Category: Hair Loss Causes

Can you lose or damage the hair if using a hairbrush that hasen’t been cleaned for a long time?

Have you heard the old saying that cleanliness is next to godliness? Are you asking if you can damage your hair using a brush that has been in the drawer for a long time and then used on your hair without the brush being cleaned? Well, the answer is probably not. The question I’d wonder might be how old the brush really is and how long it has been since you used it last.

Hi Doc, Happy Thanksgiving! I have read recently in some of your blogs that stress is one of the major causes of male pattern baldness (MPB). However, I have also been lead to understand that stress would normally induce a diffuse form of hair loss all over the head; and is reversible once the stressful period has subsided. So does this mean that an individual’s MPB can stop naturally in the same manner, if its primary cause is in fact due to stress? Would taking medications like Propecia or Rogaine help? Thank you so much for this clarification!

When a balding man develops accelerated hair loss from stress, then that hair loss is usually not reversible on its own without some medical intervention. If the hair loss is recent and the man is young (generally under 30), then it may be stopped or reversed with Propecia (possibly Rogaine, although less likely). Reversals is a hit or miss thing, but if the hair loss has been less than 2 years, the reversal is more probable than not.

The diffuse pattern hair loss you referenced and its association with stress is more with women and this may reverse on its own when the stress subsides, often without the use of medications but helped with such medications such as minoxidil. The woman’s reaction to stress hair loss is quite variable and may reflect the cause of the hair loss, the age of the woman, the use of medications that have participated in the hair loss, the existence of a variety of diseases that are known to produce hair loss (e.g. Thyroid), and the existence of any long term female genetic hair loss that may be present.

Hello Doctor,
I’m a 28 y/o male, and I have a question reagarding genetic balding. I understand that MPB can skip generations, but based on your experience from treating many patients, how often have you seen cases of MPB on patients, whom claim to have no family history of balding? Is it very rare, like 1%? Or is it more common, like 20-30%? In my case, my father, and all uncles and both grandfathers has no balding. I appreciate your response.

I would be guessing that something in the order of 20% of men coming to my office report their inability to match the balding pattern they have in their family line. This may or may not be generation skipping. Sometimes, the actual balding pattern that is inherited is less or more than the worst in either side of the family. The other side of that coin is to respond by saying that more than half of balding men will recognize that their pattern existed in some male member of their family (father, grandfathers, uncle or brother).

I am a 26 year old male who has been mapped for miniaturization and on Propecia for a little over 3 months. I have noticed that most of the hair I shed does not contain the little white bulb at the end and appears to be thick terminal hair with a slightly tapered tip. Some of the hair shed is real short (about the width and length of an eyelash). Could this be some form of anagen effluvium or loose anagen syndrome? Thanks for your advice.

I am in the dark here, because I do not have you in front of me to see what you’re talking about. Speak with the doctor who mapped your hair for miniaturization and ask him/her how what you’ve observed relates to the mapping results. Do you have genetic hair loss?

Paid advertisements (not an endorsement):

I was recently diagnosed with excess cortisol (adrenal fatigue) and hypo-thyroidism due to the production of excess cortisol in my body. Can this combo of excess cortisol and hypothyroidism cause color and texture changes to my hair, reduce facial growth and thin/miniaturize my whole scalp hair in a uniformed global fashion?

Adrenal fatigue syndrome is a condition with diverse manifestation. In this condition, hair tends to get thin, wispy and dry. You may also experience some hair loss. In low thyroid function, hair tends to get more coarse and sparse and may become wavy or the hair color may change. You can find a nice table of information here.

For more information, you should see an endocrinologist.