loss, also commonly-known and termed as alopecia, is an intermittent affair in both men and women. Though it is a very natural and common phenomenon to shed some hair each day, shedding more than 40 to 50 hair strands daily can be a matter of great concern. It can be stated or assumed that people, who experience ‘greater than normal’ hair loss, may already be having the inherited genetic tendency to what we commonly term as "common baldness."

A typical “Male Patterned Baldness” is probably the most frequent cause of hair loss in maximum number of men, which shows alarming signs like receding or fading hairline that can even lead to baldness towards the top of one’s head. Women, on the other hand, may develop “female pattern baldness” in which signs show how one’s hair starts becoming thin over and around the entire scalp. 

Let’s look deeper into the causes of Hair Loss :

Stress:

The talk of the town that stress can lead to hair loss is unfortunately proven to be true. Hair loss which is caused due to stress is rather environmentally caused and possesses more scope of being easily controlled if the stress levels can be managed. 

Among the two types of hair loss caused due to stress, the first one seems to be telogen effluvium. This is one of the more common ones. With this much less severe category of hair loss, the hair abruptly stops growing and remains dormant. It is only to fall out or shed after 2 or 3 months. It also tends to grow back within a span of 6 to 9 months.

Alopecia areata happens to be the second type of hair loss caused by stress. This usually involves a severe white blood cell attack on most of the hair follicles. With this kind of hair loss, the hair follicle also tends to fall out within the span of just weeks (usually in round patches), but can also involve the entire scalp hair and even parts of body hair.

Here, stress management becomes the key to achieve healthy hair.

Dandruff:

The term dandruff is used very commonly and widely to describe each and any scaly condition of the scalp that needs to be treated. This flakey skin often sheds off, and white flakes are visible on your shoulders. Dandruff is correlated with an escalation in the oil production and overreaction to the yeast which is naturally found on the scalp. A study noted that there was undoubtedly a higher rate of hair fall amongst people who had dandruff.

 

Hormonal Imbalance:

Hormones usually play a significantly huge role in controlling our hair growth cycle Oestrogens, the female hormones, are termed as 'hair-friendly' and do help to keep hairs within their growing phase for the optimal length of time. Androgens, the male hormones, on the other hand, cannot be termed as very hair-friendly, and thus, can shorten the whole hair growth cycle.

It's not a myth that excessive stress can make your hair fall out in reality. Want to know how does this happen? Well, stress can heighten your androgen, male hormone, levels, which in turn cause more hair loss. Stress may also work as a catalyst for scalp problems, such as dandruff, uneven eating habits, and can even mess with your digestive system. All of this can have an extremely negative impact on hair

An excessive level of androgen, which could sometimes be caused due to an endocrine disorder like a Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome can result in hair loss. The extent of this often goes down to our genes. If one has a genetically predisposed condition to follicle sensitivity, a severe hormonal imbalance can in turn affect your hair much more than it would do to someone who does not have such a predisposition.

Pregnancy

The most generic period of hair loss appears approximately three months after the delivery of your child. The rise in the level of your hormones during the span of pregnancy holds you back from losing your hair. However, after the delivery, the hormones gradually return to their normal levels, which mostly allow your hair to fall out, and later, return to their normal cycle. The usual hair loss which gets delayed during the period of pregnancy may start to fall out all at once.

A study shows that up to to 60% of the hair follicles that are in the growing state may start to enter into what is termed as the “telogen resting state”. The hair loss usually reaches its peak 2-3 months after the delivery as your hair follicles start to regenerate themselves. As mentioned above, this type of hair loss is totally temporary, and thus hair loss returns to almost their normal state within a span of six to twelve months.

Medication

Sometimes even medication, taken to cure other physiological symptoms, can result in the thinning of hair, indicating hair loss. Hair loss, which occurs as an outcome of certain types of medications, is mostly temporary, which means that your normal hair growing and falling cycle should resume as soon as you stop in taking the drugs which were causing such severe effects. In such rare cases, however, it is observed that people taking certain medications can experience permanent hair loss.

However, the point to be noted over here is that it is extremely vital to consult with a doctor before you stop any sort of a drug, even though it can cause you to lose your hair. Once a person ceases his or her medication, the hair can easily take up to a time span of 6 months to come back to their natural cycle. Some people may even notice their hair growth reviving within 3–5 months, but it is normal to take 12–18 months for the hair to return to their normal growth.

