Women’s Thinning Hair: The Expert’s Advice

To a larger extent, women’s excessive hair loss is not as noticeable as men’s. But if you are a woman who is experiencing partial patterns of baldness or thinning of hair, a far more accurate medical diagnosis of what could be leading for the loss of some of hair could possibly be related to the following: pregnancy, medications, and birth control pills.

During pregnancy and childbirth, your body undergoes sudden hormonal changes which could ultimately cause excessive hair loss. The stages leading up from the delivery to the nursing of a newborn child can trigger a few other hormonal imbalances that bring about women’s hair thinning as a result. The lowering of estrogen levels throughout the entire body and a thyroid that is in over- or under-activity during pregnancy and childbirth are factors that result to excessive shedding of hair. These are merely possible genetic hormonal responses. Besides emotional stress and pains, there are other external-related factors, like certain medications that can also promote women’s premature hair loss.

Blood thinners, anti-depressants, thyroid medications, oral contraceptives, and fat-burning supplements have already been known to induce women’s excessive hair loss. Be leery about certain drugs and prescription medications. Simply knowing which drugs and prescriptions can hold any measure of uncomfortable side effects can help prevent and treat women’s hair thinning. While you consider the wide array of causes, it is wise to actually speak with your doctor first before you decide to stop taking any prescribed medications.

Being on the pill is really the most popular sort of birth control for females to date. But, is there any link to birth control to women’s thinning hair? Taking birth control pills is a medication and form of therapy which can cause your own body to undergo certain changes. If baldness does occur while you’re taking the pill, it’s good to talk with your gynecologist about switching to an alternative birth control pill that will help correct any hair problem areas.

We’ll associate certain genetic responses and body imbalances to women’s thinning hair. The stages of pregnancy followed by childbirth are inherently more likely the reason for thin hair patches in females. Certain medications either prescribed by your doctor or bought over-the-counter might explain negative shifts in hair regrowth too. Hair loss is most noticeable if your family carries a status for it. While plenty of factors can trigger it, women’s premature hair loss can be reversed.

Factors at Play in the Hair Growth Cycle

So what happens when a person has trouble growing hair or suffers from hair loss? Your genes control how fast or how long your hair will grow. Some people have a “longer than usual” anagen growth period. These people may be able to grow more hair than the average person. However, others struggle to grow shoulder-length hair. These people have a “shorter than normal” anagen period.

Your health can also affect hair growth. Poor nutrition can cause some hair follicles to stop growing or cause the hairs that grow to become weak or thin. Problems with hair growth can result from thyroid problems or other conditions like anemia, diabetes and lupus. Health experts say people who experience a sudden increase in hair loss should seek medical advice.

Some hair loss can result from a combination of genetics, aging and hormones. When this happens, the hair growth cycle changes and the hair follicles get smaller. In addition, the hairs may get thinner and shorter. Soon the hairs stop growing completely on some parts of the head. People with this condition usually have family members who have experienced a similar type of hair loss. This kind of hair loss is known as pattern baldness. It is the most common kind of hair loss. The official medical term for the condition is androgenetic alopecia.

The Latin word alopecia means loss of hair or baldness. It is also the term used to describe the medical condition that results in the loss of hair. Alopecia areata is the second most common form of hair loss after pattern baldness. It is the most common form of autoimmune disease. In alopecia areata, the body’s defenses against disease attack the hair follicles, resulting in a loss of hair on the scalp and other parts of the body.

The condition usually begins with small round areas of hair loss on the scalp. When hair loss takes place over the whole surface of the scalp, it is called alopecia totalis. Sometimes a person may lose their eyebrows, eyelashes or hair on other parts of the body. This condition is called alopecia universalis. It is the rarest form of alopecia.

Facing the Facts of Hair Loss

Hey, baldy! Bet you’re tired of hearing that. The problem with losing your hair is everybody thinks they can make fun of you and make jokes about you. Those of us who have hair loss issues would never consider making fun of someone who is overweight for example. Can you imagine what would happen if you walked up to an overweight person and said, “Hey fatty”? That would be inconsiderate and just plain mean. But just about everybody on the planet thinks it’s fine to make bald jokes about men who are losing their hair.

Enough about the jokes, let’s start taking steps. It might be hard to admit, but cynicism was a natural reaction to the wide array of topical hair loss treatments available just about anywhere. Perhaps a few of us have tried going into a hair loss treatment for a few months. Of course, results weren’t sudden. But we decided to persist with the application of the treatment. Eventually, we notice a smaller amount of hair in the sink, shower drain, or in our brush.

With the use of organic-based hair loss products, hope for hair loss is to be found. Less hair in the hairbrush is to be noticed although hair regrowth may not be readily observed. Continuing the use of natural hair loss products needs dedication and sincerity from every hair loss sufferer.

