Male Hair Loss: Answers & Options
Submitted by SharpMan Editorial Team on Monday 11th October 2010- Why you're losing your hair.
- What you can do about hair loss.
- What method is best for your situation.
More than 35 million SharpMen in the United States are estimated to suffer from androgenetic alopecia predisposition, better known as male-pattern baldness. While it is a natural genetic occurrence for many men, the condition is not always so "naturally" accepted by mainstream culture. Because of this, SharpMen who suffer from hair loss often experience anxiety, a loss of self-confidence and even depression.
Losin’ your hair? Want some answers and options? Check out these SharpGrooming tips:
Why do men lose their hair?
Contrary to what many people believe, male-pattern baldness can be inherited from either parent. This genetic trait is also prone to skipping generations and may even skip or favor one sibling over another. While most hair is inherited, many outside factors, including diet, illness, tobacco use and hair care habits can also play a role. In addition, hairstyles that pull on hair, such as ponytails and braids, or consistently wearing and removing a baseball cap can affect or expedite hair loss.
What can you do about hair loss?
It seems everywhere you turn, there's a new product, pill, or surgery that "promises" to re-grow all or most of your hair. With so many choices, how do you know which method will work for you? The best Sharp advice is to
consult your doctor or dermatologist before trying any method, since different chemical factors may manifest themselves uniquely in different SharpMen. In other words, what grows hair for some may promote hair loss in others!
In order to understand some of the options available to you, check out the following popular methods of hair re-growth:
Shampoos, Tonics and Pills
Rogaine™ Of all the treatments for hair loss, Rogaine™; is perhaps the most promising and most controversial. The liquid formula contains a chemical called minoxidil, designed to be applied topically (directly onto your head) two times a day. Rogaine™; has been approved to stop loss hair on the crown, or back of your head (the "doughnut hole"), but has yet to be proven to affect hair loss on the top of your head (the receding hairline part).
Did you get that subtle use of language? Rogaine™; has been proven to stop hair loss when used every day, but has only shown an ability to promote new hair growth in some cases. For savvy SharpMen, this means that the "early bird catches the worm" — it’s best to start using a product like Rogaine™; when you first notice your hair thinning. Research has shown that men between 20 to 30 years old who only recently (within five years) began to grow bald, were not completely bald and weren't bald at the temples, benefited most from using Rogaine™.
But realize that the use of minoxidil is somewhat of a commitment: if you stop using Rogaine™, you’ll begin to lose your hair again.
Recently, Upjohn, the manufacturer of Rogaine™, received approval from the U.S. government to sell Rogaine™ as an over-the-counter drug (without a prescription). A complete starter kit is available for purchase online.
Propecia™. The first hair loss treatment available in pill form is Propecia™. More than simply arresting hair loss, the Propecia™ treatment, requiring users to ingest one pill per day, has been proven to significantly increase hair weight and improve hair quality, making individual hairs thicker and longer, in addition to increasing their number. The idea is that improved hair quality and thickness helps to hide thinning areas.
However, realize that unlike Rogaine, the Propecia™ treatment takes time. You may wait up to 12 months before you see an end to your hair loss, let alone any re-growth. Patients who fail to see results after one year are unlikely to see them at all.
Ultimately, the biggest issues with Propecia™ are the side effects associated with use. Some SharpMen may experience temporary changes including oily skin, acne, and a slightly increased sex drive. Some men have reported a connection between their use of Propecia™ and an ability to achieve better muscle development in conjunction with a regular work out routine. On the downside, due to a high level of testosterone, some SharpMen may experience a temporary decrease in sex drive following the initial increase. Most seriously, although no formal studies have been done, some physicians have ed the use of Propecia™ with permanent liver damage.
Propecia™ is available by prescription only.
Revivogen™. Revivogen™ is a new hair loss product marketed to both men and women. Its formula and effectiveness are more closely related to Propecia™ than any other product, without the side effects of Propecia™.
Revivogen™ is applied to the scalp like a shampoo and is designed to inhibit the production of a form of testosterone called DHT (Dihydrotestostrone). Why? DHT promotes the growth of facial and body hair, and is associated with the loss and thinning of head hair. Revivogen's™ anti-DHT ingredients have been proven to reduce DHT production and therefore arrest hair loss and promote head hair growth — naturally and without a prescription.
Because of the non-pharmaceutical nature of the entire Revivogen™ product line, the manufacturers of Revivogen™ proudly indicate that it has no known side effects and is available online without a doctor’s prescription.
Going Under The Knife
For those SharpMen who don’t care for tonics, shampoos or pills, check out these options:
Hair transplantations. The most popular procedure for hair transplantation is the graft — a surgical procedure that borrows hair from an area with a lot of it and transplants it onto an area that requires more. Grafting has been performed long enough to be relatively safe, with less than one percent of all cases resulting in any form of post-surgical complications.
More specifically, grafts of the patient's hair are moved from the back of the head and implanted in the balding portion of the scalp. This procedure will partially fill in a balding area and provide a fuller hairline. Realize that grafting is unlikely to reproduce the full head of hear you had as a kid. Also, the cost of this procedure can get spendy. The procedure costs runs about $10 and $30 per graft, or about $3000-$9000 for a standard transplant of 300 grafts.
Scalp reductions. A scalp reduction involves the surgical removal
of a portion of the balding area. Once the excess skin has been taken out, sutures are sewn in, pulling the remaining scalp tissue together and thereby reducing the overall surface area of the scalp (basically, making the bald spots shrink). This is used mostly to reduce balding on top of the head (as opposed to the doughnut in back). This procedure is often followed by surgery to insert mini-grafts into the remaining balding areas. As with grafting, this procedure can mean big bucks — usually several thousand dollars.
The hair "lift." In this surgery, used on men who have lost nearly all of the hair on the top of their head (the receding hairline part), the whole scalp is moved up and forward during a two to three hour operation. While a scalp reduction may cost roughly $2000, the hair lift can run three times this amount.
This procedure is high-priced and hard core: it involves the removal of a large portion of your hair and scalp from the area behind the temples. This hair and scalp parts are then re-planted in the front, balding part of the head. In this way, a new hairline is created.
Remember, beyond all the initial costs of consultation and surgeries, SharpMen should expect to incur additional expenses for "maintaining" their new looks, including additional consultations, haircuts, dyes and
replacements.
So, those pills, shampoos and gels aren’t lookin’ quite so bad now, are they???
The Sharp Way
Another option? Do nothing! Hey man, bald is beautiful! Have you heard bald men who say they're not losing their hair, they're just gaining scalp? These guys are among the group of bald or balding men who are not affected by the trauma of hair loss. Take Michael Jordan (or Lex Luthor), for instance — he made a bald head fashionable. Why be like everyone else? You can always choose to join those SharpMen with bald heads and enough attitude to keep the ladies hangin’ on.
This article last updated on Wednesday 13th October 2010