A balding future
Posted by The Rookie on May 30, 2002 at 20:54:30: Previous Next
Hi all.
Sitting in a large crowd recently I took a moment out from listening to the speaker to take a look round. What I noticed surprises and perturbs me somewhat. I scanned the crowd to find that a huge majority of the men were balding (more than were not anyway). Now, I have no data to confirm this but it seems to me that male pattern baldness is on the increase.
True or false? I don’t know.
With exception to those treatments prescribed by dermatologists, I feel that certain treatments (e.g., rubbing a range of natural products into your scalp) and preventative treatments (e.g., not wearing hats too much) aren’t scientifically sound. So I was wondering if anyone had any ideas or any evidence to suggest the causes or reasons for male pattern baldness.
Pondering this question for a while a scary thought entered my mind. Why does pattern baldness effect mainly men and not women? Well, what do men do to their hair that women tend not to? The answer is of course cut their hair very short and very frequently. What I am getting at is reasonably short hairstyles for men have been in fashion for I would guess a few hundred years (maybe longer in some cultures). If men have been continually cropping their hair for this time (and even shorter styles, e.g. – the complete buzz cut seem to be popular) perhaps through evolution - if you prescribe to the writings of Mr. Darwin - nature has decided that if we are gonna cut it, why bother growing it?
I would be delighted to here other theories and also someone dispute my argument. After all, if it is evolutionary then I doubt there is a perfect cure for the individual. In conclusion I would say that I for one shall be continuing to grow my hair and very infrequently dare to trim it. If not for the sakes of future hairy male generations, then for the sakes of the already longhaired minorities.
Good night America…where ever you are.
Re: A balding future
Posted by Baldie the Eagle on May 31, 2002 at 00:29:05: Previous Next
In Reply to: A balding future posted by The Rookie on May 30, 2002 at 20:54:30:
I don't think it makes an ydifference to male pattern baldness whether you cut your hair or not. I have never had more than one haircur a year for all of my life, but mpb started tp be a serious problem when I was about 30 or so.
That was about the time they started to introduce lead free petrol (gas if you're in the US). I think our polluted skies are maybe one reason that the top of our heads are suffering in the same way as acid rain is killing the trees.
Maybe I should sue the world's largest governments for the trauma of losing a substantial amount of my hair and not being able to have it all as long as I want it to be. Must be worth a few billions, surely!
Re: A balding future
Posted by LongHairTroll on May 31, 2002 at 03:08:57: Previous Next
In Reply to: A balding future posted by The Rookie on May 30, 2002 at 20:54:30:
Male pattern baldness is caused by high levels of testosterone in the body - something you inherit from your parents. testosterone is produced by your testies which is why women don't suffer the same problem. It has nothing to do with cutting. Higher levels of testosterone generally indicates a more virile male so it's not all bad news!
Re: A balding future
Posted by Reflective on May 31, 2002 at 07:14:18: Previous Next
In Reply to: A balding future posted by The Rookie on May 30, 2002 at 20:54:30:
Umm... no, this is NOT Darwinian thinking. Actually, it was LeMarck who said that if you cut off the Giraffe's tail, then the giraffe's children won't have tails. BTW, it doesn't work this way at all. LeMarck theory was debunked by Darwin's theory of evolution which simply states that if a trait helps one to produce viable offspring, then it will be favored. Guess what, male pattern baldness is an unfortunate, but non harmful, side effect of just such a trait. Testerone is what drives the sex instinct in men. It is what motivates men to reproduce and thus generate viable offspring. Unfortunately, it is also what 'attacks' the hair follicles on the head. Is MPB more prevalent than it used to be? Maybe in the sense that men with higher levels of testoserone have, through the eons, been driven to produce more offspring than less 'sexed' males. Thus passing the trait on to an ever greater percentage of the population. I doubt however, that you would see a noticeable increase in your lifetime. Rather, what you notice is probably a direct result of your own aging process. Meaning you are mixing with older men than you used to. Better check in the mirror!
I have linked an excellent site that discusses all things baldness and the treatments for it.
Re: A balding future
Posted by Bill on May 31, 2002 at 12:24:27: Previous Next
In Reply to: Re: A balding future posted by Reflective on May 31, 2002 at 07:14:18:
: Testerone is what drives the sex instinct in men. It is what motivates men to reproduce and thus generate viable offspring. Unfortunately, it is also what 'attacks' the hair follicles on the head.
