My Mother and My Grandmother Have Thinning Hair — Am I Next?

Dear Dr. Rassman,
I am a 30 year old woman, and I have a question about female pattern baldness. Both my mother (60 years old), and her mother (85 years old) have severely thinning hair, and have had for as long as I can remember. I have the same type of hair as they had when they were younger (fine and curly), and I am afraid that as I age my hair will start to thin as well. Is there anything I can do now to prevent this? I colour my hair approximately 3 times per year as I am going prematurely grey as well. On my fathers side, there is a history of male pattern baldness (all of my half-brothers were balding in their early twenties).

I would appreciate any advice that you could give, as I rather like my hair, and would like to keep it as long as possible. Thank you.

Female hair loss does run in families, but there is no one-to-one correlation between your mother’s problem and what you may experience. It is possible that you will not inherit the hair loss problem, but at this time one can not really say one way or the other. It doesn’t look to be in your favor with your heavy family history of hair loss, but unfortunately there’s really no preventive measures to take against your genetics. The best you could do is try minoxidil (Rogaine/Regaine) if you see the loss begin.