Category: Hair Loss Causes

I wear Beanies (stocking cap/tuc, whatever you wanna call it) everyday. I usually where them for about an hour in the morning and then later in the evening I may where it for a couple hours. Overall, each day I wear a beanie for about 3 hours on average. Can they cause hair loss? Thanks for your help!

In 2003, I appeared on MTV’s Big Urban Myth show to dispel this myth. Wearing a beanie or cap for many hours a day for many years probably will not cause hair loss. This is an old wives’ tale that has been around for a long time. Many men wear hats to cover their balding, so the association of balding and hats has been clearly recognized for centuries. It is a classic chicken and egg problem: which came first?

Hello Dr.,
I am a 22, almost 23, year old male. From the age of 14 until 20 I wore a bandana very tightly on my head everyday for at least 12 hours. Although it has been claimed a myth that head-wear does not cause hair loss, I believe that this has had something to do with it. I wore that thing to the point where my scalp actually hurt, and yet I continued wearing for at least another year in this state. My hair loss originated in the front, at the peak of my hair line. After I quit wearing the bandana, my hair loss either stopped or continued at an unnoticeable rate. I didn’t like the balding spot on the front of my head so I began wearing a hat that rested on the lower part of my forehead, not putting any pressure on my hair line. With too many people asking what my hair looked like, I decided to pull the bandana back out, as to expose a majority of my hair. I then began to notice an increase of hair loss. What should I do?

Thanks for your time!

Yes, a tight bandana can cause traction alopecia. Many Sikhs have hair loss from the turbins they use throughout the adult life. I have even seen 13 year olds who have been wearing turbins with complete traction alopecia and no side or frontal hair left. These tight turbins can produce hair loss in a relatively short period of time. I have transplanted some of them to address this traction hair loss.

Get a diagnosis from a competent doctor, then follow his advice. If you stop the tight bandana and the hair loss is not permanent, give it a year or so for recovery before doing anything more radical to it.

I have male pattern baldness (my doc says)…BUT I AM losing hair on sides too….does this happen in male pattern baldness….i mean….can hair loss on sides happed due to some other reason or it does happen in male pattern baldness…Thank You

There are many causes of hair loss. It is possible that you have a condition called Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia (DUPA), which would cause hair loss on the sides. It is similar to the type of hair loss some women undergo. As this is a very significant finding in a man, please undergo a complete scalp examination to establish a metric for miniaturization. What those measurements will show for DUPA, is miniaturization on the back and sides of the head in addition to miniaturization on the front, top, and possibly crown area.

The treatment for this condition is about 50% effective, but because there are many causes of hair loss, please have yourself checked out before it goes too far.

I’ve got male pattern baldness. Am 23. Lately i have been losing hair on eyebrows. My dad had lost his eyebrows in young age due to side effect of some thyroid medicine. My query is, is loss of eyebrows a part of male pattern baldness? What should one do in eyebrows loss. Thank You

The more common causes of eyebrows hair loss are genetic causes which run in families, or hypothyroidism. I recommended that you check with your primary doctor for blood work on thyroid level, TSH, & FT4. There are other causes of eyebrows hair loss, such as ezcema, imflammatory skin disease, plucking of the hair (trichotelomania), drugs, infection, and autoimmune disease. Like hair loss on the top of your head, eyebrows can be well addressed with a good modern hair transplant as well. I recommended that you may first do some blood work to rule out diseases causing the hair loss. Then, a trial of Propecia and Rogaine may help, but I doubt that these drugs will return eyebrow hair. After that, you may come to see me for free consultation and consider a hair transplant.

Here are two examples of eyebrow restoration:

• Patient RQ
• Patient BG

Hi I’m a 21 yr. old male who is experiencing a form of chemical induced thinning and breakage. In August I had colored my hair and it had come out very dark. I frequently washed it and damaged it further, thinking it would fade the color. Needless to say once I started to notice some breakage I did everything I could do to condition my hair. The thinning was a very rapid affair, only taking a week. Since then there was no unusual hair loss. I was prescribed a topical steroid for redness in my scalp and I had some bad dandruff for about a month. Now I notice some new hairs coming in around the hairline and I still feel a diffuse thinning on top of my head kind of near my crown. It is hard to tell the new hairs from broken off hairs. Also I don’t see any kind of scarring. What advice can you give me to help my condition? Also what can I expect?

If you truly have hair thinning, you need a complete evaluation of your scalp and hair to determine if there is a genetic component to this process. It may not be due exclusively to the impact of the chemicals you used. If it was, then the chance is very good that most of your hair will grow back as long as no significant damage to your hair follicles and surrounding skin (which is probable). To determine if you have an underlying male balding pattern which may have exacerbated further hair loss by the chemicals which you have used, it is best getting a scalp and hair examination for miniaturization by a doctor that specializes in hair.

Hi,
My scalp produces too much sebum and there is a wax like build up around the hair follicles. As a result I am losing hair. My hair roots are not nourished properly and then fall out very easily. Surprisingly there is no sebum or wax build up on the sides and rear of the head and the hair is perfectly healthy in that area. Its the vertex part that is effected. Nothing seems to help. I am writing with a lot of hope…please suggest me something. I have started taking zinc sulphate and B6 and sebum production have reduced a bit. Thank you.

Sebum does not cause hair loss, contrary to what many people say, but the things we do to keep it down, does often cause hair loss. Shampoo regularly, possibly twice a day to keep the sebum down. Have your scalp mapped out to determine if your have miniaturization and genetic hair loss. Let’s be smart about how this is approached. Get a good doctor and get a diagnosis in your hand so that you know what has to be done.