The hair has to be amenable to that attack, though. Facial hair thrives on the stuff! In fact, it won't grow without it, and if you give women shots of it, they will get beards.
So we're probably looking at a genetic disposition to have hair strands in certain places be sensitive to it.
hair sludge clogs
Posted by The Kid on May 31, 2002 at 08:53:59: Previous Next
In Reply to: A balding future posted by The Rookie on May 30, 2002 at 20:54:30:
I wonder that myself having a dad and a brother who r going bald. My dad always had short hair...except when q ball city set in. Maybe natural hair oil tends to build up a sludge like paste that longer hair carries away from the scalp, but shorter hair keeps it on the scalp. This paste then prevents other hairs from growing to replace terminal hairs and mpb kicks in.
Marty
Re: hair sludge clogs
Posted by former ponytailwannabe on May 31, 2002 at 12:59:37: Previous Next
In Reply to: hair sludge clogs posted by The Kid on May 31, 2002 at 08:53:59:
Best analysis I've seen yet Marty. All sounds very logical. My Dad was the same way. I have my Mom's hair thank God.
thanx!
Posted by The Kid on May 31, 2002 at 22:29:01: Previous Next
In Reply to: Re: hair sludge clogs posted by former ponytailwannabe on May 31, 2002 at 12:59:37:
Thanx for the compliment :>
It sounds right to me-we'll see if I'm right if women's hair starts falling out in mass as a lot of women are cutting their hair short now.
: Best analysis I've seen yet Marty. All sounds very logical. My Dad was the same way. I have my Mom's hair thank God.
Re: A balding future
Posted by InUtero on June 01, 2002 at 08:18:27: Previous Next
In Reply to: A balding future posted by The Rookie on May 30, 2002 at 20:54:30:
You would definatly not see a difference in a single human lifetime on the amount of men going bald due to 'evolution' eg: as some have suggested- from cutting.
Baldness is due to a side chemical of testosterone, thats all and is genetic, so you inherit this. So to find if you will be balding, just look at your parents, and their parents.
I know that this information is correct as I saw an article on a British TV program called ''This Morning''. They have a doctor on each day to discuss items such as balding etc.
It is definatly not evolutionary.
Re: A balding future
Posted by Hairy on June 01, 2002 at 09:46:44: Previous Next
In Reply to: A balding future posted by The Rookie on May 30, 2002 at 20:54:30:
: Hi all.
: Sitting in a large crowd recently I took a moment out from listening to the speaker to take a look round. What I noticed surprises and perturbs me somewhat. I scanned the crowd to find that a huge majority of the men were balding (more than were not anyway). Now, I have no data to confirm this but it seems to me that male pattern baldness is on the increase.
: True or false? I don’t know.
: With exception to those treatments prescribed by dermatologists, I feel that certain treatments (e.g., rubbing a range of natural products into your scalp) and preventative treatments (e.g., not wearing hats too much) aren’t scientifically sound. So I was wondering if anyone had any ideas or any evidence to suggest the causes or reasons for male pattern baldness.
: Pondering this question for a while a scary thought entered my mind. Why does pattern baldness effect mainly men and not women? Well, what do men do to their hair that women tend not to? The answer is of course cut their hair very short and very frequently. What I am getting at is reasonably short hairstyles for men have been in fashion for I would guess a few hundred years (maybe longer in some cultures). If men have been continually cropping their hair for this time (and even shorter styles, e.g. – the complete buzz cut seem to be popular) perhaps through evolution - if you prescribe to the writings of Mr. Darwin - nature has decided that if we are gonna cut it, why bother growing it?
: I would be delighted to here other theories and also someone dispute my argument. After all, if it is evolutionary then I doubt there is a perfect cure for the individual. In conclusion I would say that I for one shall be continuing to grow my hair and very infrequently dare to trim it. If not for the sakes of future hairy male generations, then for the sakes of the already longhaired minorities.
: Good night America…where ever you are.
Eunuchs never go bald. Ultimate proof against the Darwinist thought.
Re: A balding future
Posted by NorCal Scott on June 03, 2002 at 17:05:29: Previous Next
In Reply to: A balding future posted by The Rookie on May 30, 2002 at 20:54:30:
The following is based upon 30 years of on-again, off-again studying the problems of male pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia, medically speaking).
