That’s a tricky one! I strongly suspect the stats would be skewed by the change in attitude/shame about reporting such a condition (i.e., a woman in the 1940s would be much more reticent to report her condition and might make do with a wig, hair makeup, etc.)
But I would surely like to look at when hormones in livestock feed were introduced and see if there was a timely correlation to the increased incidence of reporting female pattern baldness…
And is it fair to say most women are subjected to more stress than they used to be? Was being a homemaker in a more affluent time relatively less stressful than most corporate careers in this present day crappy economy? (Not to say that a homemaker’s life is without stress!! The stress caused by a bullying provider I think can be far more insidious than that dished out by a lousy boss…)
I’m amazed women’s hair survives all the bleach, dyes, and other products used to make it beautiful.
Guys usually do nothing more than wash their hair, and it still falls out.
The two most common, reversible causes of thinning hair in women are Hypothyroidism and iron deficiency. If you are a woman with thinning hair, these are the first things you should get your doctor to check.