Your hairbrush is filled with far too much hair these days. It’s worrying you and you’ve been starting to wonder, why is my hair falling out? Will it keep accelerating? Will I go bald? Is there anything I can do to stop it?

The answers to these questions will depend largely on what is causing your hair loss. There are several factors that can cause hair loss in women.

Let’s take a look at 8 causes of hair loss in women to help you figure out what is going on with your hair — and what you can do about it.

1. Genetics

The most common cause of hair loss in women is genetics. This is unfortunate because there isn’t much you can do about a genetic problem. 

Your hair is in a constant cycle of growth and shedding. Each time a strand of hair is shed, a new one, comparable in size, grows in its place.

For a woman with female-pattern hair loss, the hair follicle will shrink causing the new hair to be finer and thinner. The hair follicle will continue shrinking until at some point the hair stops growing from that follicle.

2. Abuse

You can actually bring on your own hair loss by how you treat your hair. If you abuse your hair too much, it may start falling out.

What counts as abuse? There are quite a few things you can do to abuse your hair.

Using heat-based styling techniques, perms, bleaching, chemical straightening or relaxing can all damage hair, causing it to become brittle. The damaged hair will then eventually break off. A constant routine of this can create noticeable hair loss. 

Even simply constantly wearing too tight hairstyles can cause hair loss. This commonly occurs in women who enjoy wearing their hair in tight cornrows.

The good news is that if your hair loss is due to abuse if you stop abusing your hair it will eventually grow back. The bad news is that if you wait too long the damage can become permanent. 

Thus, it’s better to lay off sooner rather than later on the hot curling irons and cornrows for the health of your hair. 

3. Stress

It seems like stress can cause just about anything. Letting yourself be constantly stressed is really one of the worst things you can do to yourself. 

How does stress affect your hair? It raises levels of androgen (male hormone) which can affect the way your hair grows-or doesn’t in this case. 

Even stress from a physical trauma or surgery can cause your hair to fall out. You may even see it fall out in clumps, which can be very concerning. However, the good news is that this is typically short-term and will clear up once the event has passed. 

4. Childbirth

Pregnancy doesn’t have too many plus sides for your appearance. But it does do wonders for your hair. Because of the presence of hormones like estrogen during pregnancy hair goes into a rapid growth mode. Not only will it grow faster, but you’ll probably also notice that you don’t seem to be shedding as much as normal. 

You might think that there’s no downside to growing those luscious locks. But some women also begin to grow extra hair in undesirable places like their upper lip or other places on their face. It can be noticeable enough to drive some women to look into laser hair removal, although it may be best to wait until the baby is born as a precaution.

However, once the baby is born that hair growth boost fades away. Many women find themselves shedding hair at an alarming rate.

In most cases, you should have too much to worry about. You’re shedding the extra hair that you put on during pregnancy. Once your hair reaches its normal thickness again, the shedding should slow down. 

5. Menopause

Menopause can also have an effect on hair loss. Hair loss is not only a normal part of aging, but also the hormone shifts during menopause can accelerate the process. 

6. Dieting

Dieting is another cause of hair loss that women sometimes do to themselves. Hair needs nutrients to grow, thus a severe or restricting diet can have an effect on hair growth.

If you’re not getting enough protein, iron, and vitamins like B12, your hair can’t make new cells and grow properly. If dieting is causing you to lose your luscious locks, consider changing up your regimen. This is only one symptom that your body as a whole isn’t getting the nutrition that it needs.   

7. Medication

There are certain medications that can also bring about hair loss in women. Blood pressure medications, antidepressants, and even HIV medications are common culprits.

This type of hair loss will take a little while to show up after beginning a new medication. Thus, talk to your doctor if you notice an increase in hair loss a few months after starting a new drug.

8. Dandruff

You probably already know if you struggle with dandruff or not. What you may not know is that dandruff can be the underlying cause behind your hair loss.

Not only is an inflamed scalp not a healthy scalp, but also you may spend a fair amount of time scratching it. This is not good for your hair and can contribute to making it fall out.

The good news is that this is an easy problem to treat. Find a good zinc pyrithione shampoo to treat your dandruff and, over time, you should see an improvement in both your dandruff and your hair loss.

Why Is My Hair Falling Out? Hopefully, Now You Know

Though there are other factors that can affect hair loss, we’ve covered the main ones in this article. Hopefully, you’ve been able to answer the question “why is my hair falling out?”

Armed with knowing what could be causing your problem, you can find ways to slow or even reverse your hair loss. 

Want to learn interesting things about women’s health? Check out this article about women and health here. You’re bound to learn something new!