Should a Norwood Class 3 Person Consider Himself Lucky?
You may have touched upon this question before but I was looking for clarification. In an early post (I’m talking a few months ago) you mentioned how a norwood class 3 would rarely, if ever, progress to a norwood 6/7. By this, can a norwood 3 consider himself quite lucky in the sense that he’s probably not going to experience crown loss? What exactly did you mean by this?
Everybody is different. If you have stabilized your hair loss pattern at a Norwood class 3, then you will probably not progress to further balding.
You are born with certain traits ranging from eye color, skin color, dimples, to hair loss patterns. I would not say having one trait is better or luckier than the other. I believe about 8% of men are born with a Norwood 6/7 trait. Does that mean those men are unlucky? For example, Michael Jordan is likely a Norwood 6. Would you consider him unlucky?
If my dad is a complete ‘slick’ nw 6/7 and my grandfather on my mothers side has maybe a NW3/4 hairline but bald/very thin/comover crown then does this mean that I will definitely end up as a NW4+ eventually? I have hairline recession at 28 and naturally very fine hair. I have been told by Dr Farjo that i have maybe a bit of thinning at my crown but generally good good coverage of terminal hairs on top ‘for now at least’.
You can still skip the genes from one parent or grandparent or receive a different gene expression so it’s not guaranteed at all. What you have is a higher statistical likelihood than someone who’s entire maternal and paternal ancestry had perfect hairlines.
Again it’s no guarantee but starting propecia at 28 may help stabilise your pattern for years or decades anyway.
Well everyone in my family had great heads of hair I know as far as great-grandfathers. My father started to lose it around 30 something hes a NW 5/6 at 67, my mom’s brother in his late 20s hes a NW5 at 43 (both men had no MPB family history) and me at 21. It’s funny how genes work! I wonder where I’ll end up…so far Propecia kept my hair for 4 years.
Yep genetics and epi genetics is a complex set of subjects. My dad was a Norwood 7 by 40, my younger brother is a Norwood 4/5 at 28, I had early signs of Norwood 3 at 30, took propecia for two years now, regrew my hairline erosion and have a stable mature hairline with no crown recession at all.
Unfortunately all my grandparents who are alive were adopted (bizarre quirk) so I have no way of knowing about past generations beyond that. But I suppose it could be lucky as I haven’t based my hair loss on what I *might* have been dealt. I can just deal with what is actually happening and not continually expect to follow in someone’s genetic footsteps.
I guess family history can always help with statistical analysis (other than in guaranteed known genetic disorders) but I have friends who have perfect juvenile hairlines who started propecia simply because their dad had balding. I think propecia is fantastic but I wouldn’t be taking it as a precaution. It’s a treatment.