Balding Blog

One never gets enough information. Estrogen protects the hair follicle from the genetic devastation in women that normally affects men with the same genetic code.

https://academic.oup.com/edrv/article/27/6/677/2355194

My son will be 12 this August, I have been noticing lately on his pillow in the morning, there is some lose hair on it, I would say about 12 strands. I have never noticed this before and I would like to know if this is normal or something I should be concerned about. I was wondering if this could be related to puberty, his voice is starting to change or if it is coincidental? Thanks for your time.

It is normal to lose 100 to even as many as 200 hairs a day. Furthermore hair grows in cycles (see below) and you may notice more hair falling out at different phases and seasons of the month. In other words, hair growth and hair loss can be a cyclical phenomenon. Other factors certainly contribute to hair loss such as hormonal changes, malnutrition, etc. While your son’s hormonal changes of puberty may be coinciding with the hair loss, it is my opinion that 12 strands a day is perfectly normal.

Hair follicle cells have three phases of growth:

1. Growth phase (Anagen phase) which lasts anywhere from 2 to 6 years. This is the phase where your hair is actively growing at approximately 10cm per year. 85% of hair is at this phase at any given time.
2. Transitional phase (Catagen phase) which lasts about 2 weeks. This is the phase where the hair follicle shrinks and prepares to enter the resting phase.
3. Resting phase (Telogen phase) which lasts about 1- 6 months. This is the phase where hair does not grow but stays attached to the follicle. Some hairs are shed at this phase, but at the end the hair follicle re-enters the growth phase to start the cycle over again. 10-15% of hairs are at this phase at any given time.

I’ve noticed recently when I run my had through my hair that there will be a few single hairs on my hand. I don’t know if this is a sign of going bald or just natural? My older brother is bald, but started going bald when he was about 23 or 24, I’m 27 and this is the first I’ve noticed hair falling out. I don’t see hair falling out in clumps, but could this be an early sign of balding?

Hair loss in a 27 year old man may start the way you are telling me about. You need to get your hair examination and mapped for miniaturization and that will tell you if you have genetic balding in its early stage.

I was wondering. When some of my hair falls out when I’m drying it with a towel, I notice some hair strands are thicker than others. Is that a sign of miniturization? Or am I just paranoid?

Hairs normally fall out at a rate of about 100/day, more when you wash your hair. The hairs that fall out as part of the normal hair cycle are usually normal thickness hairs, but if you lose a miniaturized hair, say goodbye to it, for it may not come back.

I am a 21 (about to be 22) year old male and I am currently in between a NW 2 and 3 on the balding scale. I’ve been taking propecia for about 4 months with decent results.

My question is, when I examine hair that has fallen out of my head, it appears that the hair is lighter colored at the base of the hair (near the bulb) than up around the middle and tip. Is this a sign that the hair has thinned or is it normal for hair to be lighter near the base?

You did not state your hair color. In blonde, gray or white haired people, the bulb is lighter. In hair that is near the end of its life, the pigment changes may be lighter in color as is hair that is about to go into telogen. If you are worried about balding, then get your hair mapped out for miniaturization to determine what is actually going on in your hair.

When you have been on minoxidil for a long time and have built minoxidil dependent hairs, then these hairs will fall out within 1-3 months after the drug is stopped.

How long does it take for hair to fall out after stopping minoxidil from tressless

I now have a few areas of white scalp which I can see coming from where the hair fell out. Will it grow back?

Dyes can be dangerous when they are improperly used and you most likely had a chemical burn from inappropriately used dyes which goes deep below the skin to kill the hair follicles in many instances. This is unfortunately common and these chemical burns most often cause permanent hair loss. Hair transplantation works if the burn is not too extensive. ?Scalp Micropigmentation also works in some situations (see here: https://scalpmicropigmentation.com/smp-for-women/