Alopecia, that is the proper term for hair loss whether total or partial. Most people will just use the words bald or balding. No matter what you call it, before you can treat it you need to have all of the facts about hair loss. There are a few things that you must take into consideration to better understand your hair loss situation and the various options currently available for its treatment. The more information you have early on in treating hair loss, the better your odds for success.

In order to best understand and treat your hair loss situation, you first need to determine what type of hair loss you are dealing with. This will help you begin to sift through the vast amount of information available. Hair loss can be a gradual development, or occur in patches and even be something that affects the hair all over your body. Some hair loss is natural, with the average person loosing approximately one hundred hairs every day. Considering that the average human scalp contain around one hundred thousand hairs on any given day the loss of one hundred a day is not overly significant. The life span of the average hair is approximately four and half years during which time it will grow about one half inch every six months. After about five years the hair will fall out and be replaces with a new hair in another six months. Genetic hair loss occurs when the body does not produce new hairs to replace those shed along with excessive hair loss.

Hair loss does not discriminate between men and women. Typically as people age they loose the same amount of hair, whether man or woman. The same is true for thinning of the hair. Inherited pattern baldness does tend to occur more for men than for women. One forth of all men will have begun to go bald by the age of thirty and two-thirds will have developed balding patters or be completely bald by the age of sixty. Male pattern baldness typically includes the receding hair line accompanied with thinning of the hair around the crown. The key factor contributing to male pattern baldness is testosterone. This means that men lacking n testosterone due to castration of genetic abnormalities will not develop male pattern baldness.

There are many causes of hair loss this is why it is extremely important to consider all available information on potential causes of hair loss before assuming that your hair loss is inherited. While baldness is typically the result of to aging, heredity or testosterone there are numerous other factors that must not be ignored. These include hormonal changes, serious illnesses, medications, excessive shampooing or blow drying, stress-either emotional or physical, nervous habits, burns and even parasites such as ringworm.