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Hair Restoration (Encore™)
Why Women Lose Hair
: What can be done :
What is Encore
Why Women Lose Hair
| There are
20 million women in America with excessive hair loss.
Ten million of them are under the age of 40. While it's
common to see and hear about men's hair loss, women's hair
loss is seldom mentioned. It's almost as if society
doesn't want to admit there's such a condition. In
this site, we will define the problem and it's causes as
well as explain some of the solutions available.
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There are three main phases of the hair growth cycle; A C T
= Anagen, Catagen and Telogen. This diagram shows the
regression of an anagen hair follicle. |
The hair growth cycle
All people, men and women,
lose hair. It's natural... A normal person loses from 15 to
40 hairs every day. Hair follicles produces a new hair
every few years. Hair goes through three specific
growth cycles.
- Growth (anagen)
phase
This phase lasts for 3-5 years. The longer the phase the
longer you will be able to grow your hair.
Lasts 3-4 years 85-90% hairs
- Involution (catagen)
phase
The hair stops growing in this phase and the follicle
involutes - gradually the hair root in the follicle
becomes shrunken. Hair growth ceases and no pigment
is produced for about 10 days.
Lasts 1-2 weeks 1% of hairs
- Resting (telogen)
phase
This is the time between the involution of the follicle
and the next growth phase. This is when hair is shed.
Lasts 5 months 10-15% of hairs
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What is excessive hair loss?
In individuals with healthy
follicles, about 90% of the hair on the scalp grows at one time.
Because the vast majority of follicles are in Anagen phase - and
only a small percentage of them are in the Tologen phase - a
normal amount of hair that falls out isn't noticeable. When a
follicle is unhealthy, for whatever reason, the hair growth
cycles are suspended and the follicle stays in the Tologen
phase for an indefinite period.
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As more and
more follicles stay in the Tologen phase, less new hair is
being produced. This results in thinning, and
ultimately, balding. How long do
afflicted follicles stay in the Tologen stage? In many
cases, forever; in some cases, hair production resumes.
The determining factor is what caused the follicles to stop
producing hair in the first place.
Why women
lose hair?
Women can lose
hair for a variety of reasons. In pregnancy, changes
in hormone levels can produce hair loss. Stress and
anxiety can also cause hair follicles to cease production.
In some cases, a vitamin deficiency can lead to hair loss.
Certain medication can cause hair to fall out, too.
But in all the aforementioned cases, the hair loss is only
temporary for most people. Once the condition causing
the hair follicles will "wake up" and begin producing
hair once again.
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There are two conditions in
which hair loss in irreversible. The first is from
a condition known as alopecia universalis. Very
few people are afflicted with alopecia universalis, but
those who are facing the devastating effect of all hair
production ceasing on their body - they actually produce no
hair at all, from their scalps to their toes. The
condition is believe to be caused by a virus and there is no
"cure" for it. |
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The overwhelming majority of women suffer from what is known
as androgenic hair loss. This is caused by
hormones. It was previously mentioned that pregnant
women can experience hair loss due to changes in hormonal
levels. With androgenic hair loss, the principle is
the same but the cause is quite different.
Both men and
women have hormones of the opposite sex. Men have
level of estrogen in their body, just as women have levels
of testosterone. In women, the cause of what is
known as female pattern baldness is the testosterone
hormone. Women with hair loss do not have abnormal
levels of testosterone in their body. These women are
just unable to "break down" testosterone properly.
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The
overwhelming majority of women suffer from what is known as
androgenic hair loss. This is caused by hormones.
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There is much testosterone
found in a person's scalp. If the hormone does not
break down properly as it ages and is ready to be disposed
of as waste, a by-product known as dihidrotestosterone (DHT)
exists. When too much DHT accumulates in the scalp,
hair follicles are affected. They begin to atrophy.
The hair being produced becomes smaller, weaker in structure
and lighter in color. Finally, the hair follicle
enters a permanent dormant state and no hair is produced at
all. In most cases, there is no way to induce the hair
follicle to produce normal, healthy hair again. The
hair follicle is essentially dead.
Women's pattern baldness is
different.
Men's pattern baldness
generally ends up with a "horseshoe" of hair around the
sides and back of the head, with the top of the head totally
denude of hair.
Not only is the end result
fairly common, the path to get there is shared by more men
as well. It usually begins with a gradual recession in the
temples. In actuality, the term "female pattern baldness" is
largely a misnomer, because there is no pattern to female
hair loss. Very few women with hair loss end up with
the horseshoe pattern that is inevitable result of male
pattern baldness. Rather, women tend to lose their
hair in various combinations of patterns and progressions.
Some women notice hair loss
beginning in the anterior, or mid-scapl region, a few inches
behind the hairline. In other women, it is the hairlines
itself that begins to thin, but there is rarely a true
recession as there is with men; rather, the thinning seems
to occur randomly through the first inch or so of hair
without the orderly "march back to the crown" that
categorizes most male pattern baldness. As well, few
few women experience recession at the temples; most men do.
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Click
here
to find out about how
Encore™
can help. |
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