by 
The Curious Bag
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Some people battling cancer must undergo treatments that lead to hair loss. This occurs because the treatments cannot single out the cancer cells alone.
Cancer Treatments
Cancer treatments work by stopping the reproduction and growth of cancer cells, but one side effect that can happen with two of the most common cancer treatments, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, is for healthy hair follicles to be accidentally damaged.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy works by firing beams of highly charged particles at the area in the body where the tumor is located in order to damage the DNA of the cancerous cells and prevent them from dividing successfully.
Hair Loss from Radiation
Healthy cells also are often hit by the radiation and can no longer reproduce. Radiation therapy focused on the head for a brain tumor can result in damage to hair follicles and hair loss.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses drugs that target fast-dividing cancerous cells and chemically stop them from reproducing.
Hair Loss from Chemotherapy
Since most chemotherapy drugs go after fast-growing cells, one of the identifying characteristics of cancer cells, they also can accidentally affect the fast-dividing cells in your mouth, intestine and hair follicles.
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