How To STOP Hair Loss and REGROW Thinning Hair-Baldness is not your DESTINY

Baldness is the partial or complete lack of hair growth, and part of the wider topic of "hair thinning". The degree and pattern of baldness varies, but its most common cause is androgenic alopecia, alopecia androgenetica, or alopecia seborrheica, with the last term primarily used in Europe.

Pattern balding is distinct from alopecia areata, which commonly involves patchy hair loss. Extreme forms of alopecia areata are alopecia totalis, which involves the loss of all head hair, and the most extreme form, alopecia universalis, which involves the loss of all hair from the head and the body.

More than 95% of hair thinning in men is male pattern baldness,^[1] or androgenic alopecia.^[2] Male pattern baldness is characterized by hair receding from the lateral sides of the forehead (known as a "receding hairline") and/or a thinning crown (balding to the area known as the ‘vertex’).^[3] Both become more pronounced until they eventually meet, leaving a horseshoe-shaped ring of hair around the back of the head.

The incidence of pattern baldness varies from population to population and is based on genetic background. Environmental factors do not seem to affect this type of baldness greatly. One large scale study in Maryborough, Victoria, Australia showed the prevalence of mid-frontal baldness increases with age and affects 73.5 percent of men and 57 percent of women aged 80 and over. A rough rule of thumb is that the incidence of baldness in males corresponds to chronological age. For example, according to Medem Medical Library's website, male pattern baldness (MPB) affects roughly 40 million men in the United States. Approximately 25 percent of men begin balding by age 30; two-thirds begin balding by age 60.

There is a 4 in 7 chance of receiving the baldness gene.^[4] Onset of hair loss sometimes begins as early as the end of puberty, and is mostlygenetically determined. It was previously believed that baldness was inherited from the maternal grandfather. While there is some basis for this belief, both parents contribute to their offspring's likelihood of hair loss. Most likely, inheritance is technically "autosomal dominant with mixedpenetrance"^{[citation needed]}.

The trigger for this type of baldness is DHT, a powerful^{[clarification needed]} sex hormone, body- and facial-hair growth promoter that can adversely affect the prostate as well as the hair located on the head.^[5] The mechanism by which DHT accomplishes this is not yet fully understood. In genetically prone scalps (i.e., those experiencing male or female pattern baldness), DHT initiates a process of follicular miniaturization, in which the hair follicle begins to deteriorate. As a consequence, the hair’s growth phase (anagen) is shortened, and young, unpigmented vellus hair is prevented from growing and maturing into the deeply rooted and pigmented terminal hair that makes up 90 percent of the hair on the head.^[6] In time, hair becomes thinner, and its overall volume is reduced so that it resembles fragile vellus hair or "peach fuzz" until, finally, the follicle goes dormant and ceases producing hair completely.

Other causes[edit source | editbeta]

Besides the most common cause, male pattern baldness, there are several other causes of hair thinning or loss:

Traction alopecia is most commonly found in people with ponytails or cornrows who pull on their hair with excessive force. In addition, rigorous brushing and heat styling, rough scalp massage can damage the cuticle, the hard outer casing of the hair. This causes individual strands to become weak and break off, reducing overall hair volume.

