Category: Other

i am 32 years old/ my hair has been receeding slowly for 10 years. my entire life has taken a different course then what i would ever would have imagined. my life is one of boring structure and panic, this disease has ruined my youth and the saddest part/ nobody knows but me.

Many balding men suffer in silence. I remember a psychologist that I transplanted in two sessions with about 4500 grafts in total. He told me that he had been in analysis for his balding problem for over 15 years. It made no sense to him that he was so devastated over his hair loss, but it nevertheless made him suffer. He had taken some medications as well to deal with his depression.

After the transplants were finished, he said that he could not understand why he had not done it sooner. He thought, in hindsight, that had he transplanted his hair 20 years ago, he would not have had to suffer with the problem for all of those years. But the reality was really something different, because only the newer technologies would have given him a normal head of hair. Had he chosen surgery 20 years earlier, the results would not have been a walk in the park.

Aside from that anecdote, it is still important to find out why you feel that your hair loss has ruined your life. It might be worth talking to a good therapist and explore how hair loss has affected your life. You are in control of your life, so take charge and do something about getting it together and stop suffering in silence. Look for help.

Dear Dr Rassman,
I hope you are well! Thank you for your dedication to providing men with a source of advice and information. I for one greatly appreciate it, and I am sure hundreds (thousands) of others do also!

I have a question that does not relate directly to hair loss, but one that is associated with appearance.

I have a high forehead, my hair has moved back an inch and a half directly in front and two inches roughly on the sides, with thinning on top. I tend to cut my hair short, usually a one or two shaven look. I am comfortable with the way I look, although I wish (as the majority of bald men do) had more hair, I am hoping that I will see more of a fuller appearance in time, since I started using Propecia two months ago.

My question is regarding the shininess I get on my forehead. It is greasy, oily moisture that accumulates during the day, which I usually wipe away with a tissue. I feel that if I could reduce the amount of greasiness I get on my brow I would feel better about my appearance. As the hair is thinning at the front, it makes my head look very shiny, when the back and sides of my head are thick with hair. Is there any product, or dietary plan that you could kindly recommend that may reduce this shiny appearance? I have found it is not good for the skin, to keep wiping the grease away with a tissue, it causes spots, which is the last thing I need at 23, along with the baldness!

Thankyou kindly for your help with this question. I hope you don’t mind me asking questions that are not directly related to hair loss.

Kindest regards

I gave this question to hair restoration surgeon, dermatologist, and my collegue Dr. Robert Bernstein to answer. Here’s his response:

The easiest way to remove oil from the forehead is with alcohol swabs. If you are acne prone then Erycette and Cleocin Pledgettes are topical antibiotics for acne that come on an alcohol based pad. These can be carried in your pocket but require a doctor’s prescription!

Hi, this might be an unusual question but how much and in what way can the low self esteem/ balding thing affect how a man interacts with women??

I am wondering becuase I recently dated a bald guy and I think he had a few hangups about it and I really think that it affected the way he percieved himself, and me , and the potential relationship. I only went out with him about 8 times. On our first date, he asked me if I was only going out with him because my car was towed, and this was a serious question ( he never thought that I thought he was attractive). Then when I would flip my hair around my fingers he would tell me to stop playing with my hair, and implied that I was being vain. But I have long hair that I like to twist and play with, and I kept doing it, not thinking it was an ACTUAL problem. Until he really got kind of upset, I mean he didnt yell but he got really weird and short with me and told me that It was a sign of nervousness and low selfesteem to play with ones hair….WHAT?!?!?!

Then one night I was a little late getting ready for a date with him and he asked what the hold up was, and I told him I wasnt finished with my hair, it takes an awful long time to dry it, style it, etc. So he made fun of me for it, and told me I would rather “fart around with my hair, than hang out with him”. Then he dropped the subject, for the moment..but brought it up again at dinner…but in a really sarcastic and mean way…”so what else do you like to do, besides, fart around with your hair??” Then, I tried to explain to him that my hair, while lovely and all, is really a pain in the butt to take care of…and he got mad at me and said “ya, I wish I had hair”

Our relationship ended soon after that as he got more and more focused on the idea that I was a prissy girl who farted with her hair all day long, and really wasnt attracted to him. but I was really really attracted to him. Is it in my mind, or did he have something going on in his brain because he was bald. I thought he looked very confident and masculine, its not like he combed it over…he shaved his head for godsake!!!

Is this a common thing with bald men or is it just this guy???

This is an important question. Low self esteem is an issue for men who are impacted by balding. Balding in men, and how to treat it, goes back thousands of years as evidenced by much of what we have learned from older civilizations. But in our modern world, not only are we studying how to solve the problem of balding, we are also considering men’s feelings about balding. Just like women who are proud of a good figure, a pretty face, or a nice head of hair, men spend time grooming themselves to look their best. It is hard to groom your hair if it is not there! I often refer to the lion’s mane as a symbol of virility, for without it the lion might be mistaken for a lioness. No man wants to look less virile than they feel.

Men do get impacted by their balding. When he loses his hair, a man who has relied on his physical appearance to project his personality and virility, may then become self conscious. This may change the way he interacts with his environment. I have seen this happen to men from all walks of life – famous men, billionaires, and geniuses are no different in this respect to the ordinary, average Joe.

I remember a very wealthy man who I did transplants on, who was a great speaker, CEO of a company, dynamic and very outgoing. Two years after he had his transplants, his wife came to me and told me that the man she married came back. His hair impacted his behavior in many subtle ways that she did not appreciate until he became the hairy man she knew 20 years earlier. I was very surprised to learn about it. The person he presented to the world was clearly different than the person she knew privately. They had a very successful marriage and I envied him in many ways, that being one of them.

