A large number of men expect their hair to thin out and to become bald at some point in their life. This problem for men is widely discussed, but this process also effects women too, though it rarely results in total baldness some women experience extensive hair loss.

50% of women will have experienced thinning of their hair in some form by the time they reach their mid 60s. This process usually begins in their mid 30s to early 40s, the hair shaft starts to get thinner along with less abundance of the hairs. Commonly it’s an increase in the hormone called Dihydrotestosterone (DHT). This hormone shortens the hair growth cycle, the hair follicle becomes smaller resulting in finer hairs which are weak and stop growing out through the scalp.

Women also experience hair loss for other reasons: * Hormone changes during pregnancy seem to cause the hair growth cycle to slow down or stop. This cycle then starts again once a women’s hormones go back to what is normal for them and this can result in the hairs that should have come to the end of their growth cycle and fallen out over the nine months of pregnancy, all coming out over a period of around a month or two. It can be alarming but they do grow back in. * Iron deficiency can cause hair loss, Anemia sends the body into survival mode and channels oxygen to vital organs and other functions rather than hair growth. At times women need more iron than men, women lose 1mg of iron per day during their period. Also what we eat plays a role in hair health, faddy diets promising quick weight loss can have a detrimental effect as they force you to cut out lots of foods which also cuts out essential nutrients, minerals and good fats. * Illnesses like Diabetes, Lupus and Thyroid problems can cause hair loss. * Treatments for cancer can cause hair loss. * Alopecia Areate – Spot Baldness is thought to be an auto immune response to stress and if your health is ‘run down’. The body attacks its own hair follicles and suppresses or stops the hairs growth. T cell lymphocytes cluster around some hair follicles causing inflammation which in turn causes the hair loss.