Woman's Hair Loss Advice

For many ladies, we're not going bald like men, but our hair may be thinning. We are not developing bald spots or suffering from a receding hairline, but our hair might not be as full and luxurious as it used to be, or our hair may be so thin than you see more scalp than hair! This just isn't attractive, and worse, there may be an underlying medical condition that needs to be treated.

So first of all, if you're a female with thinning hair, see your doctor immediately. It may be a symptom of an underlying serious medical condition, some of which we mention later.

It also may simply be female pattern baldness, which affects 15% of woman. Female pattern baldness typically becomes noticeable at age 30 and progresses as you age. By menopause, it can be very severe.

Often it's not pattern baldness however. There are several other reasons your hair may be thinning, including chemotherapy therapy for cancer which kills of fast growing cells such as those in hair follicles. Obviously if you're under chemotherapy treatment, you can expect your hair to fall out, fortunately usually temporarily.

Other common causes of hair loss and thinning in women are listed below. Fortunately most are temporary!

• Stress: Stress hair loss is common when under severe stress, whether physical or mental.

• Infections: Local infections, whether fungal, viral or due to protozoa can result in hair loss.

• Disease: Many diseases can cause hair loss, for example hepatic (liver) failure, renal (kidney) failure, and thyroid disease.

• Medications: Numerous medications can cause a woman's hair to thin and fall out, including ACE inhibitors, beta blockers, and some anti cholesterol drugs.

So what do you do when you notice your hair is thinning, perhaps visually noticeable or perhaps because you notice more and more hair falling out in the shower and when you brush?

See your doctor pronto. Explain what you're experiencing. Tell him or her you want a complete work up to make sure there is nothing serious wrong, an underlying disease. Only after a hopefully clean bill of health from  your doctor should you even worry about reversing or masking your female thinning hair. Many of the articles on this site describe possible approaches that may work for you - there is no one solution that works for all women.