I Don’t Know If My Hair Loss is Genetics or Chemical Burn from Relaxers

Dear Dr. Rassman,
I am 28 yrs old have been suffering from hair loss since I was about 22 years of age. I am about a norwood 3 right now. I had chemically relaxed my hair once when I was 18 and a second time when I was about 21, while suffering a minor burn from my second treatment. I have taken the hair DX test and I have been told that I have a moderate predisposition to male pattern baldness. Can my hair loss be due to a combination of both factors?

If it were solely due to the chemical relaxers, would I have lost my hair when the injury occurred and wouldn’t my hair loss be more diffuse? If it is due to the insult by chemical straightening, would the hair/hair follicles show the same progression of hair loss as if it were male pattern baldness? I can’t change the past, but I would just like to know if my chemical relaxer treatments have led to this.

Thank You

You have a complex story and it would likely require a complex examination. Without seeing you and examining you, I can not tell you the cause of your hair loss or what you can do about it. The HairDX test can tell you if you’ve got the genetic markers, but it won’t tell you if or when you’ll see those genes expressed.

See a good hair transplant doctor who cares about your welfare and then you will know more than you know now.