For social and cultural reasons, women seem to have a more difficult time with loss of their hair. With a few exceptions, women don’t voluntarily choose a style where the head is shaved. However, until relatively recently the only thing that could be done about women hair loss was to cover the head with a wig, hat or with a scarf.
For many women, the loss of hair may not be immediately apparent. If you have always had thick and healthy hair, when the realization hits, it can be humiliating and even frightening. You might be surprised to know that a large percentage of women suffer from pattern baldness, just as men do. In women, the condition manifests differently than it does in men. Women lose hair all over the head, rather than in just the characteristic areas on sides of the forehead and the crown of the head.
This type of female hair loss is often tied to genetics. If thinning hair or baldness runs in your family, it is likely that you will have the same issues with thinning hair. You may not remember your grandmother or your mother’s hair problems, but chances are good that if they had thin hair after age forty, you will have to deal with the problem as well.
Some experts have theorized that thinning hair in women is essentially hormonal, but perhaps not the hormone you might expect. The production of thyroid, or lack of production can create a number of problems in women, including fatigue, weight gain and thinning hair. Although some women take iodine, most do not get enough iodide in their daily diet to replace the loss of mineral due to contaminants and additives to the water supply.
Certain diseases can cause thinning hair. Additionally, many cancer treatments will cause loss of hair as well as other symptoms. Fortunately, these diseases are relatively rare and do not affect more than a small percentage of the female population.
Finding the right treatment to solve the problem of female hair loss is a matter of determining which of the major causes is involved. There are medications that deal directly with hormonal issues and with thyroid hormone production. Taking vitamin and mineral supplements is an easy fix. Eliminating the factors that cause genetic thinning is possible. More rare conditions causing hair loss can also be treated, once the underlying cause is diagnosed.
You no longer have to try to cover up women hair loss. Go to your dermatologist to determine the type of condition causing the loss of hair and get a treatment plan started. You may find that certain types of treatments require several months before improvement is noted.
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