Since the dawn of humanity, hair has been considered a sign of strength and beauty in many cultures. An abundant head of hair is often associated with a charismatic person.
However, many people experience premature hair loss, which is often a painful experience. This phenomenon, known as androgenetic alopecia, affects both men and women, but is more common among men than women.
An hormonal cause
There are several types of hair loss, but androgenic alopecia is a pathology that affects the entire life expectancy of the hair. It is definitive and much more marked in men than in women. The reason is simple and well-known: male hormones.
First of all, the average man has between 100,000 and 150,000 hairs. The scalp is therefore the part of the body where we find the greatest concentration of hair follicles, the cavities in which hair grows. At its base, the dermal straw ensures hair nutrition and healthy growth.
In men, baldness is due to hormones, mainly testosterone. Introduced after puberty, testosterone is responsible for hair loss.
The main cause of hair loss is the scalp’s excessive receptivity to this hormone. An enzyme in the dermal papilla, 5-alpha-reductase, reacts with testosterone to produce another hormone: dihydrotestosterone (DHT).
This hormone imposes an accelerated growth cycle on the hair. The hair follicle will shrink, the hair will grow much thinner and the growth cycles will be exhausted more quickly. The more cycles are consumed, the finer the hair becomes, before it becomes mere down.
At some point, the follicular ostium (where the hair exits) will scar and the hair will no longer be able to grow, as all life cycles will have been exhausted. As a result, men are left with bald patches on their heads.
But why is androgenetic alopecia less common in women? Quite simply, because the ovaries produce ten times less testosterone than the male testicles.
What’s more, some women stop losing their hair during pregnancy, as estrogen discharges neutralize the phenomenon.
Alopecia remedies
Being a genetic problem, there are no miracle cures to stop losing hair, whether you’re a man or a woman. However, it is possible to delay the process thanks to various treatments like massaging the scalp with natural hair oils such castor and oignon oil. The only lasting solution to alopecia is a hair transplant.
