Hormones and Hair Loss

It is difficult to say if hormones are the main suspect for hair loss both in men and women, but it is certain that they do contribute a lot and in many cases they are the sole reason for hair loss. Actually, for male pattern baldness (MPB), i.e. - the most common type of hair loss, the main reasons is hormonal imbalance, which pretty often is hereditary as well. For women hormonal imbalance is also a frequent cause for losing hair, especially during the menopause and pregnancy, when considerable hormonal changes take place.

The most interesting fact is that it is the hormonal imbalance, rather than the lack of hormones, that causes hair loss. Or, to be more precise, when the correlation between the key hormones deviates from the normal levels, then hair loss is likely to happen.

One of the hormones that is directly related to hair loss is thyroxin, which is produced by the thyroid gland. Thyroxin controls how your body utilizes food. If there is excessive production of thyroxin, this leads to hair loss via hair shedding. When the thyroid gland is underactive, your hair becomes brittle and ultimately this leads to hair loss. If you experience hair loss and you believe that the reason might be hormonal, a visit to the doctor is required to see how your thyroxin levels deviate from the normal.

Two other hormones - the male and female ones (androgens and estrogens, respectively) affect your hair health quite often. The reason is the same - hormonal imbalance. Nature takes care that women and men have the necessary hormones in the right quantity but sometimes this balance is destroyed. Typical cases are the menopause in women, when ovaries stop functioning and the level of the male hormone testosterone increases significantly. This is accompanied by the drop of the estrogen levels and as a result leads to hair loss because estrogen essentially blocks the negative effects of androgen on your hair.

With men, the hormonal reasons for hair loss are different. Men start going bald when their scalp is too sensitive to dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT is a derivative product of testosterone that makes the hair follicles shrink, thus preventing new hair from growing. This sensitivity to DHT is hereditary and if caught in the early stages, there are efficient ways of treatment. DHT also affects women and for them it is also a major reason for losing hair, though the pattern of female baldness is different from the male one, as explained in the articles about hair loss in men and women.

In addition to thyroxin, estrogen and testosterone, there are several other hormones that are related to hair loss. For instance FSH (Follicle-Stimulating Hormone) stimulates the production of estrogen and GnRH (Gonadotropin-releasing Hormone) in turn stimulates the production of FSH. It might sound very complex, but the human body produces about 50 hormones and the relationships between them are not fully studied yet, so it is not always easy to guess right away what in the hormonal imbalance causes hair loss.