Male Baldness

When it comes to hair the adage less is more, does not hold true. Men and women both lose hair, but baldness is rare in women. Male pattern baldness is the most common type of hair loss in men. It usually follows a typical pattern of receding hairline and hair thinning on the crown.For centuries, men have been groping to find answers to the hairloss. Gersh Kuntzman in his book Hair: Mankind's Historic Quest to End Baldness states some—unclean living, visiting prostitues, masturbation in exess and stress.

Hair Raising Facts

We have about 100, 000 hairs on the scalp.
It is normal to lose 50 –100 hairs a day.
On the loss of 50% of hair hairloss becomes noticeable.
Scalp hair grows a centimeter every month.
Hair grows for 4-7 years, before being shed.

Balding men

Studies say by age 35 one third of all men experience some degree of baldness.
Besides genes, researchers have found that male hormones, which are produced during puberty, play a role in triggering baldness.

Men with high levels of the hormone dihydrotestosterone tend to lose their hair at higher rates than those with lower levels. Paradoxically, DHT also causes a man's beard to grow.

Handle with care

Use natural hair care products.
Do not comb hair when it is wet.
Avoid crash diets and diets that neglect food groups.
Eat a diet high in biotin or take a supplement. Good food sources include green peas, lentils, walnuts, suflower seeds.
Increase intake of soy. Soy foods appear to inhibit the formation of idhydrotestosterone,, a hormone implicated in the process of hair loss.

Treatment Options

US Food and Drug Administration has approved the sale of Minoxidil solution, which is applied topically. The results may come with 4 months of use and hair stops growing in, once the medicine is stopped.

When hair refuses to grow from roots, borrow some in the form of hair transplant.