Your explanation of the mature hairline is very helpful. However, is possible to have general thinning in the frontal hair regions at the same time the mature hairline develops. Could that still indicate the beginnings of male pattern baldness?
This is a very good question. Yes, you can experience balding at the same time that a maturing hairline develops.
Greeting Doctor Rassman. I am a 15 year-old male. I realize that your website relates to hair loss information, however, I was interested in asking you a general question about hair since you founded the New Hair Institute. At the current time, my facial hair grows at a decent rate for my age in my opinion. I considering having facial hair at such a young age a luxury. I’d love to be able to grow a beard over the next couple years. Although there is one problem, my facial hair does not grow as evenly on the left side of my neck as it does on the right side. It’s more empty on the left. I was wondering if you had any solutions to my problem, or if it is just because I haven’t fully matured yet. How long do you think it would take? I really appreciate any input you would have on this. Thank you for your time.
I have facial hair and I consider it a curse personally, because I hate shaving. The asymmetry of hair density on your beard can be normal. Not everyone develops symetrically. Be patient, the less hairy side will catch up all too soon.
I have written before, forgive the repeated question (I have not seen it answered to date). I’m 36, female, thin hair. Is there a certain amount of thinning hair that should have taken place to be on Minoxidil (generic Rogaine-women)? It’s over the counter, and I’m having hair shedding now, due to either childbirth (I had a baby 5 months ago) or medications. My hair is thin and my dermatologist recomended I take minixidil for three months, tapering off it at that point, to get hair jump-started growing. I’m scared to not stay on it once I start it for fear of losing hair again, and want to know if there’s anything wrong with being on Minoxidil if you are not really thin-haired or balding? What constitutes the need for it? Is it up to the consumer?
If you have lost hair from the pregnancy, chances are that your hair loss will reverse over the next 6 months or so. You might want to hold off on the minoxidil, just for the reasons you suggest. If the hair came back and you were on the medication, you might ascribe it to the drug rather than the normal reversal which you will probably experience. If after 5-6 months, you still have not had your hair loss begin reversing, then consider the drug at that time.
Apparently, this is pretty old, but I don’t think I saw it before so it’s new to me and worth sharing. Actor Bruce Willis was quoted earlier this year as saying…
“I’m a man and I will kick anybody’s ass who tries to tell me that I’m not one because my hair’s thinning.”
Strong words. There’s not much more to the article, but here’s the link for those interested:
Hi. Dr. Rassman,
I had an eyebrow transplant a month ago and still have redness and bumps like goose pimples. Most of the donor hairs have fallen out but I haved had a few pimples in the donor area. I still have not been out in public since (work out of my house) it looks obvious something was done to my face. Am I one of the few that this procedure might not work? I’m starting to worry, and I do see my doctor next week for a follow up. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. By the way I’m a 47 yr. old male with fair skin. (Swedish mostly). Thank you
The best thing is to follow-up with the doctor who did your eyebrow transplants. It seems you may have local irritation and may have developed local folliculitis, which can all be a normal part of healing or it can be an infection of the new follicles. There’s really no way for me to tell if there is something wrong from just a brief description without knowing what was done and how it was done (only your doctor knows this information) and what it looks like to my eye.
Hi Doc, I recently had a hair transplant, and just had my sutures removed (10 days post-op). My Dr. said that I can pretty much go back to normal on activities such as the way I sleep, shampoo my hair, etc.. All my scabs are off my head…
Can I blow-dry my hair now? Or should I wait unto my transplanted hairs shed within the coming weeks? Same for rogaine, can I start to reapply this to the transplanted area? I am starting to experience a good amount of shockloss, even being on propecia, so I want to restart my rogaine regiment…
Thanks! Great Site by the way
Your doctor should have covered this. Yes, you can blow dry your hair and use grooming adjuncts as you did prior to the transplant. Sleep any way you are comfortable. And if you were on Rogaine prior to the surgery and the hair is Rogaine dependent, do start it up or you will experience withdrawal hair loss.
Hi Dr Rassman,
I am a student journalist from City University London, England. I am researching a story on Intercytex and their development of the treatment ICX-TRC. I have a couple of questions about the therapy that you may be able to help me with.
- Is the use of cell cloning new to hair regeneration or has research already been carried out into this type of method?
- Will it be a matter of years or even decades before we see this method in commercial operation, if at all?
Thanks in advance
Best to check with the company, Intercytex. This type of research has been on going for some time.
Can hairloss be caused by inflammation(in addition to DHT sensitivity)?
The word inflammation is too general a term. You must narrow down your question and let me know specifically what type of inflammation you are talking about. To understand how to target the question you asked, see Wikipedia – Inflammation.
have been taking Lamisil for 2 months now and that past week I have been losing hair in clumps. I read on the net that this is an all too common side effect. I wanted to see if you knew if my hair would grow back after I stop taking it. If so then I may suffer through one more month to never have to take it again. I am a 31 year old male
Lamisil is often used in the treatment of fungal diseases of the skin, such as ringworm (when impacting the scalp it is called Tinea Capitis). These infections often cause hair loss and if you use Lamisil for treatment of the primary cause of the hair loss (Tinea Capitis) then it is easy to assume that it is the drug causing the thinning, but this is not usually true. From my research on the subject, Lamisil only rarely can be correlated with hair loss (one to one relationship).
