| Author | Message | ||
     Tom Hagerty |
The first thread on this subject was getting too long. Here's a fresh page to carry on the conversation. | ||
| Ogden |
I have a question. I am seeing NO hair loss on my comb or when I massage my hair, nothing comes out. No hairs on my bed, pillow or any of my clothes. Still, I am seeing my scalp a little bit on the crown of my head. I have heard that excessive masturbation could be a cause of increased testosterone and therefore increase the amount of DHT on my scalp. Is this true? I have nearly tripled the the frequency (80 times a month) and also began taking four times the amount of caffene. Since this change is when I have noticed the hair loss (or thining?). All of my family has their hair (well, except for my grandfather but they think he lost his hair from massive amounts of X-rays in the 1930's). What do you think? | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Ogden: The rumor that excessive masturbation or any masturbation causes hair loss has been around for a long time, and it will continue to be around. This rumor has legs. There have been countless scientific studies disproving it but that won't put it to rest. "I have heard that excessive masturbation could be a cause of increased testosterone and therefore increase the amount of DHT on my scalp." Well, that's the usual reasoning, and to many people it sounds plausible. The small temporary increase in T levels after masturbation does not equal higher levels of DHT in scalp tissue and therefore hair loss. "I also began taking four times the amount of caffene." Caffeine can affect your absorption of iron. This might not help your hair problem very much. | ||
| Ogden |
Thanks... do you have any comments on the lack of hair coming off of my head. It really is amazing that I can comb it, massage it, pull on it or anything else and I'll get three of four hairs in ten minutes. Is that a good thing? | ||
| Anonymous |
Tom, I am a 25 yr old man and any time since I can remember (I was 17 or 18 the first time I remember) somebody looking at my hair would comment maybe I was beginning to bald a little because my hair in the crown region is slightly thinner. By the way I have a cowlick there not that it makes any difference that I'm aware of. It seems I haven't lost any hair and my head has always been like this (slightly thinner in the crown region). I have had at least 4 or 5 people tell me this over the years and have looked at my hair in a mirror and it looks noticeably a little thinner there but have never noticed a difference over the years from when I first looked at ~18, my brother is the same. My little brother has has people tell him the same thing and has hair exactly like mine. On both sides of my family everyone has a full head of hair even those in their late 80s albeit I know genetics is obscure and not the only determinant of baldness from reading your replies. My question is: Is this normal that some men who don't get MPB can have thinner hair in the crown region their entire life? Thank you for reading my post and I look forward to your reply. Best Regards, Seth PS- I accidently posted this in the LaserComb section... sorry! If you could respond in this thread it would be great... thanks again! | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Seth: I'm surprised you visited a hair-loss forum. You really have no problem. It seems your whole family has no problem with hair loss. "My question is: Is this normal that some men who don't get MPB can have thinner hair in the crown region their entire life?" This is just speculation. The skin on the crown area of the head of males is usually thinner than the skin, say, on the sides of the head. The hair follicle of a thick, pigmented hair is abut 6 mm long. The thin skin on the crown area probably will not support a hair follicle that long. With a shorter hair follicle you will have a hair shaft thinner in diameter. A hair thinner in diameter will give you that thin look you have in your crown area. This in no way indicates male pattern baldness. If you start to really thin when you reach 80 years of age, contact me and I'll give you the lowdown on the scalp exercise. | ||
| Anonymous747 |
Tom, I just turned 30, and withing a 2-3 week period I lost alot of hair on the front of my head. Now I can see my scalp and i've always had lots of thick hair, and still do every where else. People tell me its cause of stress being that i lost my father days before i had this sudden hair loss. There is no MPB on my mothers side and very little on my fathers side. Is it me or should I give it time and how much time before noticeble hair starts to regrow? Help! | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Anonymous: It's very doubtful that the stress you experienced caused your hair loss. Stress can sometimes, but rarely, cause hair loss but the hair loss does not come on suddenly like yours did - just a few days after your father died. I'm not going to advise you to "give it time" because from your description I don't have a clue as to why you started losing hair so fast. | ||
| Anonymous |
Hi Tom: I am 25 year old professional male. I have never had problems till 1-2 months ago. I see that I am starting to lose a lot of hair. Everytime, I run my hands through my hair, a hair follicle or two comes off. When I wake up in the morning, I see hair follicles on the pillow. And when I showevr, a lot more hair is coming off than before. I see people saying they are losing 50 follicles or a 100 follicles. How can I determine that? It seems very iffy. I mean I am sure there is hair falling that I cannot notice. Right now, I am at a stage where I frankly dont know I feel I am losing hair but am not sure. Is there any way, I can measure it. Can I start taking Rogaine/propecia or do they have side effects. Please advise. Thanks. | ||
| Timallen45 |
