Most hair loss and baldness is hereditary and there really isn’t any way to prevent it. Other things, however, can cause you to lose hair and if you don’t have baldness in your family, you could find yourself getting a little light on top if you don’t prevent it. If you’re one of the lucky ones that don’t have a family history of needing a toupee, then take some simple precautions and be sure to take good care of your hair.

1. Childbirth. When a woman is pregnant, her hair continues to grow. The usual 50 to 100 hairs per day are not shed. However, after she delivers her baby, many hairs enter the resting stage of the hair cycle at once. Within two to three months after delivery, these hairs may all fall out together and be seen as large amounts of hair coming out in their brushes and combs.

2. High fever, severe infection, major surgery, significant life stressor. From four weeks to three months after a person has a high fever, severe infection, major surgery, or significant life stressor such as death in the family, he or she may be shocked to see a lot of hair falling out. This condition usually corrects itself but may require treatment.

3. Thyroid disease. Both an overactive and underactive thyroid can cause hair loss. The hair loss associated with thyroid disease can be reversed with proper treatment.

4. Inadequate protein in diet. Some vegetarians, people who go on crash diets that exclude protein, and those with severely abnormal eating habits, may develop protein malnutrition. When this happens, a person’s body will help to save protein by shifting growing hairs into the resting phase. Massive hair shedding can occur two to three months later. Hair can then be pulled out by the roots. This condition can be reversed by eating the proper amount of protein.

5. Medications. Prescription drugs can cause temporary hair shedding in a small percentage of people. Examples of such drugs are blood thinners, some drugs used to treat gout and arthritis, acne, or psoriasis, and some medications for heart problems.

6. Cancer treatment drugs. Most drugs used in chemotherapy will cause hair cells to stop dividing. Hair shafts become thin and break off as they exit the scalp. This can occur one to three weeks after beginning chemotherapy. The patient may lose all of his hair, but this will usually re-grow after treatment ends.

7. Birth control pills. Women who lose their hair when taking birth control pills usually have an inherited tendency towards hair thinning.

8. Low serum iron. Iron deficiency sometimes produces hair loss. Low iron can be detected by laboratory tests and corrected with iron pills.

9. Alopecia areata. In this type of hair loss, hair usually falls out, resulting in totally smooth, round patches about the size of a coin or larger. This disease may affect children, women or men of any age.

10.Androgenic alopecia. This is the most common type of hair loss and is often called “male- or female-pattern baldness”. The hair usually thins out first in the front of the scalp and moves progressively to the back and top of the head. It tends to be progressive. This type of hair loss also runs in families.

11.Infections. Ringworm, or tinea capitus, is a common fungal infection in children. Patches of hair may be lost and replaced with pink scaly skin.

Most hair loss and baldness is hereditary and there really isn’t any way to prevent it. Other things, however, can cause you to lose hair and if you don’t have baldness in your family, you could find yourself getting a little light on top if you don’t prevent it. If you’re one of the lucky ones that don’t have a family history of needing a toupee, then take some simple precautions and be sure to take good care of your hair.

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The hair growth cycle normally lasts for 2 to 6 years. Each strand grows approximately 1 centimeter per month during this phase. About 90 percent of the hair on your scalp is randomly growing. The remaining 10 percent of the hair on your scalp, at any one time, is in a resting phase. After 2 to 3 months, the resting hair falls out and new hair begins to develop in its place.

This resting phase makes it normal to shed some hair each day as part of the cycle. However, some people may experience excessive hair loss. Hair loss that is more than normal can affect everybody, and it is good to know what causes this.

There are a number of things that can cause excessive hair loss. For example, about 3 or 4 months after an illness or a major surgery, a patient may abruptly lose a large amount of hair. This hair loss is associated to the stress of the illness and is temporary. Another example is when women just had a baby. This loss, that may occur 3 months after giving birth to most women, is also related to hormones. During pregnancy stage, high levels of certain hormones make the hair more attached to the body which minimizes hair loss. After birth, the hormones return to pre-pregnancy levels making that hair fall out. Then the normal cycle of growth and loss starts again.

Hormonal problems may cause hair loss too. For example, if your thyroid gland is overactive or underactive, your hair may fall out. This hair loss usually can be helped by treating the thyroid disease. Hair loss may also happen if male or female hormones, known as androgens and estrogens, are having an imbalance state. Correcting this hormonal imbalance may stop the unwanted hair loss.

Some medicines can also cause hair loss. But the moment you stop taking the medicine, hair loss stops too. The medicines that we are talking about include blood thinners (anticoagulants), medicines used for gout, medicines used in chemotherapy to treat cancer, vitamin A (if too much is taken), antidepressants and birth control pills.

