|
|
|
|
What Causes Hair Loss?
Why do some men keep their hair well into old age while others begin
losing their hair at a young age?
A Genetic Problem?For most men
who are losing their hair before they'd like to, the answer is genetic.
Hair loss, like eye color, is an inherited trait. While you were still
forming in the womb, your hair follicles were being genetically coded.
If genes responsible for hair loss were present, they made the hair
follicles on top of your head sensitive to the hormone
dihydrotestosterone, or DHT. These follicles were then predisposed to
begin shrinking when you reached adulthood.
Unfortunately, once this genetic process begins, it will continue
throughout your lifetime. As the hairs produced by your ever-shrinking
follicles become finer and finer, they will begin failing to grow to
normal length. And what is first noticed as "thinning hair" or a
"receding hairline" progresses to baldness when the shrinking follicles
finally stop producing any hair at all.
Popular Misconceptions
For many years our schools have taught — quite erroneously — that hair
loss is always inherited from the mother's father. Medical science now
knows that baldness genes are passed down from both sides of the family.
They also can skip generations, and are utterly random in terms of which
siblings they will affect; it is quite common for a man keep a full head
of hair while his brother goes bald in his twenties.
How Important Is Hair Care?
Contrary to common belief, hair loss is not caused by a failure to take
good care of your hair. Consumers waste millions of dollars on shampoos
and phony, non-FDA approved treatments. (Only two medications, Rogaine
and Propecia, have ever been approved by the FDA to treat hair loss.) We
have counseled too many men who held themselves responsible for their
hair loss. It is important to understand that with very few exceptions
our hair follicles are going to live or die by their genetic coding —
and nothing else.
Medical science is still searching for a complete understanding of the
biochemical processes that occur within our hair follicles.
Click here to learn more about the science
behind hair loss and what you can do about it.
|