Hey Tom, my name is Tim. I am 27 years old with diffuse thinning. I have been on Finasteride for seven months now but am unsure of it's effectiveness if any. My hair is definitely much softer since starting Finasteride but doesn't necessarily seem healthier. It continues to fallout with out much hair growing in its place. 1- Do you think I should continue treatment with Finasteride? 2-How often should one wash their hair? Thank you!-Tim | ||
| jacobashward |
Hey Tom, I am 21 years old. Let me be quick, concise, and totally honest... last summer (around July) until the October, I went thru a very stressful time involving my exgirlfriend possible cheating on me with her exboyfriend. For months there was off and on stress and fear (for obvious reasons). Things ended by October. Starting in November, I started to notice a great deal of hairloss in the shower, as well as an overall thinning on my scalp. I was losing this hair everywhere on my head and the hair that was being lost had the white bulbs on their ends. I researched and decided it was probably from stress (telogen effluvium). I took many vitamins (all the B vitamins, C, E) and washed my hair everynight. I still was losing some hair in the shower (30-40 hairs?) and my scalp continued to look more or less as thin as it had, even several months later until around April. I bought 'head and shoulders' and that seems to have helped somewhat, as the hair loss in the shower cut down lately to about 10 or so hairs. I have also been exercising frequently as well lately. However, the past several days things have fluctuated from 10 hairs in the shower one day to about 30 - 40 the next. All hairs lost have white bulbs. * 2 factors to mention: 1) I have been growing my hair long over these many months (it's about 6 inches now). 2) for a few months during this time i also used mayonaisse as a conditioner (as ive heard that it is good for hair) but i stopped that about a month or 2 ago. Knowing my whole story, do you think there is anything to worry about? Could the TE still be affecting me? Could the mayonaisse have done harm? I really need to hear someone else's opinion at this point on my whole story instead of my own personal diagnosis. I'm tired of the rollercoaster of paranoia. If I'm ok, please let me know, if not, what do you recommend? Please, Tom or anyone, reply. Thanks | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Jacob: You wrote, "Knowing my whole story, do you think there is anything to worry about?" Of course I don't know your "whole story." I don't know what kind of diet you have (the B vitamins, C, and E does not constitute diet), your general health status, your life style. Stress sometimes can trigger telogen effluvium but this is unusual. We've all had similar problems with girlfriends. You're not exclusive in this. Mayonnaise in the hair - it's dumb, but this won't cause hair loss. And keeping your hair long - if you are thinning a bit, long hair will make the thinning appear worse than it really is. "I really need to hear someone else's opinion at this point on my whole story instead of my own personal diagnosis." No one on the Internet can give you an objective diagnosis. Sometimes a "personal diagnosis" is the best. But this personal diagnosis should be based on knowledge. I assume after carefully reading your post that you have limited knowledge about the problems of hair loss. If hair means a lot to you, I think the time spent in getting this knowledge would not be wasted. You could read through the pages www.hairloss-reversible.com or www.keratin.com for a comprehensive education on the subject. Then you would be in the position to evaluate your condition (loss of perhaps 50 hairs daily, absolutely normal) and take some preemptive action. | ||
| jacobashward |
Tom - thanks for the quick reply. i appreciate it alot. i'll read up on those links as well when i have a minute. first, i am still quite convinced of TE affecting me at some point. i read a great deal on that problem and it described me perfectly (the amount of time it took place, the shedding all over the scalp, etc). also, it did seem to slow down over the past couple of months now. But if i was ever incredibly stressed by something, that time in my life was it. hard to sleep, hard to eat, always panicking about where this girl was, etc. maybe not even that is enough to cause TE but i think it may have. i had lost enough hair to point that a friend had commented that my hair looked thinner. since then, he has mentioned that my hair looks better than it had. presently, my hair looks perfectly fine to anyone who sees it. the problem now is that i am so paranoid and alert to any hairloss in the shower or otherwise, that the slightest bit has me thinking about it. that said, let me add a couple of things further-- diet: i eat well (pastas, salads, chicken, cereal). im not a vegetarian, but i dont eat too much meat - although lately i have tried to have an occasional italian wedge every few days. at this point in time, i am monitoring my hair fairly closely. i cant say i have seen drastic change one way or the other lately. if i did have some form of TE (which you dont seem to think) then i figured that i needed to wait another couple of months for new hairs to appear. but again, my hair, to anyone but me, looks fine. im just picking up on tiny details. i guess basically my question is this: while some days i lose only 10 hairs in the shower, there are others when i lose up to around 30 (like i gently pull my hair, i'll see about 3 hairs or so on my hand during those times). Are any of those numbers anything out of the ordinary? you say 50 a day is the norm, but i have read in most places that up to 100 is normal. please reply as soon as you have a moment. i'll read those links asap. thanks again tom...i appreciate your help | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Jacob: The mantra you see repeated in articles on hair loss is - 50 to 100 hairs shed daily is the normal range. When you start shedding 100 hairs daily, though, I think this should send some signals to your brain that all is not well in the scalp department. | ||
