Complaints & connections · borters.ch
Hair always falls out — it only matters when noticeably less grows back.
Also known as: hair loss · alopecia · diffuse hair loss · androgenetic alopecia · alopecia areata
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
Losing up to a hundred hairs a day is normal. It becomes notable when clearly more fall out, the hair visibly thins, or bald patches appear. The pattern says a lot about the cause: hereditary hair loss follows receding temples in men, a widening parting in women. Diffuse loss across the whole scalp points more to a trigger — iron deficiency, thyroid disorder, nutrient deficiency, severe stress, a recent illness or childbirth; it often starts two to three months later and reverses once the cause is addressed. Round, sharply bordered bald patches suggest alopecia areata, an autoimmune reaction. A blood count with ferritin and thyroid values clarifies much.
Thinning hair at the crown and hairline together with irregular cycles and increased body hair belongs to PMOS, formerly PCOS. The signs count even when the blood values come back normal.
Clarify ferritin, thyroid and trigger — that’s where the lever is.
Less heat, tension and harsh chemistry protects the shaft.
After a trigger, regrowth takes months — that’s normal, not failure.
An empty store is one of the most common treatable causes of hair loss. If the source stays unclear and the history fits, a blood-sucking worm belongs on the list.
Minoxidil lengthens the hair’s growth phase, finasteride lowers the DHT that shrinks the follicles. Both work for as long as they are used; after stopping, the state returns within months. The effect becomes visible after three to six months at the earliest.
A hair grows for two to six years, rests three months and then falls out — up to a hundred hairs a day is normal. After a trigger such as fever, surgery, childbirth or heavy weight loss, the hair falls only two to three months later and recovers by itself over six to nine months. So the cause almost always lies in the previous quarter, not in the week it is noticed.
Treat it gently, no tight ties, less heat — and have ferritin, B12 and thyroid measured. No shampoo and no oil makes hair grow back.
Oil on hair and scalp has a real effect, just a different one from the one promised: it makes the hair shaft more supple and reduces breakage. Hair that breaks less looks fuller and longer — measurable, but it is not new hair. On a bald patch the follicle is either miniaturised or scarred; an oil applied from outside does not reach the papilla and changes neither. With home-made infusions there is the added point that ground, water-containing plant material in oil at room temperature is a growth medium — make it fresh, keep it cool, do not let it steep for days. What should be measured first when hair thins is in this dossier’s marker list.
The scalp studies ran twelve weeks and always alongside minoxidil; microneedling on its own is barely studied. At home up to 0.5 millimetres, once or twice a week. The point where it turns risky is not the needle but what is applied afterwards — the barrier stays open for hours, and preservative, fragrance and everything on the skin then get in too.
Finasteride blocks one of the two enzyme types, dutasteride both: blood DHT falls by over ninety instead of about seventy per cent. The price is how long it stays — a half-life of roughly five weeks instead of hours, and the substance is still detectable months after stopping. Whatever occurs lasts correspondingly longer. It is approved in most places for the prostate; for hair loss it counts, outside a few countries, as use beyond the approval.
Suggests a trigger: iron, thyroid, after illness/diet/stress. Usually reversible.
The genetic pattern — commonest, slow, manageable.
Alopecia areata (autoimmune) — often temporary, frequently grows back. Have it seen.
Usually seborrhoeic eczema — treatable, not “hair loss”.
Only helps with true deficiency — which is rare. “Hair vitamins” mostly work only then.
Hair is made of protein (keratin) — enough protein is the basis.
Well supported in pattern hair loss — needs patience and continued use.
The more active form of testosterone in the scalp. With the matching predisposition it shortens the growth phase of the hair — that is the mechanism behind inherited loss in men and women.
Both an overactive and an underactive thyroid make hair fall diffusely. This cause is treatable, and the hair usually comes back.
The drop after a birth and in the menopause pushes many hairs into the resting phase at once. The falling starts two to three months later — this delay explains the confusion about the cause.
Belongs alongside when irregular cycles or fluid from the breast join the hair loss.
The best-known hair herb of folk medicine, as a rinse and as a tea. With hair loss from iron deficiency or the thyroid the herb does not help — the value behind it does.
Burdock root oil has been massaged into the scalp for centuries. The massage measurably improves circulation; that says nothing yet about hair growth.
Compared with a standard remedy in one study; the use takes months. Everyday word: rosemary oil.