If I Have Thick Chest Hair, Can I Rule Out Nutritional Imbalance As a Cause for Scalp Hair Loss?

Hello Dr Rassman,

I am a regular reader of this blog, and really appreciate your efforts in educating all of us. I am a 37 year old male with thinning hair. However, I have thick body hair on my chest and back. Given this I have the following questions:

1. Is the body hair different from scalp hair in its structure/chemistry even though they look pretty much the same?
2. Wouldn’t the nutritional need for body hair be no different from scalp hair?
3. Can I possibly rule out nutritional deficiencies/imbalances.

Would really appreciate your clarification.

thanks

Body and chest hair is different than scalp hair in thickness, rate of growth, and the different hair cycles that determine how long they will grow. Think about it — do you regularly get a body/chest haircut?

The most common hair loss in men is genetic hair loss. Nutritional deficiencies/imbalance are probably the lowest on the list for the causes of hair loss, particularly for most well-fed men.