Hair Loss in Women - A Summary of Causes and Treatments

 can be caused by a number of factors. Here I’m going to give you a brief explanation of each of the likely causes and how they can be effectively dealt with.

Genetic Hair Loss

Firstly, genetic hair loss, or female pattern hair loss, is more common than one might expect. It usually affects those in their middle-ages after menopause but is also relatively common amongst younger women. Genetic hair loss is caused by a product produced in the body called Dihydrotestosterone, or DHT, which attaches itself to the hair follicles and causes them to shrink more and more with each growth cycle until the hair becomes thin. This condition only affects the top of the scalp so if you’re losing hair on the sides and back as well there’s probably a reason other than genetics.

I’ll discuss the effective options available to clear this condition up in a minute, after explaining the other likely causes of female hair loss.

Telogen Effluvium

Telogen Effluvium is a condition that is also very common amongst women. It’s usually a temporary complaint where a shock to your biological system causes a number of hairs to pass from the growth phase to the resting phase. As a hair’s resting phase lasts 3 months before the hair falls out, hair loss will be experienced 3 months after the event that caused it so might seem unexpected. Common causes of telogen effluvium include an accident, an injury, illness or a stressful event such as a family loss or relationship troubles.  As long as the cause isn’t ongoing hair should grow back on its own after a short period of time. This condition can however trigger genetic hair loss which is a permanent condition if it’s not treated.

Diffuse Hair Loss

Diffuse hair loss is a similar condition to telogen effluvium and can be caused by a number of factors including illness or lack of certain nutrients. You can differentiate between this condition and genetic hair loss by observing whether the thinning is confined to the top of the scalp or spread over the whole scalp. Diffuse hair loss affects the back and sides as well as the top. In this case it’s important to identify its cause so that you can work to fix the underlying problem which should also fix your thinning hair.

Treatments for Women’s Hair Loss

We understand how difficult it is to know which products work and which don’t because there are so many advertised products out there and unfortunately, a manufacturer can say whatever they want about their product on their website because there aren’t yet any strict regulations for the internet.

The MHRA is the medical regulatory body in the UK that reviews the efficacy of medications and provides a marketing license if a product is proven to be effective to its stated cause whilst ensuring safety. It takes large-scale intensive clinical trials to convince the MHRA that a product is effective enough to be licensed and this is the only way you can be sure that a product will work.

There is only one product licensed for women’s hair loss in the UK; it’s called minoxidil. Although there are many other products out there that claim to prevent or reverse women’s hair loss, minoxidil is the only one that you can be sure has a good chance of doing so. Most of the other products advertised for hair loss prevention are food supplements and although many make claims of hair loss prevention, they are not authorised to do so in the UK so they are in effect breaking the law. Unfortunately none of these natural products have conducted extensive enough clinical trials to provide sufficient evidence of their effectiveness.

The Belgravia Centre bases most of its treatment courses for women’s hair loss around different formulations of minoxidil fine tuned for each individual. Belgravia have treated thousands of women with hair loss of all types and have found their treatment combinations will clear up and even reverse hair loss in most cases. And even though minoxidil has only been licensed for genetic hair loss, Belgravia sees many cases of success for other women’s hair loss conditions. You can get an idea of the kind of results that women frequently experience by visiting our huge collection of before and during treatment photos and success stories.