Mistakenly thought of as a male issue, did you know that 40% of hair loss sufferers are actually women?
NYC Plastic Surgeon Dr. Yael Halaas told us that, "most women begin to lose their hair in their 20s or 30s and don't even notice that they're thinning until they've lost 50% or more of it."
As August is Hair Loss Awareness Month, we wanted to share some stats on the issue.
Alarming statistics about female hair loss:
- 40% of women have visible hair loss by the time they're age 40.
- On average, women dealing with thinning hair are between the ages of 25 and 35.
- 90% of hair loss is genetic and needs to be treated with laser therapy or topical medication.
- 24% of women equated losing their hair with losing a limb.
- Some women lose up to 70% of their hair from a stress response called Telogen Effluvium.
- Common stressors that cause hair loss include: going on (or off) the pill, a sunburn on the scalp, crash dieting, child birth, a bad case of the flu, surgery, divorce, a traumatic accident, taking anti-depressants as well as becoming a vegan or vegetarian.
- Stress shedding is usually temporary, but for the 1 in 4 women predisposed to hereditary hair loss, the hair won't grow back on its own.
- 40% of women experience thinning hair as a result of menopause.
- After age 50, many women experience senescent alopecia, the type of hair loss that naturally occurs with age.
- Unlike female pattern baldness, both the duration of hair growth and the diameter of the hair follicle decreases leading to thin hair, eyebrows and eyelashes.
Check out our tips for how to grow hair if you suffer from traction alopecia here.
