Confused About the Norwood Chart

I have a question about the norwood scale pictures. When the pictures show very little hair, is it supposed to represent literally that amount of hair, or any noticeable amount of thinning? I suppose an example would be 3 vs 4v. Does 3 mean there is no thinning at all and 4v mean they still have a decent head of hair, but the hair on top is thinner?

I’m sorry this question has been very hard to word, and i hope it makes sense.

The Norwood chart is just a list of patterns showing how men bald and probably where they stop in the balding process. But in the 1970s when Dr. O’Tar Norwood updated Dr. Hamilton’s initial studies, he surveyed a large number of men and clearly most were in some phase of the balding process.

It is not a progression of hair loss. For example — you do not go from Norwood 2 to Norwood 7 as you age. If you are going to be a Norwood 7 you will likely have thinning in a Norwood 7 pattern. You may not “look” like a Norwood 7 now (with all the hairs gone), but you may show early signs of it, especially when you look at your hair under a microscope. This is the reason why we always endorse a miniaturization study. I hope this clarifies things a bit.