If your hair is thinning or falling out, you are probably anxious to find out why. Is hair loss due to stress, diet, heredity, or some other factor? The answer is “yes” to all. The following are some types of hair loss, with information about each:
Normal Hair Loss:
We all lose about 150-200 hairs per day, out of the 100,000 contained by the average scalp. This is due to a few factors:
- Lifespan: The average lifespan of a single hair is 4.5 years; the hair then falls out and is replaced within 6 months by a new hair.
- Styling: Harsh chemicals used in some products can weaken and damage the follicles.
- Aging: After the age of 30 (and often before), men and women both start losing hair, though men tend to do so at a faster rate.
Hereditary Hair Loss:
Genetic hair loss isn’t due to excessive amounts of hair falling out, as many believe, but to an insufficient amount of hairs growing back to replace the hairs that have been shed. Hereditary baldness is associated with a few factors:
- Gender: Hereditary, or “pattern” baldness, is much more common in men than in women.
- Age: By age 30, 1 in 4 men are balding; by age 60, 2 in 3 men are balding or are bald.
- Hormones: Pattern baldness is associated with testosterone; women who have more of it in their system as they age tend to lose (or, technically, fail to re-grow) more hair. This is also why more men experience pattern baldness.
Stress and Hair Loss:
You may have heard that stress can cause hair loss, and it’s true. Excessive physical or emotional stress, like that associated with injury, illness or surgery, can cause one of two types of hair loss:
- The more common type is called telogen effluvium. With this less severe type of hair loss, the hair stops growing and lies dormant, only to fall out 2 or 3 months later. Then it grows back within 6 to 9 months.
- The other type of stress-induced hair loss is known as alopecia areata, and involves a white blood cell attack on the hair follicles. With this type of hair loss, the hair also falls out within weeks (usually in patches), but can involve the entire scalp and even body hair. Hair may grow back on its own, but treatment may also be required.
Other Hair Loss Factors:
There are other factors that can also cause hair loss, including but not limited to:
- Illness
- Medication
- Hormonal changes
- Pregnancy, childbirth, and birth control pill usage
- Nervous habits
- Chemotherapy
If your hair is thinning, or you’re experiencing baldness and it seems abnormal (i.e. if you’re in your teens or 20s, if it’s an odd pattern, etc.) it’s a good idea to speak with an Evolution Hair Growth Specialist to determine the cause. Also, if you’re concerned that stress is the culprit, it’s always a good idea to cut down on lifestyle stress and find some effective coping techniques for the stress that remains.
Contributor: Elizabeth Scott, M.S.
