Hair Loss Causes

Hair loss has many different causes, some more complicated to understand than others. In order to understand hair loss causes, one must understand the hair growth cycle.

Each individual hair undergoes a growth and rest cycle, alternating between the two in regular intervals. The average hair grows at a rate of one centimeter a month during this two-year growth period. The resting stage for a hair lasts approximately three to four months. During this stage, the old hair falls out, and the hair follicle prepares to grow a new one. Each hair has its own growth/rest cycle that varies from every other hair in the scalp. This is why hair is thought by many to be continuously growing.

Most people can expect to lose between 50 and 100 hairs a day, which accounts for the small clump of hair that accumulates in the drain after each shower and the stray hairs that find their way onto clothes and into other strange places. This usually isn't cause for concern, however, when new hairs do not grow in the place of lost hairs or hair falls out at an usually high rate, there are generally more ominous hair loss causes at work. This is a problem that is troublesome for many people.

People tend to go to great lengths to cover up hair loss instead of looking into hair loss causes. Many times, if hair loss causes can be identified, the loss can be reversed. In other instances, the cause is unknown or is hereditary and is irreversible.

The most common hair loss cause is male pattern baldness. Though names male pattern baldness, both men and women suffer from this condition. This condition is easily recognized as the hair is generally lost from the front of the head to the back, causing the sufferer to have a tell-tale ring of hair along the back of the head. The hair experiences a shorter growth cycle and new hairs do not replace the hairs that have fallen out. Heredity plays a major role in the development of this condition, both in the severity and the age in which the sufferer begins to notice the hair loss. There are several topical treatments on the market today, including Rogaine. These treatments have varying results. Pattern baldness is also treated by surgical transplantation of hair follicles from the back of the head to the front, allowing the viable hair follicles to continue growing hair. Eventually, this treatment will also fail due to the progression of the condition.

Cicatrical alopecia: Inflammation, like lupus, damages the hair follicles to the point that new hair growth is not possible. Though not all the causes of the inflammation are known, genetics seem to play a large part, because most of the underlying conditions for this hair loss cause are thought to be genetic.

Alopecia areata: This is a type of hair loss thought to actually be a disease in itself. Alopecia areata is considered to be an autoimmune disease, or a dysfunction of the immune system, where the body attacks the hair follicles and cause permanent hair loss. The cause of the disease is not currently known and there is no known treatment at this time.

There are several controllable conditions that can contribute to hair loss and many of these are reversible. Hair loss causes in this category include: poor nutrition, certain medications, and certain medical treatments like chemotherapy, hormonal imbalance, certain chemical hair processes, and scalp infections.