• Hair Loss
• Hair Loss Definition
• Hair Loss Symptoms
• Hair Loss Causes
• Hair Loss Prevention
• Hair Loss Treatment

• Topic-Links Hair Loss
• Types of Hair Loss
• Hair Information
• Hair Care
• Hair Loss
• Hair Loss Causes
• Hair Loss Treatment
• Children Hair Loss Causes
• Male Pattern Baldness
• Women Hair Loss
• Questions Hair Loss

Hair Loss Definition

Hair Loss Demystified

Hair loss, or alopecia, a condition which affects both men and women, is the state of losing or lacking hair on the head. Male pattern baldness is the most common type of hair loss, and for that reason, it is generally synonymous with hair loss itself--but many different types exist.

We can identify male pattern baldness by the "pattern" of hair loss on the lateral parts of the forehead (i.e. a receding hairline) and, at times, the top of the head. Evidence of a receding hairline can appear as early as the late teens, but usually appears in the twenties.

In general, hair loss progresses with age. A study in Australia showed that 57% of women and 73.5% of men aged 80 and over showed significant mid-frontal hair loss. Because there is a 4 in 7 chance of getting the hair loss gene, losing hair as we age will be a reality for a majority of individuals.

The causes of hair loss, especially male pattern baldness, are still under scrutiny, but we know that a good deal of male pattern baldness can be attributed to genetics. Though the idea that men inherit hair loss from their maternal grandfather is not completely factual, it still retains a significant element of truth. Maternal genes have more influence on hair loss, but the genes of both parents are to blame. The susceptibility to male pattern baldness is largely X-linked, meaning that males need only receive that one gene on their X chromosome to express the susceptibility, while females would need the gene on both X chromosomes--hence the phrase male pattern baldness.

But men aren't the only ones at risk. Though male pattern baldness is the most common type, female pattern baldness--which reveals itself less in a pattern and more so in a dispersive thinning of hair--affects a smaller, but still notable, percentage of women.

Though hair loss for women is less socially acceptable than it is for men, all forms of hair loss can be psychologically taxing. Some embrace the change and others reject it. But as we learn more about hair loss, more effective treatments emerge, giving individuals an abundance of options to cope with, reverse, or even embrace their hair loss.