Causes of Hair Loss

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For years man has searched high and low for the causes of hair loss but only with scientific development have we begun to understand.

The most common type of baldness is called Male Pattern Baldness. In male pattern baldness, as previously mentioned, the blood flow to the follicle is restricted causing the hair to grow back weak and brittle. Eventually the hair will fall out and now grow back.

 I have listed the three main reasons behind hair loss and causes of sudden hair loss:

 GENES

As I have said before, hair loss can be inherited and although the statistics show that the majority of those  suffering hair loss has been inherited from the mother's side of the family, it is also true that hair loss can be inherited from the father's side of the family. I could get into the science of it which involves chromosomes and recessive genes but let's face it, you want to know the basics and how you can combat it. I don't want you to fall asleep.

HORMONES

The male sex hormone is called testerone.  No way to escape this one I'm afraid.  We all get it whether we want it or not.  It's the reason we grow beards and have deep voices and not little boy voices.  The problem is, it's a very likely culprit behind hair loss.  I've described the formation of DHT and the effect it has on the hair follicle.  Only some follicles as suseptable to DHT.  Your glandular hair (back and sides) also known ad donar hair, is not affected by DHT.  Something to be thankful for because if you go for hair transplant, this is the hair the surgeon will use. 

How was it discovered that testerone was the cause of hair loss? Read on...if you dare!

Years ago, before we had an understanding of pretty much anything, mental illness was treated through castration.  Yeah.  You heard me right.  Personally I'd rather be insane.  Castration reduced the sex drive of a patient who had no outlets for their desires. A psychiatrist treating twins noticed that one twin was bald while the mentally ill twin had a full head of hair. The doctor decided to determine the effect of treating his patient with testerone which had recently become available in its purified form. He injected his patient, the one with the full head of hair, with testerone and within weeks he started to lose his hair. The doctor stopped the treatment to see if the process could be reversed but the patient never re-grew his lost hair. The doctor determined that elimating testerone will slow or stop further hair loss once it has begun but will not revive any dead follicles.        

AGE

 In short, hair loss effects different people in different ways and indeed the length of time in which it takes for hair to fall out will differ from one person to another. The follicle has to be subjected to ongoing abuse from DHT before weakening and falling out. Some hair follicles will last longer than others. It also depends on how much testerone is in the blood stream. As I have said elsewhere on this site, hair loss can occur in men as young as 16, more or less about the time the body starts producing testerone, and some men don't experience hair loss until they're into their 70s.