If you are a man or women who is worried about the possibility of baldness then you need to know a little more about the causes of thinning hair. Because there are some well recognized causes of hair thinning and now it is possible to do something about most of them.

It is reasonably well-known that the causes of thinning hair in men are a little different to the causes of hair thinning in women. By far the biggest cause of thinning hair in men is androgenic alopecia, which you may know as male pattern baldness. This condition which you inherit from your forebears which means that you are genetically predisposed to hair loss. But this doesn't guarantee that you will lose your hair. Even if your father and grandfather were both bald you may not be, however your chances are high.

Statistics show that around 4 out of 7 men will carry the gene for androgenic alopecia. Somewhere around 70 percent of men will experience some form of balding during their lifetime and a quarter of these will start to see thinning hair by the age of 30. By the age of 60 around 60 percent of men will suffer some minor to major hair thinning.

There are other causes of thinning hair in men but androgenic alopecia is the principle cause. Other causes of hair thinning include various medical conditions and medications such as chemotherapy. For anyone suffering from thinning hair are visit to the doctor is always worthwhile to eliminate the possibility of a medical problem.

If you take any medications and are suffering from hair thinning ask a doctor and do some research, if the medication may be responsible.

And there are even more causes of hair loss in men such as stress and poor diet. It is now known that the Western diet which includes a high intake of junk food with little or no nutritional value at all, can result in increased hair loss. And hair loss can also be caused by stress although this may be temporarily.

Clearly the most common cause of hair thinning in men is male pattern baldness. So if you're suffering from hair loss what can you do about it? Fortunately there are some solutions, however you should jump on the problem as soon as you know about it.

Luckily the actual mechanism by which the hair is lost as a result of the genetic predisposition is now known. It comes down to male hormones. The good news for men suffering from baldness is that they are chock full of the male hormone testosterone. But it is not the testosterone causes the problem, it is actually another hormone called DHT (Dihydrotestosterone) that is derived from testosterone that is the cause of the problem.

The DHT created from the testosterone attaches itself to their hair follicles and then gradually strangles the follicle by reducing the ability of hair to take in all the nutrients essential for good hair growth. Men suffering from male pattern baldness have more DHT around their hair follicles.

Once this process was known to science it was able to produce a treatment, and the result was the first male hair loss treatment approved by the FDA called minoxidil. It is known that minoxidil is effective in treating male hair loss in most cases.

It is possible to get minoxidil under a range of different product names however one company has produced a more successful approach to hair loss treatment using minoxidil. Minoxidil increases blood flow to the scalp allowing hair to take in more nutrients, and this company also supplies a range of essential hair nutrients by means of supplements so that once the hair is able to take in proper nutrients again those nutrients are available to it.

This is a more successful approach and minoxidil on its own.

As you can see there is a range of causes of hair loss in men, however the vast majority of men are simply suffering from genetically inherited male pattern baldness which if left untreated will continue until, for most men, some degree of baldness becomes evident.