Would a prolonged (5 yr duration) low caloric/fat restricted diet (low carbohydrate, moderate protein/high protien, very low fat intake) contribute to hairloss? If so, would the hair loss manifest itself in unpatterned total head thinning/miniaturization?
If you are not malnourished and have met your daily recommended requirements for vitamins, then a low fat, low caloric diet should not cause hair loss.
Dear Dr. Rassman,
First off, great site! Very informative.
I’m a 21 year old male, and am currently on Propecia. My hairloss isn’t noticeable yet, and in fact am not even sure I’m losing it yet (need to get it mapped out for minaturization), but I’m pretty sure I didn’t get lucky in the genetic lottery. When/if I ever need a transplant, I’m definitely coming to you.
Anyway, this is all unrelated to the question I wanted to ask you. I’ve begin to wonder recently what my head would look like shaved, and I think I’d look really awesome. I tried this stuff called Nair on my leg- and it removed the hair as well as any doubts I had about its efficacy. But, would it work on headhair? The directions instruct not to apply it to the face- but I’d like an alternative to shaving, as I have sensitive skin.
I always wondered about that myself. Beard hair is thicker, so it may be resistent to the way that product works on leg hair. If I were you, I’d follow the intended instructions and NOT apply it to the face. I just did some searching and discovered that there is a Nair Cream for Face that would probably be your best bet for the facial hair.
Dear Dr Rassman,
I am 26 years of age and have been losing lots of hair recently (last two months). I had a blood test and was told that my Thyroxine levels are slightly below normal. I am having another blood test in a week or two, but because my hair loss has been very quick I have been tempted to take propecia. I know propecia is best at keeping hair rather than restoring it so I am concerned that if I wait for my second blood test then start taking it I will have lost lots of hair. Is it not advisable to take propecia if I may have an underactive thyroid. I would be very grateful for your insight.
Propecia is a medication that needs to be precribed by a doctor. As harmless as Propecia (finasteride) may seem, there are subtle medical factors that only your doctor can assess. Sometimes, even if you are balding, Propecia may NOT be indicated. If so, you would be wasting your money. I realize that it is faily easy to obtain drugs over the internet, but I discourage such practice.
These medical issues are things you need to discuss with your doctor. Thyroid conditions are fairly easy to treat. The best “insight” that I can give you is that a patient to doctor relationship should be thought of as a partnership. I am a medical doctor, but I am not YOUR doctor. BaldingBlog is merely a platform of my personal opinions and an attempt to educate the general public.
My younger brother (32 years old) is undergoing a sex change operation. He’s on the hormones and going to the doctors, and i’m not really sure what is involved but the family supports him. My question is relating to the genetic hair loss that runs deep in our family in almost all of the males (our dad, my cousin, me, my brother). He started to lose his hairline before he began his transition and i think it is quite rare for a woman to lose the hairline, right? Right now he wears a wig, and he’s going to have enough challenges with closed minded people that i don’t want him to have to deal with something like hair that he can probably take care of with a hair transplant. What do you recomend? Thank you for your time.
When men become women, they bring with them whatever male patterned hair loss they had. As such, looking like a female is not possible without either a wig or a transplant. The reverse is also the case if a woman becomes a man. Exposure to high doses of testosterone will precipitate a male pattened loss if the person has the genetics for genetic balding. In this situation, their balding genetics were protected when they did not have testosterone and were a woman, but that protection is lost when the sex is switched. Transgender patients may be candidates for hair transplants if their balding can be diagnosed as genetic hair loss.
I seem to have come down with gray hair at an alarmingly young age, but as per your website, this is apparently possible and common. However, I would like to know if such a thing is related to premature hair loss. Could you please answer, if you could spare the time?
In my experience I have not seen a good correlation. It is just a genetic puzzle that we are still trying to figure out. We are all different.
An interesting point to note about hair color though, I have read that being a red head is associated with high pain tolerance. See Melanocortin-1 Gene for Red Hair and Pain Tolerance for details.
Im just wondering if you really need a prescription for Propecia? What could go wrong taking it. I ask this because I recently visited my doctor stating that I would like to try it – Im 40 with some thinning hair – no bald spots yet.
My doctor (who is 60ish with a full head of hair) said very few of his patients ever stick with it, as very little ever happens – and really I just needed to accept that my hair was going to fall out.
He then ushered my out.
Can you tell me what medical history type questions a more sympathetic doctor would ask?
Why cant I just buy it through the internet?
Yes, a prescription is necessary for obtaining Propecia (finasteride 1mg). You may not need to be on Propecia if you do not have male pattern hair loss. That is why in my practice I conduct miniaturization studies on all the patients that may be candidates for Propecia. That being said, there are many doctors who prescribe Propecia without a thorough examination. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it is my opinion that it is difficult to follow up with the patients after 6 to 8 months when there is NO objective documentation (miniaturization study pictures, numbers, data, etc) to see if Propecia is actually having an effect. To look at yourself in the mirror and feel your hair and say, “well, it looks a bit thicker/thinner”, is NOT scientific.
I recommend against just buying a prescription drug over the internet without a good physical exam. It is my opinion that you will be just throwing away money in most cases and even worse, putting your health at risk.
If you were to see any doctor for a medical problem, he/she should take the time to take a good history and conduct a good physical exam. The relationship between a doctor and patient should be thought of as a partership rather than a dictatorship.