Hi Dr Rassman, congratulations on your blog which I find very useful. I am almost 29yo and I have been experiencing hair thinning for a couple of years. I am using minoxidil which has cause my hair loss to stop (or slow down). I have become obsessed with people’s hair and noticed that most people my age have a much worse hair problem than me. I would say that hair loss affects almost everybody, but people usually won’t notice a slight hair thinning as I did. Am I right? I mean, when you look at people about 35-40yo they almost always have some degree of hair loss or thinning.
Generally about 50% of men have some degree of balding or visible hair loss by the time they are 45 years old. Some men outside this statistical group also develop senile alopecia with aging. If you are noticing thinning to a point where it is socially noticeable, you may have the gene(s) for male pattern balding (MPB). If you are thinning, you should have your scalp hair examined for miniaturization.
To answer your basic question, some men never experience hair loss at any level. Ronald Reagan was, I believe, one of them and Bill Clinton is another one.
No one has identified the MPB gene(s). I would suspect there is more than one gene responsible for hair loss. The only test available is a