1. A Growing Experience
To fully understand the causes of hair loss, it helps to know about your hair and how it grows. Your hair goes through a normal cycle of loss and growth. Approximately 90 percent of hair is in a growing phase at any given time (growing about half an inch in a one month span during this phase). Ten percent are in what is known as a resting phase. Resting hair falls out after about three months and is replaced by growing hair. On average, a person loses up to 100 hairs every day. Hair loss occurs when more hairs start to fall out at a more rapid pace and are not replaced with new growing hairs.
2. Being Sick Over Hair Loss
Hair loss can be caused by many different factors. Some illnesses or diseases will cause hair loss, such as lupus or disease of the thyroid. Alopecia areata is a skin disease wherein the immune system attacks hair follicles, causing patchy and in some cases total baldness. A fungal infection of the scalp will also lead to hair loss. Even the emotional and psychological stress of a major illness or surgery can cause hair to fall out.
3. Blame It On Your Genes
In men, the most common type of hair loss is the rather ominous-sounding androgenetic alopecia, normally called "male pattern baldness." Time of regrowth is shortened and hairs are finer and thinner, tending to fall out more easily. This is usually inherited; if your father or grandfather had a receding hairline or bald spot at a relatively young age, chances are you will, too. Male pattern baldness can start in men as young as their twenties and even as early as their mid-teens. Female pattern baldness, though much less common, is a cause of hair loss in women.
4. Popping Pills and Losing Hair
Some oral medications are linked to hair loss as well. We all know that chemotherapy treatment leads to hair loss, but there are others that can do the same (though maybe not quite as drastically). Blood thinners, antidepressants and medications taken for gout, high blood pressure and arthritis can all lead to some degree of hair loss. Large doses of vitamin A have been shown to cause hair loss. Even birth control pills have been linked to hair loss in some women.
5. Be Nice to Your Hair and It Will Be Nice to You
How you treat your hair may play a role in hair loss. Wearing your hair in tight braids, cornrows or ponytails can cause undue stress on hair follicles (referred to as traction alopecia). Chemicals used to dye, curl or wave hair can, over time, cause damage to the hair that might result in loss. Even brushing your hair too often or with excessive force, teasing your hair or styling it while it's wet can all result in hair loss.
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