| Author | Message | ||
     Anonymous |
Tom, I looked at your pictures of the frontalis and occipitalis muscles. My problem is I have always had these short, yet terminal, hairs along the left and right side of my hairline....they were once longer (when I was a kid), but now they just won't seem to grow beyond an inch or so. I don't think they're affected by MPB. I was wondering if the scalp exercises would help (especially the frontalis muscle flexing) to grow these hairline hairs out longer....what do you think? I realize you won't have a definitive answer, but what's your best educated guess? | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Anonymous: I have a definitive answer for one of your questions. "I have always had these short, yet terminal, hairs along the left and right side of my hairline...they just won't seem to grow beyond an inch or so." Terminal hairs that won't grow beyond a certain length are affected by a truncated anagen stage of the hair cycle. (Read about the hair cycle - Male Pattern Baldness - scroll half way down.) The growing or anagen stage of the hair cycle usually lasts between two and six years. If your terminal hairs in a certain area are growing just an inch or two, the growing stage of you hair follicles in this area is lasting only a few months. Short cycling is a symptom of male pattern baldness. "I was wondering if the scalp exercises would help (especially the frontalis muscle flexing) to grow these hairline hairs out longer" No definitive answer here. I don't know if it would help. If you decide to do the scalp exercise, though, do it the right way or don't do it at all. Just contracting the frontalis muscles will create horizontal lines on your forehead. | ||
| Anonymous |
Tom, I appreciate your reply. However, the hairs in question have grown this short length since I was a young teen (I mean, 12, 13, 14). I'm 34 now. I don't think MPB would have set in that early. Plus, there's not any bald spots or anything (which I would think would be the case if I had MPB the last 20 years). I think that, for whatever reason, these hairs simply won't grow out longer even though when i was 5, 6, 7, etc...they did. I just wish there was a way to reverse this and get these hairs growing out long again. Maybe the scalp exercises will do this? | ||
| Anonymous |
Maybe these short hairs are just telogen hairs waiting to be shed while the surrounding hair has grown.Are they definitely a sign of MPB? | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
It's easy to find out if those short hairs are anagen hairs short cycling. Is the end of the hair shaft pointed? The end of an anagen hair is always pointed when it leaves the hair canal. If it is still pointed when you examine it, this means it has not been cut. If the hair is, say, an inch and a half long, it emerged from the opening of the hair canal about three months ago. (Scalp hair grows a half inch a month.) Even when certain hair follicles are short cycling, they are still going through the three stages of the hair cycle. These short anagen hairs eventually become short telogen hairs and fall out. Hairs in the telogen stage do not continue to grow. Then the short cycle starts angain. It is unusual for short cycling to start at ages 12, 13, 14 - but not impossible. I said that short cycling is a symptom or indication of MPB. It does not necessarily mean that you have the condition. | ||
| Anonymous |
ok, thanks Tom. I guess htere is nothing I can do about it.....I will just continue with the SE and see what happens. | ||
| Anonymous |
Hi Tom, I also have these short cycling hairs at the front of my hairline, except i have receded somewhat. It seems that for me these hairs just eventually turn into vellus hairs and the process continues. Both of my brothers also have these short cycling hairs, one of whom is only 14. I have been doing the SE for around 7 months, with no progress thus far. However, it has only been the last 3 months were i have really taken it seriously and sticking to a strict regimen. Thus i am going to continue for at least another 6 months. I was just wondering, what signs of improvement should i be looking for? Will it be that these short sycling (1 inch) hairs will begin to grow out longer/be replaced by proper terminal hairs? | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Anonymous: If you see improvement, it will be that the short hairs at the front of your head will get longer. Hair cycles can change; miniaturization can be reversed. These processes can take a long time though. You've been doing the SE for seven months with no improvement. If you read through messages on this discussion forum, you'll find that others have made no progress either. But others have made progress and seen improvement. I don't know what to tell you. Of course I think you should stay on the regimen, but if you continue to have zero improvement you'll feel like a fool. Have you included into your program some of the suggestions I made in - Nutrition? These suggestions might be helpful to use in conjunction with the SE. |
