Why People Become Bald

Are you becoming bald? Don’t panic. It’s not the end of the world yet. Before you blame your barber or hairdresser, try to find the cause of your problem.

Baldness can either be temporary or permanent. Temporary hair loss can occur one to three months after a high fever or severe infection. It may follow surgery or radiation treatment. Some women lose large amounts of hair within two to three months after giving birth when many hair follicles enter the resting phase of the hair cycle. However, not all new mothers will experience this nor does hair loss occur with each delivery.

In others, baldness is caused by an underlying condition like an overactive or underactive thyroid, syphilis or systemic lupus erythematosus. Obese people who go on crash diets, malnourished individuals, and those suffering from a protein or iron deficiency may also experience hair loss. In these people, hair can easily be pulled out by the roots.

“What you eat - or don’t eat - may be the reason why you’re losing hair, especially if your diet is deficient in iron or protein. Dietary iron and iron metabolism are especially important in a woman’s hair cycle. Often women who crash diet or who have eating disorders like bulimia or anorexia nervosa suffer from hair loss,” according to the editors of “The Women’s Book of Home Remedies” published by Consumer Guide.

Certain medications can cause hair to become thin and break off. These include cancer drugs, blood thinners, aspirin, steroids, blood pressure medications, antidepressants, herbal medicines, and vitamin supplements, especially high doses of vitamin A or D or selenium.

“Hair loss may be related to taking a wide range of medications or herbs with heavy metals in them. Chemotherapy drugs, of course, are notorious for causing hair to fall out, but more common drugs like some cholesterol-lowering drugs (clofibrate, gemfibrozil), most arthritis medications, beta-blocking drugs for high blood pressure, and some ulcer drugs can also cause distressing hair loss,” said the editors of “The Women’s Book of Home Remedies.”

Excessive hair care and over-styling are other causes of temporary baldness. Tight ponytails, a sharp comb or brush, and hand curlers can make your hair thin and ugly. The same goes with bleaching, teasing, and straightening if they’re not done right or if they are done too frequently. As Dr. Fredric Haberman of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Denise Fortino point out in “Your Skin: A Dermatologist’s Guide to a Lifetime of Beauty and Health”:

“Paradoxically, paying too much attention to your hair may also increase your chances of losing it. Coloring, straightening, drying, frequent shampooing, brushing or conditioning, using tight curlers or clasps, or repeated pulling and twisting can be bad for your hair. Cold wave solutions without a built-in neutralizer can have a depilatory (hair-removing) effect if they are left on too long.”

“Forget the 100 brush strokes at night, too. The less you do to your scalp and hair, the better. If you can’t give up those styling treatments, at least try to space them out to reduce the trauma,” added the editors of “The Women’s Book of Home Remedies.”

In others, hair loss may be a reaction to severe psychological stress. This may happen one to three months after a stressful situation. So if you’ve been under too much pressure lately, don’t be surprised if your hair falls out.

If baldness takes the form of hairless patches that resemble a quarter or larger, you probably have alopecia areata. This is characterized by circular bald patches and affects about two percent of the population. Its cause is unknown and it may involve the entire scalp (alopecia totalis) or the whole body (alopecia universalis).

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