I don’t have many worries these days when it comes to hair. On my own head, that is. It is what it isn’t, as athletes don’t quite say.

Maybe that contributes to my status as one of those guys who may not notice when a woman has done something different, practically life-changing, with her hair. (I can, however, tell you how long it has been since one of my fantasy ballplayers has hit a home run; that may be why I don’t have the brain capacity to notice those new highlights a co-worker is rocking.)

So, if I notice that hair is a problem, in this country … it must be a dire situation, indeed.

This is one of the more curious aspects of life here. This perception, verging on conviction, that people who still have plenty of hair to lose — mostly women — are losing hair at a rapid, scary rate.

In fact, my newspaper did a story last year about “mystery hair loss” in the United Arab Emirates.

First, the indications:

Falling hair. Everywhere. Bathroom drains clogged with post-washed hair.

Women whose hair looks fairly seriously damaged. Thin, maybe brittle. Again, I’m noticing. So it must be real.

The prevalence — the overwhelming availability — of products designed to reduce what is known here as “hair fall.”

I am told that every brand of shampoo or rinse comes in an “anti-hair fall” variety. So, the market seems to believe hair loss is a particular problem here.

If you followed the link, above, you already have seen suggestions about what might be going on. (Beyond general-follicle-hysteria, that is.)

–The water. All the water here, aside from the tiny bit that is bottled from the handful of springs, is desalinated sea water. The theory here is that desalinated water coming out of shower heads … is spectacularly hard. And perhaps resistant to soaping up, as well as effectively rinsing out soap.

–A lack of vitamin D. Most vitamin D is absorbed through sunlight, so that shouldn’t be a problem in one of the sunniest places on Earth, right? But the reality is that nearly everybody makes a point of staying out of the sun and many of the nationals often have their heads covered whenever they set foot outside. Thus, we have a vitamin D deficiency pretty much across the ethnic spectrum here, and a lack of vitamin D leads to hair loss.

–The weather. Hot, really hot, and often dry. Not good for hair, apparently. Makes hair fragile and it just snaps off. And then you find it all over the room.

–Other medical conditions. Thyroid, anemia, etc.

–A perhaps heightened rate of hair-coloring. Which I haven’t noticed, but the story suggests it may be going on. And the chemicals are hard on the hair, etc.

Anyway, our story quotes a survey indicating that 47 percent of the women in the country believe they are losing hair at an unnatural rate. That’s a lot of lost hair … or a lot of women who are buying into the hysteria.

I tend to believe that something is going on. With hair. And the loss of it. Because I have noticed. I’m back to that. If a guy like me realizes he has just thought, “wow, is that woman’s hair destroyed.” Then we must have a lot of it going on.

If anyone can make a better mousetrap — a shampoo/conditioner that actually leaves hair looking like something sturdier than straw … and keeps women’s hair out of the drain — about 7 million people living in this country will beat a path to their door.