Causes of thinning hair

When a person's hair loses its quality over a short period of time, it usually is a sign of some underlying health problem. Nutritional deficiency, improper hair care or illnesses, all can cause hair thinning and hair loss. While hair loss is more prevalent in men, older women can also suffer from a gradual loss of their hair's quality.

Fortunately, thinning hair, when treated in a timely order, can prevent additional hair loss.

Reasons behind Thinning Hair

Androgenic alopecia is a condition capable of triggering hair loss in both men and women. For instance, both sexes have male and female hormones in their body; hence, if the male hormone testosterone gets converted to DHT, it leads to excessive hair loss and complete baldness in men, while leading to diffused hair thinning in women. Men are affected by it naturally, due to their high testosterone levels, while women usually suffer from it, once a condition like polycystic ovarian syndrome increases their androgen levels.

Childbirth and menopause can lead to the above mentioned hormone imbalances. Menopause causes estrogen to drop in the female body, triggering hair loss. On the other hand, an excessive rise in hair quality or the speed of hair growth, can be noticed during pregnancy, because of the rise in estrogen levels. Thus, both female and male hormones play a part in hair loss.

Other Reasons behind Thinning Hair

High levels of stress or traumatic experiences may lead to a condition called telogen effluvium, which can cause a temporary loss of hair. Malnutrition, major surgery, infection, extreme mental stress or other such events, all may lead to this health phenomenon which is commonly known to disappear over the course of about 3 months.

We need vitamins to sustain good health. If we suffer from deficiencies in vitamins B6, B3, biotin, panthenol and inositol, vitamin A and E, we may experience hair loss.

One may suffer from alopecia areata, which is a condition causing hair loss, all over the body.

Finally, problems with the thyroid gland may result in hormonal imbalances which affect our metabolism leading to hair loss also.

The list goes on since there are many other conditions and factors which can trigger thinning of your hair and a potential hair loss. Thus, you are highly advised to pay your doctor a visit when you start noticing a decrease in your hair quality.