My pubic hair is about 90% gone compared to two years ago, when I got my breast cancer diagnosis and started taking hormone blockers. However, my underarm hair doesn’t seem to be thinning, and I have acquired a few coarse hairs on my chin (which I tweeze) and interestingly, my leg hair seems to be getting thicker.
ETA: It’s not so much gone, as that the hair on my mons veneris (the front part) is thinner and straighter.
As noted upthread, even hair on the head isn’t lost uniformly. The basis for hair transplant surgery is some hair, such as those on the back of the head, are genetically predisposed toward not falling out, making them ideal for being inserted where hair is desired. Cite.
The reason you lose hair on the top of your head with male pattern baldness is because of dihydrotestosterone, which is a sex hormone. Some hair follicles have more DHT receptors than others, so the ones with the most receptors are the most sensitive to being damaged by DHT. The hair follicles on the sides of your head aren’t as sensitive to DHT, so when you have male pattern baldness you lose hair on the top but not on the sides of your head as often.
Drugs designed to treat baldness generally work by inhibiting DHT synthesis or blocking DHT receptors (I believe).
@ thorny locust and Broomstick - you aren’t alone. The hair on my arms pretty much vanished after menopause. I still get leg and armpit hair, but much less and it grows in more slowly. Less shaving for me, so no complaints.
From what I recall from my readings on the subject many moons ago, the testosterone that is responsible form male pattern baldness interestingly enough also causes hair to grow on other parts of the body. When I was a teenager, I wanted a hairy chest. After reading the above, I changed my mind on this matter.
I also recall a report of a female cancer patient who complained that while she lost the hair on her head while undergoing chemotherapy, she didn’t lose the hair on her legs, armpits, whatever, that she would normally remove.
While this is often assumed, and while male pattern baldness and body hair are both influenced by testosterone, there isn’t a real correlation. Male pattern baldness isn’t caused by high testosterone, but rather the genetic susceptibility of head hair to testosterone. Male pattern baldness can affect men with average and low levels of testosterone as well.
From the Wikipedia cite, it seems that although some hair loss post transplant does happen, it due to the transplant not taking hold rather than whatever caused the hair loss in the first place. It’s the hair follicles that are resistant to hair loss, so if they are transplanted carefully, with no damage to the follicles, they should stick well in their new location.