Applying topical creams and serums that are formulated with natural ingredients such as extracts from saw palmetto, nettle, rosemary, and fennel can eventually provide the much-desired result of hair regrowth. Vigilant application of such hair loss products can even lead to gaining comments such as “What are you doing with your hair? You really look younger” or “How did you manage to regain your former mane?” Organic-based hair loss treatments can truly amaze us.

There are a lot of other solutions for hair loss. You can get plugs, which really don’t look normal. There are advertisements for those products, which show only the best results, not the average results. You can try a hair weave. Sure, these look like real hair. The problem with hair weaves is that they happen immediately. Then your friends will know you’re wearing a wig. The jokes will start all over again about your wig. So when you use a natural and steady way to hair restoration, you’ll be glad you did. It works for most people who really try it.

It is greatly encouraged that natural hair loss products be used because you have nothing to lose but your hair. They even have a no risks or harmful side effects. It works for approximately 80% of the people who try it. Chances are you will be one of them.

Causal Factors of Hair Loss

On average, a person loses about 50–100 hair shafts a day. It is normal and rarely noticed because hairs grow back at a steady rate. Hair loss and thinning hair occurs when hairs don’t grow back or when hair follicles go into resting phase for longer than usual. Baldness can be genetic and is common in aging adults. Even with proper nutrition and healthy lifestyle, excessive hair loss can also happen due to medical and environmental conditions.

Alopecia
Alopecia is a medical condition that is characterized by excessive hair loss. Androgenic alopecia is hereditary. The genes determine when your hair will start to fall out and when the hair follicles will enter the resting phase. Scarring alopecia occurs when the hair follicles are damaged due to a disease, such as lupus. Hair follicles become inflamed and are permanently scarred, preventing hair growth. Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease. The exact cause of it is unknown. Traction alopecia develops from excessive hairstyling and pulling on hair strands.

Medications and Medical Treatments
Certain medications can cause hair loss. Drugs that treat gout, arthritis, depression, heart problems and high blood pressure may cause excessive hair loss in some people. Birth control pills may also cause hair loss.

Undergoing cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, will cause hair loss. Patients lose all hair during the treatment but it starts growing back once the treatment ends.

Hormonal Changes
Hormonal changes and imbalances cause excessive hair loss. Pregnancy changes how hair grows. Some women may experience hair loss during pregnancy. For others, hair may be growing thicker and fuller but starts falling out shortly after childbirth. Shedding of hair usually occurs about three months after the delivery. Hormonal imbalances accompany menopause and may cause excessive hair loss and even baldness in some women.

Hair Treatments
Chemical hair treatments, such as coloring, bleaching, straightening or permanent curls, can dry out the hair shafts and cause breakage and hair loss. Styling and brushing hair too much may also cause excessive shedding.

Infections
Fungal infections, such as ringworm, affect hair and scalp and cause hair loss. If the condition is treated with medication in a timely manner, hair starts to grow back at a normal rate.

Trichotillomania (Hair-Pulling Disorder)
Trichotillomania is a mental illness characterized by a patient’s impulsive urge to pull on his/her hair. It often leads to bald spots. The exact cause of this illness is unknown.

Herbs for His and Her Hair Loss

Hair loss is a devastating experience for anyone faced with it. It was found out that almost all men and women will have to deal with this problem at some point in their life. The former notion was that hair loss only occurred in aging people; however, it has been made clear that the condition can also be experienced by infants, teenagers, young adults, and middle-aged people—that is, a person of any age may be afflicted with hair loss problems.

Higher than the rate of scalp denudation is the rate of how much one loses confidence or self-esteem. To battle hair loss problems, herbs have been proven helpful and effective. The application of herbs to treat hair loss may need a lot of patience from you since results don’t magically take place overnight.

The herb most notable for its ability to treat and prevent further hair loss is saw palmetto. One of the most renowned herbal hair loss treatments, saw palmetto has been used for thousands of years to combat hair loss. Saw palmetto works by blocking the buildup of DHT (dihydrotestosterone) in the scalp. DHT formation is the primary cause of the cessation of hair growth on the scalp. Saw palmetto extracts is the usual ingredient in hair loss products that come in capsules, topical creams, or hair oils.

Another herb useful to treat hair loss is rosemary. Rosemary primarily works in obtaining hair regrowth or recovering lost hair shafts. The application of the essential oil of rosemary helps in activating dormant hair follicles and unclogs the pores from dirt, grime, and excess sebum. Rosemary also contains properties similar to that of antioxidants.


An herb that may be found right on your gardens is nettle. Nettles also serve as hair loss treatments. The application of hair loss products containing nettle extracts can lead to stimulation of better blood circulation to the scalp. This herb is known for its rich content of vitamins and minerals for healthy hair growth.

The use of herbal extracts, essential oils, natural hair loss treatments, or organic-based products for hair loss has been proven to be equally effective in inhibiting the formation of DHT in the scalp. More importantly, natural treatments for hair loss have been proven to cause no harmful side effects, as opposed to synthetic products and medications for baldness.