Widow’s Peak and Hair Loss

Hello doc, I’m a 24 year old white male.

I’ve read a lot of people refer to MPB as starting out with a “widow’s peak” but here’s a question for you sir: all of the females in my family have a natural widow’s peak shaped hairline, they aren’t flat but have that M shaped curve to them. The trait is dominant and I got one as a kid as well. I rarely see any older men out there that have low widow’s peak shaped hairlines, all of the men that have low hairlines as they age seem to have flat hairlines with just some hair loss at the temples.

My question is this: when a boy gets the widow’s peak hairline as opposed to flat, does that more commonly or always lead to a higher mature hairline as an adult? I am currently 24 and my hairline has some definate hair loss at the temples, but it still hasn’t gone back at all in the middle and very slightly on the sides. Does the fact that I have a widow’s peak shape mean I am destined for a high hairline on the front/sides?

Good question. I believe that the frontal juvenile hairline has different genetics than the hair behind it (the mature hairline) and that includes the widow’s peak. I have seen men who maintained the juvenile hairline and lost all of the hair behind it (just 1/2 inch of hair present that is normal for that man). Also, the central forelock has a distinct genetic pattern in some family lines (that forelock will last into old age even if all of the hair around it is lost). Nighttime talk show host David Letterman has a persistent forelock which on close examination looks like a round patch of hair isolated from the hair on the sides and behind it. Sometimes the forelock is connected to a widow’s peak and sometimes it is connected to the surrounding hair.