Category: Hair Loss Causes

Quick preface: I’m not sure if I’m balding or not.

Anyway, I notice when I shed hair, which I don’t do excessively, a lot of the hairs are random sizes. Some are equal length to the rest of my hair, others are smaller but still as wide,
others are longer but thinner, some are shorter and thinner etc.. Is this ever the case in normal shedding or is it always an instance of MPB causing miniaturizing?

Normal shedding at the end of the anagen phase should push out a normal width hair in over 90% of the hairs that you see. If the hair are largely miniaturized, then maybe you do have male pattern baldness (MPB). Most men lose their hair from balding without noticing it, because the hairs die at the end of an anagen cycle and do not grow back.

For more on hair growth cycles, see Hair Follicle Cells Growth Stages.

Hi Dr,

I’ve been losing my hair for approximately a year now, and I’ve noticed that when I started to lose my hair it went from being smooth and oily to “tangly” and dry. Is this normal for MPB or is this a sign of malnutrition? I’ve tried propecia and minoxidil and neither of these medications have helped. When I went and saw my Dr he immediately said MPB because my father is somewhat bald. Is there any specific blood work i can do that can help diagnose if malnutrition is playing a part?

Thank you!!

This is not a multiple choice test. You need to be evaluated by a doctor who knows the field and can diagnose genetic hair loss. Hopefully, the doctor will map out your scalp hair for miniaturization and lock in the diagnosis. Your physician (along with you) should then build a Master Plan for your hair loss and abide by it. Genetic causes are the most common among men, particularly as opposed to nutrition.

If you want to analyze your nutritional state, you can determine your nitrogen production in a 24 hour urine analysis and that will give you your nutritional state. A blood test won’t tell you definitively whether your hair loss is due to nutrition, though.

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I am 23 years old and I am an avid bodybuilder. I work out 6x per week, and the only supplements I take are whey protein and creatine ethyl ester. I still have some acne on my back and upper shoulders and occasionally on the chest and face. I used to have it worse on the shoulders but I started exfoliating and it’s def. 99% better, although I still get some here and there. I was wondering if b/c I am 24 and have acne if this is b/c I have more testosterone than normal. I should also say my sex drive is not very high at all, and I’m relatively unhairy on the chest, back, legs, arms, face.

I also drink a lot of milk, typically milk that says it’s from cows untreated with rbGH or any growth hormones. I read on Wikipedia that milk could cause IGF-1 levels to increase. Could this cause hair loss?

Regards.

It is not known why one young man develops acne and another of the same age does not. Clearly the presence of testosterone is important for it to be there as it reflects an over-secretion of sebum and cyst formation. To be sure, you should be under the care of a good dermatologist. Bodybuilding, milk, IGF-1, acne, sex drive, and testosterone are all extraneous factors that do not have a direct causational relationship and you are just complicating the matter. As an example, you can have a very high testosterone level and still have no hair on your body. You can have a high testosterone level and still have a low sex drive, because sex drive is a complex problem. You can have no hair on your body and have a full head of hair (or vice versa or any permutations) You can drink rBGH milk or any type of milk for that matter and still have hair loss… or no hair loss depending on your genes. Get the point?

I am curious to know, if I were to tell you that working out and bodybuilding were causing your hair loss, are you prepared to stop working out? I doubt the connection!

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Blog comment from reader:

Dairy causes hair loss. Inuit and Native Americans have no MPB at all, and dairy is not a part of their diets. Only when they start eating dairy and become westernized can they become susceptible to hair loss. Same with Asians. If you don’t believe this check this out. My mom’s dad had hair until he was 85 when he died, and was lactose intolerant. My uncle (mom’s brother) also has all his hair at age 60, and grew up in the same household as my grandfather. I’m 1/8 Native American from my dad’s side (he is 64 and is 1/4 Native American and has slight hair loss) and my hair is slightly thinning (but my hairline is the same). I have a feelign the dermatoligist could’ve made an erroneous opinion, but nevertheless, it could be right. And I am a big time natural gym rat, and I drink milk products like it’s my job. Everyday. You name it. Milk, cheese, pizza, whey protein, yogurt, etc. And I have 3 older brothers, two of which have no hair loss and hardly take in dairy, and one of which has slight thinning (according to me) and drinks milk like it’s his job. I am on minoxidil and omega 3 fatty acids, and am starting saw palmetto and also I stopped dairy products as of yesterday. And if you still don’t believe me check this out. My mom has a twin sister, and that sister has a son, who is 34 (I’m 24). He has no hair loss at all, and guess what, that’s right, he’s lactose intolerant. How do ya like them apples now?

