What's happening to my hair?
We all know that old cliché, that our hair is our “crowning glory”. Whether or not your hair is your best feature, it can be very distressing if it starts to thin, or fall out. Causes can be hormonal, stress-related, linked to your genetic make-up or have a different medical explanation. You might find yourself vulnerable to unscrupulous organizations offering a miracle cure. So read on, and arm yourself with some facts about the condition of hair loss before you go looking for treatments.
Gradual thinning of the hair
Is your hair becoming more sparse across the whole of your scalp rather than coming out in patches? This happens when not enough new hairs grow to replace old ones that fall out naturally and is known as diffuse hair loss. There are a number of possible reasons, including stress, a restricted blood supply to the hair follicles, and hormonal changes.
• Times of hormonal upheaval, such as the menopause, childbirth, or starting or stopping oral contraception, can result in diffuse hair loss. The hair follicles are affected by a hormone called dihydrotestosterone, which causes them to become progressively smaller until they can no longer function to produce a hair. This sort of baldness is known as androgenetic alopecia.
• Another form of diffuse hair loss is known as telogen effluvium. This is connected to the two phases of a hair’s life, the growth phase and the resting phase. If hairs enter the resting phase earlier than normal, when they fall out there are insufficient hairs left in the growing phase across the scalp.
• Have you noticed how during pregnancy, hair can become thicker than usual? This is because the hair isn’t falling out at its normal rate – it stays growing on the head for longer, so there are more actual hairs in the scalp. But when the child is born and hormonal activity is at a high, those hairs can all at once enter the resting phase and then fall out. This can happen quite rapidly.
• As you age, your hair will naturally thin. Gradual reduction in the hormones oestrogen and progesterone will result in hair follicles reducing in size. They produce hairs that are progressively finer, which affects the density of your hair.
Patchy hair loss
Bald patches appearing on your head, or even total hair loss, is called alopecia.
• Up to one in fifty people will suffer from bald patches at some time in their life, and usually the sufferers are under 40. You will notice small patches of smooth, hair-free skin on your scalp which may increase in size over time. Your nails may become brittle and ridged at the same time. Specialists haven’t agreed on a precise cause, though factors may include stress, an auto-immune disease or a genetic link.
• A type of alopecia called traction alopecia is caused by harsh treatment of the hair, such as constantly pulling too tightly when styling it, or holding it in a tight ponytail or plait. Putting the follicles under pressure like this results in them shrinking and producing ever finer hairs. Varying your hair style and styling habits should restore your hair over a period of a few months.
• Similarly, some chemical treatments such as bleaching, perming, dying or straightening can damage the structure of the hair so that it becomes brittle and breaks or falls out. This is reversible over time and new hairs will grow provided you look after your scalp and eat a healthy diet.
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