Doesn’t a Class 5 Hair Loss Pattern Initially Start as Class 2 First?

This is a comment we received to a post from last week — Settling In to a Hair Loss Pattern:

“and even the balding patients who start as a class 5 may not go much further”

I am a little confused about this comment, does not everyone who start balding start at a class 2 which progresses towards a 3, then 4 and so on. how can a person start at class 5 if they already have a considerable amount of hair loss as class 5?

Sorry about that. I thought it was pretty clear. In the post you’re referencing, I said the “Norwood chart is not to be seen as a progression of hair loss chart, but rather the final patterns seen in a large male population.” Here’s what I meant…

When you bald, a pattern will develop and at times it may look like those patterns on the Norwood chart. If it isn’t visibly evident, the loss may show with a microscopic exam of your hair at various areas on your scalp. This is what we call the miniaturization study.

A patient can just start thinning all over the scalp like a class 5 or a 6 from the beginning of his hair loss process. It doesn’t have to go Norwood 2, then 3, then 4, and so on. A microscopic assessment of your hair (miniaturization study) will show much more than what your naked eye sees in the early stages of hair loss.