| jacobashward |
tom, thanks again for your help lately. i read much of the links you sent and it has helped me already to understand some things on the subject. i have one final question that i cant seem to find any answer to thus far. let me explain... i shower everyday in the morning. however, my job sometimes (roughly once a week id say) forces me to work an odd shift. this means that i get a shower on tuesday morning, let's say, but cannot shower again until wednesday NIGHT or thursday morning (basically missing a shower for a whole day). as nice as that is for you to know (hehe) my question is this: i have noticed most days i lose about 10-15 hairs in the shower. HOWEVER, the wednesday night/thursday morning shower that i take (in keeping with the example i already gave) i notice a great deal more hair loss in the shower, like close to around 30 hairs or so. my question is this - i know you lose many of a day's hairloss during the shower (for obvious reasons), so will missing a day's shower cause me to lose 2 days' accumulation of hairloss during the next shower? i started to take note of that lately, and it seemed somewhat possible and logical that if i miss a day's shower, then maybe there are still many hairs that have yet to shed from my hair - particularly because i have somewhat longer hair at this point. what do you think? thank you very much for your help tom... | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Jacob: I can't help you at all on this one. I firmly believe it's the wrong mind-set to obsess over how many hairs are falling out in the shower. It's counterproductive. But I also know that if you're inclined to do this, you'll continue to do it. Some people count the hairs in the shower every morning. Keeping your hair and scalp clean is a good idea, but missing a shower or taking two in a day has no effect on hair loss, even though you may not believe this. By the way, when you shampoo your hair, don't scrub the scalp and don't use too much shampoo. And of course when you're done shampooing, totally rinse out all the shampoo. | ||
| Anonymous |
Hi, I recently started Dr. Reddy's Finasteride and I am having doubts. Does anyone use this stuff or know of anyone that has that can say that it is as quality as Merck's Finasteride? I really appreciate any info that you can give me. BTW - if you want to try it, I found a site that is cheap: www.medicinedrugstore.com. Thanks, Matthew | ||
| PKA |
Why are you having doubts? If it is genuine Dr Reddy's product then you have no reason for concern. How long have you been using it? I have been using Cipla's Finasteride and have no doubts about the quality. The only area for concern is the possibility of counterfeit pharmaceuticals - but this applies to any drugs bought on the net, Merck product included. You need to be confident in the reliability of your supplier ultimately. Checking message boards here and on other sites you can find out who are the tried and trusted sites such as www.qhi.com and www.inhousepharmacy.co.uk | ||
| Anonymous |
Hi PKA. I have been using Dr. Reddy's for almost 2 months. I was concerned because I read so many posts of users that take Propecia or Proscar and very little about users of Dr. Reddy's. Also, I am catching my hair early, which I know is critical and I don't want to waste any time. I have found other users mention it before on this board, but none gave results. You are right, I should be more confident. thanks, Matthew | ||
| PKA |
I've just looked at the website for medicine drugstore - that looks like a good deal. Just to clarify - did you receive 60 x 5mg tablets for $35? That's half the price I paid. How about ordering and delivery, mine arrived in two days, did yours turn up promptly? I'm very tempted to try this company in future if you tell me the service is good. | ||
| Anonymous |
Yeah, the total was $45. I received 60 * 5mg tabs. It took about 2 weeks but the gentleman was very nice and followed through with a couple of emails to make sure I got the shipment. They advised me to get the Dr. Reddy's because the Cipla was in a bottle and they were worried that the pills would be heard. I will go to them for future orders. Matthew | ||
| PKA |
That sounds odd. My Cipla was in blister packs of ten, printed with the Fincar details AND stamped with some Indian sales details (interestingly they included the Indian retail price - 95 roupees - less than $2 per strip, so these people are making a fair profit on these deals). How did the Dr Reddy's come packed? | ||
| Michael B. |
hi. im 21 years old. ive always had a pretty full head of hair and kept it fairly short. over the past several months i began to grow my hair much longer than ive ever had it, and it's now about 4 to 5 inches. i have also noticed over the past several months much more hair loss in the shower. i cant say how much hair i USED TO lose in the shower (as it was never even a thought on my mind) but now i can say that i lose probably about 40 hairs (give or take) with each shower. the hairs lost vary in length. i do not see any hairs on my pillow or notice any significant hairloss during the day. my only real cause for concern is in the amount of hairs lost in the shower, as i pick up around 3 to 5 hairs on my hands as i run them through my scalp while i apply shampoo or conditioner. is there cause for concern or am i just more prone to notice my longer hair because of its length? | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Michael B: When your hair is longer you notice loss a little more. Most people lose around 50 hair each day. This is absolutely normal. You have about 100,000 hairs on your head so percentagewise this is a small loss. If your hair follicles are healthy, these old lost hairs will be replaced by new hairs. | ||
| Michael B. |
