Only 50% of Men Lose Hair? Looks Like More!
Dr. Rassman,
In prior posts here, you have stated that 50% of men experience some degree of balding in their lifetime. Yet, when looking around at older men, that number seems much higher than that! Men like Ronald Reagan stand out precisely because so few men still have ALL their hair in old age. Reagan’s hair would not be so striking if he was just part of the 50% who never lose hair. I am just wondering what that 50% stat is based on.
I believe that 50% is loosely based on observations by doctors and is quoted widely (even by me). I am not aware of any specific studies that looked at men in a certain age group and categorized them on a hair loss scale. So I guess the percentage could be 42%, 51%, 69%, 71%, etc….
On a final note we generally consider 50% of men go through some degree of genetic, patterned balding. This does not account for age related general hair loss, where there is no pattern.
I work at a coffee shop, so needless to say I see a variety of different people. I would say that it is VERY rare to see a man over 50 who doesn’t have some form of MPB. There have been times when I looked around the store only to find that every guy in the room has a bald spot or a receding hairline. In my daily observation, I would say that around 85-90%% of men have some form of genetic, pattern hair-loss throughout their life. Needless to say, Caucasians are the worst off in terms of pattern baldness. The numbers might even be higher for white people.
American Hairloss Association says 2/3 of men show a visible degree of balding by age 35. This is the only number that makes to me based on my real life observations.