Female pattern hair loss is considered inherited, although the exact heritage pattern is debated. If baldness runs in the family, on either your mother’s or your father’s side, there is a fair chance that you will have some hair thinning as well.

While the condition is known as androgenetic alopecia (AGA), the term “female pattern hair loss” (FPHL) is often used to describe the disease found in bald women. Current research is showing that this is not the female version of male pattern baldness.

Research about female pattern hair loss is still developing, and most of the factors are the same as the study of pattern baldness in men. An enzyme known as 5 alpha-reductase, is involved in setting the ground for the pattern baldness. The enzyme is responsible for converting testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

Androgen receptor protein levels are 30 percent more in balding the front hair follicles than in the back of the head areas in both men and women, with women having less total receptor content than men. This means the hair loss usually occurs in a pattern, with the back of the head holding more as contrasting to diffuse or overall lessening.

Another enzyme comes also plays a role, and it holds hope for future research: cytochrome P450 aromatize enzyme. This enzyme is involved in the conversion of androgens and it converts testosterone to estradiol and estrone, two forms of the female sex hormone estrogen.

Even though the role estrogen plays is still uncertain in hair growth along with the question whether the estrogens created from aromatase act to repress the harshness of hair for the almost bald women or help suppress the overall load of androgens that are formed.

Female pattern hair loss usually starts at puberty, and progresses gradually. However, there can be factors such as hormonal changes, including starting and stopping birth-control pills and postpartum, menopause, and postmenopausal states that are found in bald women or women who are suffering from hair loss.

It has been observed that the androgen-to-hair-loss association is not as clear-cut in women as in men. Women may have excess of androgen or abnormal levels of circulating androgens, but they may still manifest a pattern type of baldness. This y also help explains why some medical treatments that work so well for men only work in a small percentage of women.

Female pattern hair loss can be exceedingly maddening for women to deal with. Unfortunately, this type of hair loss is at best controlled through various treatments and is rarely cured and eventually leads to becoming a bald woman.