Studies show that incidence of hair loss in women increases from 3% in their twenties to 30% of women in their eighties. Close to one quarter of all women suffer some hair loss by the time they are in their fifties.

Women go to great lengths to hide it cosmetically with various hair styles and treatments but the hair loss is common and can be emotionally traumatic.

Grade 1 female baldness is the least severe with thinning on the top of the head.

Grade 2 hair loss in women is more significant with areas of the scalp showing through thinning hair.

Grade 3 patients may completely lose hair on the crown of the head. In this case, more donor hair will be required to obtain full coverage.

The patterns of baldness in women are not as easily recognizable as those in men. Unlike baldness in men, female scalp hair loss may usually start at any age through 50 or later, may not have any clear cut hereditary association, and may not occur in a recognizable “female-pattern baldness” of diffuse thinning over the top of the scalp. A woman who notices the beginning of hair loss may not be sure if the loss is going to be temporary or permanent—for example, if there has been a recent event such as pregnancy or illness that may be associated with temporary hair thinning.
In women as in men, the most likely cause of scalp hair loss is androgenetic alopecia—an inherited sensitivity to the effects of androgens (male hormones) on scalp hair follicles. However, women with hair loss due to this cause usually do not develop true baldness in the patterns that occur in men—for example, women rarely develop the “cue-ball” appearance often seen in male-pattern androgenetic alopecia.

Patterns of female androgenetic alopecia can vary considerably in appearance.

Patterns that may occur include:

• Diffuse thinning of hair over the entire scalp, often with more noticeable thinning toward the back of the scalp.
• Diffuse thinning over the entire scalp, with more noticeable thinning toward the front of the scalp but not involving the frontal hairline.
• Diffuse thinning over the entire scalp, with more noticeable thinning toward the front of the scalp, involving and sometimes breaching the frontal hairline.

Unlike the case for men, thinning scalp hair in women due to androgenetic alopecia does not uniformly grow smaller in diameter (miniaturize). Women with hair loss due to androgenetic alopecia tend to have miniaturizing hairs of variable diameter over all affected areas of the scalp.
While miniaturizing hairs are a feature of androgenetic alopecia, miniaturization may also be associated with other causes and is not in itself a diagnostic feature of androgenetic alopecia.
In post-menopausal women, for example, hair may begin to miniaturize and become difficult to style.

The precise diagnosis should be made by a physician hair restoration specialist.
It is important to note that female pattern baldness  can begin as early as the late teens to early 20s in women who have experienced early puberty. If left untreated, this hair loss associated with early puberty can progress to more advanced hair loss if it is left untreated.

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