Hair Loss - What is Hair loss?
Hair
loss refers to an area with thinning and sparse
hairs caused by an accentuated process of
hairs falling out and not being replaced.
It may begin at age 18 with continuous but
irregular evolution, that is with periods
of more accentuated loss interspersed with
periods where the process appears to stabilize.
After the age of fifty the evolution of hair
loss tends to be slower and more regular.
| In general the
earlier hair loss begins, the faster the
process will evolve and the large the
balding area will be. Contrarily, the
later the onset of hair loss, the slower
its evolution will be and, likely, the
smaller the area affected will be. |
HAIR
FACTS (LEARN MORE ABOUT HAIR)
Persons with thick,
black hair have around 150,000 hairs.
Individuals with fine, light-colored hair
have fewer hairs (around 100,000-130,000).
About 90% of the hairs grow continually over
two-six years. The other 10% experience an
interruption in their growth, followed by
a dormant period, and then they fall out.
After a hair follicle falls out, the same
root produces a new hair, thus beginning a
new cycle. Hair grows on average 1 centimeter
per month. As an individual gets older, hair
volume will naturally decline. As hair is
basically composed of proteins, it benefits
greatly from a diet rich in proteins, which
are normally found in meats, eggs, milk products,
soy, grains and nuts. Vitamins and minerals
also have a significant influence on the health
of hair, but do not alter an individual’s
pre-established genetic standard for hair
loss.
WHY DOES HAIR LOSS OCCUR?
WHY DOES HAIR LOSS
OCCUR IN SOME PEOPLE AND NOT IN OTHERS?
Androgenetic alopecia
has, as the name itself implies, genetic origin.
It is caused, therefore, by hereditary factors
that are passed on by the maternal side, paternal
side, or both. This “genetic tendency”
may skip an entire generation or potentially
affect one sibling yet not another.
This is why it is
common to find families where one sibling
experiences hair loss, and the other does
not. This occurs when one side (paternal or
maternal) has the genetic code for hair loss
and the other does not. In this case one sibling
may inherit genes from the paternal side and
the other sibling inherits genes from the
maternal side, however when both maternal
and paternal sides have a strong tendency
for balding, likely the children (in their
adult years) will also be bald.
Approximately 70%
of all men and 15% of all women will have
some degree of hair loss during their lifetime.
External factors
may also contribute to hair loss such
as: stress, medication, chemotherapy,
diabetes, etc. In nearly all of these
cases, hair loss is temporary and reversible.
Myth: Using baseball caps or washing your
hair daily does not cause balding. |
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