It is no secret that many men are troubled by the prospect of losing their hair, the dread is doubled for women who are experiencing signs of hair loss.

What causes women to suffer from hair loss or thinning hair? Men have drug therapies such as Propecia to help them combat their hair loss, but what can women do?

Medical issues

If you are losing your hair, make sure you see your doctor about the possible reasons. Autoimmune disease, thyroid conditions, ovarian cysts and psoriasis can all lead to women’s hair loss. Because some of these conditions can be life-threatening, make sure you don’t view your hair loss as merely a cosmetic issue; your body could be telling you that something’s wrong.

Hair loss might also occur during pregnancy due to hormone fluctuations. Also, check and see what the older women in your family look like – if you notice that their hair is quite thin and sparse, you might have inherited a predisposition to female pattern hair loss, called androgenic alopecia. When the hair follicles shed after a few years, typically the hair that is replaced is of the same diameter. With androgenic alopecia, the hairs become progressively thinner until the follicles fail to produce new hairs entirely.

Stress

Hair loss that is the result of stress or anxiety often happens in clumps or patches, and usually will grow back after the stress and anxiety is treated. However, the body can time the hair loss in bizarre ways; it is possible to suffer from a severe trauma and notice that hair starts falling out several months later.

Hairstyles

Tight ponytails, tight braids, hair extensions and chemical processes can damage the scalp and the follicles to such an extent that the hair never grows back.

Women who regularly have their hair braided in tight styles, particularly starting at the hair line, sometimes notice that their hair line begins to recede further and further back, sometimes more than a full inch. This hair loss is due to the persistent scalp trauma from the weight of the hair extensions.

Women who have chemical hair relaxing treatments or harsh bleaching treatments misapplied will often experience some scabbing on the scalp, which may lead to hair loss that could be permanent.

It is possible to reverse the damage from styling by simply stopping all of the traumatic and harsh treatments, and helping to restore the scalp’s health by making sure that it is always clean and stimulated. While inherited female baldness might not be reversible, most women who’ve experienced hair loss during pregnancy, because of an illness or a major stressor, have found that their hair did, eventually grow back.

If you are concerned about your hair loss, please see your physician. Even though Propecia isn’t an option for women, there are treatments available.