 

Genetics

When we think of the term “hereditary hair loss”, we usually tend to think straight about male pattern baldness. But it is to be noted that people of all genders can be susceptible and vulnerable to what we term as hereditary hair loss. It has been observed over time that, in women, this pattern of hair loss is rather usually concentrated towards the crown of the head, while this is more likely to affect men along their hairline. Although no one can prevent this kind of hair loss wholly, there are several treatments which is available—that can show signs of slowing it down and making your hair stay fuller and longer for a longer period. Thus, the sooner you get started with the treatment, the better results you may expect.

Nutritional deficiencies

Having and maintaining a healthy hair cycle relies on getting the proper nutrition inside your system. Specifically speaking, deficiencies in the levels of iron, zinc, vitamin B3 also called niacin, and even protein have all been associated with various kinds of hair loss. Treating and taking care of a nutritional deficiency usually starts off with a consultation with your doctor and tests to precisely diagnose your health issues. Then the doctor may treat your particular type of deficiency with prescribed supplements or even may refer you to other consultants for further guidance, if required.

Vitamin A encourages a healthy production of the amount of sebum that is produced by the scalp, vitamin E tends to make the blood circulation in the scalp much better in order to help your hair follicles remain productive and keep regenerating while vitamin B helps the hair to maintain it's healthy and natural colour.

Autoimmune diseases

An autoimmune disease makes your body identify its own hair follicles as foreign bodies and attacks them in order to mimic the body’s own defending mechanism and makes the hair fall out.

This could easily be a condition known as alopecia areata, in which our immune system attacks our own hair follicles. Sometimes people having alopecia areata do get to see their hair growing back (although it may tend to fall out yet again). But if that is not the scenario, then dermatologists can treat this condition by prescribing various medications, like corticosteroid injection in order to stimulate the hair growth.

Styling your hair with heat regularly

Some women think they have a medical condition which is leading to hair fall while what they really have, is something called trichorrhexis nodosa. This is a very common condition in which extremely damaged and weak parts of the hair shaft cause hair to break off very easily. Thinking of the cause? Well, thermal damage to the hair which is caused from things and actions like using very hot tools frequently and over bleaching of your hair. In these cases, the hair loss cannot necessarily be right from the root but it usually is from somewhere along the hair shaft.

Treatment for this condition usually involves finding and mostly trying to avoid the source of the damage, which could be from the use of hot tools like hair straightners, hair curler, tongs, crimpers, hair driers, harsh chemicals, or even aggressive brushing regularly. Instead, one should try and opt for more gentle brushing techniques and products and tools that are less aggressive on your hair.

Radiation and Chemotherapy

Whether you believe it or not, hair loss, termed as alopecia, caused due to radiation and chemotherapy is one of the most distressing and frustrating side effects of all the chemo treatments. Hair loss occurs because the chemotherapy ends up affecting all cells in the body and not just the cancer cells.  This particular type of hair loss is known as anagen effluvium. It usually happens to the hairs which are in the growth stage. The most affected areas are the lining of the mouth, the stomach walls, and the hair follicles are especially sensitive and are also the worst affected because those cells go on multiplying rapidly just like the cancer cells. The difference remains to be the fact that the normal cells are able to repair themselves, making the side effects temporary. 

Hair loss does not take place with each and every kind of chemotherapy.  Whether or not one’s hair remain as it is, starts to thin or fall out, this totally depends on the types of drugs and dosages.  Hair loss may start to occur as early as the first or second week post the first cycle of chemotherapy, although this may not take place until post the second cycle of the chemotherapy.  

This hair loss can turn out to be all of a sudden or sometimes even be slow.  You may start to lose all of your hair at one or just some of it in an intermittent basis.  Often your hair might start to come out in clumps instead of coming out in an even pattern.  It is very common for this type of hair loss to include shedding of hair that grows in any part of the body, including your eyebrows, eyelashes armpits, legs, arms and may even affect your pubic hair.

Menopause

During menopause, one might start to notice either one of two things which will happen with her hair. She might start to have hair growth where she usually did not have it before. Or even, she might start seeing the hair she already had start to thin. One of the underlying causes may be the changing levels of the hormones during the stage of menopause. The hormones, estrogen and progesterone levels drastically fall, meaning that now the effects of the hormone androgens, male hormones, are increased by a considerable amount over a short period of time. Other factors, like stress, improper diet, and sometimes genetic disorders, may start to contribute in the process of one’s hair loss or hair problems.

Thus, whatever the underlying cause might be for the hair loss that you are experiencing at the time, it is very important that you do not neglect the symptoms and visit an expert soon. N expert can help you identify the cause of your hair loss and can help you treat it better and much faster than any of the trial and error home remedies would do.