To start balding, you must satisfy two different conditions - you must have a sufficient amount of testosterone that is available to scalp hair, and you must have an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase. The 5-alpha reductase is necessary to convert testosterone to a metabolite called dihydrotestosterone (DHT). If you have no testosterone (not good if you are a male and are at all interested in sex), you will not go bald (the well-known eunuch or castrato). If you have lots of testosterone, but no 5-alpha reductase, you will also not go bald. However, if you have no 5-alpha when you are in the womb, you will not develop male genitalia (well, you do, but it looks like a clitoris. Bummer).
It is true that testosterone by itself will cause hair loss. However, that effect is much smaller than that caused by DHT. That is the target of drugs like Propecia (a special, reduced dose of Proscar, or finasteride). There is a new drug awaiting release called dutasteride, with a tradename of Avolve. It works in a similar way, in that it reduces DHT; it just works better and more completely than Propecia.
Women can and do loose their hair. They typically don't express this pre-menopause because estrogen appears to protect against the effects of testosterone. Yes, women also produce testosterone, I believe from the adrenal glands which sit atop the kidneys. You often see older women with thinning hair. I work with a woman who is almost completely bald. It does not affect her self-esteem as far as I can see.
The myth that baldness is caused by hair sludge is an old and completely false one. Nothing can stop a functioning hair from growing through skin itself; that is known as an ingrown hair. It grows into the skin and can become infected.
Pollution has nothing to do with hairloss that I know of. It does cause cancer, heart disease, etc., but not baldness.
Alcoholics often have great heads of hair. That's because over-indulgence has a feminizing effect by lowering the amount of testosterone and raising the amount of estrogen.
Length of hair has no effect on hairloss. Once hair leaves the follicle, it is a simple protein structure that has no blood or nerve supply, and, effectively, is dead.
Nature has selected for the hair patterns we exhibit based upon millions of years of evolution. What we have is the best, most hard-won example of what works best to make the most babies.
I personally believe that baldness, since it is associated with aging, is a sign to the female that the man's germ cells (sperm) is likely to be damaged simply due to the effects of aging on all of the body's organs and cells.
That is why a full, dense head of hair should attract women, since it signals a better, more fertile reproductive nature of the male.
(References upon request. Really.)
: Hi all.
: Sitting in a large crowd recently I took a moment out from listening to the speaker to take a look round.
The answer to balding
Posted by ewok on June 19, 2002 at 07:47:51: Previous Next
In Reply to: A balding future posted by The Rookie on May 30, 2002 at 20:54:30:
If testosterone causes baldness.....Can I hack off one of my nuts? (or maybe just crush it severely) Surely this will lower the amount of testosterone in my body and I will keep my hair for ever. Maybe I could pioneer it... I've got a vice... surely I can make money from this.......
Re: A balding future
Posted by Christopher on July 18, 2002 at 13:25:38: Previous Next
In Reply to: A balding future posted by The Rookie on May 30, 2002 at 20:54:30:
I'm somewhat suprised that none of you mentioned the simple genetic differences between men and women as a factor for why more men than women are bald. Men have one X and one Y chromosome. The X chromosome carries the trait for baldness and baldness luckily for women is a recessive trait, hence men with only one X that has baldness trait become bald and women who have two X chromosomes can have one X that carries baldness and still have a full head of hair as long as the other X doesn't carry the trait for baldness. Long hair.. short hair, really don't think that is a factor, but simple genetics and yes teratagens (environmental factors) can cause baldness, men are just more susceptible.
Found this board while looking for places that I could donate my hair to, very interesting. Kind of wish I could run the risk of not getting it cut and still getting a job in the teaching field...
Take care.
: Hi all.
: Sitting in a large crowd recently I took a moment out from ...
: With exception to those treatments prescribed by dermatologists, I feel that certain treatments (e.g., rubbing a range of natural products into your scalp) and preventative treatments (e.g., not wearing hats too much) aren’t scientifically sound. So I was wondering if anyone had any ideas or any evidence to suggest the causes or reasons for male pattern baldness.
: Pondering this question for a while a scary thought entered my mind. Why does pattern baldness effect mainly men and not women? Well, what do men do to their hair that women tend not to? The answer is of course cut their hair very short and very frequently. What I am getting at is reasonably short hairstyles for men have been in fashion for I would guess a few hundred years (maybe longer in some cultures). If men have been continually cropping their hair for this time (and even shorter styles, e.g. – the complete buzz cut seem to be popular) perhaps through evolution - if you prescribe to the writings of Mr. Darwin - nature has decided that if we are gonna cut it, why bother growing it?