This major cause of hair loss in men is devastating. Nearly half of the world’s male population suffers from a condition called androgenetic alopecia. This type of hair loss can be a degenerative condition, but when a man is predisposed to it, he can suffer baldness at an early stage in life. Moreover, it can steal all beauty and youth that it can be the source of poor confidence or self-esteem that leads to social anxiety.
Men with alopecia admit how hair loss taunts their self-esteem. They feel less secure about themselves and think that hair loss has diminished their attractiveness to the opposite sex. They become socially withdrawn while getting the constant feeling that people judge them because of their baldness. Of all the stress that could be borne by baldness, those who experience it can truly appear old but if and only if, they allow it to pull them down or hold them back from enjoying life’s pleasures.
A myth has it that the cause of hair loss only hits the male population. This myth comes from the fact that balding is very discernible in the male population and not in the other. In any case, to say the contrary, hair loss occurs in the female population as well. As a matter of fact, it affects women of all ages.
Female pattern baldness is the female version of androgenetic alopecia in men that is a major cause of hair loss. This condition accounts for practically all causes of baldness. This happens when the enzyme called 5-alpha reductase has to metabolize testosterone into a chemical derivative, dihydrotestosterone (DHT).
When the androgen receptor sites in sensitive hair follicles process DHT,hair loss comes to be. This causes the follicle canal to shrink since it has stopped receiving important nutrients, stopping hair growth. Eventually, DHT formation completely destroys the hair follicles resulting in total balding in androgen-sensitive areas of the scalp. On the other hand, women do not experience total baldness due to DHT because they do not secrete semen. This is the fundamental difference between female pattern baldness and male pattern baldness that is the root cause of hair loss.
Also in this case, the social stigma of conditions that can cause hair loss makes is very depressing to a woman. It is a big factor when it comes to the way a woman behaves when engaging in social engagements. Women with hair loss are certainly envious of women who can be who they want to as they are confident, powerful, and beautiful.
Telogen effluvium is a temporary cause of hair loss which is typical in the female world. Temporary factors like pregnancy and stress could make growing hairs to enter the telogen or shedding phase, resulting in lots of hair loss. It is safe to say that Telogen effluvium is perhaps the second most popular cause of hair loss. During pregnancy, estrogen which are steroid hormones increases producing new hair follicles. Unfortunately, after the child is born, the hair follicles return to telogen phase and therefore, the hair sheds.
Studies say that women have a higher percentage of stress than men. It can certainly be a fundamental cause of hair loss in general. The fact is that physical or mental stress can cause hair loss that takes place shortly after after the stressful event. Hair follicles at this point of time also enter the telogen phase prematurely, resulting in hair shedding.
And last but not least, the third common condition that can be the cause of hair loss is alopecia areata where one can have tiny patches of hair loss anywhere in the body. It is an autoimmune disorder wherein lymphocytes attack the anagen hair bulb, leading to hair shedding. Alopecia areata is a major cause of hair loss in children and adolescents of both sexes. People with this condition healthy but they do have several conditions in common like atopy, thyroid disease, and vitiligo.
