What Causes Hair Loss

What causes hair loss is important only in as far as it is related to an underlying disease or due to certain medications or self-mediated. Leave these three factors alone then nothing is going to come out of determining the cause. First of all, if you think you are the only one with hair loss then you are mistaken. There are millions of men and women (more men than women) out there with the same problem and want to get their back. There are some basic facts about hair growth that you must know before you start worrying about what causes hair loss. A hair follicle is a part of skin that grows hair and the tiny bundle of muscle fiber attached to it determines how perpendicular the hair is to the surface of the skin. Hair grows in a typical cycle of three phases: anagen, the growing phase, catagen, the regressing phase and telogen, the inactive stage. Exogen is the shedding phase and independent of these three. This is the shedding of one of the several hairs arising from a single follicle. As a routine we all shed 50-100 hairs on a daily basis.

Hair loss becomes a concern only on disruption of this cycle and new hairs are not formed or more than 50-100 hairs are lost daily. The simple way of checking this is to notice the amount of hair that fall while your shampoo or comb your hair. Or try to gently pull out a small clump of hair. If more than six hairs come out it is time to investigate further. If you have started taking medication then that could be a possible hair loss cause. Or if you are overly stressed then that too can be responsible for the sudden onset of hair loss. An underlying disease too can reslut in loss of hair.

If either of the above causes of hair loss is evidently present, then the only hair loss treatment needed is to manage your stress and ask your doctor to prescribe a medicine other than the one that is causing loss of hair. However, the most common cause is related to your genes. Hair loss often runs in families.

Another cause of hair loss may be an improper hairstyle. If you are hairstyle is tight it can lead to a condition known as traction alopecia. It is commonly seen in people with ponytails and cornrows who tie their hairs so tight that they cannot breathe. Too much brushing may also lead to excessive hair loss.

There are many remedies, including conventional treatments and herbal remedies, for hair loss. Most of them have unproven success rates. Hair loss can be prevented but it may be difficult to re-grow hair from follicles that are dormant. Low level laser therapy and hair transplantation may be the only hope what causes hair loss is not determinable.