# Are there more balding women these days?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-more-balding-women-these-days/528557>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [February 11, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-more-balding-women-these-days/528557 "2010-02-11T16:01:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Taxidriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Taxidriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taxidriver)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-more-balding-women-these-days/528557/1 "2010-02-11T16:01:48Z")

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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…

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**Author:** ![Taxidriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Taxidriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taxidriver)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-more-balding-women-these-days/528557/2 "2010-02-11T16:09:47Z")

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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…)

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**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-more-balding-women-these-days/528557/3 "2010-02-11T17:05:53Z")

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> **[Are there more balding women these days?](https://www.straightdope.com/21341418/are-there-more-balding-women-these-days)**

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.

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**Author:** ![Anneka1998](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Anneka1998](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anneka1998)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-more-balding-women-these-days/528557/4 "2010-02-14T10:59:41Z")

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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.