Certain infections can also cause hair loss such as fungal infections of the scalp. The infection is easily treated with antifungal medicines. Improper hair care may cause hair loss as well. Wearing pigtails, cornrows, or tight hair rollers put much stress on your hair that can cause hair loss. Minimize using these regularly to avoid scarring of the scalp. Scarring can cause permanent hair loss.

Finally, hair loss could be part of an underlying disease you are suffering, such as lupus or diabetes. Since hair loss may be an early sign of these diseases, your urgency is to find the cause so that it can be treated. Examples of hair treatment that can scar your scalp in the process are hot oil treatments and chemicals used in permanents (commonly known as perms).

You may address your hair loss depending on the of type you are experiencing. If a medicine is causing your hair loss, your doctor may be able to prescribe an alternative. Spotting and treating an infection may help prevent hair loss. Correcting a hormone imbalance may stop further hair loss.

Medicines may also help slow or stop the occurence of common baldness. One unisexual medicine, minoxidil (with brand name: Rogaine), is available over the drugstore counter. Just apply it simply to the scalp. Another medicine (however, for men only), finasteride (brand name: Propecia) is available with a prescription and comes in pills. Effectivity of these medicines may take up to 6 months.

If the type of your hair loss has no adequate treatment available for your type, you may consider trying different hairstyles or wigs, hairpieces, hair weaves or artificial hair replacement.

The hair growth cycle normally lasts for 2 to 6 years. Each strand grows approximately 1 centimeter per month during this phase.

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Over the years male pattern baldness has received a lot of attention in the media and online, but how much have you heard of “female pattern baldness”? Do you know the causes of female hair loss? Do you know what you can do to combat it?
Today I want to talk to you about a condition that afflicts 25 million women in the United States alone and millions more women worldwide, it’s a condition that largely goes under reported and sometimes unrecognized until the later stages of life, but can begin to occur even early in a female’s life and that is “female pattern baldness”.
While this condition may not be as prevalent as the male version, it certainly demonstrates a problem today. The loss of hair can have profound effects, as psychologically stressful hair loss is for men, studies have shown the psychological impact on women can be greater. Women tend to put a stronger psychological value on their appearance and thinning hair, as they regard it as an attack on their appearance.

Common Causes Of Female Hair Loss-

1. Pregnancy- this one is the easy one ladies; during your pregnancy your body produces an excess of certain hormones. These hormones help you to keep hairs that normally would have fallen out during the regular hair growth cycle. The thinning occurs when your hormones return to pre-pregnancy levels, the normal cycle of hair growth and loss will return.

2. Medications- again the cure for this type of loss is normally simple, see your doctor to either stop taking the medication that is effecting your hair, or change the medication your on. Common medications that can cause hair loss include: blood thinners (anti-coagulants), medicine for gout, chemotherapy medications, vitamin A (if used in too large of amounts), birth control pills, and antidepressants.

3. Surgery- another temporary condition, after an illness or major surgery it is possible to experience significant hair thinning 3-4 months after the surgery due to the stresses involved.

4. Female Pattern Baldness- as in men, perhaps the most common cause of thinning is a condition called androgenetic alopecia. This is simply an inherited sensitivity to the effects of androgens (male hormones). The culprit is DHT or Dihydotestosterone, this hormone forms a waxy substance around hair follicles and starves them of the needed vitamins and minerals they need. The follicles produce thinner and thinner hairs, until the follicle burns out and no longer produces any hair.

Treatments-

Female pattern baldness normally manifests differently then that of the male version. In the female version thinning normally occurs all over the head, but the frontal hairline normally remains, in addition there may be mild to moderate loss at the crown of the head. However women rarely experience total or “cue ball” baldness such as men do.
Depending on the female’s comfort with her level of thinning the treatments can vary, from doing nothing to major restoration surgeries.

Hair Transplants- can cause minor scaring, and often requires multiple transplantation sessions. This procedure carries a moderate risk of infection, and may be expensive.The results often however are excellent and are permanent.

WARNING- the use of hair implants made of artificial fibres has been banned by the FDA because of high rates of infections.

Stitching- the act of suturing hair pieces to the scalp is not recommended, this procedure can result in sever scarring, infections, and abscess of the scalp.

Natural Medications- Only one drug or medication has been approved by the FDA to treat the causes of female hair loss Minoxidil. Studies have shown medications containing Minoxidil DO help to halt thinning and re-grow lost hair.

WARNING- Pregnant women should not use any product containing the drug Finasteride (Brand name: Propecia). This drug is not approved for use with women and has been shown to cause birth defects.

So there you have it, I have tried to arm you with the facts of the causes of female hair loss. I hope I have helped you to better understand your options for treatment. Your goal now that you have this important information should be to find the treatment that works best for you and to attack.

Over the years male pattern baldness has received a lot of attention in the media and online, but how much have you heard of “female pattern baldness”?

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Hair Loss Articles: http://www.article-buzz.com