Going bald. Losing your hair. Receding hairline. Thinning hair. Male pattern baldness also known as Androgenetic Alopecia.
Whatever you call it, it’s something that happens to most men at some point in their lives. Men start going bald as early as their 20s (including me) and sometimes even sooner.
More than 50% of men over 50 years of age will suffer from some form of male pattern baldness during their lives according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM).
For women, hair loss tends to occur after menopause.
But it’s much more prevalent in men and tends to occur at a much earlier age too.
Androgenetic Alopecia is the medical term that refers to the most common type of male hair loss AKA male pattern baldness.
The symptoms are fairly obvious: Your hair falls out. It doesn’t grow back or slowly grows back less and less.
Classic male pattern baldness is where the hair on the top (crown) area of the head disappears and a ring of hair around the back of the head from ear to ear tends to remain. The remaining hair forms the shape of a horseshoe.
Hair loss is a normal and expected result for humans. The average person loses 50-100 hairs per day from their head on average. You might lose closer to 200 hairs per day. For most people since hair grows back, it isn’t noticeable.
It isn’t until your hair falls out at a faster rate that it grows back – and eventually stops growing in certain spots completely – that you notice what is going on.
Causes of Going Bald
While researchers haven’t fully confirmed the major risk factors that lead to you going bald – if they did we’d have a cure – here are a number of genetic and environmental factors believed to be involved:
Heredity
The widely held view is that a hormone called DHT shrinks hair follicles and causes the hairs to grow back lighter and thinner. Eventually the hairs stop growing, leading to baldness.
Bottom line: Male pattern baldness comes from our parents. That’s pretty much it.
There are other factors like disease, the use of chemotherapy, stress, infections and poor diet. These can all contribute to hair loss, both permanent and temporary.
But the most likely reason you are losing or have lost your hair is heredity and there is nothing we can do about it.
So we can move to the question of…
…What Can I Do About Going Bald? (Androgenetic Alopecia advice)
I already talked about my personal experience with a hair replacement system. It’s not something I recommend.
You could go for a hair transplant. They’re costly and obviously involves surgery of some kind. Technology has come a long way since the old days of cheap, inferior surgical procedures that produced doll-like hair that was very noticeable and fake looking.
You could try one of many topical hair growth products that claim to help with hair loss. Some either claim to stop it in its tracks or reverse it and help you grow your hair back. You have to be careful here to avoid throwing your money away with products that simply don’t work.
Or you could just shave it off like I did.
It’s a modern, cheap look. You’ll never have to buy a hairdryer or gel again. Think of the savings!!
I guess you could invest in a nice hat too. But you have to take it off at some point.
Let’s not even going to mention a combover because at no point in time did that option ever look good.
And don’t try a ponytail either. In some respects that works even less because you probably don’t have enough hair to warrant one.
I just shaved it off back in 1995 and I’m glad I did. Mind you, that was after the 2 year hair system debacle.
Tips For Androgenetic Alopecia
OK, so you’re not ready to shave your head or aren’t willing to do it. What alternatives do you have other than what has been mentioned above?
Cut Your Hair Short
If you’re not interested to shave your head completely, you could simply start by cutting it really short. This is a common option for men. The longer your hair, the more obvious your hair loss as people can see the discrepancy between areas on your head.
Cutting it short helps to hide it somewhat and makes it look less like you’re trying to over compensate.
Grow Facial Hair
Growing facial hair – a moustache, goatee or a full beard – can help to compensate because it tends to draw attention from your head to your face.
Work Out
Work out. This is a longer term solution and might not even be possible given your genes, lifestyle, age and interest. But the more muscular you are, the better your overall look and the more likely you are to feel confident. Obviously there are the health benefits associated with it too.
But take a look at famous bald men and bald guys you meet in the street. Notice their build and how a bigger, more muscular, healthy body tends to draw your attention away from their bald head.
Change Your Look
Tanning also helps. The darker your skin and less pale you look, the healthier you are perceived to be. When was the last time you heard someone say they needed to hide indoors for awhile to get pale? People go in the sun, tanning salons, etc for the opposite reason.
No one is saying you need to go to a tanning salon or hang out at the beach 24/7. But a tanned look does tend to make people look healthier and is considered to be the “norm” that people aspire to. It may help to hide imperfections and make you feel better as as result.
Modernize your wardrobe. Again, it’s about improving your look, drawing attention away from your head and making yourself feel better.
And none of that works, you can still shave your head.
How have you dealt with your Androgenetic Alopecia? Let us know in the comments below!