Female Hair Loss Clinic in the Sydney, Parramatta & New Castle Area

Female hair loss is thought to be slightly more susceptible to environmental factors than male equivalents. This is generally down to the fact that hormones alone are likely to make men experience thinness or balding at some point, but not women. So men are more likely to lose their hair, but when it happens to women, it is more likely to be for an unexpected reason. This changes the ideal way to diagnose shedding problems in different genders and means it is always a good idea to look more closely at non-hormonal factors in female hair loss.

The upside is that creams and laser procedures are more likely to get great results, and women are marginally less likely than men to need surgical hair implants.

Environmental causes

Eating habits: If you are dieting heavily, particularly with a focus on rapid weight loss, then thinning or balding might be an unintended consequence. Growing new follicles takes energy and nutrients, so when your intake suddenly changes, the body has to redistribute these nutrients and sometimes the hair misses out. There is no real rhyme or reason to this, and it is either down to pure luck or reasons scientists have yet to establish. Either way, it is a distinct category and one worth bearing in mind.

Illness or infection: Inherently, both women and men are equally likely to suffer from scalp bacterial illness and infections. In practice, however, women are slightly more likely to have these, as they tend to have longer hair. This includes fungal, parasitic and bacterial issues, all of which can cause excess shedding. It is worth noting that the presence of these conditions is (usually) no reflection on a person’s hygiene, and can happen to anyone. These issues can usually be completely fixed with medications, but in severe cases, or ones that have been left to go on for too long, might require hair implants.

Damaged hair: Tightly tying back hair can put excessive pressure on the strands, and if done daily for years, can lead to shedding. In most cases, this only damages the hairs themselves, which will just keep regrowing good as new, but sometimes the follicles themselves get too strained and will stop growing. Once again, this can occur in both genders, but is functionally more common in women as they usually have longer strands and stylings that are more elaborate.

Pregnancy: The altered hormone levels associated with pregnancy can cause shedding after giving birth, particularly in people who have noticed that their hair actually got thicker during pregnancy. This can be compounded by the use of fertility enhancers. Needless to say, this is an issue that tends to affect only women, but it is interesting to note that men who take pregnancy hormone supplements have also been known to suffer hair loss as a result. Generally, this can be treated with post-natal medication, but sometimes your hair just will not grow back and will require other solutions.

Medication: Certain medications that alter hormone levels or circulation are known to include potential hair loss as a side effect. These include acne treatments, blood pressure and diabetes medication, steroid and other hormone treatments and several other medications. These side effects can start to occur at any point in the medication regime, but will usually happen almost immediately. If you are taking medications for any of these conditions and experiencing shedding, it is possible, but by no certain means, that the two are related. Fortunately, there are specific tests one can do in order to establish the cause.

Genetic causes

Alopecia is the medical term for all hair loss, but as a condition in itself, it includes three subtypes.

Alopecia areata: Clear, usually circular patterns of scalp baldness where hair has fallen out and will not regrow.

Alopecia totalis: Total loss of all scalp growth and
complete baldness.

Alopecia universalis: The least common variant, this is complete hairlessness across the entire body.

These are the three primary types of medical alopecia, but it can also refer to both male pattern baldness and female pattern baldness, the two ‘normal’ types of hair loss that will naturally hit people with age. Despite their names, both of these can occur in any gender.

Male pattern baldness: The first indicator is a receding hairline, as the upper forehead loses its ability to regrow follicles, while the sides and back will generally remain unaffected. This accounts for over 95% of all male baldness but is also common in women.

Female pattern baldness: This begins with thinning hair across the centre of the scalp, but can progress rapidly to the entire head. This is one of the things that makes female pattern baldness different – it is less likely to stop spreading and so is more important to treat in a timely fashion.

The next stop

To learn more about exactly what we do at New Generation, check out our hair treatment procedures. To get answers to any questions or book your free hair analysis session, call or contact us online.