Thinning Hair Causes - It's Not Your Fault

Thinning hair is one of the most distressing conditions to have. It is apparent to everyone, and in our society, a full head of thick hair is a measure of youth and vitality. Thinning hair is in most cases the result of a hereditary condition. So it your parents or grandparents have thin or balding hair, you will have a strong possibility of having it. In fact you have at least a 25% chance, but if there is thin/balding hair in both sides of your family then you have 50% chance of having thinning hair.

If hair has suddenly started to fall out - go and see you doctor, there may be serious medical condition to be diagnosed. It is always a good idea to get checked out and have the proper treatment.

This is where we need a quick lesson in how genes get passed from parent to child. If you have a parent with the gene for losing hair, then it can be a dominant gene or a recessive gene. Dominant gene mean that the condition is most likely to occur, recessive means that you are a carrier of the gene, but may not exhibit the condition. If your father is losing his hair, but your mother does not have thinning hair, but her mother does, then the diagram shows the chances of the child having hair loss.

Any hair loss is known as alopecia, hereditary hair loss is properly known as androgenetic alopecia or AGA for short. It is often referred to as male pattern baldness or female pattern baldness. The gene responsible means that your hair follicles are programmed to respond to DHT (a derivative of testosterone) in such a way that causes hair loss. The DHT causes the hair follicles to shrink, the hair that grows is thinner and falls out sooner. The hair follicle "dies" and stops producing hair. This occurs gradually and generally starts on the top of the head.

This is generally used to refer to the shape the hair loss takes in men. Thinning hair in men generally starts by receding frontal temples, the next step is often a patch on the back of the head which joins up with the receding front hairline. The back of the head hair is usually the last to go, if at all. This can be seen in the diagram.

There is also a pattern for thinning hair in women, it tends to follow a thinning of hair on the top of the head, some cases experience recession, but not as predominantly as thinning hair in men. Many women manage their hair loss by consulting stylist specialising in hairstyles for thinning hair.

There are a number of approaches to managing hair loss. One of the most important is to start any thinning hair treatment early. The earlier you start the more hair you can keep. It is hard to get back hair that has been lost ( the only way is possibly by surgical means and you would have to go to a specialist to check your suitability). Treatments such as topical application to inhibit the effects of DHT are available. But any treatments will only be effective whilst they are being used, stopping treatment will mean that hair loss will resume.