Causes of hair loss

Hair loss can occur due to many reasons including illness, strain due to some surgery, sessions of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, as a result of some fungal infections, hormonal problems, side-effects of certain medications and blemishes from burns. Certain health conditions lead to sudden hair loss redness, scaling and soreness (Liu & Aspres, par.4).

“Male pattern hair loss largely relates to a person’s inherited genetic sensitivity to the effects of dihydrotestosterone or DHT in certain areas of the scalp. The age of starting hair fall, its pattern, sequence and severity depends on various genes of a particular family. Not only men but also women with excessive androgen levels and genetic tendency may show the signs of pattern baldness. Hair follicles are substituted at different rates by the normal course of hair cycling” (“Male Pattern Hair Loss”, par.2). There are different stages of hair growth movement and rest. “The growth period or the anagen phase continues for two to six years. This is the stage when the follicle is deep and long producing thick and well-pigmented hair. The second stage or catagen phase lasts for a few weeks when the follicle shrivels and lastly the telogen phase that remains for two to four months shrinking the follicle even more” (“Male Pattern Hair Loss”, par.2). It is again followed by the anagen phase when a new hair takes place of the older one after it falls out (“Male Pattern Hair Loss”, par.2)