How Far Back In My Family Tree Should I Look for Balding?
You’ve said before that balding comes from both sides with a tiny bit more weight on your mother’s side. When looking through a family tree for traits and patterns of hair loss (which I’m sure every visitor to this site has done over and over), how far back or in to your extended family should you look (cousins, uncles, great uncles, etc.), or can it spring up out of anywhere? I understand there are many environmental factors as well, but I ask because I have some unique traits I can’t attribute to anyone I have photos of in the past two generations or my second cousins even.
Genetic hair loss will likely be visible somewhere in your family tree, but I really cannot give you a definitive way to predict if you have the hair loss gene just by looking at your family members. The best way to know is look in the mirror… or see a doctor for a miniaturization study and/or hair bulk analysis.
The genes can be determined by genetic testing to 70% accuracy (see HairDX), but the test doesn’t tell you at what point the genes will be expressed, if at all.
when i was younger i told my dad that his older brothers, who were already bald then, might be adopted, since their uncles on both sides, weren’t bald… he had to laugh out loud, kids do say the darnest things! :)