Whether you are male or female, losing your hair can be a shock. Hair loss, known medically as alopecia, can lead to depression, insecurity and lower self-esteem. At first, most people are concerned with how to stop it, but then they wonder why it started. Although not every type of hair loss can be prevented, knowledge of why it is happening can be enough power to provide some comfort.
Hair Cycle
The hair cycle is made up of three stages: the anagen, catagen, and telogen. Roughly 85 percent of hair is in the anagen, or growth stage. This lasts between two to six years, where hair can grow up to six inches each year. When hair stops growing during the catagen stage, upper parts of the root shrink, dry up, and cut the hair from the cells responsible for growth. Two to three weeks later, the telogen stage occurs where hair remains superficially attached to the scalp before falling out. Nearly 15 percent of all hair is in this final stage that lasts up to 100 days. This is when hair normally pulls out or uproots naturally.
Common Types of Hair Loss
The most common type of hair loss for men is androgenetic alopecia, which is better known as male pattern baldness. This type of hair loss is hereditary and generally depends on your family's history of baldness. For women, the most common form of hair loss is telogen effluvium, which depends on environmental factors like stress, anemia, eating disorders, emotional distress, fever, drugs or crash diets. These events can push hair prematurely into the telogen phase.
Other Types of Hair Loss
Other type of loss include alopecia areata (an immune system abnormality considered to be genetic which causes small, circular patches of baldness), cicatricial alopecia (scarring due to a skin disease like lupus), poor nutrition (a lack of protein or iron), hormonal changes (due to a thyroid condition, birth control, pregnancy, or menopause), scalp infection (like ringworm), chemotherapy and traction (constant stress from bleaching, pulling or combing of the hair). Except for cicatricial alopecia (scarring), most of these causes are considered to be temporary.
Time Frame
In most circumstances, androgenetic alopecia (pattern baldness) and cicatricial alopecia (scarring) are the only causes of hair loss which are permanent. However, research on drugs like Rogaine and Propecia show that if treated early enough, pattern baldness can be slowed and in some cases reversed. As for other causes of hair loss, usually growth resumes once conditions clear up, depending on the exact cause of your loss. For example, telogen effluvium will slow after a month or two, once you eliminate the stress that is causing it. Likewise, baldness from ringworm will clear up when the ringworm is treated, and as hormones return to normal following childbirth, so will hair growth. The time frame depends on the cause, how long it takes you to correct it, and a month or two for the anagen (growth) cycle to do its job.
Significance
Whether or not you should worry depends on the cause of your hair loss. If the hair loss starts rapidly and then slows, you probably have telogen effluvium and just need to relax. If you have pattern baldness in the center of your head, forehead or near the temples, then you may need to seek medical treatment or learn to embrace the forthcoming loss. Ideally, if the shedding is more than 50 to 100 hairs a day, then try to figure out the reason for your loss and that will help you stop, or at least deal with, the problem.
References
- Mayo Clinic: Causes of Hair Loss
- "Autoimmunity Reviews"; Hair Loss as a Result of Cutaneous Autoimmunity; MJ Harries; May 2009
- FamilyDoctor.org: Hair Loss and Its Causes
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