Hair is an important aspect of a woman’s identity. Hair loss—even in its most early stages—can cause great emotional distress. Due in part to the social misconception that not many women lose their hair and that, unlike for men, noticeable hair loss is unacceptable. Both untruths make the subject of female hair loss a very sensitive topic for women to address.
Common Causes of Thinning Hair in Women
Genetics and Aging: If your biological relatives have history of hair loss, you are at increased odds, which increase with age. By age 50, 50% of all women are affected.
Hormonal Imbalances: Hormonal imbalances can occur due to menopause, stress, depression, postpartum, chemotherapy, birth control, thyroid disorders or ovarian cysts.
Medications: Among others, certain medications for blood pressure, heart conditions, contraception and depression are known to cause hair loss.
Disease and Illness: Women are generally more susceptible to a wider variety of medical conditions that can lead to hair loss than men. Many illness cause hair loss.
Chemical Hair Treatments: Some salon and at-home hair treatments like relaxers and dyes can damage the hair and cause hair loss.
Hair Styles (Traction Alopecia): Pulling hair too tight in braids, buns and ponytails for long periods of time can damage the hair follicle and prevent hair from growing back.
Compulsive Hair Pulling (Trichotillomania): A psychological disorder resulting in bald patches. Only about 2% of the population is affected, but 90% are women.
Poor Nutrition: Eating the wrong foods, crash dieting or getting insufficient nutrition can lead to hair loss. Extreme weight loss can also cause hair to fall out.
What Hair Loss in Women Looks Like
Female hair loss usually consists of a more diffuse, overall thinning of the hair, which leads to increased scalp exposure. This is different from men, who most often have a receding hairline at the temples and thinning at the top or crown of the head. Women’s hairlines are usually maintained while the part line and top area behind the bangs experience the most loss. The back and sides of the head may also be affected and is the pattern most ideal for hair transplantation.
The Ludwig Scale
Androgenic Alopecia, also known as Female Pattern Baldness is the most common hair disorder in adult women. The Ludwig Scale is designed to classify Female Pattern Hair Loss or Androgenic Alopecia into three types to better gauge the present stage of hair loss:
- Female baldness is the least severe with thinning on the top of the head.
- Hair loss is more significant with the scalp showing through thinning hair.
- All of the hair may be lost on the crown of the head.
While the Ludwig Scale helps broadly categorize female pattern hair loss, there are many women who do not fall neatly into one of these boxes or have different types of hair loss.
Male vs. Female Hair Loss
Although hair loss is most commonly associated with men, millions of women experience hair loss. As a matter of fact, more than half of all women will experience some form of hair loss or thinning during their lifetime. Men and women lose their hair for different reasons. Interestingly enough, there are actually a wider variety of factors contributing to women’s hair loss than men’s. Moreover, men usually lose hair in different areas of their scalp than women. Because of the apparent differences between male and female hair loss, they should be treated differently.
Solutions for Hair Loss in Women
Hair Club understands the differences between male and female hair loss and has designed treatments and programs specifically for the unique needs of women. Hair Club’s team of hair loss experts and licensed cosmetologists are familiar with the many possible hair loss causes in women and can help identify the source and develop a personalized hair loss treatment plan.
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