What Causes Hair Loss And How To Fix It

Hairs are tiny shafts created by a protein called keratin. They are anchored in a group of specialized cells that are known as hair follicles. The areas where hairs grow and are visible are the armpits, face, around the genitals, the front of the chest, the back, and most profusely, on the scalp of the head. A Caucasian scalp has roughly 100,000 hair follicles, Asian scalps have approximately 75,000 follicles, and African-Americans have about 60,000.

Hair is in a constant cycle of growth, rest, and restoration. Hairs will grow and then shed, but because they grow at different intervals, they won’t all shed at the same time.

Male pattern baldness starts with temporal area recession and moves to the crown area. As the hairline recedes backwards, the patch in the crown will also get larger. The two will eventually meet in the middle until all the hair on the top of the scalp is gone.

Female pattern baldness is, like most things, similar to males yet completely different. Instead of losing hair from the front and back, women will, in most cases, start losing hair in the middle, and it will fan out towards the ears. Women may also have different types of hair loss that may include diffuse thinning throughout the entire scalp.