Hair Loss In Men And Women: 7 Potential Reasons & Treatments

Waqar Ahmad December 28, 2021

0 39 6 minutes read

Is baldness lowering your morale? I know that hair is essential for good looks these days, you must be pretty conscious about it, and having baldness early on can be embarrassing and make you inferior. Hair loss in men and women has become common due to hormonal changes, genes, and lifestyle changes. But despite the reason, everyone wants to have decent Hair on the head to pull off their favorite hairstyles.

Some men and women prefer leaving it untreated and usually cover their heads with scarves or hats. Still, some are overly conscious and pursue the available treatments like PRP, Hair transplant, or medication. Before including treatments, it’s better to understand the potential causes of hair loss.

In this guide, we will unravel the main causes of hair loss in men and women along with effective treatments.

Table of Contents

7 Top Reasons for Hair Loss In Men And Women

There are several causes of hair loss in men and women, out of which some are hereditary while some have gone way beyond the genes and cause baldness early on.

Hereditary Alopecia

It’s the male and female pattern baldness, also called as androgenetic alopecia. It’s a genetic disease and causes hair loss in men and women where the hair starts receding from the temples and crown of the head. In particular females, the hair becomes thin all over the head, although this disease usually becomes serious with the passing age but the onset is the puberty age.

Some females get androgenetic alopecia after their menopause which occurs from 45-55 years of age due to hormonal changes.

This ailment however can be treated by taking medication for hair growth like Minoxidil which brings noticeable improvement in 6-12 months.

Another treatment that helps to treat hereditary alopecia is Propecia and spironolactone meant to prevent hair loss in men and women respectively, moreover, you can go for laser therapy where a laser is exposed to the scalp to promote hair growth.

A plasma is injected into the scalp in platelet-rich plasma treatment or in hair transplant where healthy hair follicles are transplanted from one area to another over the scalp to reduce this pattern of baldness.

Telogen Effluvium

Hair follicles have 4 phases of growth, the growth begins in the anagen phase, the natural growth slows down during the catagen phase, and then the hair fall initiates in the telogen phase while speeds up in the exogen phase.

In telogen effluvium, one of the leading causes of hair loss in men and women is suspected to be this in which the hair remains in the telogen phase and the hair fall is pretty much higher than normal, sometimes a handful of hair sheds much to your horror.

However, the causes of telogen effluvium are known to be, surgery, chronic stress, excessive weight loss, thyroid problems, and use of certain medications.

It’s considered a temporary problem that goes away on its own after its tenure, but you should still contact a doctor to analyze the actual cause. Your dermatologist will determine the underlying causes that trigger hair loss.

If medication is a culprit, he will ask you to take a lighter dosage or maybe stop taking it altogether.

Anagen Effluvium

Another phase of hair follicle growth is when the handful of hair sheds and that too at a rapid speed. Your hair will start to fall not just from the head, but from the eyelashes and eyebrows, too.

The factors contributing to anagen effluvium which ultimately causes hair loss in men and women, include autoimmune disorders, radiation treatment, fungal infections, and chemotherapy.

I can’t particularly recommend a treatment as it varies depending upon the cause but having a dose of minoxidil will alleviate the condition a bit.

Although hair grows back after 3-6 months of chemotherapy once it is stopped, however cooling the scalp during the procedure is also recommended.

Birth Control Pills

Are you taking birth control pills, or your partner is taking them? Then, baldness comes pretty quickly following that. Hair loss in men and women has become pretty common since people have inclined towards such preventive measures.

Some people experience pattern baldness while taking the birth control pills while some start to feel hair loss weeks or sometimes months after taking these pills.

It’s not that I’m asking you to stop taking it altogether but you can take the pills with less androgen index which reduces the chances of hair loss.

The birth control pills with lower androgen index include Ortho-Cept, Ortho-Cyclen, Desogen, etc.

Ovral or Loestrin should be avoided as they contain a pretty high androgen index. Moreover, the American Hair Loss Association has suggested that people who have genetic hair loss should take nonhormonal birth control pills. Besides pills, other types of birth control like implants or skin patches also cause hair loss in men and women.

Medications

It’s not just the ailments but the medications cause hair loss too as a side effect. Certain medications like antidepressants, antifungals, beta-blockers, hormonal drugs, cholesterol-controlling medicine, and acne drugs.

If you think your hair start shedding due to medication, then consult with a physician as they will reduce the dosage of that particular medication or may ask you to switch to its alternative.

Traction Alopecia

Sometimes it’s not just diseases but your general lifestyle takes a toll on your hair growth. Are you a messy bun person or the one who puts hair into tight hairstyles? If you tend to pull your hair into tighter buns, then you will most likely get ‘Traction alopecia’, a medical condition that causes the shedding of hair. The hairstyles triggering this condition include braids, cornrows, hair extensions, ponytails, or buns.

If this condition isn’t addressed timely, you will likely experience, hair thinning and ultimately hair loss.

However, if you stop making such hairstyles you can prevent the worsening of your condition.

Nutritional Deficiencies

Are you consuming an insufficient diet or worse junk? Then you will be most likely nutrient deficient and your hair will feel the brunt.

An insufficient diet which includes a minimal amount of protein, or peculiar vitamins and minerals like iron causes excessive hair loss in men and women.

Nutritional deficiency can be checked by a blood test, and your doctor may recommend you make some dietary changes or incorporate supplements into your diet to intake nutrients that regrowth of hair.

How To Treat Hair Loss In Men And Women?

Hair loss in men and women is observed due to multiple reasons, like hormonal imbalances, medication, thyroid conditions, or Improper diet. Your dermatologist will determine the underlying causes and suggest corrective measures that help to prevent hair loss.

Several treatments are designed to cure androgenetic alopecia which is baldness in both men and women.

The treatments include,

Your dermatologist may perform PRP, where he draws out your blood, extracts the plasma, and then injects this platelet-rich plasma into the scalp, which diminishes hair loss and even encourages hair growth.
For particularly thin hair, you can take medication like Minoxidil or Propecia, but this one is only curated for males with baldness.
Another cure to treat hair loss in men and women is hair transplant, where the doctor removes hair strands from the area where the hair is thickest and transplants it to where they are thinnest.

Bottom-line

In conclusion, hair loss in men and women is caused due to multiple reasons some are genetic like hereditary alopecia while in some cases hair shedding occurs due to nutritional deficiency, medications, and some hairstyles.

Although 100 strands of an average individual fall every day, more than that points towards a serious condition that must be addressed as it could be a cause of any underlying condition.

Timely assistance from a healthcare professional will help to treat the condition on time and a possible treatment will be initiated to stop hair loss altogether and even promote the thickening of hair.

Give it a thorough read to understand the underlying problems that trigger hair loss and share whether are you experiencing hair loss or not.

FAQs on Hair Loss In Men And Women

Is hair loss different for men and women?

Yes, alopecia affects different areas of the scalp in men and women. In males, hair starts to recede from the front and crown of the head while females experience hair thinning at the top of the head.