About Hair Loss
What is hair loss?
Hair loss is hair that is thinning or is falling out of your scalp. It’s fairly common. Everyone loses some hair every day. Losing up to 100 hairs a day is normal.
But if hair loss runs in your family, you could lose a lot more hair. With this kind of hair loss, you may end up with bald spots if you’re a man. If you’re a woman, you may find that the hair on the top of your head is slowly thinning.
Common causes of hair loss include:
- Family history. In most cases, hair loss is inherited. That means it’s passed down from one or both of your parents. This is called male-pattern or female-pattern hair loss.
- Stress, including physical stress from childbirth, surgery, illness, or high fever.
- Cancer treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation.
- Medicines, such as anticoagulants, cholesterol-lowering drugs, or hormones.
- Damage to your hair from pulling it back too tightly, wearing tight braids or ponytails, or using curling irons or dyes.
- Age. You grow less hair as you get older. Hair also gets thinner and tends to break more easily as you age.
- Not getting enough protein or iron from the foods you eat.
- Thyroid diseases
There are many types of hair loss. They include:
- Androgenetic alopecia. This is inherited hair loss. In this type, the hair follicles sprout hairs that are thinner than normal. The hairs become thinner and thinner. Over time, the follicles wither away.
- Alopecia areata. This is hair loss that happens when the immune system mistakenly attacks hair follicles.
- Telogen effluvium. This type is caused by things such as stress, illness, poor nutrition, or hormone changes.
- Trichotillomania. This is a condition in which a person feels an urge to pull hair out of the scalp, eyelashes, or eyebrows.
- Traction alopecia. This hair loss is caused by your method of styling your hair, such as having tight braids or ponytails.