I’m in my mid 30s now, officially, with no perceptible hair loss.
Now, genetically, it’s hard for me to tell what will happen. The men in my family tend to, well, not last very long. So, the lack of hair loss in most of them is more likely the result of premature death. So, I may be dead at 45, but dammit, I want my hair! I have an older brother, and he has every last hair remaining on his head, so maybe that’s a good sign for me.
I ask for guys a bit older than me, when did you start losing your hair? If I haven’t started losing it yet, am I in the clear?
All the males in my immediate family, father and two brothers, are pretty bald. I however am not at all bald. A few days ago my mother mentioned that none of the males on her side of the family ever went bald, so I must have their DNA.
When I was in my early forties my barber told me I would not go bald because he was still thinning my hair every few haircuts. He said if my hair wasn’t thinning by then I would keep it all. Fifteen years later he still pulls out the thinning scissors every few months, so I guess he was right.
I’m 40 and up until a few months ago I thought I was in the clear. Now it’s thinning on the crown, which I believe is what they call male-pattern baldness.
My younger sister is telling me I should shave off everything to “take control” of my hair. Puhleeze.
My dad is in his early sixties and his hair is not as thick as it used to be, but still covers the top of his head without need to resort to the much maligned combover. His brothers both lost the bulk of their hair more than twenty years ago.
My 53 year old brother has classic male pattern baldness (bald spot at crown that has spread) and his hair is exactly like our mom’s brother. I’m 48 and have a full head of hair with a hairline and graying pattern (gray temples) that exactly matches our dad. I assume that I’ll have a full head of hair the rest of my life.
People have a hard time believing we’re brothers - he’s bald, I’m hairy; he’s skinny, I’m fat; he’s extroverted, I’m introverted; he doesn’t wear glasses, I do. But we’re the same height and have the same nose. It’s a testament to how the genetic dice can roll.
It’s funny, right? I was wondering the other day what the whole point of male baldness is. I realize it can’t really serve any kind of purpose, evolutionary or otherwise, but damn, how did this get started?
The baldness gene is on the X chromosome, so your father is irrelevant. Look at your brothers, your mother’s brothers, your mother’s mother’s brothers, etc.
My dad just started to lose his. He’s got a bald spot about the size of a quarter. He’s in his mid-50s, so I don’t think you’re quite out of the woods in your 30s
Pretty much anything that happens after your reproductive peak has no relevance at all to evolution. It just exists because it was never selected against, probably because there isn’t much evolutionary pressure against it (my dad was bald and he had two kids) but more importantly because males generally get to breeding before the age when they go bald. It’s the same reason why heart disease and osteoporosis aren’t selected against.
I read that wiki link and also thought the reference titled Women prefer men with stubble for love, sex and marriage, or just to feel the stubble in their labia sounded interesting. Imagine my disappointment when it didn’t mention the feel of stubble in their labia at all. Some people just can’t leave anything alone can they :).
