What Are the Causes of Rapid Female Hair Loss?

Women of all ages suffer from hair loss to some degree in their lives. This may be due to hormonal imbalances, stress, scalp injuries or infections. Hair loss, regardless of the cause, comes under the umbrella of conditions called alopecia areata, or patchy hair loss. In some cases hair loss can be progressive, causing rapid balding.

• Most cases of balding can be treated and hair re-growth is possible, unless the scalp is damaged.

Medication Side Effects

• Medicines used in chemotherapy will often cause hair to fall out in patches or clumps. The reason the hair falls out is because chemotherapy is meant to destroy fast-growing cells; the hair has fast-growing cells, and is therefore destroyed. This hair loss is not permanent, and as long as the hair follicles are not scarred or damaged in the growing phase, full re-growth is expected. Hair loss may start soon after chemotherapy (days or weeks), and will continue for as long as the person is under chemotherapy. Radiation therapy may also cause the same effect.

Fungal Infections

• Fungal infections of the scalp may cause the hair to come out in patches (alopecia areata). The most common scap infection is called tinea capitis or scalp ringworm. This is a mold-like fungus that prefers warm, moist areas, so it is more likely to appear in people with minor skin or scalp allergies, poor hygiene or wet skin (from perspiration). This infection is contagious. You can catch it from wearing an infected hat, using infected combs and touching items that have been contaminated. Symptoms are areas of patchy baldness on the scalp, itchy scalp, lesions on the scalp and small black dots on the scalp.

Stress and Illness

• Rapid hair loss from stress or illness recovery is called telogen effluvium. Your hair has certain follicles in active growing stage, and some are in telogen (resting phase). According to the American Hair Loss Association, anywhere between 80 to 90 percent of our hairs are usually in growing phase, with around 10 to 20 percent in resting phase. Telogen effluvium causes an abnormal amount of hair to enter into this resting phase, causing rapid hair thinning and hair loss (alopecia). Women with telogen effluvium may have hair loss all over or in only one area of the scalp.

Self-Inflicted Hair Loss

• One cause of rapid female hair loss is trichotillomania. This condition causes people to pull out their own hair. This can be out of nervousness, stress, habit (such as twirling the hair around your finger) or as a symptom of a psychological condition. People with trichotillomania tend to have hair loss in certain areas of the scalp, first starting off as hair thinning, and then progressing to baldness as the follicles become damaged from constant pulling (friction).

Warnings

• The FDA warns against the use of any hair re-growth product that is not FDA-approved. There are many products claiming to have fast results in all levels of hair loss no matter the severity. You must see your physician in order to have your scalp, hair and blood tested to see what the exact cause of your hair loss is. This is the only way to receive proper treatment for re-growth.