How Hormones Affect Hair Growth

Did you know hormones play an important role in growth of hair both on our scalp as well as on the skin of our body? So if you are a hirsute, blame your hormones. If you have suddenly started losing hair on your scalp check your thyroids to rule out one of the most common cause of hair thinning. If you are pregnant and suddenly started getting complements for shiny and healthy hair, it is all due to the changing level of hormone during your pregnancy. If you have crossed menopause and notice hair fall, check your estrogen level.

What exactly is hormone and how it affects hair growth? In our body we have many glands that secret biochemicals that are essential for the life cycle to continue. These are the hormones and have great impact on our body.So which hormones are really the culprits? These hormones that are produced by our body are essential for our normal body function. But when there is imbalance, it affects the usual functioning of the body and one of the results may be hair loss.

There is a pattern in the hair loss and it is known as androgenetic alopecia.It can happen to both men and women. When there is a change in the metabolism of androgen (the most important contributing factor for healthy hair in both men and women), there is hair loss. Testosterone is most commonly known as the male hormone. In the normal process of our body testosterone along with androgen produce dihydrotestosterone (DHT). But this DHT is the main culprit of hair loss when it deprives the some genetically weak hair follicle from getting the essential nutrients essential for producing healthy hair. When the body metabolism creates more DHT due to genetic factors the result is hair loss. Scientists believe that testosterone alone is not the reason of hair loss. It is only when DHT is produced in excess due to genetic factors that cause shrinking or destruction of hair follicles.

Normally women have small level of testosterone. But still their body may produce the harmful DHT and result in hair loss. One interesting point is hormone in our body is not produced uniformly. Rather they are cyclically produced. While in case of men this hormone may decline after a certain age, in case of women there is distinct change in hormone level after menopause. After menopause the level of estrogen declines in females. The available testosterone may become dominant and produce excess DHT resulting in hair loss in menopause women.