Is there such a thing as Female Pattern Baldness?
There sure is; the medical term for it Androgenetic Alopecia. This type of hair loss – one of many, mind you – is responsible for about 95% of cases. While it can occur at any age, female pattern baldness most commonly occurs after menopause when more testosterone is present. (Women generally start out with the same amount of testosterone as men but most of it gets converted into estrogens). Excess testosterone in the scalp can be converted into dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a substance which binds to hair follicles and causes them to shrink. As hair follicles shrink, they produce thinner and thinner hairs until eventually they’re so narrow they can’t produce a hair, resulting in baldness.
