My maternal grandfather was bald and my father, who’s almost 60, has substantial thinning around his crown and a receded hairline. I just turned 27, and I don’t seem to have much if any thinning. The temples of my hairline have receded an inch or so in the last couple of years but everything else seems to be in place.

How long can my luck hold out? I have plenty of friends my age who have already lost substantial hair but I have not even though I’m certain I’ll lose substantial hair because of genetic inheritance.

As a general rule, you may follow your family pattern not only with balding but with the onset date. When did your dad start balding? You can have your scalp mapped out for miniaturization to see if you have early signs of genetic hair loss, but if you do not see it, I would not even go that far.

Dear Doctor,
I have this very close friend who is 15 years old. He is suffering from hair loss and has been since about the age of 11. I’ve talked to him about it many times and he says that the amount of hair he loses after showers is unbelievable. Even when he runs his fingers through his hair strands come out. I really would like to do what I can to help him, he has trouble talking to people so I’m basically the only one who can help. He also gets made fun of at school sometimes and no one likes to be teased. I’ve read up on different causes of hair loss but nothing really is directed to younger teens. Please help me help him.

Young men as young as 13 can have genetic hair loss. He needs to see a good doctor, get his hair and scalp mapped out for miniaturization and find out if he is genetically balding. Assuming it is genetic hair loss, then the drug that is best to hold on to his hair is Propecia. He must get help and get proper management; the price of premature balding is too grave a consequence for denying the problem.

I’m only 15 years old and I’m starting toI started to lose my hair about month ago.I had mentined it to my mom when I first noticed it.She had told me that it might be from stress.I don’t know what I should do.Can you please help me.Thank you so much.

Where are you losing your hair? Any bald spots? How many hairs are you losing per day? Is it receding? It is normal to lose up to 100 hairs per day. Sometime, you may go through a shedding phase where you lose a significant amounts of hair and then stop. There are many causes to hair loss like Male Pattern Baldness (adrogenous alopecia), alopecia areata, hypothyroidism, eczema, telogen effluvium and stress. Send me your photos or come by for a free consult so that I can better evaluate your scalp.

Sometimes, assuming you are male, the genetic balding process can start early, even younger boys than you can develop it. You will need your scalp mapped out for miniaturization and a diagnosis for genetic hair loss must be made by an expert. The use of Propecia is not an unreasonable approach, as long as your parents are involved with making the decision.

Hi, I’m a 17 year old male and I first noticed my hair getting thin at 15. It was a general thinning but no specific spots. I never noticed a period of shedding I went to the doctor who thought it was MPD but did a biopsy to be sure. It turned out it wasn’t MPD. I was taking minocycline for acne at the time and stoped taking it because i thoght it might be causing the thinning. At that point it got a lttle worse and then stopped getting worse. I have have all the blood tests to check for everything, hormones, thyroid, and nothing was wrong. I have had nothing out of the ordinary happen and im a normal person in every other aspect. While it hasn’t gotten worse, it hasnt gotten any better. I’m afraid its an underlieing disease. Any ideas?

Male Pattern Balding (genetic hair loss) is possible in teenagers. Did the biopsy show any inflammation? It would be a good idea to send pictures or stop by in person for me to evaluate you and I would then determine the degree of hair miniaturization at every point in your scalp. That should show patterns consistent with genetic hair loss if this is the correct diagnosis. If you are taking any medication or herbal pills, that could be a cause as well. At 17 years old, you may have accelerated MPB which might benefit from Propecia.

Please help. I am 26 years old and I have had long hair for about 10 years. I have been keeping my hair in a tight bun or braids all of the time. I also used to texturize and dye my hair frequently. I recently cut my hair off for a job and so now I have it kept short. For the first few months I thought my hair looked fine. Maybe I hadn’t paid much attention to it but I think I had. Now, four months since cutting my hair. I have noticed that my hair is extremely thin in the back of my head near my hairline. Its to the point where it looks bald. Will I ever be able to grow hair back there again? If I got a transplant would it leave nasty scars on my head if I wanted to shave my hair down low? Are there any treatments for me or have I damaged my hair for too long. Can I get a transplant over scar tissue? Should I be able to look at my balding spot and tell if I damaged my hair permanenly? Im not to sure how long it has been thin like this for. I have always had long hair to cover it up I guess. Do I have any hope. Thank you in advance

Your story is not unusual as denial is a common reaction to aging in the young man who believes that he is forever immune to signs of aging or balding or ill health. I generally think that young people have a concept that their bodies are their castle with high walls which protect them from every malady know to man. Now, your keen eye shows the crack in the armor. I suspect that the insidious nature of the balding process has crept up on you and when you stood back and looked, there it was. Look at the various sections in this blog (particularly the Age category) to see what you can do. Get your hair mapped out for miniaturization to make a diagnosis and then see if you may benefit from Propecia or hair transplant options. Make a Master Plan before going headlong into a panic, be methodical in doing your research, get a copy of our book to review the various options and explore our website at newhair.com.

Hello
I am 23 years of age and I am losing hair (mainly because of dandruff). I would like to know until what age does hair regrow naturally.

We generally say that the hair wreath around the sides and top of the head, a 2 1/2 inch high area that runs from ear to ear, is permanent. We see this in the men who are very bald; they really never become fully bald as this wreath of ‘donor’ hair stays for life. The rest of the hair on the head of a very bald man may or may not last the lifetime of the man, depending upon their genetics. In women with no genetic hair loss, the same applies and the hair loss remains for the life of the patient. The small wreath of hair that we say is permanent in men, may not be permanent in women. Therein lies one of the differences in women’s genetic hair loss as compared to men’s genetic hair loss. On many women and men, the overall population of the hair may be decreased with age (unfortunate medical term is senile alopecia), but that rarely impacts more than 30% of the hair in impacted areas. So, worse case, an answer to your question is that fully 70% of hair on the head will last a lifetime, if genetic factors do not force it into an early death.

My grandmother lived to 114 years of age, and her hair was long (2-3 feet) and still growing when she died. She had a full head of hair. My grandfather died at 102 years of age with a full “Ronald Reagan” type head of hair with a hair line like he had when he was 10. He had a hair cut about every 3 weeks, and died at work behind his desk, a few days after his last hair cut (something he enjoyed doing very much because he got out and about). It’s all in the genetics of what our parents and grand parents gave to us (life span for ourselves and for our hair).