It usually starts innocently enough. One or two strands in your drain, maybe a little extra in your hairbrush in just the beginning. These are the signals at the start of hair loss. Before you know it, the drain is clogged and you feel like you’re shedding every time you brush your hair. Hair loss is a big issue for anyone, but for a woman it can be downright devastating.

Your hair shaft is made of keratin, which is a kind of protein made by your body. In reality, your hair is dead tissue, like your nails and your skin. But, that doesn’t mean it should fall off like nails and dead skin!

However, some hair loss is natural: it is ok to lose between 50-200 strands per day, dependent on your own personal chemistry. This might seem like a lot, but keep in mind that your head has over 100,000 hairs on it. Each of these 100,000 hairs stays on your head anywhere from 1 year to 7 years, and grows about ¼- ½ inch per month during many of those years.

Natural hair loss occurs when your hair falls out at a point when it has exhausted its life span, but a big issue occurs when this hair that leaves your head naturally is then replaced by hair that is weaker, thinner, smaller and doesn’t grow as well.

This thinner hair leaves obvious open areas on your scalp, interfering with the natural lay and style of your hair. This is the definition of thinning hair. In women, thinning of the hair is the most common form of hair loss. However, advanced hair loss, such as patchy baldness, is also a problem. We will look at some of the causes of both kinds of hair loss in the next chapter.

About 25% of all women are prone to some kind of hair loss by middle age, mostly occurring at age 40 and above. But, that doesn’t mean that hair loss can’t or won’t begin for younger women. Some women, even as young as age 20, experience hair loss. Loss or thinning at this young of age is often caused by the hormonal changes such as those that occur in pregnancy. This is also visited in the next chapter.

While women lose hair due to different causes than men, they also lose it in different ways than men do. As described above, women are more likely to experience an overall thinning effect, as opposed to the bald spots and receding hairline that men have to deal with. Overall thinning is called female pattern baldness.

What are the differences in hair loss causes between men and women? First, women can start to notice a loss or thinning as early as age 25-30. Female pattern baldness begins with the hair becoming thinner all around, as opposed to a receding hairline that men experience. The hair not only thins out overall, but each individual hair can become thinner, too. The most common area for women to start notice female hair loss is right where they part their hair at the top of their head. Overall, the symptoms of female hair loss are fairly apparent. Hair on too many places beside your head!

At http://www.hairchi.com you can download a free report that explains the chemistry, issues and possible causes of hair loss, specifically female hair loss. Here I’ll discuss some of the symptoms of hair loss.