Hair Loss & Your Hormones

​Hair thinning and/or hair loss is a familiar experience for many, especially as we age. It’s a topic close to home, as I’ve struggled with my own personal battle with hair loss. Until recently, the cause of male or female pattern baldness was not widely understood and thought to be primarily to be an inherited trait. But it turns out that a specific androgen – DHT – plays a significant role in hair loss. 

​What is DHT?
Dihydrotestosterone, or DHT, is an androgenic hormone derived from testosterone. We often think of testosterone as being mostly a male hormone, but it can also be found in smaller amounts in females, and is essential for mood, energy, and reproduction.
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In men, the androgen group of hormones, including DHT, play a significant role in the development of male sex characteristics such asdeepening the voice, body hair growth, increased muscle mass, growth of male reproductive organs, and how fat is stored in the body.
 
While testosterone is the most abundant androgen found in men, playing the greatest role in controlling and maintaining many physiological and reproductive processes, DHT also helps influence these processes. In fact, DHT has demonstrated to be 2.5x more biologically active than testosterone, however it is found in significantly smaller amounts.

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