Most people presume that it is only men who suffer from hair loss, however huge numbers of women suffer from it too. A man will often accept his baldness and is happy to go out looking bald, but a women is very rarely seen out on the street with a bald head and that is why many people think women just don't go bald. A woman will either buy a wig or wear a hat or in some cases just not go out of the house at all.

The stigma of baldness is worse for a woman than for a man and is often much more traumatic and upsetting for them too. Experts reckon that at least thirty million females suffer from some sort of hair loss in the Unites States alone and this vast section of the population hides the problem very well. The number of balding women is on the increase, especially in first world countries were women are increasingly under pressure in the workplace and lead stressful lives. Typically these women start to notice hair loss when they are about 30.

Women are often prescribe a drug called minoxidil, which stimulates hair growth in the scalp and also blocks the harmful compounds that cause the hair loss in the first place. Women are forbidden to use Propecia, a hair loss drug taken by men as it can be harmful to an unborn foetus and it is not licenced for use in women by any national drug authority.

Some women opt for hair transplant surgery, however this is a more common procedure for men than women. With a transplant, hair is moved from one part of the head to another but literally cutting out the hair follicles and planting them in another part of the head. The operation can be expensive but may work out to be cheaper in the long term as it is a one off payment and doesn't require more and more treatment. A good hair transplant surgeon will produce good results.

The causes of hair loss in women are numerous and a good trained trichologist should be seen before any treatment and to establish why the hair loss is appearing in the first place. Lack of Iron a disease called Lupus and an underactive thyroid gland are three causes of hair loss in women. Other factors are stress, extreme and sudden weight loss, using birth control pills, menopause and hormone fluctuations immediately after giving birth.