Email from same reader:

Let’s say there is a risk of hair loss directly associated with dairy consumption. If this is theoretically true, does this mean that if we stop dairy consumption the dormant hair follicles may grow more hair? Also, is the hormone problem in milk the same as the hormone problem in chicken and beef? In canada they banned growth hormone almost 10 years ago and, assuming most people there eat either chicken or steak, I haevn’t heard of a significant decrease in male pattern baldness.

You raise some interesting connections with dairy products and diets in general that might be worth investigating. So while there may be some connection with dairy or diet and hair loss, I am afraid I can not tell that from your family history alone. In fact, your family history isn’t exactly proof — I’ve had lactose intolerant patients that are still obviously balding. Your cousin likely doesn’t have the hair loss gene expressing itself, meaning he dodged the genetic bullet on that. Or his hair loss may just show up late in life, although that is rare.

Thanks for the stimulating comments. I loved your questions and enthusiasm, but I won’t go so far as to say that dairy and hair loss are linked — just that it needs to be investigated in a scientific way.

i start loosing hair when i was of eighteen years. my skin is oily. i have dandruff problem. Now on THE NORWOOD/HAMILTON SCALE I am at 3V position

father = bald at 30
mother = normal
siblings = normal
paternal uncle = bald at 30
maternal uncle = bald at 50
grandfathers = bald at 50

Honestly, there isn’t much I can tell you just based on what you’ve given me. I’m not even really sure what your question is. Your dandruff isn’t your cause for hair loss.

See a doctor, get your hair mapped for miniaturization, and if you have male pattern baldness (which is what it probably will be based on your family history), Propecia (finasteride 1mg) is the best medication to use.

Dr. Rassman, read this please:

The Sun — Weight training makes you bald

It says that men who lift weights are more likely to go bald. To the best of your knowledge, do you know if there is any truth to this article?

Also, will taking propecia perhaps help to offset these alleged effects of weight lifting on hair? Its starting to bug me because I recently started lifting again but have been having success with propecia for around a year now. I dont want to lose benefits that propecia has given me so far. I’d appreciate a response, thank you.

Many men who lift weights also take anabolic steroids, which cause a man to accelerate hair loss. I doubt the truth in what I read here and remain skeptical. Just keep doing what you like and continue taking Propecia (finasteride 1mg). If your hair loss gets worse, then see the doctor who prescribed it to you and discuss your Master Plan with him/her.

Dear Drs.,

I am 25 years old (Male) and have just discovered some hairloss on the upper-back or my head and it seems to be thinning on top as well. On the top and back, the hairloss is not in a circular shape, but mostly it appears to be short lines and patchy. Basically, I don’t know if my hairloss is genetic or from other factors.

For genetics, my father is bald. My mother’s father was not bald (he died at 92 years of age with hair), but his brother (my great-uncle) was bald. So I can see how baldness may have been passed down to me. Additionally, I do have a lot of body hair on my chest, stomach, forearms, legs and lower back (but not too much on the upper-back yet). I read that the genetics that promote bodyhair growth promotes baldness too.

For the other factors, I don’t eat meat and my diet usually consists of fruits and vegetables, with minimal breads and dairy. I am worried that my hair may be thinning from lack of Zinc or Iron. I have the white spots on my finger/toe nails and some slight cracked skin on the corners of my mouth (I read that this is a Zinc deficiency from the internet). Additionally, I workout a lot, some lifting, but I am mostly an endurance athlete. Also, I am a law student and am very busy and broke; basically I am very stressed out at the moment (and the hairloss thing only adds to the matter!)

So my questions are: (1) how can I tell if my hair loss is genetic or from diet/vitamin deficiency; and (2) if it is the latter, can the hairloss be reversed with supplements or change of diet?

Any help you could provide would be much appreciated; this is a very stressful event in my life and I find myself breathing very heavily just thinking about it or seeing myself in the mirror (I don’t know why this is, I can’t really help it). You may also post this question to the blog if you’d like, but I must ask that I remain anonymous. I would not like you to post this paragraph (you can post everything up to the numbered questions above).

Thank you very much.

Dietary cause of hair loss is almost unheard of in the United States even with the poor diets we keep. You would have to be severely malnourished to have hair loss. The most common cause of hair loss in men is genetic (99% or so of cases). Get yourself checked out for genetic hair loss by having your hair mapped out for miniaturization, which will tell you if you are balding from genetic causes. With your family history, that is quite possible.