Hair loss is seen by many as a cruel and unusually indiscriminate condition that can affect anyone at anytime in their life. Both men and women can experience hair loss, and the results are the same. Many who suffer from hair loss often report of not feeling like themselves. When they look in the mirror, they dont recognize the person they see.

Hair loss is actually a lot more complicated than just losing your hair. It is actually a fairly complex process that science is just beginning to understand fully. To understand hair loss, it helps to know a little about hair in general. Hair grows in what are called follicles. Hair is meant to be temporary and to shed periodically.

These follicles will receive signals from the body to produce a hair strand. The hair strand forms, and then it grows for its predetermined amount of time, and then it falls out. The problem is when the follicles stop being able to produce the replacement hair strands. The hair strands continue to fall out as theyre supposed to, but they never get replaced.

Several Factors Contribute to Hair Loss
There isnt one single cause of hair loss. It can be caused by a number of things. Furthermore, hair loss can be either temporary or permanent. For example, stress can cause temporary hair loss, as can exposure to strong forms of radiation. Nutritional deficiency can also cause temporary hair loss, but severe and consistent nutritional deficiency can ultimately cause permanent hair loss.

Hair follicles are the tiny production centers for our hair strands. These little sac-like structures are responsible for the production of hair. When they are functioning properly, hair strands are manufactured, hair grows, and then the hair falls out, or sheds only to be replaced by a new strand. As with most things in nature, sometimes things just dont work out like they should.

Male pattern baldness is a particularly troubling type of balding pattern. This is the type of baldness that starts at both the temples and the top of the skull, and the pattern of hair loss continues until the two balding spots meet in the middle. At the extreme end of the male pattern baldness spectrum, the sufferer is left with a horseshoe pattern of hair around the perimeter of his head.

Male pattern baldness is also called androgenetic alopecia, and it occurs in about 40 million men in America. It starts affecting about 25 percent of men by age 30, and it affects about sixty percent of men by age 60. There is no immunization shot you can get to prevent male pattern baldness and, at first blush, it seems to attack people indiscriminately.

Hormones May Play a Major Role
The causes of male pattern baldness are many. Science has not completely nailed this condition down yet, but it appears that the male hormone testosterone plays a major part in male pattern baldness. A derivative of testosterone, DHT, can cause hair follicles on the scalp to decrease in size as we age. These are just the mechanics of hair loss, though; the potential for hair loss is largely determined by genetic factors. If a mans parents have family members who suffer from male pattern baldness, then he is more likely to suffer from it as well.

Hair loss, while not a life-threatening condition, can greatly affect ones psychological wellbeing. There is generally nothing harmful about losing the hair on ones head, but many people report feelings of depression and oftentimes people simply dont feel like themselves without their hair. Hair loss prevention is therefore a very hot topic.

There are a ton of so-called home remedies or even folklore solutions to hair loss. Most of these notions are harmlessly ineffective at best. For example, many people believe that wearing hats can lead to baldness. Others believe that massaging the scalp, or even excessive hair washing can serve as possible preventative techniques.

Unfortunately, none of these methods are based on scientific knowledge and consequently, they just dont work. There are however, a few different techniques for hair loss prevention that do seem to work for some people. There are topical creams that seem to be fairly effective. These creams generally work by enlarging the hair follicles and decreasing their resting stages, thus encouraging the growth of strong, thick hair.

Many Prevention Techniques Require Constant Adherence
There are also certain prescription medications you can take that help prevent hair loss in a fair number of men and women. Many of these medications help prevent the DHT-based types of hair loss by simply reducing the production of testosterone based DHT by the body. It is important to note that if you do begin a hair loss prevention regimen, it is a permanent situation. Most hair prevention medications dont produce long-lasting results, and in order to continue benefiting from them, youll have to continue to take the medications indefinitely.

Hair loss seems to be on a lot of peoples minds lately. You can see any number of television commercials touting new products that claim to thicken hair even while halting hair loss. One has to wonder if these hair loss prevention techniques actually work, and if so, at what cost?

Finding a hair loss prevention technique that works for you is largely a matter of determining the source of your hair loss. If youre a man, and you are experiencing a loss of hair at your temples and the rear of your head, then you are probably suffering from what is known as male pattern baldness. There are however, other sources of hair loss.

Being vitamin deficient can also cause a gradual loss of hair in both adults and children, male and female. If you are on a nutritionally-limited diet and you are experiencing spotty or overall hair loss, you might want to consult your doctor or nutritionist and work out a way to put your eating habits back on track. Hair loss can also signal a serious illness.

Be Aware of Your Hair
Thyroid problems, systemic lupus erythematosus, and diabetes can all cause hair loss and you should certainly speak with a doctor if you experience sudden or severe hair loss. You can also start losing your hair because of constant pulling of the hair. This is called traction alopecia, and it is oftentimes caused by extreme hair styles like braids. This form of hair loss is usually reversible once the hairstyle is adjusted.

Hair loss is a vexing problem for millions of men and women all over the world. What is particularly vexing about hair loss is that its not really a medical condition per se. Unless hair loss is caused by an illness of some sort (diabetes, lupus, etc.) then the sufferer really has no medical reason to treat their loss of hair.

Regardless of the fact that hair loss isnt life threatening, it still causes an undue amount of psychological stress and worry in many people. Fortunately, there is a wealth of research being done on hair loss and hair loss prevention. Unfortunately, scientists havent yet been able to determine exactly all of the biological reasons why people start losing their hair.

Hair loss research has come up with some answers however. For example, scientists have discovered that many of the longstanding beliefs about hair loss are ill founded. Wearing a hat wont make you lose your hair, just as washing you hair more often wont help your receding hairline halt in its tracks. Most hair loss has its sources on the molecular level.

Testosterone Is One of the Keys
Testosterone seems to be both the cause of and the solution to so many issues in mens lives. Scientists have discovered that one of the main factors that contributes to male pattern baldness is the presence of an undue amount of DHT in the scalp. DHT is a derivative of testosterone, and it can actually cause the hair follicles to shrink, resulting in smaller, finer hairs that have shorter growth periods. When the growth periods become out of balance with the natural shed patterns of the body, then the hair begins to thin and bald spots appear.