A bit of trivia - the term bald derives from the English word balde, which means white or pale, or the Celtic word - ball, which means a white patch or blaze, as on a horse's head. It is normal to shed a little hair each day but men, women and children may all experience excessive hair loss. Each hair on the scalp grows less than half an inch each month.

Many women notice hair loss about three months after they have had a baby; during pregnancy high levels of hormones cause the body to keep hair that would normally fall out and when the hormones return to pre-pregnancy levels that hair falls out and the normal cycle of growth and loss starts up again. Hair loss may occur if the male or female hormones, known as androgens and estrogens, are out of balance; correcting the hormone imbalance may stop the hair loss. And hypothyroidism can cause hair loss, especially thinning of the outer third of the eyebrows.

About three or four months after an illness or a major surgery, you can suddenly temporarily lose a large amount of hair; this hair loss is related to the stress of the illness. Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder also known as "spot baldness" that can result in hair loss ranging from one area to every hair on the entire body. Some drugs or medications can cause hair loss, which improves when the medicine is stopped; medications that can cause hair loss include blood thinners, gout medicines, chemotherapy drugs used for cancer, too many vitamin A supplements, birth control pills and antidepressants.

Temporary loss of hair can occur in the areas where sebaceous cysts are present for one week to several weeks in length. Correcting a hormone imbalance may usually prevent further hair loss. If a medicine is causing your hair loss, your doctor may be able to prescribe a different medicine or you may find you really don't need the medicine after all.

Immunosuppressants applied to the scalp have been shown to temporarily reverse alopecia areata, though the side effects of some of these drugs make this therapy very questionable. Propecia (Finasteride) and Minoxidil (called Rogaine in the U.S and elsewhere as Regaine) are drugs that have reported having shown some success in partially reversing loss but one needs to consider the side effects. Surgery is another method of reversing hair loss and baldness; it is usually considered an extreme measure.

While drastic, broad spectrum anti-androgens such as Flutamide are sometimes used topically; Flutamide is potent enough to have a feminizing effect in most if not all men, including growth of the breasts. The topical application of Ketoconazole, which is both an anti-fungal and a potent 5-alpha reductase inhibitor, is often used as a supplement to other approaches. Studies done on subjects of various ages suggest that weight training alone may increase testosterone in studies where aerobic exercise only was compared to either weight training or a moderately sedentary life.

Propecia is available with a prescription; it comes in pill form, is only for men and may take up to six months before you can tell if it's working. Minoxidil is a very expensive drug, costing one hundred dollars per month or so, for daily treatment. Be aware there are side effects and serious side effects sometimes with the drugs that are commonly used for hair loss.

Try lying on a slant board with your head down for 15 minutes a day, but clear it with your doctor first. Massage your scalp every day. Also try using double-strength herbal sage tea as a hair rinse or apply to scalp every day as a tonic.

Garlic oil remedy for hair loss: at bedtime, puncture a couple of garlic pearles, squirt the oil on the scalp, massage, cover with a shower cap, shampoo and rinse in the morning. Rub vitamin E oil into your scalp nightly. For the onion juice and honey remedy for hair loss: prepare a hair-growing elixir by combining 1/4 cup of onion juice with one tablespoon of honey; massage the scalp with this mixture every day.

Raw apple cider vinegar used as a hair rinse may stimulate hair growth. The olive oil and rosemary remedy for hair loss: use equal amounts of olive oil and oil of rosemary; combine them in a bottle, shake vigorously, massage into the scalp, put on a shower cap and shampoo in the morning. Fingernail buffer for hair loss: strange as it may sound - three times a day or so, for about five minutes, buff your right fingernails with the fingernails of your left hand; this is supposed to stop hair loss, encourage hair growth and prevent hair from graying - some report that it does work.

Polygonum Multiflorum is a traditional Chinese cure for hair loss; whether or not the plant itself is useful, the general safety and quality control of herbs imported from China can be questionable. Resveratrol, from grape skins, is a lipase inhibitor and by decreasing the body's ability to absorb fat through the intestinal walls, it reduces the total fat and calorie content of a person's diet. One patient reported that he used virgin coconut oil on his hair and scalp for a year and during that time his hair became thicker and he hade more of it on the top of his head where he had been receding a bit; coconut oil is good as a hair gel too.

Treatment for alopecia can be slow and sometimes not very successful; the more hair that is lost, the more you may have to work to get it back and in some cases may not be able to; but try as many of the natural non-invasive treatments and remedies as possible. Concentrate on boosting your immune system in order to give your hair the best chance at growing. Treating hair loss from the inside may be the best hair loss treatment for you.