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For many women, it’s their crowning glory.

They spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars a year cutting, coloring and styling their hair.

But what happens when it begins to fall out?

Imagine what it would be like to be a fortysomething woman and losing it.

"I was washing my hair, and I started feeling these long strands of hair in my hands,” Lois Alberts said.

The evidence was indisputable. Lois Alberts was beginning to go bald.

“What bothers me about the hair loss is not that I have thin hair, but that you’re beginning to see my scalp more and more and I’m having to change my hair style a little bit to try and cover that up," she said.

Dr. Adeliade Hebert diagnosed her with alopecia, or female pattern baldness.

“We can often interrupt the progression of hair loss in certain patients,” Dr. Hebert said.

The most common treatment is Minoxidil, which is also known as Rogaine. While there is a solution for women and a stronger one for men, both are safe for either sex to use.

“If we can just stop the hair loss, I’ll be happy with that,” Alberts said.

Lois’s alopecia is most likely inherited from her mother.

A hormone imbalance is another possible cause for some women.

“Once I think we get a better understanding of why this happens we’ll probably be able to direct our therapy more comprehensively,” Dr. Hebert said.

Doctors already know the earlier the intervention, the more hair a woman will have left to style.