When a woman loses her hair, generally she experiences diffused (generalized) thinning across her entire head.
This is quite unlike men who go bald in a predictable pattern that includes recession of his frontal hairline, thinning of the crown, followed by the gradual onset of total baldness.
Women usually lose hair evenly across their entire scalp, appearing to have a generally thin head of hair with the scalp visible through the hair, but they are in most cases unlikely to go entirely bald.
What causes hair loss in women?
Ladies experience hair loss for a wide variety of different reasons.
Quite often the cause is hormonal, with any sudden change in a woman’s body chemistry having the potential to shock her follicles into letting go of their hair. Hair loss in women can also be caused by physical or mental trauma, for example following childbirth, major surgery, or a traumatic life event. Other times, medications may be the cause for a sudden loss of hair.
That said, conditions like alopecia are common among women too. Alopecia areata (patchy hair loss) and telogen effluvium (an interruption in the natural hair growth cycle) are often seen in female patients.
Sometimes, when alopecia symptoms progress unchecked, total hair loss can be a real possibility.
In the case of hair loss as a result of long-term styling methods such as plaits or rows, it is common to see hair thin in the areas where it has been pulled most tightly. This is a form of alopecia called traction alopecia.