Women's hair loss is far more distressing for women than thinning hair is for men. Whilst baldness is almost fashionable for men, and some even choose baldness by shaving their head, baldness is not at all fashionable for women. If you are suffer from womens hair loss you need to know your options for a baldness treatment.

There is a wide range of causes of hair loss in women. There are medical conditions that can cause thinning hair as well as various medications. Childbirth can cause the hair to fall out, menopause can also and it is estimated that anywhere up to 40 percent of women can suffer from some form of hair loss during menopause. Hormonal imbalances can lead to female balding and stress and poor diet can also lead to women's baldness.

However although there is a wide range of causes of women's hair loss there is one cause that stands head and shoulders above all others. Female pattern baldness, it is estimated, accounts for over 90 percent of all cases of thinning hair in women just as it does for men who have male pattern baldness.

Estimates are that one in 4 women will experience some form of thinning hair due to female pattern baldness. Whilst it is unlikely that most of them will exhibit symptoms of baldness like men they will still exhibit a sufficient degree of thinning hair to cause emotional upset.

Female pattern baldness, or what is otherwise known technically as androgenetic alopecia, is an inherited condition that comes from previous members of your family. If you are unlucky enough to have inherited female pattern baldness then you are prone to losing your hair as a result of the operation of a hormone that attaches itself to the base of your hair follicles and slowly strangles the follicle by limiting its ability to take up nutrients. Nutrients are as essential to hair health as they are to the health of other organs in your body and it is known that a diet such as the American diet can itself lead to hair loss due to a low level of vitamin and mineral intake. However suffering from female pattern baldness can exacerbate the chances of hair loss for women.

The obvious question that you may be asked is are there successful women's hair loss treatments. The good news is that there is an FDA approved recognized female baldness treatment. It is called minoxidil and it is the only treatment approved for use in cases of women and hair loss and it is also approved as a male baldness treatment.

Minoxidil comes in two strengths a 2% solution and a 5% solution but it is only the 2% solution that is approved for use in cases of hair loss in women although the 5% solution is approved for use in men. Studies have shown that minoxidil works to improve hair growth in cases of female pattern baldness however it is not a successful women's hair loss treatment for all women who are experiencing female baldness, although it is for most.

Minoxidil as the only FDA approved female balding treatment, and although there are other treatments not approved by the FDA there are none which have been shown to work for everybody.

Minoxidil was originally a blood pressure treatment. During studies it was observed that patients exhibited increased hair growth and therefore it was also studied as both a male and female balding treatment and shown to be effective in each case. It is not known how minoxidil works to increase hair growth but it is suspected that it increases the supply of blood to the hair follicle thereby improving supply of nutrients available. And for this reason it would also make sense that if the user of the treatment was also supplied with an optimal range of nutrients all important for hair health that this would maximize the chances of successful hair regrowth.

One company has recognized the possibilities in this approach and has combined the use of FDA approved minoxidil with a range of essential hair nutrients together with a natural ingredient which limits the operation of the hormone responsible for the thinning hair and which combines all of this into a total women's hair loss treatment.