Most women will notice scalp and / or hair changes at some point in their life. The same holds true for men, but the reasons for the changes can be quite different - although both can be hormonal. Often, changes and sensitivity in a woman's scalp (and therefore corresponding hair changes) stem from hormonal swings and changes. Most people assume that this can happen after pregnancy and from going on or off of birth control pills. This is very often the case. But there can sometimes be other issues at play such as sex hormones that decline with age, thyroid and adrenal fluctuations, and raised cortisol caused from stress or other factors. This article will not only discuss why scalp issues occur for women (and why they differ from the causes for men), but will also tell you how to treat them naturally and why the standard treatments often recommended can sometimes do more harm than good.
Why Women's Hormonal / Scalp Issues Are Different Than A Man's: When a man has scalp sensitivity or pain (often with hair loss), it is often because of a process called AGA (androgenic alopecia.) What happens for men is that, at a certain age, their hair follicles begin to be attacked by DHT (dihydrotestosterone.) This is the hormone that causes male patterned hair loss or baldness. The DHT is poison to a hair follicle and will cause the follicle to atrophy, shrink, and stop producing a healthy hair. What you get then is the peach fuzz type of hair that often precedes thinning and baldness.
While women do sometimes have AGA and DHT issues (mostly hereditary), often a women's scalp problems and hair loss are more likely due to hormonal swings that cause inflammation and irritation in the scalp. Sometimes, these fluctuations can also contribute to or bring rise to infections like yeast or ringworm, but often even mild inflammation can cause pain, itching, scaling, dryness, or redness on it's own, without an infection present. Hair loss can occur along side this. Or, sometimes, the hair loss will come first and as the follicles are recycling hairs, the inflammation is the result so the pain follows. This is sometimes also called "burning scalp syndrome." It is very real and it is not your imagination, despite it's name. It can be quite painful and troublesome.
If Hormones Are Causing Scalp Sensitivity, Itching, Pain Or Hair Loss, Why Not Just Tweak The Hormones: Many women get very tired very fast of this hair loss and scalp pain. So, they panic and want to throw all sorts of drastic solutions at the problem. If sex hormones (estrogen and progesterone) are diminishing, then why not try birth control pills or HRT (hormone replacement therapy - like bio identical estrogen) to replace them? Or if your thyroid is out of whack, why not try to replace what is lacking in the form or raw thyroid or supplements? Most times, these methods will backfire. The reason for this is because if your sensitivity to changing hormones contributed to the scalp issues and the hair loss you might have now, then tweaking and changing your hormones will often just make the problem worse. Although your system may have righted itself on it's own in time, every time you play around with your hormones, you're likely just starting this cycle all over again and prolonging the problem.
Treatments (Standard And Natural) For Women's Scalp Sensitivity, Irritation, Pain, Dryness, And Hair Loss: Many times, people will try to use the "big guns" to counter scalp issues. These include steroids, harsh and drying treatments / shampoos (with ingredients that include things like coal tar and zinc.) These are often much too harsh for women. An irritated and painful scalp is wounded skin, so pouring harsh chemicals right onto it is often going to harm it even more and prolong the healing. And, your scalp will grow immune to these things after a while so it will take more and more to "knock it back."
Worse these treatments often clog your hair follicles which can impede or slow your hair growing back. Sometimes a better idea is to use natural, gentle anti inflammations (tea tree oil, chamomile, lavender, etc.). These can be quite effective but they soothe rather than irritate even more. And they facilitate healing rather than covering up the issue. Better, many encourage hair growth and work to nourish, rather than clog, the follicles.
This is a much safer option which will help you buy some time while trying to heal your scalp and encourage your hair to grow back.
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