Category: Hair Loss Causes

Hi Doc, I am 34 and I have receded about an inch at the temples. By this age, my father was at a much further along in the balding process. My maternal grandfather receded but never went bald. I’m just trying to figure out who’s “hair” genes I might have inherited. If it was from my father, would my balding develop at the same age and at the same speed as him? Is the next most likely person to pass on the hair gene my maternal grandfather? I hope so!

I have answered this question many times, but I will briefly summarize again: genetic hair loss does not follow specific predictable patterns. Many have hypothesized and observed that male pattern hair loss is slightly more dependent on the mother’s side. In the end if you have the gene, you will go bald according to the genetic balding pattern you inherited. As there are probably many genes involved in the inherited pattern, until we can define those genes and quantify how many there are and how they work, we can not predict what may happen to you as you age and may bald. Someday, everyone will have their genes mapped out and with that mapping, we will be able to tell much about what will happen to us in the future, not just with regard to balding, but to predicting diseases like cancer in their earliest stage. I hope that this all unfolds in my lifetime, but clearly for the young man like you, I am sure that it will unfold in your lifetime and when your children ask this question, my replacement will answer it with precision.

My question is: can hats cause baldness? I have heard that they are in no way related to losing your hair unless they are too tight and cut off circulation. However, I heard someone explain that if you wear a hat, sweat can accumulate in your hat, and your sweat contains DHT and if you have a predisposition to Baldness all the DHT coming into contact with your scalp can make you lose your hair even quicker than normal. Any truth to this?

I was on a TV program a few years back called the Big Urban Myth Show on MTV and answered this very question. Hats causing hair loss is an urban myth. Men wear hats to cover their baldness.

So to repeat — hats do not cause hair loss.

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Im trying to grow my eyebrows back as i want them reshaping due to overplucking how long would they take to grow back?

Overplucking your eyebrow or any hair may cause permanent damage and the hair may never grow back. At that point, the only solution to get eyebrow hair back is hair transplantation. If you’re looking for a temporary solution, I found an overplucking remedy at About.com. No idea if it works — I don’t pluck.

My husbands eyebrows have balded about a 1/3 from the outside. What would make this happen?

Loss of eyebrow hair, especially the outer edge, may be caused from plucking it, or possibly evenhypothyroidism (low levels of thyroid hormones). Hypothyroidism is treatable by hormonal replacement. Eyebrow loss could also happen as a result of other diseases and conditions such as medications, endocrine diseases, autoimmune disorders, infections, inflammatory conditions and vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

DailyMail.co.uk – Red meat and two veg can beat hair loss

There are hundreds, if not thousands of articles on diet and hair loss and health — we have to use common sense to interpret its practicality and validity.

This article basically talks about low ferritin levels being bad for hair health. Nothing new here. Another article on that site says “A tomato a day keeps cancer at bay”. If we agree that a tomato is a vegetable, we can beat hair loss and cancer!!! Yes, I know a tomato is technically a fruit, but it is classified as a vegetable in cooking. Let’s not split hairs now.

I heard that steroid shots under the scalp may work to help revive the hair growth. Is this true?

No. Some doctors give steroid shots under the scalp if they believe the hair loss is due to an inflammatory cause. I have seen a patient who actually lost hair because of the steroid shots.

my brother is two years older than me and has had a receding hair line for a few years he is now 23 my hair is still very thick will i follow the same pattern or could i have been skipped by this gene. Are there any tests that can tell you if you have male pattern baldness genes.

No one has identified the MPB gene(s). I would suspect there is more than one gene responsible for hair loss. The only test available is a miniaturization study which shows the progression of the balding pattern and the degree of hair loss.

Family inheritance seems to evade the logical mind and that alone shows that the responsible genes are probably multiple.

Firstly i’d like to say this site is a great resource! and has been extremely useful reading over the last few months.

Some background…I’m a 21 year old male, with extremely thick hair (both in hair diameter and in density). Around a year ago i began to develop my mature adult hairline and since then there doesnt appear to have been much if any miniaturization past the future hairline.

I had two questions, firstly i know most mpb loss starts at the temples before balding at the crown is evident, but i was wondering if it was possible (or has happened in your experience) for a person to begin balding at the vertex before there is any significant recession from the temples? as hair loss in this area would be much more distressing to me than progressing to a norwood 3 for example.

My second question is to do with predicting my future pattern, my father is a norwood 7 who says he had significant thinning at the temples and crown by my age and from looking at wedding photos was a norwood 4 or 5 by 23. His father also followed a similar pattern.

The other side of my family i.e. my maternal grandfather had a norwood 3/ 3vertex pattern until into his 70’s. So my question is seeing as my hair loss is at least slower than my father could i be expected to have avoided a norwood 7 future or can this advanced pattern start at say 22-25? (basically, at what age would you say i was ‘safe’ from suffering my dads fate!)

You can certainly have balding at the vertex without any frontal recession.

There is no definitive way to predict your hair loss by just looking at your father or uncles or grandfathers. It may offer a clue, but there is no good way to predict balding at this point. I tell men to find someone that they think that the look like (hair loss pattern) in their family and find out what age each step took in the development of the hair loss. That will give you just an idea, because there are probably many genes involved and varying expressions of those genes that may skip generations, so it may be impossible to determine who you might take after or what you pattern might be. If you are asking for some sort of assurance that you will not go bald, the best way to to this is to have a miniaturization study and following the progress of the miniaturization over time.