You have on average 100,000 hairs on your head and losing 50-100 hairs a day is quite normal. It is when they don't grow back that hair loss begins.
Hair loss and hair thinning in women is much more common than people think. On average 30% of all women are affected by hair loss of some kind. It is important to note that female pattern hair loss can begin as early as the late teens to early 20's in women who have experienced early puberty.
This is usually called androgenetic alopecia (common baldness) and the characteristic patterns are:
- Diffuse thinning of hair over the entire scalp, often with more noticeable thinning hair on the central scalp (top of the head).
- Diffuse thinning over the entire scalp, with more noticeable thinning toward the front of the scalp but not involving the frontal hairline.
- Diffuse thinning of the hair over the entire scalp, with more noticeable thinning towards the front of the scalp, parting area involving and sometimes breaching the frontal hairline.
In women more often than men, hair loss may be due to conditions other than androgenetic alopecia. Some of the most common of these causes are:
Chemotherapy- Treatment used to cure cancer mainly breast cancer when concerning women often causes hair loss often known as Alopecia. This is because the cells in the hair follicles grow fast and chemotherapy damages fast growing cells. Hair loss is not permanent and it will grow back once your treatment has ended. Not all drugs cause hair loss- Some just cause thinning and others cause dramatic hair loss including the body hair and eye brows. Furthermore, different people have different tolerances to the drugs. Occasionally, some people lose their hair when it is not expected and sometimes in other cases no hair loss occurs when it is expected. Hair loss can start any time from after the first few days after chemotherapy to within a few weeks. When your hair grows back once treatment is completed however, your hair will grow back very fine, much like baby hair. After three to six months you should regain a full head of hair although it may be slightly different to before your treatment in terms of texture and color.
Tricholtillomania- This condition is compulsive hair pulling. Hair loss due to tricholtillomania is typically patchy, as compulsive hair pullers tend to concentrate the pulling in selected areas. Hair loss due to this cause cannot be treated effectively until the psychological and emotional reasons are effectively addressed.
Alopecia Areata- This is possibly an autoimmune disorder that causes patchy hair loss that can range from diffuse thinning to extensive areas of baldness with "islands" of retained hair. Medical examination is necessary to establish a diagnosis.
Triangular Alopecia- This is the loss of hair in the temporal areas that sometimes begins in childhood. Hair loss may be complete, or a few fine, thin-diameter hairs may remain. The cause of triangular alopecia is not known, but the condition can be treated medically or surgically.
Scarring Alopecia- This is hair loss due to the scarring of the scalp area. Scarring alopecia typically involves the top of the scalp and occurs predominantly in women. The condition frequently occurs in African-American women and is believed to be associated with persistent tight braiding of scalp hair.
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