Can you prevent genetic/inherited hair loss? Read Description?

Question

I'm am a male and I am 14 years old. My granddad went completely bald. My dad, (who is in his 40s) has a bald patch and may go bald later on in life. I have recently noticed when I am drying my hair with a towel about 10 strands of hair always end up beneath me in the bath tub. I use a hair dryer sometimes as well. I admit I use a lot of shampoo and conditioner, A LOT. I also aren't that healthy either? In year 4,5,6 7 and 8 I used hair gel EVERYDAY, but in year 9 I stopped for good and haven't touched the stuff in 1 year. What can I do? I don't want to end up bold? Can someone please tell me how I can stop this?!

I cant use any product on my hair yet, I don't think its at that point, I still have a full head of hair, but my dads brother isn't bold and he is 6 years older than him? Why is that?

Answer 1

Someone with more knowledge may correct me on this, but I seem to recall that the hair genes are passed down from your mothers mother. So your father and grandfather may have no relevance in this. In my case my dad was bald as an egg at 28. I was a nervous teenager, I can tell you that. But I am older than 28 now, and still have most all of my hair. Of course, It grows in different places now, but I have hair. In My ears, nose, back, more than I want really. So, don't worry about it.

Answer 2

It's too soon to say whether or not you will go bald as I have never heard of a documented case in history of a 14 year old male experiencing male pattern baldness.



Losing 10 hair strands a day is normal. It is normal to lose anywhere from 50-100 hairs per day as part of the natural shedding process. Hairs (like skin cells) have a life cycle. Once the cycle is complete, they shed and new hairs grow back in. That's how it works.



Baldness IS genetic, but where those genes come from is totally random for each person. Dean O mentioned a popular theory out there which states that baldness comes from your maternal grandfather (your mother's dad). This theory is easy to disprove because if you look at a family of several brothers, you will often find varying degress of baldness. One of my good friends for example is 40 and has a full head of hair. His brother on the other hand lost all his hair in his 20's. If men inherited their baldness pattern from their maternal grandfather (or grandmother), then how do you explain that? Shouldn't they have the exact same pattern of baldness then? Clearly it's random. It's passed down from somewhere but no one can pinpoint where. That being said, if every single male family member that you know in your extended family is bald, it doesn't look good for you. Still - you never know. Stranger things have happened.



As for hair gels, etc. - don't worry about that. People always start stressing over various external factors when they begin worrying about hair loss. They think it's bad to wear a hat, or eat certain foods, or wear hair products, or feel stressed out, or whatever. Male pattern baldness is basically 99% genetic. So it doesn't matter if you wear hair gel or whatever - it will have nothing to do with hair loss.

Answer 3

Yes Dean is right. How dose your mother relative hair look like ? my dad went bald but i have to much hair(some say) like my mom. I ask the same question when i was 16 and a doctor told me what dean said. Im 45 now with super thick hair to the middle of my back.