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Causes of Hair Loss in Men and Women

There are many causes of hair loss. Both men and women can obtain it. It can be because of nutritional deficiency, hormone imbalance, stress, and diseases. But generally the most common cause of it is called adrogenetic alopecia. It is the medical term for hair loss or baldness. Adrogenetic refers to the influence of androgens (male hormones), and genetic predisposition to balding can be the reason of such a hair loss. Genetic is not that simple, and also the hair loss case. Just the presence of someone in your family of balding is not enough to predict that you will also become bald. It is really hard to predict who will go bald and how fast will it be. That is why planning for hair restoration will be very important for those people who gets alarmed about it. Normal men and women produce androgenic hormones. Dihydrotestosterone, androsteinedione, testosterone (DHT) is the most common. For men testicles and adrenals are the one to produce it.

For women ovaries and adrenal glands are the one to produce. These hormones are important for both sexes. But have different concentrations, and this is more predominant for males than females. This in part, differentiates the genders. Exposure of hair follicles to DHT, in a susceptible person, in a period of time leads to male and female pattern to baldness or the so-called adrogenetic alopecia. There is no exact age for balding occurrence. Balding is a process, simple yet this fact is often ignored. This process can be slow or rapid. It usually starts at late teens. Illnesses and medical conditions is one of the causes of hair loss. For example, thyroid disease and diabetes, can cause hair loss. Those people with liver and kidney diseases and lupus can also have baldness. Adult women and teen girls can have hair loss due to hormone imbalance in polycystic ovary syndrome.

Medications such as acne medicines cause hair loss. Amphetamines in diet pills can also cause hair loss. And the very known medication that causes hair loss is chemotherapy. Alopecia areata is a skin disease than causes hair loss on the scalp and sometimes on the body. It is an autoimmune disease. The own immune system is the one to damage the hair follicles. Alopecia areata starts as small bald patches and can progress to total baldness. Trichotillomania is a psychological disorder in which a person pulls his/her own hair that can also lead to hair loss.

Hair treatments and styling the hair gives tension to scalp and hair becomes damaged and leads to hair loss. Nutrition is also one factor of baldness because of lack of protein, vitamins and minerals that sustains the hair. Disruption of hair cycle growth is also a problem. Like delivering a baby, getting anesthesia, or having surgery.

Hair Loss in Men

Hair loss and thinning hair have been sensitive issues for men throughout time. Recently, medical science has finally identified the main cause of hair loss. Now, it is a known medical fact that hair loss stems from both genetic and hormonal causes. Androgenetic Alopecia or "male pattern hair loss" is implicated in 95% of hair loss cases. The key is a hormonal byproduct called DHT (dihydrotestostrone). The more DHT that gets put into your body, the more your hair follicles become thinner and finer until the hair is permanently lost.

DHT - The hormones responsible for hair loss

DHT is one of many male hormones in the body. DHT is developmentally important early in a man’s life; however, it appears to be a cause of hair loss as men get older. Male pattern hair loss is caused by a hormone called as dihydrotestostrone (DHT). It is produced from the hormone testosterone with the help of an enzyme- 5-alpha reductase. DHT, once formed, binds to the hair follicles, retarding their growth and cutting off their blood supply. The hair starts to thin down and eventually falls. Thus, the more levels of DHT in the body, more the hair follicles shrink causing male pattern baldness.

The effect of DHT on the hair cycle

Hair in our scalp are regularly grown and replaced by constant hair cycling of activity and rest. A typical hair undergoes three phases- the growth phase-anagen lasts for two to six years producing well pigmented-thick hair. At any given time, 90% of the scalp hairs are in the growth phase. The second phase, catagen is a transient phase lasting for few weeks. The hair starts becoming thinner and the follicle starts shrinking. The last phase, telogen is for two to four months, where the thinned hair falls off making way for new hair. DHT has been shown to shorten the growth phase causing untimely hair loss. It also causes shrinkage of hair follicles so that regrowth may not occur.

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Lachlan Walker has been reviewing herbal products such as Provillus Natural Hair Loss Product and specifically Provillus for Women

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