Hair Loss and Hair Growth

Losing hair as you age is normal. According to the government's Medline Plus website, you lose about 100 hairs every day. Things like stress, medication or a sudden illness can affect the rate of loss. Stimulating re-growth may be as simple as better scalp care and the right kind of multivitamin.

Hair Growth

Most human hair grows about 35mm per day, says Dr. Zoe Diana Draelos, author of "Hair Care: An Illustrated Dermatologic Handbook." Draelos notes that everyone is born with a certain number of follicles capable of producing hair. Some of these will stop producing hair as part of the natural aging process, a prime reason for thinning hair in the middle-aged and elderly. For the follicles that continue to produce hair, it takes about three weeks for a hair to grow up through a follicle to the skin's surface.

Scalp Health

Your scalp health is closely linked to your hair health, according to author Lisa Akbari in "Every Woman's Guide to Beautiful Hair at Any Age." The scalp's epidermal layers lock in valuable moisture and resist the aging effects of chemicals in the environment and in your hair products. To promote scalp health, Akbari suggests washing your hair and scalp with a clarifying shampoo at least twice a week to clear away hair product residue and dry or dead skin cells. If your scalp is dry and itchy, moisturize it with small doses of water-soluble oil.

Stimulating Hair Growth

According to "Allure" magazine, you can grow thicker, healthier hair by adding a multivitamin to your daily regimen. The B-vitamins are especially important for hair growth, a potential fix for things like thinning, brittle or weak hair. They recommend taking 1,000mcg of biotin and 500mg of niacin daily---but add that topical solutions like Rogaine can also work, even on women.

Hair Loss

The physical mechanism of hair loss begins when the hair growth cycle, called "anagen," shortens and the hair follicle shrinks. According to James Harris and Emanuel Marritt in "The Hair Replacement Revolution," this process results in shorter, thinner, paler hair. In some cases, the hair falls out during the anagen phase, as observed in patients undergoing chemotherapy. In others, the follicles fail to grow new hair or release the hair they contain. This happens because of hormones, childbirth, illnesses, fevers and chronic conditions like lupus or diabetes. In both cases, the hair can grow back.

Pattern Baldness

When the hair doesn't grow back, pattern baldness is the culprit. In both men and women, pattern baldness---also called "androgenetic alopecia"---is caused by a combination of the natural aging process, genetic makeup and testosterone levels. According to Medline Plus, about 66 percent of men go bald or have some type of balding pattern by the time they turn 60. As the hairline recedes, the crown thins out to reveal bald spots. In women, the pattern operates differently. The scalp hair thins out, sometimes to the point of bald spots, but the front hairline is usually unaffected.