Although there are many causes of hair loss,
such as hereditary, stress, frequent usage
of harsh hair care products, the most common
form of hair loss, Androgentic Alopecia, or
male pattern baldness, is experienced by
over 70% of Caucasian men, 50% in Asian men
and about 30 to 40% in African Americans.
Male Pattern Baldness (MPB) represents close
to 95% of all hair loss among males.
Androgenetic, consist of ANDROGEN (The
hormones that control the appearance and
development of masculine characteristics
such as testosterone) and GENETIC and AGE.
Male hair loss usually occurs at the front
and at the vertex of the scalp with these
signs and symptoms:
- Thinning and fine hair;
- Receding hairline
- Moderate to extensive loss of hair,
especially on the crown areas.
Male pattern hair loss usually starts with
the hair at the temples, which gradually
recedes to form an "M" shape. Hair
becomes thinner and does not grow as long as
it once did. Sooner or later, hair loss also
starts at the crown area of the head. As the
condition progresses, the point of the
"M" continues to recede, while the
bald spot at the crown widens. Eventually,
the thinning crown and receding point may
meet. Eventually, a horse-shoe pattern of
hair appears around the sides of your head.
Usually, the remaining hair in the balding
areas is thinner and grows very slowly, the
form of hair also changes from long, thick,
coarse, pigmented hair to short, fine and
colorless baby hair .
A receding hairline can reflect age, but not
necessarily occurs at old age, more and more
young men have experienced hair loss. Many
of them experience receding hairline or even
baldness before their thirties. Since male
pattern hair loss is mostly related to
hereditary, a man can usually, although not
always, predict the extent of his future
baldness by looking into his family hair
loss history.
Current scientific study shows that when age
coupled with genetics, it represents a time
clock that will signal the hair follicle to
produce an enzyme named 5 alpha reductase.
When the testosterone present in the
follicle combines with the enzyme 5 alpha
reductase, it produces dihydrotestosterone (DHT).
Hair follicle receptors are very sensitive
to DHT and they genetically shrink when
exposed to excessive DHT. As the follicles
become smaller, the hair growing phase
shortens and the dormant phases lengthen,
therefore the hair becomes increasingly
thinner and less firmly rooted. Then the
process of male pattern hair loss starts |
