hen your brush quickly becomes clogged with hair or you start finding increasing numbers of stray strands on your clothes, it's enough to make any woman feel uneasy—especially if you’re also getting older. But in most cases, it’s an ordinary part of aging. has found that more than 50% of women over age 50 experience female pattern hair loss (on the crown of the head), which is the most common form of hair loss in women.

The simple truth is: Time isn’t on your side when it comes to holding onto the hair on your head. “You probably have the thickest and most luxurious head of hair between the ages of 15 and 30,” says Dr. Mary Lupo, a dermatologist based in New Orleans.

“After that, there’s a gradual decline, followed by precipitous changes after menopause. Estrogen is very good for the hair. After menopause, women lose estrogen and hair.

” It’s normal to lose 50 to 150 hairs per day. That may seem like a lot, but most people have about 100,000 hairs on their heads at any given time. A strand of human hair has its own life : anagen (the growth phase), which lasts several years; the transitional “ ” period, which lasts a few weeks; telogen (the resting phase), which lasts three to four months; and exogen (shedding).

At that point, the follicle from which a hair sprouted begins to grow a new one. Fortunately, different hairs are in different phases of the growth cycle at any given time, which is why you don’t go bald every few years. The trouble is: “Onc.