Category: Hair Loss Causes

I am 28 and my temples are alot lighter in color and feel thinner than the rest of my hair. Does this indicate miniaturization and will I eventually lose this hair without treatment? Also, I feel like the corners of my hairlines are way further back than they should be. I have tried propecia and rogaine for the past 2 years and nothing has seemed to work. Bernstein hair told me that I wasnt a candidate for hair transplant yet but I am really self conscious about my hair. Any ideas on how to proceed? Thank you!

Lighter color doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to lose that hair. Propecia and Rogaine aren’t likely going to help to regrow the temple peaks, as you’ve found out.

Without seeing you, I can not tell you what to do… but Dr. Bernstein is a good doctor and his opinion often mirrors mine. That being said, you can always get a second opinion. I just don’t know enough about you or your particular case to offer any real direction.

Hello, doctor. My hairline is only a Norwood 1.5. But I have recently found out that the top of my head is thinning. It isn’t that noticeable. Meaning only the doctor could see it. Not my friends, family etc. The only one I know in my family who was bald was my great-grandfather. All my other male relatives have a great head of hair. Does my thinning on top mean i will eventually go totally bald or could this be as worse as it gets? Should I start rogaine?

If your thinning isn’t noticeable, what is your doctor doing differently to see it? Is he/she using miniaturization mapping or measuring your hair bulk?

I have no way to know if your loss will get worse and eventually lead to you being totally bald. It’s not quite as simple as that. Similarly, I have no way to know if you should be on Rogaine or any other treatment.

Snippet from the article:

Mattel is being urged to mass produce a bald Barbie in order to make girls suffering from hair loss feel more attractive and to help children cope with hair loss among friends and relatives.

A Facebook campaign designed to encourage Mattel to produce the bald version of the popular doll now has about 6,000 “likes” on its page. The page states that such a Barbie would benefit girls suffering from hair loss due to cancer treatments, alopecia (an autoimmune disease causing hair loss) or trichotillomania (hair loss from pulling or twisting), as well as those who know a female experiencing hair loss.

Read the rest — Campaign for Mattel to produce bald Barbie growing

Mattel did produce a one of a kind bald Barbie for 4 year old going through chemotherapy (see image), but they haven’t announced any intention to do a limited run, let alone a wide production run like these online petitions are asking for.

The article states that there’s also an online petition for a bald GI Joe action figure for boys experiencing hair loss.

Snippet from the article:

An animal shedding its coat at certain points of the year may involve the same science behind male-pattern baldness.

New research out of the University of Southern California found that not only is hair loss caused by the hormones in the hair follicles themselves, but also in the tissue surrounding the follicles. That is similar to animals that shed their coats, a routine occurrence triggered by the animals’ bodies.

“The hair-follicle stem cell is not only listening to the voice in the stem cell, but also from the outside,” Cheng-Ming Chuong of University of Southern California and lead author of the study told MyHealthNewsDaily Wednesday at the meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in Denver.

The research suggests that new treatment should focus on the tissue around the hair follicles instead of just the follicles themselves.

Read the full text — Baldness Similar to Animal Shedding Coat

I believe you have mentioned before that, at any given time, roughly 10% of the hairs on your head are in the miniaturized/resting state. For some time now, however, I’ve noticed that many, if not most, of the hairs gathering on my comb and around my sink appear to be miniaturized to some degree. Is this normal, or should I really start to be concerned? I’m currently 19 with no noticeable signs of balding.

Thinner hair shafts represent about 20% or less than the rest of the hair in most people. These hairs may reflect vellus hairs, not miniaturized hair. What you see on the comb and in the shower drain is probably miniaturized hairs reflecting the balding condition. You can find out for sure by getting a set of bulk measurements comparing the donor hair with hair elsewhere on your head. Why guess?

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My hair has been falling out in handfuls for over two years now. Not only is my hair falling out, but each strand is SO thin, it’s almost invisible. And my scalp burns as if it’s been rubbed with jalapeño peppers. I’ve been to three different dermatologists. All said it’s hereditary, even though no one in my family was bald or had hair loss problems. Two dermos put me on minoxidil (Rogaine). My scalp screamed in pain, so I stopped. Each attempt with minoxidil made my hair come out in handfuls.

Since tripping on this site, I’ve realized that my hair first started falling out when I began taking cod liver oil for my general health. Then I added Omega 3/6 supplements, salmon oil… and, most recently my naturopath suggested I take flax seed oil! My scalp pain is so bad, I’ve tried everything to calm the pain. Never did I consider that it might be the supplements. I also take high doses of D3, having recently switched to the gel caps, instead of tablets. I will stop everything and see if things improve.

Here’s the question: those who’ve had success growing their hair back, do you recommend taking biotin? Or should I stop that, too?

I’ve seen a few references to Nizoral. Is it better than Denorex or Selsun Blue, and if so, why? How long did it take for your hair to grow back after you quit taking the oil supplments? I’m desperate not only to stop the hairloss, but to end this agony with my burning scalp.

You may be asking the impossible from me. Short of a visit and a full hour consultation, I doubt that I can help you with a text reply. Actually, I’m not even sure that I could help after a full hour consultation. I don’t know enough about your medical history (or you) to have any idea what could be causing your scalp sensitivity/pain and subsequent hair loss.

The first step is to find a diagnosis for your hair loss and scalp pain. If you’ve been to two dermatologists and neither has been able to find a solution, keep trying until you can find a dermatologist with a solution. I wish I could offer more, but I’m at a loss.

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