Women experience hair loss too. Here's what can help

""There was one day in the shower where I just had hundreds of strands of hair, like fistfuls of hair coming out," Richards remembers. "It was a very scary experience," she says. By some estimates, half of all women experience hair loss in their lifetime. And if you've searched for content on the topic, you may soon be inundated by ads and influencers touting cures."

""First of all, the hairs on your head aren't meant to stick around forever. Each strand goes through a cycle of growth, transition, and rest. When a hair sheds at the end of its life, it's because there's a new hair growing and pushing it out, Goh says. Usually, hairs shed in a staggered pattern. You might have a clump in your drain after taking a shower, but that doesn't mean you have to worry about a bald spot.""

"Sometimes, however, stresses like having a baby or even COVID can cause the hair cycles to sync up, and that causes a bigger shed. "You know, you see all this hair coming out, and it's this huge change, and it seems like the world is ending," says Goh. But most of the time, hair loss for women is temporary, Goh says, and often your hair will regrow on its own."

Hair thinning and shedding commonly affect women, with roughly half experiencing hair loss at some point. Online content often promotes unproven cures and creates unrealistic expectations through celebrity images that may include wigs or extensions. Hair naturally cycles through growth, transition, and rest, so shedding often reflects normal turnover; synchronized cycling from stressors such as childbirth or COVID can cause noticeable, temporary shedding. Most female hair loss is temporary and regrowth frequently occurs without intervention. Accurate diagnosis is important because permanent loss can result from specific medical conditions and requires targeted evaluation and treatment.

Read at www.npr.org