Month: July 2015

I’m a 36 year old male with no visible hair loss…..yet. For around 6-8 months now I’ve been following a very lax hair washing routine. I had a girlfriend who had adopted the wash less routine in an attempt to achieve healthier looking locks. Apparently her stylist told her it was the latest trend. She used dry shampoo powder and only washed once a week. At the time I thought it seemed perfectly logical so I too adopted the routine. After we broke up I carried on with the same hair hygiene but with less dry shampoo washing and more and more infrequent regular washing. For the last 4 months I’ve been going on average between 7 and 12 days without a shampoo. It gets greasy and a little itchy but I often wear a hat so aesthetically it doesn’t look bad. Recently my new girlfriend noticed that my head “stank“. When I told her that I was on this infrequent washing trend she told me that it was a terrible idea and that it was proven that non-washing leads to hair loss. Of course I was freaked out and started doing some research on in. The internet is awash in conflicting information but it seems that some doctors believe that sebum build-up can have a negative impact on hair growth and that it can even plug follicles and cause permanent hair loss. On top of that, non-washing is known to cause bacteria growth, inflammation and irritation, which in turn leads to hair loss. Oh, and there’s the old “wearing a hat” thing as well. Now I’m confused and becoming convinced I’m either showing signs of thinning or have done damage to my hair that will manifest itself in hair loss later down the road. As of now my only signs of negative impact are a dry flaky scalp, plus some itching and irritation. Your professional opinion on this whole infrequent hair washing thing would be greatly appreciated. Thank-you.

You do not need a professional opinion.

If you want to keep your current girlfriend, consider maintaining clean hygiene and washing your “stinky” hair.

The frequency of hair washing has nothing to do with genetic male pattern balding.
Bacteria and fungal infection from poor hygiene can cause hair loss.

My question is about miniaturization of hair.

Does everyone have some degree of miniaturization of their hair? Or if you are experiencing miniaturization of hair, you have male pattern baldness?

Can you experience miniaturization even if you don’t “suffer” from mpb?

Lets say one is examined by a doctor who specializes in hair loss and he tells you that you have _10% miniaturization, do one “suffer” from male pattern baldness with that said?

(I apologize about my spelling and grammar, english is not my native language)

Everyone has some degree of miniaturization of hairs. It is just a normal part of the hair cycle as hairs transition from anagen to catagen to telogen phase. Not all hairs are miniaturized but some (at the end of their “life cycle”) will miniaturize and fall out. Men who carry the genes for Male Pattern Balding (MPB) or Androgenic Alopecia (AGA) will have more miniaturization.

I’ve been learning a few things about Male Pattern Baldness but one thing remains unknown for me ( and for scientists also , maybe).
I am a 19 years old dude who has growing body hair (A LOT) , even in the back.
By my mother’s side no one lost his hair, but in the family of my father every man lost his hair .
My father in his early 20′ , my grandad not , why?
My grandad had no body hair, my father is a monkey , coincidence? I am sure i am going to bald in my nearly future but doctors still deny this correlation.

Body hair and scalp hair is not related. You can be bald and have lots of body hair. You can have a full head of hair and have lots of body hair. There really is no correlation between the two and balding.

Is hair loss really that common a side effect of taking NSAIDs? If it is, how long does one need to take them before hair loss occurs?

Hair loss is not a common side effect of taking NSAIDS such as Motrin, Advil, etc. It is so rare, I have not personally met anyone in my 20+ years who came to see me for this complaint.