There are four main causes of baldness.

 

1 The commonest affects men and is known as 'male pattern baldness'. This hair loss depends on two factors: male sex hormones and a genetic tendency to develop baldness. Baldness is a dominant gene among men and this means that if a man inherits the tendency to go bald from just one parent, then he will go bald. One in ten of all men will be completely or partially bald by the age of 25 years, while a third of all men show signs of male pattern baldness by the time they reach the age of 35. By the age of 50, nearly half of all men are bald or balding. Generally speaking the sooner the baldness starts the more severe it will be and if you've still got a pretty good head of hair by the age of 35 then you are likely to keep it for a good few years more.

 

2 In the second group are general disorders which cause hair loss as a secondary effect. A huge range of hormone disorders cause hair loss - menopausal problems and thyroid disorders being near the top of the list. Pregnancy commonly causes hair loss too, and many women lose some hair after giving birth. Taking the contraceptive pill is another cause since this has an effect on the circulating sex hormone levels. Taking drugs can also cause hair loss, as can general disorders such as anemia

 

Stress must be included in this general category. One of the most worrying forms of baldness, alopecia areata, is said to be caused by worry and anxiety. Most commonly affecting young people in their teens and twenties alopecia areata affects women just as much as it affects men. It causes hair to fall out in handfuls, leaving bald patches all over the/scalp. Fortunately, this frightening hair root strike is usually a temporary problem: the hair normally grows again after a few months. But alopecia areata is one of the few types of baldness that can develop very suddenly - within a few days.

 

3 There are also localized disorders such as ringworm, dandruff and eczema that produce baldness. These particu­lar problems need to be treated individually.

 

4 The final type of hair loss affects women more than men, and includes cosmetic causes. Baldness can, for example, be caused by tight hair-styles which literally pull the hair out by the roots. This type of hair loss, known as traction alopecia, is usually produced by hair-styles such as pigtails, pony tails, braids and buns. It affects the hair at the front of the head and usually improves when the hair-style is changed for a looser one. Using stiff nylon bristled brushes can cause baldness, as can using a comb with rough teeth. Too much heat can also cause problems, so it is important to use hair-dryers and heated curlers with care. Chemicals used in bleaches, dyes, perms and hair straighteners can all cause baldness if used carelessly or too often.

 

Those are the main causes of baldness. It is also worth remembering that general health can have an effect on hair loss that a normal, healthy scalp loses between 20 and 100 hairs a day, that growth of scalp hair slows down in cold weather and that scalp hair seems to grow faster in women than in men.

 

Because baldness is sometimes embarrassing and upset­ting there is a huge range of commercial remedies which are claimed to increase hair growth. Whether anything will help largely depends on the cause of the baldness but there is no magic cure and a good many of the products available are useless. Many preparations sold for the treatment of hair loss are advertised with accompanying photographs showing 'before' and after pictures. These look very convincing but if an individual with alopecia area at uses a hair restorer he (or she) will probably give the restorer credit when, in fact, the hair growth restarts automatically.

 

Treatment for Baldness

 

So far, despite all the research that has been done there is no cure for baldness available. The wonder cures that are regularly advertised will do little or nothing to help. What you can do, if you are suffering from hair loss, is to make sure that any causative factor is dealt with. If there is a specific cause and it is dealt with, your hair will probably grow again.

 

If there isn't a specific, identifiable and treatable cause then there are still one or two things that can be tried:

 

1 The remaining hair can sometimes be combed over the bald patches.

 

2 A conditioner can be used to make what hair there is seem thicker.

 

3 There is also hair transplantation (a rather expensive solution). Hair transplantation was first tried over 20 years ago and, if done with skill, it seems to work fairly well. The technique involves the surgical transference of small grafts of skin from hair-bearing areas to bald areas of the scalp.

This won't cure baldness, but it will help to disguise the problem. It takes about a fortnight for each transplant to take and at least ten treatments before there is any visible improvement. The hair is usually taken from the back of the head, by the way. There isn't much point in moving hair from other parts of the body because the texture will be quite different!

 

4 In hair weaving, artificial hairs are knotted or fixed to existing hair.

 

5 In implantation, artificial hair is inserted into the scalp.

 

I don't recommend either of these last two solutions since extremely unpleasant complications can develop.