Category: Hair Loss Causes

Hello there,

I’ve been wondering if I was going to end up bald. My grandfather on my father’s side is bald, as is my own father. Nobody on my mother’s side is bald (though she had no siblings and her mother’s brothers had their hair).

My bald grandfather said he started to bald around 18. A picture of my dad when he was around 19 1/2, he looked like a NW3. I’ll turn 19 in four months and was wondering if I don’t see any symptoms by the time I turn 19 or 19 1/2, will I go bald?

Thank you again.

There is no way to easily tell if you’ll develop the balding pattern your male relatives showed around your same age. You can have the HairDX test done and get an idea if you have the genes for balding, or you can see us and get a hair bulk assessment yearly to show when and if the balding/thinning process kicks in.

Of course, you can also just watch and wait.

Hello doctor. I was wondering, are the genes for balding and hair ‘type’ independent? For example, if a bald person has straight hair as does their son, is their son at a higher risk of losing their hair since they have the same hair type. I guess this could be similar for curly hair too.

As far as I’m aware, hair characteristics and balding aren’t linked. For example, a son might have the same hair type as his father, but the son didn’t get the father’s balding pattern. There’s also nothing showing a link between hair color and baldness.

Hi Dr. Rassman,

First off, I would like to say you have an excellent site here and it has been the source of many of my answers while I suffered with my paranoia of hairloss.

I wanted to ask about a type of hairloss I noticed while talking to a person. The man exhibited diffuse baldness and was almost completely bald on top however all over the top of his head he had a few thick hairs that were buzzed down. All the hairs that I could see were all thick. Also, his hairline was completely unharmed. It was covered in thick hairs from left to right. I was wondering if this is normal MPB or not since from my understanding in the diffuse form of MPB, all the hairs slowly thin out on top of the head. I know it is normal to see some thick hairs among thin hairs in someone who’s going bald, but this guy had only thick hairs on top of his head.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Some men who bald can have a persistent frontal hairline. Some never go bald in the front. These are a few exceptions to the classic Norwood patterns. You can also have thick (non miniaturized) hairs on balding areas. It is just that the proportion of thick to thin are different.

Dear Doc,

I am 18 years old. Every single male in my family is bald except for me. From my father, older brother, both grandfathers, uncles and cousins on both my mother and fathers side. Everyone! I should be concerned right? Is there anything I can do to prevent going bald before it has begun?

Thank you in advance.

You should connect with a good doctor and have your hair bulk measured for a baseline measurement, and then have that done every year to be sure that the balding did not kick in.

I would not recommend the use of drugs like finasteride unless or until you actually show a decreasing hair bulk. This is a very sensitive way to follow your course. If most of your family is balding, keeping your hair forever doesn’t look to be in the cards.

hi,

i’m 18 and i have hairy shoulders and chest. could that affect my hair ? because all the hairy people i know are all (or almost all) bald.

is it true that you have to look at your grandfathers to see wether your hair is going to fall? because my grandfather didn’t have hairloss and my father has it :/

i have a high hairline in the shape of a V kinda is that a result that i’m loosing my hair?

are masturbation & hairloss directly correlated ?

We get questions like these all the time, and the answers don’t seem to change. Here we go:

1. The amount of body hair you have doesn’t relate to the amount of scalp hair you lose.

2. Hair loss can skip generations, so you can’t just look at your grandfather (from either side of the family) to know what your pattern might be. It’s not that easy.

3. Your high V-shaped hairline could be hair loss, a mature hairline, or just you having a high hairline. I don’t know anything about your hair loss history to make that determination.

4. This is one I’ve probably written about it at least a dozen times on this blog — masturbation and hair loss are not linked. People love to tell me I’m wrong about this one, and that’s perfectly fine. But if you do or do not masturbate, it won’t make a difference to your hair. It’s a myth.

i masturbate more than 5 times per day. And i continued it for 5 yeras. And i now noticing that my temple hair is totally gone.it is curable or uncurable? My message to masturbate dont be its addict

I really don’t know how much clearer I need to be about this. I have nothing to gain by lying to you.

Hair loss isn’t related to masturbation. Your genetics caused your hair loss. The link between masturbation and hair loss is a myth. There is no cure for hair loss.

I got meningitis after i was born and it healed, but it left me wit a scar on the right side of my head the grows hair slowly. What can be done to accelerate hair growth on the scar, if nothing can a hair transplant help. Am now 21 yrs and i have had the scar all my life.

Without pictures and an ability to examine you, I can not intelligently comment on your question. Hair transplant might theoretically be helpful, but accelerating growth on scar tissue with the use of medication probably isn’t likely.

Other than a transplant are there any methods, creams, or procedures to increase facial hair growth? I know it sounds ridiculous but I am 100% serious. I’m growing my beard and its not growing in areas I’d like it to. Thank you

It’s not a ridiculous question, but I don’t know anything about you so I’ll have to generalize. If I assume that you are a young man under 25 years old (you didn’t mention your age), that would be typical of late onset appearance of beard formation. If you wait it out, your beard will most likely appear over the next few years.

I remember when I was 20 years old, my beard was thin and spotty. My father told me to wait and one day it would look like his (very scratchy, coarse hair). He also told me that one day I would wish it did not grow as heavy as his. Oh, was he ever right! That is exactly what happened and over the next 5 years, my beard came in heavy enough that my 5 o’clock shadow came in at about 1pm. Now I wish it never grew in, as shaving is quite the daily chore.

If you are over 25 years old, you might try Rogaine (minoxidil) and apply it to your face twice a day, but be careful you do not overdose the medication and develop side effects that are defined in the drug insert found in the product packaging. It’s not guaranteed to grow a beard, but you don’t really have many options for facial hair growth.