Female Hair Loss Causes and Medical Explanations

Reasons for female hair loss include physical, emotional, and hormonal reasons, as well as medications taken that can instigate hair loss. 

Hormones play a big part in female hair loss.  Many women lose their hair following pregnancy.  Because estrogen levels fall during pregnancy, the normal hair loss that is supposed to occur does not during the pregnant months.  About three or four months after childbirth, once the hormones are stabilizing to their normal levels, the hair that was supposed to be lost during pregnancy falls out all at once.  This hair loss situation is temporary, and hair growth resumes its normal cycles promptly.  Any alterations in the birth control cycle are also known to cause hair loss at times.  Starting or stopping birth control pills causes hormones to be unstable, and sometimes results in the loss of hair.  Hormone replacement therapy can have the same results.  The presence of DHT is also an initiator of hair loss.  DHT is a hormone that weakens hair follicles, and often causes hair to fall out. 

Illnesses and physical conditions can also have the side effect of hair loss in females.  Diseases such as anemia, hypothydroidism, anorexia, bulimia, thyroid disease, liver disease, hepatic failure, renal failure, and viral, fungal, or protozoan infections can all cause loss of hair in women.  Incredibly high fevers can also cause hair loss.  When the body temperature rises extensively, the hair growth cycle is altered. 

Emotional and stress-related situations can also produce the result of hair loss.  High levels of stress are documented to have a strong correlation to hair loss, particularly in females.