Category: Hair Loss Causes

Hello Doctor

You often say that normal hair loss is asynchronous, meaning that one loses about 100 hairs per day on average and there are periods with more shedding and periods with less shedding . I often notice those periods to be extremely small. I might shed lots of hair for three, two or even one day, and then not at all for the next two or three days. And after a few days it starts again.

Now, would that qualify as a normal asynchronous hair shedding pattern? Let me tell you that i wash my head every day .

Yes. Asynchronous means not everything is the same every day or on every part of the scalp. Over the long run it will average out. If you lose more and more hair over the long run, then it means you are losing more hairs than growing new hairs (thinning / balding).

Hi,

Do most Norwood 3’s usually have crown thinning? The reason I ask is because I’m a Norwood 3 and would like to know my chances of progressing to the Norwood 6/7 pattern.

Aside from the hairline my hair has the exact same thickness and shape as I’ve had since my early teens. I performed the miniaturisation test with a digital microscope you decribed in previous posts, and found no miniaturisation on anywhere on my head except on the edge of the hairline.

Thank You.

The Norwood classification system was designed to report patterns of hair loss. The class 3 and 3V both have frontal loss, but the 3V patterns have some element of crown thinning/balding. The best way to know if you have the crown component, is to get bulk measurement of the hair in the crown and compare it to your donor area bulk (a doctor office visit is required). This will show even early crown thinning. In many men, the crown loss is slower to show up, so you are rightly concerned.

Hello, this is the first time I’ve contacted anyone about my hair, so far I have grown quite paranoid from all these posts in this forum and in others. I’d just like to ask a few questions, to start off with is every hair shed in telogen phase and if so are they smaller than more anagen phased hairs? I’ve noticed some smaller wispy hairs when I blow dry or dry my with a towel, its not a whole lot but its a few noticeable ones, question is is this normal or is it early indication of MPB?

Last question should hair at the hairline, when pulled or pain, excrete some kind of pain because other hairs on the scalp that I have pulled have shown pain.

I am not exactly sure what you are asking. If you pull your hair, there is pain. Usually tiny nerves are attached to the hair follicle, so naturally, if you pull your hair you will be affecting these nerve fibers to send sensation/pain signals. I suppose some areas would be more painful than others.

As to if you have balding, I would not be able to say based on your email, but male pattern hair loss is not a physically painful process (maybe emotionally, yes). You need an examination for a real diagnosis. When the hair is ready to fall out (like in people who are actively balding) the hair ‘fall’ is not painful at all, because the living follicle is often in its telogen phase so I would not expect to experience any pain with these hairs.

First off, I would like to say thank you for this awesome site and the effort you put in to answering so many people’s questions! It really helped me.

With that said, I’m 28 and I recently noticed my hairline maturing. My father didn’t start losing hair noticeably before the age of 50, (he is norwood 3 now at the age of 63, his brother and father were the same). My question is this: since he has coarser hair texture than me (I inherited fine hair texture from my mother’s side) is it possible that if I inherit his balding pattern that it progresses faster, Since my hair is finer and requires less time to succumb to the effects of DHT? (also my grandfather on my mother’s side and her brothers were all norwood 2 since 20 years old and became 2.5 around 55)

There is no way to accurately predict your hair loss trait, as to if it comes from your mother or your father. It can be a mix of traits as well. It is a draw of the cards with regard to balding. The texture of you hair as it compares to your parents may not be related to the balding gene you inherited from your parents.

I’ve been plucking the grey hairs out of the side of my head cause they drive me crazy. Question: If I continue to do so, will eventually start to thin out on the sides? Sometimes you see women with painted on eyebrows. Is this why? Thanks in advance. Love the site

Plucking out hair on a constant basis, will cause the hairs to disappear permanently. I would suggest that you use dye rather than plucking. And yes, many women that overpluck their eyebrows will eventually lose their eyebrows.