Female Hair Loss Occurs Due to the Accumulation of Complex Causes

"Doctor, what exactly is the cause of my hair loss? If I solve just that, can it get better again?"

This is the first and most desperate question asked by many female patients who visit me for hair loss treatment. However, I have no choice but to answer, "There isn't just one cause." By the time a patient reaches the point of visiting my clinic, the hair loss is almost never a recently started problem. In most cases, numerous causes have become intricately intertwined over a chronic process lasting as short as 2 to 3 years or as long as over 10 years.

While patients want to find that one decisive 'event' that triggered the hair loss, looking into their symptoms and lives through consultation reveals that hair loss does not progress so simply. Rather, female hair loss is closer to a 'vicious cycle' created by various causes layering over each other and influencing one another over a long period.

1. The Vicious Cycle: How Do Causes of Hair Loss Accumulate?

When examining the progression of female hair loss, we commonly find a pattern where various aggravating factors lead to a cumulative effect, much like a chain reaction. Let me provide an example to help you more easily understand this cumulative process, though not every case is identical.

1. A woman undergoes frequent perms, dyeing, or bleaching within a short period. This damages the scalp barrier and causes contact dermatitis, leading to a temporary increase in hair shedding.
2. Before the scalp can fully recover, she experiences severe stress at work or home. This stress leads to poor sleep and disrupts the body's hormonal balance, causing the hair shedding to continue without stopping.
3. Just when she thinks, "Maybe it's getting better now," she becomes infected with a virus like COVID-19. As the body weakens due to high fever and immune responses, she experiences another bout of sudden telogen effluvium (temporary hair loss) a few months later.
4. Even if the effects of the virus disappear after several months, the scalp and hair follicles are already exhausted from the series of consecutive attacks.
5. Later, feeling as though she has gained weight, she attempts a diet. By reducing food intake and increasing exercise, the supply of essential nutrients for hair production—such as protein, iron, and zinc—gradually decreases. The hair follicles fall into a state of 'malnutrition' once again.

As these processes repeat and accumulate over several years, hair loss becomes fixed as a chronic condition rather than a momentary issue. However, from the patient's perspective, because the hair loss progressed slowly and steadily, it is difficult to clearly perceive what was the decisive cause or the aggravating factor. The clear fact is that all those causes pile up in our body, eventually creating a state where the hair cannot recover on its own.

2. The Deepest Root: Weakening of 'Hair Growth Function'

A more serious problem in this entire process is that, beyond the phenomenon of hair 'falling out,' the function of 'producing' hair itself becomes damaged. I define this state as "a condition where the hair growth function is weakened, making it difficult to produce healthy hair."

Initially, hair shedding increases temporarily due to external factors. However, as multiple causes continue to accumulate and affect the hair follicles over a long period, the capacity of the follicles to produce hair on their own weakens. In other words, the production line of the 'hair factory'—the hair follicles—becomes aged and starts to malfunction. Once this 'hair growth function' is weakened, it is difficult for the weakened function to recover to its former state spontaneously, even if the source of stress is resolved or nutritional supplements are taken. While you might reduce hair shedding and maintain the current state, it becomes hard to expect new, thick hair to grow back abundantly.

3. The Analogy of a Stalled Car: Why Integrated Treatment is Necessary

This situation can be compared to a car that has been parked for a long time without being driven. Imagine a car that has been sitting in a garage for several years. If you want to drive it again, will simply filling it with gas allow it to run smoothly like before? Most likely not. While the car was stalled, the engine oil would have solidified, the battery would be dead, and the tires would have lost air.

• The Stalled Car = The scalp and hair follicles in a state of chronic hair loss
• Filling with Gas = Solving a single cause, such as stress management or taking supplements
• Broken Engine and Worn Parts = Weakened 'hair growth function' and damaged scalp environment
• Comprehensive Car Maintenance = Integrated hair loss treatment, such as treating scalp inflammation and improving blood circulation

Ultimately, to make a stalled car run again, comprehensive maintenance—such as repairing the engine and replacing the battery—is essential. The same applies to female hair loss treatment. Fundamental treatment that clears scalp inflammation, improves blood circulation, and directly restores the weakened 'hair growth function' of the follicles must be performed in tandem. Only then can our scalp vigorously grow healthy hair again.

Therefore, understanding that female hair loss is not a matter of finding and fixing a single cause, but an integrated and steady process of unraveling complex problems that have accumulated in the body over several years, is the most important first step toward healing.