5 Causes of Hair Loss: What you can do about it

Hair loss is a common concern for both males and females. It can be due to the hair falling out, either gradually or abruptly or due to a decrease in hair growth and/or thinning of the actual hair shaft.

Causes include:

Genetics: this is the most common type of hair loss called androgenic alopecia or ‘male pattern baldness’. It can happen in both males and females, it just looks a little different in terms of how it starts and where it spreads. In both sexes it involves androgens, which are male sex hormones.

The hair loss occurs because of a shortening in the hair’s growth phase (anagen phase) and a lengthening between the shedding phase and the start of a new anagen phase. Additionally the hair follicle itself shrinks producing a shorter thinner hair shaft.

Hormonal Imbalance: Thyroid disease is a common one to rule out. As well hormonal changes during pregnancy, menopause or postpartum can cause hair loss.

Stress, Medications and Nutrient Deficiencies: Stress is a big one, especially in tricky cases where a cause can’t be found. And certain medications can also cause hair loss, so it is important to go over your current and past medication use. A deficiency in nutrients such as iron, zinc, biotin and protein could be behind hair loss, so testing is recommended.

Infections and other illnesses: Infections and other illnesses such as ring worm and psoriasis can also cause hair loss. In the case of infections it can usually be diagnosed by looking at the scalp.

Mechanical factors or hair care/treatments: Over treating your hair (perms, colouring) or hairstyles that highly pull back your hair can lead to hair loss over time.

What to do about it?

First off, it is important to determine the underlying cause. This will help direct treatment.

If it is related to a nutrient deficiency then this must be corrected, and if it it hormonal we should work at the root cause.

Most commonly seen causes are genetic predisposition, hormonal imbalances and stress induced. These can respond well to PRP, especially when caught right away. The sooner treatment is started, generally the better the results and the faster we can prevent more hair loss.

With androgenic alopecia, we often add topical and sometimes even internal medications (and/or supplements) alongside the PRP treatments.

Not sure what is causing your hair loss?

Book in for an Initial Naturopathic consultation to get to the bottom of it, or a PRP consult if you want to get started on reversing hair loss right away!