Determining Causes of Hair Loss
By Jessica Gragg

Determining the cause of hair loss can be an overwhelming and disconcerting task. There are so many different avenues to investigate; hormonal changes, disease or illness, and mechanical damage.

Normal hair loss is determined as shedding between 50 - 100 hairs daily. Shedding hair is part of the normal hair growth process. However, if your hair loss is in a more significant quantity and constant loss, you may be one of the millions of Americans that suffer from excessive hair loss.

Below are brief descriptions of causes of hair loss which will begin to help you navigate through the reason for your hair loss.

* Hormonal

Hormonal changes have the largest impact on hair; whether it is hair growth or loss hormones play a significant role. These fluctuations in hormones cause hair loss in both men and women.

Female Pattern Baldness (FPB) affects 1 out of every 4 women in the United States. Recent findings have found that the incidence of FPB has been reported to be as low as 8% and as high as 87%. Most often, menopause and after childbirth, are the most frequent time for female hair loss to become apparent.

Recently, medical science has finally identified the main cause of hair loss in men. 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 the cause of 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 follicle thins until the hair is permanently lost.

* Disease or Illness

Hair follicles are very sensitive and do not respond well to changes within the bodies chemistry. When the body suffers from a disease or major illness the body chemistry changes and can cause hair loss. In most cases this hair loss will resolve itself in time and as the body returns back to a healthy state.

Having an overactive or under active thyroid gland may cause thinning hair. Treating thyroid disease will usually help with this type of female hair loss. And as the thyroid levels level out hair loss will slow.

Deficient diets, especially those lacking protein may also lead to hair loss. Dramatically shifting your diet causes stress on the body which in turn forces the hair into the resting phase and many times leads to increase shedding.

Stress itself does not cause hair loss, but it aggravates the condition. A type of hair loss called Telogen effluvium occurs after an insult to the system. If a person is predisposed to a genetic condition that may lead to hair loss or Androgenic Alopecia, large amounts of stress over an extended period of time may trigger the onset of long term hair loss or worsen the existing condition.

* Mechanical

Damage to the hair follicle is many times unintentional. Styling hair by means of bleaching, blow drying, braiding, straightening, and even pulling up hair into tight ponytails causes severe damage to the hair follicle.

It is very common for individuals to change the look of their hair using chemical treatments like dyes, bleaches, relaxers and perms. All of these changes contain very powerful chemicals. If these changes occur using proper means and products, extensive damage is rare. However, even if these changes are completed properly, but used in too high of frequency long term damaged can be caused to the hair follicle.

Hair pulling, weaves, and braids apply pressure to the follicle, this form of hair loss is called traction alopecia. This occurs when the hair is pulled tightly back and fastened at the base of the skull, or braided into tight braids or rows. Exposure to this type of hairstyle over long periods of time can result in scarring alopecia, with no potential for re-growth.