There Are Bald People Throughout History, So Why Are We Obsessed with Hair?

Is going bald even such a big deal. I know that many men could really care less about the way they look, the only reasons we keep our appearances up is for the ladies and for our professions. But there have been bald people throughout history, some of the sexiest men alive were bald. Do you think we are just becoming too vain and obsessed with our image?

Aging is a part of life and should be accepted. Today we here about older people taking anti aging creams, special diets, “get those 6 pack abs”, and so on. I think this is hurting us a lot and we many of us are losing our self esteem which is terrible. We should feel comfortable with ourselves.

Am i right? You Dr.Rassman are 67yrs old and look damn good for your age, there is nothing artificial to your image.

Why are we so self centered these days?

There are many reasons for this. History has shown that when men got sick (tuberculosis over the course of human history) they lost hair and died early, so when selecting a mate, women picked men who had good hair, because in the search for a husband they could not have a man would would die on them (not good for long term futures and babies). This had a great deal to do with prejudice against balding men. Men when they are in their 20s don’t yet have enough confidence in their manhood, so losing hair seems to exacerbate the balding problem. I’m not a psychologist or sociologist, but I am a surgeon that helps men improve their image… so maybe I’m the wrong person to ask a question like that.

Would it be safe to assume that you, the author of the above question, has no hair loss and no sensitivity to balding as a male problem? Do you think that George Clooney would look sexy as a bald man? If so, I have not seen him shave his head as an alternative style. I had someone on my staff do a quick Photoshop of what Mr. Clooney might look like bald and put it side-by-side with a typical look for the actor. Which do you prefer?

George Clooney


2009-03-24 16:42:05There Are Bald People Throughout History, So Why Are We Obsessed with Hair?

There appears to be a risk for type 2 diabetes for people who take finasteride in the treatment of Benign Prostate Enlargement

https://www.bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l1204

Conclusions The risk of developing new onset type 2 diabetes appears to be higher in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia exposed to 5?-reductase inhibitors than in men receiving tamsulosin, but did not differ between men receiving dutasteride and those receiving finasteride. Additional monitoring might be required for men starting these drugs, particularly in those with other risk factors for type 2 diabetes.


2019-12-02 14:23:23There appears to be a risk for type 2 diabetes for people who take finasteride in the treatment of Benign Prostate Enlargement

What Is the Theory of Balloon Expansion for Scalp Scarring? (From Reddit with photo)

The concept is simple enough. The normal scalp is stretched slowly over weeks with a balloon placed under the healthy part of the scalp. The balloon is then inflated three times a week until enough stretch is achieved to be able to advance the normal hair to cover the scarred area, which is removed on the same surgical procedure. It is not as painful as it looks. I have had patients wear a soft hat and they disguised the entire distortion. The scarring on this man most likely came from either an accident or a burn (if the photo does not show, click on the Icon).

Balloon expansion theory from tressless


2018-11-04 05:05:16What Is the Theory of Balloon Expansion for Scalp Scarring? (From Reddit with photo)

What theories exist for the causes of male hair loss ?

You should know that Egpytians were a mix of Bantu, Arabs and even a bit of Caucasian so its not surprising that their would have hairloss. Even African Americans suffer hair-loss due to mixtures with the European gene pool even if they are not Bantu of San

The San bushmen are an isolated and relatively pure ethnic group, and they are of special interest because they share the direct lineage from the direct descendants of all humans. They give us a window to what humans might have originally looked like 60000 years ago

The history for genetic hair loss and its causes has perplexed doctors and other scientists for generations; however, one doctor did come up with a solution which I outlined in a post some years ago after reading his book. Here is the post: https://baldingblog.com/2008/01/23/evolutionary-reason-for-hair-loss/

Theaflavins from Black Tea Extract and the Ability to Reduce Serum DHT?

Hi dr

I really like your site as you seem very genuine and take a considered approach. I am 26 and have been losing my hair for a few years now and am probably a Norwood 2 with a slight thinning all over. I have been hesitant about taking propecia due to the side effects and even freaked out after taking one pill as I thought my member was going to turn black and fall off (or something awful).