I could go on and on with all sorts of stories, but bottom line, be kind, do not draw attention to your hair when you are with balding man, particularly if he is sensitive to it as you claimed in your question!

Is this press release true?

“Headquartered at St John’s Innovation Centre in Cambridge, Intercytex has developed a way of stimulating human cells to reproduce, not only to re-start hairgrowth, but also to accelerate wound-healing and replace skingrafts with specially grown skin replacement. ”

“The baldness treatment involves taking a small biopsy or sample hair follicles during a half-hour operation under local anaesthetic at a hair or skin clinic. The sample is then sent to Intercytex’ manufacturing plant in Manchester where the hairproducing cells are extracted and nurtured for three weeks before being returned to the clinic to be injected into the patient’s scalp. ”

“The company says a new head of hair should be evident after three months. Early trials have proved successful, with further ones planned for next year in the UK and US. “

I believe this is old news. The challenge is not to grow a hair or two from a mixture of hundreds, but to grow a large percentage of hair reliably and safely. I heard about this group last year, but was not impressed. At the ISHRS Scientific Meeting this month in Sydney, Australia, I will inquire further about progress demanding to see real data, not hype, and I promise to post a blog entry about it at the end of the month when I return.

Just learned that this month is Hair Loss Awareness Month, as determined by the American Academy of Dermatology. This is from the press release —

“Hair loss affects 80 million American men and women and while it isn’t life-threatening, it can cause emotional distress,” said Dr. Draelos. “Disease, genetic predisposition and even poor cosmetic grooming practices all cause hair loss. Even simple changes in your hair care routine can result in healthier hair.”

You can read the entire press release here. So when is Hair Restoration Surgeon Month?

I have bleached blonde hair which I have been bleaching for about 1.5 years now. For the past 10 months or so I have only bleached the roots and experienced the regular breakage associated with bleaching. It has all been quite normal and certainly nothing to be alarmed about. However for the past 2 – 3 months I have noticed a large amount of hair loss at least 50 hairs a day which is very unusual for me. The other unusual thing is that for example at the moment I have brown regrowth of about 1 cm length. If I purposely pull a hair out of my head it is blonde all the way down with 1 cm of brown at the root. However every single hair that comes out of my head on its own has a tiny 1 mm of brown on the end as opposed to the 1 cm of regrowth that I actually have. Every single hair that comes out has this 1 mm of brown on the end which is making me wonder if it is actually coming out from the roots or not as the roots are much longer. I am started to get very concerned and would appreciate any answers you could give. Thanks.

It is always difficult for me to interpret the meaning of what you are seeing without making my own observations of your clinical examination. I generally employ densitometry (a science I invented and patented) which allows me to visualize the degree of miniaturization of the hair and the area in different parts of your scalp. First, I need to know if you have genetic balding. A good visualization with high magnification would serve to address the diagnosis.

The average person loses 100-150 hairs per day, so your report of 50 is not alarming. Although we undergo asynchronous hair growth, many people do see some cycling of the hair loss, not to the degree of animals with synchronous growth (shedding), but certainly what you describe could be present on a temporary basis. Time will clearly tell us and after you get a good diagnosis (reassuring yourself that you do not have genetic balding), then waiting this out is a reasonable next step. The hair character does change with age, and it is possible that you are changing the character of your hair which makes you more conscious of your recent past history of hair loss and hair breakage. You might consider letting your hair go natural brown and see if the hair loss slows down, but the first thing to do is to get a good examination and diagnosis.

Does Cool Laser Therapy work?

The low laser energy therapy is relatively new in the United States. It has been used in Europe for some time. The evidence is anecdotal, but there is no real good objective science to prove value. Everyone wants to believe that it works. Products like the laser comb are available for around $600 and people seem to be willing to invest in such products in the hope that it will work. I have reviewed all of the cursory science from Europe, and possibly there is a suggestion that the increase in hair fullness may be in the order of 10%. If that happens, then it would be good, but the issue is ‘at what cost?’ I am going to participate in a well controlled assessment of this therapy shortly. If the company follows through with the study, it will put numbers to the value of laser treatment so people like you can determine its worth in your approach to hair loss. At this time, I can not endorse it, but I feel that there is no down side to its use except the money you invest.

I have recently began using the new lazer comb. It was given to me as a gift. I was curious if it has been effective in the hair loss fight? Any comments, advice, side effects would be greatly appreciated.

I have not read any impartial scientific papers that verify the effectiveness of laser combs. I tend to discount any reports that claim the combs work, if they are written by those who have a vested interest in the success of the laser comb industry. On the positive side, I have not read any papers that claim that is unsafe to use the laser comb. Since the comb was a gift, and you plan on using it as recommended, I see no reason for you not to try it. However, if you see any adverse reactions or have continuing balding, you may want to have a doctor examine you and see if there are any recommended and scientifically proven methods that may help you.

I’ve previously written about this in a previous blog entry, Hair Lasers.

Do women really care if a man is bald?

According to a survey that appears in the July/August issue of Cargo on newsstands June 14, “almost half of U.S. women do not mind if a man is losing his hair, but 99 percent are against comb-overs.”

Forty-eight percent of the women in the online poll for Cargo magazine say men shouldn’t even worry about hair loss, while 32 percent recommend going with the flow and cutting all hair off. Only 1 percent suggest hiding a balding head under a cap or a comb-over.