From hereditary or genetic, medical reactions to lifestyle disorders or irregularities to environmental effects, hair loss can be caused by any of these factors in both men and women. The modern lifestyle and synthetic hair products are the major factors for increasing the causes of hair loss.
Hair loss or hair fall is the most frequent problem experienced by countless people all over the globe. Though Hair loss does not directly cause any health threats it is indicative of number of malfunctions and irregularities. The causes of hair loss can vary from hereditary or genetic to medical reactions to lifestyle disorders or irregularities to environmental effects. These contributing areas are grossly indifferent in both men and women though certain medical causes are specific to women in making them lose hair. More than any other causes, presently the factors pertaining to the lifestyle are increasingly playing important role in causing hair loss. Here below we introduce different causes of hair loss in detail.
Hereditary or genetic cause
Hereditary causes that make genetic structure to cause a syndrome in the successive generations is one of the major causes of hair loss as well. In many families the problem of hair loss runs through generations. Let us see how it happens. Dehydro-testosterone or DHT is a hormonal element that is said to have biggest role in clogging the hair roots, consequently shrinking the hair follicle and causing the hair loss. The testosterone or male hormone present in both men and women is responsible for this. Some people possess a higher level of this hormone and consequently they are more vulnerable to hair loss than others. Normally people with extremely oily scalp condition have this hormone in higher quantity. This proportion of hormone is a genetic character that is automatically transferred from parents to their successive generations and so hair loss or symptom of baldness goes on in a family in a hereditary manner. A great portion of hair loss victims, especially among the men belong to this category.
Medical causes - Chemotherapy
Some types of treatment like chemotherapy in cancer are held responsible for causing excessive hair loss. Our hair strands has a life cycle consisting of 3 phases, respectively as Anagen or the consistent growth phase that lasts 2 to 6 years, Catagen or slow growth phase that last for a few weeks and Telogen or resting phase that lasts for 2 to 3 months. At the end of Telogen or resting phase the hair falls off. Chemotherapy targets all rapidly dividing cells in the body and consequently hair cells in the growth phase of Anagen gets also affected and thus cause premature shedding in large numbers. This is precisely how chemotherapy causes hair loss.
Medical causes - Menopause in women
For women menopause still stands to be one of the principal medical causes of hair loss. In women especially after menopause a large number of hairs get into the resting phase or Telogen. We all know that at the end of this resting phase normally hair is shed and so it causes hair loss or thinning of hair. Estrogen, a female hormone causes the hair to grow faster and stay on the scalp longer and so during pregnancy when the estrogen level remains normally higher a woman experiences better hair volume and growth. In contrast in menopause estrogen level goes significantly down causing the hair to stop growing and get into resting phase and this cause significant hair loss or thinning of hair.
Medical causes - Hypothyroidism
Our metabolism and several other functions depend on the secretion of the thyroid hormones. Hypothyroidism is the medical condition due to lack of secretion of this hormone from the thyroid gland. This decreasing level of thyroid hormone slows down the metabolism and consequently causes the hair roots suffer from nutritional deficiency. This is why hypothyroidism causes the hair to become dry, brittle and damaged and in the end falls off the scalp causing thinning of hair.
Lifestyle causes - Stress
Medical researches and scientific studies for long advocated on the influence of stress in causing accelerated rate of shedding of hair. Stress is one of the major lifestyle causes of hair loss in both men and women. Stress results in unrest which disrupt the metabolism and that reflects in cell level malnutrition in hair follicles causing hair loss.
Lifestyle causes - Malnutrition
Hair cells like all other body cells require definitive nutritional value to survive and naturally retain the growth potential. Food balanced in protein, minerals, vitamins and dietary fiber for better digestion and metabolism results in better blood circulation in the scalp and consequent hair growth. On the contrary if you are in an unhealthy dieting practice of taking nutritionally deficient and metabolically challenging junk food it would result in improper blood circulation in the scalp and would result in hair loss.
Lifestyle causes - Use of cosmetics and hair styling
Some cosmetic products and hair styling products and procedures applied on the scalp causes the hair root to experience great strain and consequently the damaged or weakened hair follicles shed earlier than others causing thinning of hair. Many hair styling gels and cosmetics actually elevates your scalp oil level facilitating clogging at the hair root which causes hair loss.
Lifestyle causes - Lack of physical exhaustion
In the modern era we are more a psychological men without much of a necessity of going into physically exhaustive works. This results in decreasing level of metabolism and decreasing blood circulation in the scalp. Lack of physically exhaustive activities also results in improper sleep and rest which is again a vital factor for the scalp cells to vitalize with blood circulation. Thus improper balance in physical activities relating to food intake and stress level can contribute to hair fall to a great extent.
Environmental causes - Pollution and toxicity
Coming into regular contact with air environmental pollution that externally can affect the hair roots by clogging them is one of the major causes of hair loss in some parts of the world. The toxic residues in the air can cling to your hair root and regularly disposing to this external toxicity can ultimately cause severe damage to the hair roots and causes of hair loss. Factory workers, road workers, professional automobile drivers, miners and many professionals from other fields are vulnerable to this toxicity that causes hair loss.