Feb
Hair loss is traditionally thought to be a disease that only makes men suffer but the sad truth is it makes women suffer as much if not more. By the time most women hit 40, they have some amount of visible hair loss. Hair is so embedded in our subconscious as a social standard of beauty that most women find it difficult to cope with the body image issues that come with hair loss.
Emotional Toll of Female Hair Loss – It’s all in your head
When it comes men society is ready to accept hair loss as a natural process but for women to have receding hairlines is still considered a taboo. This is why a lot of doctors would tend to ignore women’s concerns about hair loss or not take into account the severe psychological toll it takes on a person. If you are worried about the hair strands on your comb and are feeling unattractive, don’t worry, you are not alone and there is definitely a way out of it. But first let us look at some of the usual reasons for hair loss in women:
How hair loss can cause you to lose your mind?
Since hair is so integrally related to self image, the loss of it often causes women to lose faith in them and can make them feel unattractive. This often makes women go deeper into the abyss of depression. Hair loss causes tremendous anxiety in women since they end up obsessively checking in the mirror for receding hairlines before going out of the house. The obsession with finding a cure for hair loss can often take a huge toll on a woman’s mental health.
Menopause makes hair loss harder to manage
Menopause is of course a normal biological process but it comes with its share of side effects such as hot flashes, mood swings and sleeplessness. But an often ignored side effect of menopause is the severe hair loss it causes in women due to lower production of estrogen and progesterone.
These hormones are responsible for hastening hair growth and making hair stay on the head for a long period of time. A lack of these hormones means hair thinning and also production of male hormones known as androgens.
Androgens result in shrinking of hair follicles causing hair loss on the head and abrupt hair growth on the face. Hair loss during menopause can also be a result of high stress levels and a decrease in the amount of certain nutrients.
Hormonal imbalance can hit your hair hard
Here are some of the hormones that play a role in your hair disappearing from your head:
- Oestrogen Oestrogen is of course the defining feminine hormone and it’s usually a woman’s best friend but it can cause your hair to go haywire when there’s too much of it. A huge increase in the amount of oestrogen due to weight gain and perimenopause can cause rapid hair thinning. This is especially noticeable before and after pregnancy.
- Testosterone All women produce testosterone in small quantities but it starts messing with your head quite literally when its levels shoot up suddenly. This usually happens because of a fast fall in oestrogen levels because of pregnancy, ovarian cysts or menopause. The testosterone levels remain high and result in what is known as female pattern baldness
- Insulin Although we commonly associate insulin as the governing factor behind keeping blood sugar levels in check, it is also responsible for keeping hair growth in its place. Research has established that women with insulin resistance have greater tendencies of androgenic alopecia.
- Thyroid If your body senses that your thyroid levels are low it redirects the energy away from comparatively noncritical processes such as hair growth. This invariably results in thinner scalps in a number of women
Why hair loss isn’t the end of the world?
Hair loss if far from life threatening which essentially means that it’s less medically challenging to combat. Your partner, friends and family would be there for you despite you having a lighter scalp. You can always consult a dermatologist to figure out the real cause behind your hair loss and work towards a constructive treatment. They can help you put things into perspective.
If you are concerned about how the world will look at you, there are completely natural and safe hair fibers such as Super Million Hair that can take care of your hair thinning woes. Although these are not a permanent solution to baldness, these herbal fibers naturally blend with your hair and makes your head looks like a happy place once again.