5 Causes Of Thinning Hair
Causes of thinning hair can be wide and varied, but if you are losing hair it may not necessarily be a permanent thing. We are going to cover some of the different reasons behind hair loss today however before we do so lets make sure we are aware of hair cycles and also a quick test to see if you are potentially going bald.
One of the first things to know about hair is that not all of it is growing at the same time, in fact at any one time about ten percent of your hair is in a phase that is known as resting, and when your hair is in this phase, it is not uncommon for it to fall out.
There is a test you can do to give a further indication if you are going bald or not and that is to do a tug test. This is a lot less painful than it sounds, all it consists of is grabbing a few hairs between thumb and forefinger (you want at least 20 or so) and then pulling these strands slowly but firmly. If you lose more than half a dozen on this test then you may be going bald.
Now that we have covered that, let us look at 5 possible reasons behind hair loss :-
1 Ageing- unfortunately part of life is getting older, and one of the downsides of this is that when we age we start to lose our hair, for some hair loss can start as early as late teens but for a lot of people hair loss really happens between the ages of 20-50
2 Medications- If you are on medication then sometimes this can also have an effect on your hair and may cause it to fall out. Some drugs used for things like antidepressants, contraception, arthritis and even antibiotics have been linked with hair loss and there are more you could add to that list. Also if you are unlucky enough to be going through any kind of radiation or chemotherapy then you will be aware that will have an effect on your hair too.
3 Hormones- Hormones are raging through our body all the time, in men too much testosterone can turn to DHT which will cause hair loss and in women a lack of estrogen which normally blocks testosterone can lead to hair loss. In the case of women a solution for this is quite often found in hormone replacement therapy.
4 Sebum- You normally only hear about sebum when acne is discussed as a build up of it can be a cause behind acne, but it can also be a cause behind hair loss too. This happens if there is a build up of sebum on the scalp as it can attack the bulb of the hair from which the follicle grows.
5 Immune System- There are certain types of alopecia which can occur through disorders in the immune system and they can have various effects on a persons hair from partial hair loss to total baldness tight the way through to losing all of the body hair.
These are just a few of the things that can be behind what causes baldness, however the list is not exhaustive and if you are concerned about hair loss then you may want to seek expert advice or do further research into ways how to prevent hair loss.
