If My Grandfather is Bald, Will I Be?

If you've been looking for the answer to this question, the answer depends on your genes. If your grandfather (or grandmother, for that matter) was bald or had thinning hair due to Androgenic alopecia, it was due to heredity. As generations progress, those genes are passed down, and they increase your chances for hair loss issues. Androgenic alopecia is also referred to as male pattern baldness, familial baldness and hereditary baldness. Male pattern baldness is the most common hair loss condition. Roughly half of men over the age of forty are affected by male pattern baldness(1). The incidence and the severity of androgenetic alopecia tend to be highest in white men, second highest in Asians and African Americans, and lowest in Native Americans and Eskimos, writes Robert P Feinstein, MD (an Associate Clinical Professor, in the Dermatology Department at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons)(2).

How Do We Lose Our Hair?

Humans grow hair everywhere on their bodies, except for the bottoms of their feet and their palms. Each hair on our heads has a different life cycle. There are phases in the life cycle; and they are:

1. Anagen - This phase lasts from two to six years and features energetic hair growth.
2. Catagen - This is a transitional phase that lasts 14 to 21 days.
3. Telogen - For two or three months, our hair rests, before falling out, and being replaced by another hair. This new hair then begins the life cycle.

Men with Androgenic alopecia experience a change in their hair follicle life cycles. Regular, active hairs begin to be replaced by thinner, less active hairs. During each hair cycle, they gradually become more and more narrow, until they stop growing. All of this is due to the androgen dihydrotestosterone. The classics signs of androgenic alopecia are a thinning of the hair on the crown of the head and a receding hair line.

How To Stop the Hair Loss Cycle

If you've been researching hair loss, you are probably aware of the products that are available. Rogaine and Propecia have been widely advertised, but their side effects have not. Propecia can cause sexual problems in 2% of the men who take it, and may also cause abnormalities of a male baby's sex organs' if a pregnant woman is in contact with the pills, according to Propecia's website(3). Rogaine, on the other hand, may cause the user to experience skin inflammation, acne on the scalp, additional hair loss, and (in rare cases where too much medication is used) blurred vision, chest pain, irregular heartbeat, facial swelling or weight gain. Luckily, you can treat hair loss safely with natural supplements. Even though your genes say you're going to lose your hair, you can fight it and you can win!

References (1) http://www.dermatologychannel.net/alopecia/androgenetic.shtml

(2) http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic21.htm

(3) http://www.propecia.com/finasteride/propecia/consumer/possible_side_effects/index.jsp

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