Balding

[Dog-amoto]

This sucks. I'm 32 now and have been steadily been losing my hair since I was about 21. I'm not as bad as quite a few people my age, but it's getting pretty noticeable now - losing a bit from the top of my head and around the temples.

 

Bet it's not something that most of you who are in your teens think about - but chances are if your dad or grandad is bald, then it'll more than likely happen to you some day and there's not much you can do about it!

 

So, who else is in, or soon will be in, the same boat as me, and what are you going to do about it? Shave your head like Bruce Willis, always wear a hat or go for the Bobby Charlton combover?

[Diageo]

My father is not balding and neither was my grandfather when he was alive. So I think I am in the clear

[Ashley]

"Did you know on average men with full heads of hair earn 17% more than their bald counterparts"

 

Just thought I'd throw that out there

 

I'm not going bald. I decided.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Well, my dad doesn't seem to be going bald, and he turns 60 very soon, so I feel safe!

[Platty]

Well I'm going bald/already bald.

 

Not quite 27 yet, so this is not good. As a kid and throughout my teenage years I had lovely blond locks. Infact in the early 90's I hit up the superb curtains look

 

All the men in my family from both sides are bald. Just looking at my cousins in their 20's I knew it was coming and there was nothing I could do about it.

 

The hairline started receeding when I was around 21 but I managed to hide this by growing the back/sides and styling it forward and no one was any the wiser. But then over the next few years the top started thining and at about 24 I decided it was time to shave it all off and ever since then I just shave whats left of my hair off. I've noticed recently that I have started getting the bald patch at the back around crown. Not good. The sides and back still grow like a there is no tomorrow and if I let that get out of control I proper look like an old man! haha.

 

Bah I don't really mind. Saves me time in the morning now, don't have to bother with the hair. Plus men who go bald have higher testosterone making us more of a man than others :p

[Caris]

The amount of times I hear the phrase "well, at least you will never go bald" is crazy, why? Because I'm extremely lucky in this area. I have my dads hair. He's 66 and has the best head of hair I've ever seen for anyone his age, it's barley even turning grey!

 

I do have a double crown though which makes it a nightmare to manage if it's long.

[Will]

My hair is thinning on top, I don't like it one bit but there's not a lot I can do about it. I'm hoping it doesn't get too bad too soon, I really like having hair.

[martinist]

My father has a bald spot on the back of his head, so did my grandfather >___>

 

Its only a matter of time >__<

[Nolan]

My father is pretty well bald, but I'm doing alright so far.

 

I know some people who were going bald by like 18 so it could be worse.

[Serebii]

Seems to be happening to me a bit too, especially since I lost the weight My hairline has receeded a bit...but I'm good at covering it with my long awesome hair

[Jav_NE]

My dad has a massive bald circle on his head, but he's not completely bald and he's 70 now so, i'm hoping i will be okay. Compared with my older brothers im doing well too. Most of them started thinning out by the time they were my age, but i've still got ridiculously thick and curly hair, so its all good.

 

I'm really bad for getting my hair cut though. I go to hairdresers like less than 5 times a year. Maybe that helps?!?!

[Supergrunch]

chances are if your dad or grandad is bald, then it'll more than likely happen to you some day and there's not much you can do about it!

This isn't strictly true. The genetics surrounding baldness aren't fully understood, but what is known is that it's at least partially linked to the X chromosome, which is why women rarely get it. So let's look at a simple model where baldness is determined only by a single X-linked gene:

 

So in this model, there are two types of X chromosome - those with the "bald" form of the gene and those without. Let's represent the first type as X and the second as X. Y chromosomes, by contrast, don't have a copy of this gene at all, so isn't involved. Now, baldness is what's known as recessive - this basically means that so long as you have at least one X, you won't be bald, presumably because it does something like manufacturing protein necessary to prevent balding. So we have five possible combinations:

 

hairy man: XY

bald man: XY

hairy woman: XX

hairy woman (but carrier of baldness): XX

bald woman (rare, note it's also less like male baldness and more like thinning): XX

 

Now when people reproduce, all the genes get shuffled up, so the genetics of your mother are actually more important. For instance, in my case, my dad is bald and so XY, whereas my maternal grandfather, along with other male relatives on my mum's side of the family are all hairy, meaning my mum is probably XX. In this context, you can think of offspring as taking one random chromosome from each parent, giving four equally likely outcomes:

 

XX XX XY XY

 

So given I'm male and so XY, this model actually suggests I have no chance of baldness at all. However, it may be that my determination of my mum as XX is incorrect, and also other genes may be involved, so I still have some chance of baldness. As for the other possibilities, we get the following:

 

bald man (XY) x carrier female (XX): Male offspring have a 50% chance of baldness, female offspring will either be bald or carriers (50% chance for each).

hairy man (XY) x non-carrier female (XX): No offspring can be bald or carriers.

hairy man (XY) x carrier female (XX): Male offspring have a 50% chance of baldness, all female offspring are carriers (50%) or not carriers (50%).

bald man (XY) x bald female (XX): All offspring are bald.

hairy man (XY) x bald female (XX): All male offspring are bald, all female offspring are carriers.

 

There might be some slight errors in the above, but the general principle is more important - baldness is a lot more complex than just being inherited from your dad, and if anything your mum's genes are more important.

Edited August 1, 2010 by Supergrunch

[Raining_again]

*brain implosion*

 

nice facts there grunchy

[Retro_Link]

Well I don't have the best of hairlines anyway and going bald does somewhat terrify me!

 

Hope I can last a while yet before I have to enlist the help of Shane Warne and his cricketing friends... but if I have to go down that route, I will do!

[The Bard]

Nobody in my family has gone bald, and that includes my extended family. One of the few perks of my mainly borked genetics. But, if I was going bald, I'd be sure and shave it all asap; male pattern balding is not flattering.

[spirited away]

The 'hairy man, x carrier female', there's a 50 % chance of female offspring carriers I think.

 

I'm blessed with really thick hair, which hairdressers always comment on. Combined with the fact that their is no baldness on either side of the family, it looks promising on the baldness front.

Edited August 1, 2010 by spirited away

[Raining_again]

I think a lot of female hair loss is associated with menopausal hormone changes rather than the male pattern baldness.

[Supergrunch]

The 'hairy man, x carrier female', there's a 50 % chance of female offspring carriers I think.

Oh yeah, thanks, thought there'd be some errors.

I think a lot of female hair loss is associated with menopausal hormone changes rather than the male pattern baldness.

Yep, it's probably caused by a lot of things - the female baldness I was focusing on was just the type that's caused by the same genes as male pattern baldness.

[Frank]

I'm still quite young so I'm not entirely sure yet.

Luckily I've always had quite think hair so I hope that will help me in the long run. But if nature decides to run its course and make me bald then I'll try not to intervene too much such as getting hair transplants.

 

Reason that I'm unsure is that all my uncles on both sides of the family have/are balding yet both my grandas have a full head of hair.

 

I'm stumped on that one.