What Causes Hair Loss In Women?
Most hair loss in women is for the same reasons for baldness in men. You just win that baldness lottery with the specific baldness (alopecia) gene. If you want to know who exactly to blame, it's your maternal grandfather. If you are a man and had a bald maternal granddad, you are 100% guaranteed to go bald. If you are a woman and have a bald maternal granddad, you have about a 40% chance of getting male pattern baldness.
Other Reasons
The most infamous cause of hair loss in women is with chemotherapy. But hair loss in women can also happen to indicate a variety of illnesses. Maintaining your hair is a low-priority function of your body. When resources are low, and your fat supplies are dwindling, the body will stop growing hair, even your eyebrows. If you are a woman loosing your hair and you are not on chemotherapy, go see your doctor as soon as you can. The sooner you are diagnosed, the sooner you can be treated.
Some prescription drugs will also cause thinning or hair loss in women. Read the warnings and instructions on all of your prescription medications. If you are a woman, are less than two months on a new medication, contact your doctor. It will be up to the doctor to determine whether you should continue the prescription. If he or she does decide you should stay on it, remember that there are far worse things that can happen to you than loosing your hair.
Rollercoaster Hormones
Hair loss in women often occurs around menopause because of the great dips and valleys the hormones are going through. Hair growth is one of the bodily functions controlled by hormones. Even hormone therapy can thin your hair. This is usually not a permanent hair loss. Pregnancy is another time when the hormones go on a roller coaster ride - the hair usually comes back after birth.
Traumatic events can trigger great hormonal changes, even briefly, in your body, often causing loss of hair. This is usually a temporary hair loss. When the body has recovered from the shock and achieved some sort of stability, the hair will start growing normally again.
Other reasons for hair loss in women are anemia and thyroid disorders (which need a doctor's treatment), crash diets, surgery or recovering from a major illness. In these times, the body is having a hard time keeping the major functions going, so things like hair and nail growth would be sacrificed for the better good of the body.
