Female Hair Loss & Balding


Only about 13% of women will suffer from androgenetic alopecia, or pattern baldness, while about 50% of men will succumb to the same genetic predisposition. Although it is not uncommon for women to have thinning or balding hair, the statistics of hair loss mean that medical research tends to favour funding hair loss treatments focused on helping men rather than women. Due to this oversight in medical attention, and because of the different balding patterns and hormone levels involved in men’s and women’s hair loss, it’s not always as easy for women to find the right treatment as it is for men.

While there is less interest in the medical field for helping female hair loss, there can be greater psychological problems for women suffering from pattern baldness. Because half of the male population has obvious horseshoe patterned bald spots, baldness is often perceived as a normal part of the ageing process for men; female-pattern baldness, in contrast, though also a common part of growing older, can be interpreted as an embarrassing loss of femininity.  Although there is nothing unnatural about this process, for many women, and even some men, thinning hair can be an unbearable blot on their image of themselves.


Female Baldness Classification

Because the pattern of female-pattern baldness looks and acts differently from male-pattern baldness, it is appropriate that it would have a different classification system than men. The Ludwig Scale is designed to measure how advanced the hair thinning process is by analysing the extent of hair loss at the crown of the head. Women tend to lose hair from the middle of the head spreading outwards from the centre part in the hair. This often takes the shape of a Christmas tree, but can be more erratic depending on the individual’s hair. On the Ludwig scale measures, the amount of your hair loss is determined by the amount of visible scalp which is then labelled beginning at I-1 and progressing to III with smaller stages in between.

Only about 13% of women will suffer from androgenetic alopecia, or pattern baldness, while about 50% of men will succumb to the same genetic predisposition. Although it is not uncommon for women to have thinning or balding hair, the statistics of hair loss mean that medical research tends to favour funding hair loss treatments focused on helping men rather than women. Due to this oversight in medical attention, and because of the different balding patterns and hormone levels involved in men’s and women’s hair loss, it’s not always as easy for women to find the right treatment as it is for men.

While there is less interest in the medical field for helping female hair loss, there can be greater psychological problems for women suffering from pattern baldness. Because half of the male population has obvious horseshoe patterned bald spots, baldness is often perceived as a normal part of the ageing process for men; female-pattern baldness, in contrast, though also a common part of growing older, can be interpreted as an embarrassing loss of femininity.  Although there is nothing unnatural about this process, for many women, and even some men, thinning hair can be an unbearable blot on their image of themselves.

Female Baldness Classification

Because the pattern of female-pattern baldness looks and acts differently from male-pattern baldness, it is appropriate that it would have a different classification system than men. The Ludwig Scale is designed to measure how advanced the hair thinning process is by analysing the extent of hair loss at the crown of the head. Women tend to lose hair from the middle of the head spreading outwards from the centre part in the hair. This often takes the shape of a Christmas tree, but can be more erratic depending on the individual’s hair. On the Ludwig scale measures, the amount of your hair loss is determined by the amount of visible scalp which is then labelled beginning at I-1 and progressing to III with smaller stages in between.

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Guide to Female Hair Loss