The Reasons for Hair Loss

Now that you know a bit about hair and the patterns of hair loss, let's take a look at some of the causes of hair loss.

Genetic hair loss is the most common type of hair loss. Half of the children of a parent with hair loss will suffer from hair loss.

The other most common cause of hair loss is a high amount of DHT, the male hormone dihydrotestosterone within the hair follicle.

What is DHT? DHT is the hormone produced from testosterone in the scalp, in the prostate and in adrenal glands. DHT in abundance can cause harm to the hair follicle. This happens over a period of time and will shorten the hair's atagen or active phase during which it grows. The follicles will then become smaller until they have shrunk to the size they were when you were an infant. The follicles will remain alive as the blood supply to them has not been affected. Peach fuzz will be produced from such follicles — colorless, fine hair.

Sebum in the scalp is another factor in hair loss. The amount of sebum is related to the amount of oil in the hair. Sebum contains DHT and can clog the pores in the scalp. This causes problems to the root of the hair. Frequent shampooing can help in this situation. It will help to clear up the oily hair, which will in turn help the hair loss.

There are other causes for hair loss. Many have to do with medications, diet, illness and treatment of hair. Read on to learn more about those.