Category: Hair Loss Causes

hey dr. william.

I’m a 20 year old male who have chanced upon your blog only yesterday and i must say that i’ve learnt pretty much and benefited as far as i could from it. I became less paranoid upon reading on archives speaking of victims losing hundreds and even thousands of hair daily or over a few days. Currently, my problem has persisted over 6 months, well to my friends, this might seem over-reacting and a self-proclaimed problem. But i do have a few burning highlights and concerns as follow:

1. my hair is naturally very fine for a male counterpart, does that make me more susceptible to hair loss expecially i’m only starting to keep my hair long?
2. i have yet focus so much on my hair loss more than 7 months ago but only when i started to grow more hair, am i overreacting? i see a little bunch of hair -of about 10-15 each time i finish showering and about 10 after i dry my hair and maybe 5 after combing my hair. Are these considered normal?
3. last but not the least of paramount importance would be, do i have to lose alot of hair to become bald, or another way of asking would be, if i do not have bunches and bunches of hair dropping, does that mean that i’m safe from balding? I’m safe from genetics influences as far as my paternal great grand father.

Note: i do have oil scalp, contributing to oily hair. What do you suggest dr. william?

I really appreciate your effort and time in giving my message a serious thought and god knows how many have you saved! Keep on going dr. william and i’m looking forward to your reply?:)

1. Fine hair or very fine hair or long hair have nothing to do with balding. If you are balding it is highly likely that it is your genetics.
2. You are focusing way too much on your hair. You can lose 100 even 200 hairs EACH DAY. Losing 10 to 15 is lower than normal daily hair loss.
3. You are born with 100,000 hairs on the average, and you can lose about half that and still not look bald.

You should see a good doctor and develop a Master Plan for yourself. In that, you need to have your hair mapped out for miniaturization. It may even be that you are not genetically losing hair — wouldn’t that be nice to know?

I have been told, by a colleague, that under normal circumstances, facial hair does not ‘fall out’ as does hair on your head.

Can you tell me if this is true or false?

Facial hair is different than scalp hair, but ALL hairs go through the growth cycle, resting cycle, and shedding (falling out) cycle.

I am not clear what you are asking. Do you have loss of facial hair or are you asking an academic question? The most common cause of scalp hair loss in men is due to genetic causes, and it is often referred to as androgenic alopecia (AGA), male pattern baldness (MPB), or just genetic balding. About 50% or so of the male population will have some degree of genetic balding at some point in their lifetime. Keep in mind that this does not mean 50% of men will go bald. Facial balding patches may not be genetic and you need to see a dermatologist.

Hi Dr. Rassman,
I went to see a dermatologist today about my diffuse hair loss, and I asked him if the thinner hairs that are falling out now (as opposed to the thicker hairs that fell out before) necessarily pinpointed miniaturization. He said that a telogen hair is supposed to be miniaturized compared with a anagen hair. Now, I’ve done quite a bit of research on this topic, and I’ve never heard that a telogen hair was supposed to be miniaturized. Can you give some insight into why he might say this? Thanks so much!

I agree with you. Telogen hairs, when they fall out, are normal width. I have no idea why your dermatologist would say otherwise.

Dr. Rassman,

First off thank you for taking the time to answer all of our questions.

My question is, do you think that the severity of hair loss depends on the number of genes for hair loss that someone has? In other words, do you think that someone whose father has perfect hair with a mothers side with hair loss will not begin to lose their hair until mid age. Whereas someone with a bald father and balding mothers side of the family will lose at an early age? I ask this because I made the observation on people I know. It seems to me that men who lose their hair in their early 20s almost always have a balding father. Anyone I know with a father with flawless hair and a balding maternal grandfather and uncles seems to begin losing at mid age (if ever).

Do you survey your patients? In other words, do you ask them what their family history of hair loss has been?

Yes, I always ask patients about their balding family history. I have not noted what you have, so I can not comment on it directly. There is no detectable connection that I have observed between balding fathers and the age their sons start balding. When both sides of the family have balding, the frequency of balding in sons does increase.

Doctor,

I am female with severe hairloss, I did not show any visible loss for 3 years of shedding it happend suddenly 2 years ago. I have noticed a shocking abnormal increase in visible scalp, most severe behind ears upwards with semi balding behind ears.. My question is can high lead in water cause such a sudden visible loss?

I received a letter that pipes in my area have been found to have high levels and offering option to have it dug up and replaced at a huge expense, but not if have old lead pipes in home would not be of any help. Just to add I also have been diagnosed with malnutriton if have existing hairloss due to elevated androgens can hairloss from the malnutrition come back?

I am severely upset over this and just wanted your thoughts on this as you have so much expertise in hairloss, I hope to hear and thank you for your time and providing a place for infomation for people suffering so much to cope with a life altering socially and mentally crippling condition to have to face daily.

Lead intake can cause hair loss… so can malnutrition. Both of these are slow to come on so it may not be detectable in the early stages.