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A Little Off the Top
Understanding Hair Loss in Women
By Kelly Burgess
"For women, hair loss is a really tough subject," says Smith. "It's not unacceptable for men to have a shaved head, but for women it's a stigma. In the past, women just bought wigs, but wigs aren't comfortable so they're looking for better options."
The official term for hair loss is "alopecia" and female pattern hair loss is typically referred to as androgenetic alopecia, which is the term for male pattern hair loss. However, Dr. Callender says this is not an accurate designation since researchers don't know if this type of alopecia is genetic or hormonal.
Another type of hair loss is alopecia areata, an autoimmune skin disease resulting in the loss of hair on the scalp and elsewhere on the body. Sometime the hair is lost in patches, sometimes there is total hair loss. It can occur at any age, but often begins in childhood.
Telogen effluvium is a sudden loss of hair that usually is not permanent. It has a variety of causes, including stress, illness, medication (including birth control pills) and postpartum hormonal changes. With this condition, a large number of the hair follicles become inactive at the same time, and the hair falls out.
This is what Katie Young, of Austin, Texas, was diagnosed with at age 36. She had given birth just six months before and noticed she was losing a lot of hair in the shower.
"It really freaked me out when it first started happening because I didn't tie it in with having the baby since it had been a while," says Young. "My doctor said that was typical, because it's at about six months that the hormones start leveling off."
