Female pattern baldness is something that is not widely accepted in today's society. Thus, it can cause a great deal of stress and lowered self-esteem for the women who have to deal with it. In some cases, however, the woman is not displeased with her appearance and feels no need to do anything about it. It may be that the hair loss is only a little, or even that the hair loss is welcome because the hair was initially very thick and bushy.

Most women experience some sort of thinning of their hair during and after menopause. Female pattern baldness will affect some women much more than others. What causes this? Well, pattern baldness is due to a male hormone called dihydrotestosterone, or DHT for short. Women and men share most hormones, but men have testosterone in higher amounts and women have estrogen in higher amounts.

DHT actually attaches itself to hair follicles, slowly shrinking the follicle and thereby cutting off the blood supply to the hair. Eventually, the hair falls out and does not grow back. Since men have more DHT, their balding is much more obvious than women's. Female pattern baldness results in a spread-out thinning of the hair and generally no hair loss on the front hairline. I mean, if it's going to happen, as least it isn't as blatant as it is with men!

Society and Female Pattern Baldness

Because men experience baldness to much greater degrees than women, it is more socially acceptable for men to go bald. Women, however, have a harder time with this. Women are thought to have wonderful hair for life, but this is not so in some cases. There are steps you can take to thwart the hair loss, though. Take a look at treatments. Many of the ones that are okay for men are also okay for women, but check the label first. You may also want to look into all-natural remedies in order to avoid potential side effects.