Luckily it didn’t but before embarking on a course of propecia I would like your opinion on the study regarding theaflavins from black tea extract and soy isoflavens and their ability to reduce serum dht by an amount equivalent to propecia. Granted the study was done on mice but as probably most of the readers on here are, I am rather desperate for a natural solution to hairloss. The study was done in 2003 which makes me think there’s nothing to it but would like to hear your opinion in any case. If a reduction in dht is the mechanism by which propecia works, couldn’t this work in theory?

Sorry for the rather long post but one other interesting study looked at a combination of capsicum and soy isoflavens and their ability to increase hair growth. I am reluctant to give citations or links to the website I found them on as it looks like a bazaar for snake oils and im sure your team are fully aware.

Many thanks, and if I do end up taking propecia I am confident that your honest appraisal of the incidence of side effects will go along way to reducing the placebo effect.

I hate to project what was reported in mice as transferable to humans, but our readership can draw their own conclusions that there may be value in theaflavins for reducing DHT. More research needs to be done to prove it would actually be effective in humans for treating hair loss, of course. The studies I’ve seen about this have continued to be limited to just mice and rats.

It does sound like if there was something to it from a decade’s worth of research, we’d be seeing more in the news about black tea extract being the hair loss treatment we’ve all been waiting for. Alas, that doesn’t appear to be the case at this point.

We’ve actually written a little about this before here, where I pointed out that black tea is extremely common in the UK, where hair loss is still seen just like in other parts of the world.

The World Was Thought to Be Flat — Maybe Dandruff and MPB Are Linked?!

Why do dandruff shampoos like Nizoral and pyrithione zinc supposedly help MPB? Perhaps there is indeed a connection between dandruff and MPB after all. Remember when everybody thought the world was flat, or that the universe revolved around the sun, or that DDT was safe for humans? 😉

Oak treeTo my knowledge, there are no good scientific studies to prove that Nizoral (ketoconazole) or zinc pyrithione help prevent balding, but they seem to be valuable for the treatment of dandruff. If I told you that eating a branch from an oak tree 15 times a day helped with MPB, would you blindly accept what I said? (For the record, oak trees will not cause your hair to grow.)

I get your comparison, but science and study have improved quite a bit since the “world is flat” days.

The Value of Double vs Single Follicular Unit Technique

I have seen on the internet, the promotion of a double FU technique. Can you explain it to me and tell me about the value of a double follicular unit technique.

Follicular units (FUs) have one, two, three or four hairs each. When they are placed in the recipient area, they are graded in the frontal hairline (FUs with one hair each up front). There are times when the doctor wants to have more two or three hair grafts and the donor area yielded too many one hair grafts (common in Asian patients). In this situation, two single hair grafts (or one single and one double hair graft) are placed into a single recipient site and that is what is referred to as a ‘double FU technique’.

A bald man may get between 250-500 single haired FUs at the leading edge to create a soft, transitional hairline zone. All other FUs should contain more than one hair each to produce value. As each person has a different distribution of single hair FUs out of a harvested strip, the number of single hair FUs are determined by the anatomy of the patient (not the surgeon). So to get more than a single hair FU to place behind the leading edge transition zone, one might have to double up the single hair FUs to get reasonable bulk. More bulk can be obtained by putting a single hair FU with a two-hair FU to create a three-hair FU so that there is a way for the surgeon to determine and control the bulk of the hair that is transplanted.


2007-09-28 15:33:50The Value of Double vs Single Follicular Unit Technique

The use of oral minoxidil is a good alternative to finasteride (see article)

https://www.jaad.org/article/S0190-9622(19)30685-1/fulltext

This article is taken from on of the most prestegeous journals in dermatology. Every medication has its risks. Hypertrichosis (excess body hair) is a common side effect in the study population making it difficult for a permanent solution for women who experience this side effect. My wife was on minoxidil topically and enough was absorbed into her body to produce early facial hair. It went away after she stopped it. For men, more body and facial hair may not be a problem, so this is a real alternative for those who can’t take finasteride.


2019-09-15 08:51:05The use of oral minoxidil is a good alternative to finasteride (see article)