Technically, a male is prone to hair ‘loss’ whereas a women is prone to hair ‘thinning’.  This is because the hormone ‘Estrogen’ that is present in women prevents balding ideally. 

The most common cause of hair loss in men is AGA.

A quick brief on AGA:

AGA is the abbreviation for Androgenetic Alopecia. It is the primary cause of hair loss in men worldwide. The main reason for AGA as the name suggests is due to the genes. Unfortunately, there is no cure for AGA yet. Having said that, the good news is that this condition can be prevented from progress and the hair that’s present can be maintained with the help of a hair expert.

Typical male pattern balding or AGA occurs by receding of the hair line and thinning first and ultimately balding at the vertex. The sides and the back of the scalp are resistant towards hair loss in most cases of this pattern.

Please remember, if your scalp is shining bald, then the only possible treatment is Hair transplant.

Alopecia:

Alopecia is the loss of hair on the scalp. This can be due to various reasons such as genetic, trauma etc.

The common types of alopecia are:

1. Androgenetic Alopecia- The hair loss that occurs as part of genetics.

2. Alopecia Aereata- This is seen as a complete loss of hair in patches. It usually is seen on the beard or scalp. The exact cause of alopecia aereata is unknown but said to be because of trauma, neurogenic inflammation or sometimes even due to infectious agents.

3. Scarring Alopecia- This happens when there is scar in the area of hair growth. For example, if you’ve got a laceration at a particular part of your jaw line and the hair doesn’t grow in that region, scarring alopecia could be the reason behind the hair not growing there.

The most common areas for this kind of alopecia is on the beard, moustache, eyebrows, scalp in the descending order of occurrence.

Before going on to the next portion of how to deal with hair loss in both men and women, let’s understand quickly what a telogen and anagen mean.

Telogen is the resting phase of the hair.

Anagen is the growth phase of the hair.

At any given point, the number of hair in the anagen phase is more than the telogen phase. 4. Tenogen Effluvium- In this condition the number of hair follicles in the telogen phase is more and thereby there is hair loss. This may be due to multiple reasons such as nutritional deficiencies, hormonal imbalance, stress, medications, etc.

This is seen as lot of hair is coming off by the roots.

We shall see the various causes and patterns of female hair loss or thinning, and various treatment options for these conditions in the next articles.

Stay Beautiful!