Hair loss and male pattern baldness
Hair loss is something that a large percentage of men dread as they get older. Some don’t start losing their hair until they’re in their 40’s or older, but others begin losing it as early as their twenties.
The average human has around 100,000 hair follicles on their head. Over the course of a lifetime each follicle can grow approximately 20 hairs. Dispite what you might think hair loss if very common. In fact everyone loses on average 100 stands on hair each day. However, in the case of male pattern baldness and male hair loss these strands fail to grow back.
Hair loss
In men who suffer from male pattern baldness ( or androgenic alopecia to give it its medical term) the hair on the head starts to thin. Of cause the extend to which a man loses his hair can vary greatly, from a thinning at the front of the scalp (alopecia areata) to a complete hair reduction across the whole of the head (alopecia totalis
There are no concrete theories as to why some men lose their hair and some don't. Much folklore surrounds male pattern baldness, including that men who suffer hair loss have inheritted the hair loss gene from their mothers father, or that hair loss is linked somehow to intellect - the smarter the person the less hair they will have on their head - have you seen a picture of Albert Einstein!
Scientific research has shown that male pattern baldness varies among the races. For example in caucasian men up to 80 percent of all white men will suffer from hair loss and male pattern baldness in part by the time they are 60 years old. Whereas the least likely race to lose their hair are Chinese men - with only 40 percent of Chinese men likely to suffer from male pattern baldness by the time they turn 60 years old.
Male hair loss is hereditary (our genes are inheritted from our mothers and fathers) and just like the colour of our eyes very rarely change, the same can be said of hair loss. If a man, or woman for that matter, has a genetic predisposition to suffer from baldness, the likelihood is they WILL begin suffer at sometime in their life. That said their are a number of treatments now on the market that seemingly show signs that male pattern baldness, though not reversable, can be 'consealed'.
Hair loss treatments
For example the ex-footballer Lee Sharpe used a treatment called Nourkin, which reports hair growth in males and females who have before suffered from hair loss.
Listen to Lee Sharpe talking about this treatment
Other sports stars who have actively promoted hair loss treatment are Austin Healy, the ex-England rugby star, and Graham Gooch, ex captain of the England cricket team. Both men have had laser hair treatment, a treatment which basically replaces hair in areas of the head that had previously started to show signs of receding or complete baldness.
NOTE: Do note that the British advertising Watchdog, The Advertising Standards Authority, has previously told a hair treatment company to withdraw claims made in an advert featuring former England cricket captain Graham Gooch. The firm, The Advanced Hair Studio, claimed that clients could enjoy an active lifestyle of "swimming, showering and playing sport" when in fact another previous client had suggested that he'd had a certain number of problems after using the treatment.
For all in tense and purposes (treatment aside) male pattern baldness is permanent. As yet there is no clear medical cure. With this in mind it is important that balding men come to terms with their hair loss and begin to think about changing your hair style. Some obvious ideas include:
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