• Trichotillomania is the loss of hair caused by compulsive pulling and bending of the hairs. Onset of this disorder tends to begin around the onset of puberty and usually continues through adulthood. Due to the constant extraction of the hair roots, permanent hair loss can occur.
• Traumas such as childbirth, major surgery, poisoning, and severe stress may cause a hair loss condition known as telogen effluvium,^[7] in which a large number of hairs enter the resting phase at the same time, causing shedding and subsequent thinning. The condition also presents as a side effect of chemotherapy – while targeting dividing cancer cells, this treatment also affects hair’s growth phase with the result that almost 90% of hairs fall out soon after chemotherapy starts.^[8]
• Radiation to the scalp, as when radiotherapy is applied to the head for the treatment of certain cancers there, can cause baldness of the irradiated areas.
• Temporary or permanent hair loss can be caused by several medications, including those for blood pressure problems, diabetes, heart disease and cholesterol.^[9] Any that affect the body’s hormone balance can have a pronounced effect: these include the contraceptive pill, hormone replacement therapy, steroids and acne medications.^[10]
• Worrisome hair loss often follows childbirth without causing actual baldness. In this situation, the hair is actually thicker during pregnancy due to increased circulating oestrogens. After the baby is born, the oestrogen levels fall back to normal prepregnancy levels, and the additional hair foliage drops out. A similar situation occurs in women taking the fertility-stimulating drugclomiphene.
• Studies have shown that poor nutrition, limited food intake, and deficiencies in certain nutrients can cause thinning. These include deficiencies of biotin, protein, zinc and poor human iron metabolism, although complete baldness is not usually seen. A diet high in animal fats (often found in fast food) and vitamin A is also thought to have an effect on hair loss.
• Stress has been shown to restrict the blood supply to capillaries, inhibiting oxygen and nutrient uptake of hair follicles and inhibiting hair growth, in an effect similar to that from having poor circulation.
• Air and water pollutants as well as minerals in water and the phototoxic effects of sunlight can cause thinning by aging the scalp skin and damaging hair.
• Some treatments used to cure mycotic infections can cause massive hair loss.^[11]
• Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder also known as "spot baldness" that can result in hair loss ranging from just one location (Alopecia areata monolocularis) to every hair on the entire body (Alopecia areata universalis). Although thought to be caused by hair follicles becoming dormant, what triggers alopecia areata is not known. In most cases the condition corrects itself, but it can also spread to the entire scalp (alopecia totalis) or to the entire body (alopecia universalis).
• Localized or diffuse hair loss may also occur in cicatricial alopecia (lupus erythematosus, lichen plano pilaris, folliculitis decalvans, central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia, postmenopausal frontal fibrosing alopecia, etc.). Tumours and skin outgrowths also induce localized baldness (sebaceous nevus, basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma).
• Hypothyroidism (an under-active thyroid) and the side effects of its related medications can cause hair loss, typically frontal, which is particularly associated with thinning of the outer third of the eyebrows (also seen with syphilis). Hyperthyroidism (an over-active thyroid) can also cause hair loss, which is parietal rather than frontal.
• Temporary loss of hair can occur in areas where sebaceous cysts are present for considerable duration (normally one to several weeks).
• Congenital triangular alopecia – It is a triangular, or oval in some cases, shaped patch of hair loss in the temple area of the scalp that occurs mostly in young children. The affected area mainly contains vellus hair follicles or no hair follicles at all, but it does not expand. Its causes are unknown, and although it is a permanent condition, it does not have any other effect on the affected individuals.^[12]
• Gradual thinning of hair with age is a natural condition known as involutional alopecia. This is caused by an increasing number of hair follicles switching from the growth, or anagen, phase into a resting phase, or telogen phase, so that remaining hairs become shorter and fewer in number.
• An unhealthy scalp environment can play a significant role in hair thinning by contributing to miniaturization or causing damage. Air and water pollutants, environmental toxins, conventional styling products and excessive amounts of sebum have the potential to build up on the scalp. This debris can block hair follicles and cause their deterioration and consequent miniaturization of hair. It can also physically restrict hair growth or damage the hair cuticle, leading to hair that is weakened and easily broken off before its natural lifecycle has ended.
• Demodex folliculorum, a microscopic mite that feeds on the sebum produced by the sebaceous glands, denies hair essential nutrients and can cause thinning. Demodex folliculorum is not present on every scalp and is more likely to live in an excessively oily scalp environment. Baldness is not only a human trait. Some other primates, such as chimpanzees, stump-tailed macaques, and South American uakari show progressive thinning of the hair on the scalp after adolescence^{[citation needed]}. Adult stump-tailed macaques, in fact, are commonly used in laboratories for the testing of hair-regrowth treatments.^{[citation needed]}
  One interesting case study is the maneless male Tsavo lion. The Tsavo lions prides are unique in that they frequently have only a single male lion with an average of 7 to 8 adult females, as opposed to 4 females in other lion species prides. It is theorized that Tsavo males may have heightened levels of testosterone, which could explain both their reputation for aggression and dominance, indicating that manelessness may at one time have had an alpha correlation.^[14]