We all know that hair loss in men is usually genetic with male patterned baldness.
In women, hair loss is totally different.
In fact, hair loss in women shouldn’t happen.
There’s usually an underlying medical condition that’s causing a woman’s hair loss.
We all lose hair everyday. In general we lose between 100-200 strands of hair each day.
But sometimes when you start to see clumps of hair in the shower, or become thin up top is when you need to figure out what’s going on.
The good thing about hair loss in women is that it’s fairly easy to figure out and treat. As we mentioned above, the most important part is figuring out what the underlying cause is.
And there are lots of causes for hair loss in women.
It’s usually hormonal. So it tends to happen during times in a woman’s life like pregnancy and menopause when there’s lots of changes with your hormones. Loss of hormones can cause hair loss in women.
Note: Typically hair loves estrogen and progesterone. Not so much with testosterone. Every female needs testosterone, but you want to make sure it’s not switching to dihydrotestosterone which is the hormone responsible for male pattern baldness and in women it can cause thinning hair.
Women usually get thinning hair, not bald spots. And this can be psychologically damaging.
There’s no physiological reason to be concerned, but thinning hair does signal that there’s some kind of hormonal or stress related condition that’s causing this.
Some Causes of Hair Loss in Women
- Anemia (low iron)
- Stress (Oxidative stress affects blood supply to your scalp especially)
- Eating disorders (Anorexia/Bulimia)
- Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies
- Protein Deficiencies
- Hypothyroid
- Birth Control
- Steroids
- Autoimmune diseases like Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Hashimoto’s
- Hormones
- PCOS
- B12 Deficiencies
- Extreme sudden weight loss
- Dandruff
- Trauma
- Too much Vitamin A
- Genetics
The key part here is figuring out why you’re hair is thinning. You have to look at these potential causes.
From there you can start doing things to get it back.
What You Can Do
There are some medications for hair loss in women.
- Rogaine
- Propecia sometimes for post menopausal women ONLY
- Spirinolactone
There’s also some shampoos and other natural things that really help.
- Ontogeny C (a favorite shampoo in office)
- Anaphase
- Laser combs (We really haven’t found these to be effective)
- Coconut oil
One thing we do in office for hair loss that’s been working well is PRP (Platelet-Rich-Plasma), which is where we draw blood from your arm, spin it down, get the platelets from it, and then inject it into the scalp. This has been an effective tool for regrowing hair.
You can also use microneedling to stimulate hair growth.
Surgery is a last resort. Women rarely have to do this, but it is something that people do.
Vitamins For Hair Loss
- Biotin
- B-Complex
- Vitamin A (Don’t take over 5,000 iu’s)
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin E (tocotrienols)
- Iron
- Zinc
- Protein Collagen
Watch out for DHEA. It’s a great vitamin, but a lot of women can’t tolerate it because it can cause some hair loss.
Of course, living a healthy lifestyle by eating well and exercising and getting good sleep is going to be great for improving hair loss.
Note: When you are shampooing your hair, massage your scalp really well. This increases blood circulation in your scalp.
The key takeaway here is first find the underlying cause, and then taking action by treating it.
There’s no reason for women to be losing hair.