Tom - one last question. it was the end of the day and i was in front of my computer doing some work. out of curiosity i tugged my hair gently on the top of my head and counted 3 hairs in my hand. i then tugged a couple of more times and came away with 1, 2, or 3 hairs on each tug. i did notice after about six or seven times, that i was finding very little or no hair at all on my hand. i read that it is very bad to gently tug on your hand and come away with 3 hairs or so, but the fact that i saw less and less (and eventually no hair) as i continued leaves me wondering if maybe those hairs i initially saw were part of my daily hairs that were ready to fall out anyway? perhaps it is a silly question, but i was wondering what your take on it is... | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Michael B: I don't think it's a productive idea to get obsesssive about falling hair. Pulling out hairs and counting them while you're working on your computer might be a good skit for Saturday Night Live, but I don't think it's a good real life activity. If you perform the pull test, there will usually be a few hairs in your hand - fewer and fewer as you continue the test. These are telogen hairs, destined to fall out anyway. Instead of writing more about this "problem" here, I'd like you to read what I wrote about the hair cycle. This will give you the information you need - Male Pattern Baldness - scroll to the middle of the page. | ||
| Tom |
I know I thought that DHT was produced in the prostate only. I never read that it got produced in the blood outside the prostate. I just thought that DHT made its way up to the scalp? | ||
| Anonymous |
i lose around 50-60 strands of hair or may be less so can u tell me is this normal & i am 16 yrs old and obsessed with my hair so please mail me back | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Tom: DHT is produced in many areas of the body. It is mostly produced in the liver and in the skin. The skin of course includes the hair follicles. The factors that increase the production of DHT are genetics, changing hormone levels, high levels of prolonged stress, and even some stimulants. | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Anonymous: The average loss of hair each day is around 50 hairs. This is completely normal. With healthy hair follicles, these old telogen hairs are replaced with new anagen hairs in the next growing stage of the hair cycle. | ||
| john |
Tom, I'm 4 days from turning 21 and i've recently been concerned about thinning hair. i've just recently also been diagnosed with hypothyroidism. i'm not even completely sure that my hair is thinning at all. i don't lose even close to 50 hairs a day, but i've always had pretty thick and full hair and it just seems thinner than usual. i guess this could be partly or wholly contributed to the hypothyroidism, if the problem is there at all. i've done all the research i know to do, on thinning hair, mpbalding, and hypothyroidism, been diagnosed, and began treatment. however, there is another factor invovled, and i guess what my real question is, is do you know if environment can have effect on hair loss/thinning. i ask because i recently moved from a more rural area (Raleigh, North Carolina) to a much more suburbanized-type area (Los Angeles, California). It seems odd that the problem would happen a few months after moving to LA and i swear i've noticed that there are so many more younger people here that have thinning hair or are already going bald in their 20's to 30's. i never remember seeing this many thinning hair/balding people in my hometown, but then again i never thought it was affecting me before so maybe i just didn't notice it. do you know if living in certain areas, primarily more polluted areas, bigger cities, things like that have effect on hair loss thinning? if this town is that unhealthy i would seriously consider going back. if you have any advice or could relay any information you have on this subject to me it would be greatly appreciated. thank you, john | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
John: Hypothyroidism is probably a greater contributor to your perceived hair thinning than Los Angeles. I've lived in all areas of L.A. county - Glendale, Burbank, Venice, Santa Monica, and West L.A. OK, the air is not good in the valley but along the coast it's great. I just can't conceive why L.A could be more harmful to your hair than Raleigh. I do know, though, that people in L.A. are hair conscious. Nothing gives young people more animal pleasure than driving down 101 in a convertible with their hair blowing in the wind. | ||
| john |
Tom was doing some research on this subject. tell me what you think of this site: http://www.getitback.us/index.html#index it makes a lot of sense to me. see what you think. anyone else comment on this site too. thanks, john | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
John: Lawrence Cutsinger and I have different styles of thinking. He is not a scam artist though. He really believes what he writes. If what he says makes sense to you, you'll probably not have too much success with your hair problem. (I presume you have a hair problem.) I've had emails from at least a dozen people who like his style and his ideas. They think he's on to something important. I hope people check out his website. | ||
| John |
Tom- For the past 7-8 months my hair has gone through what seems to be a radical change. I am 22 and in that short amount of time my hair has thinned tremendously. It has always been thick and wavy but now it has thinned all over, mostly in the front and on top, not so much the crown. The hairs around my front temples are the thinnest, resembling long leg hair, and receding dramatically. While I still have coverage that I could live with as of now, I am losing a lot of hair everyday and it looks nothing like it use to. When I wash my hair I can have anywhere from 10-50 with every time I pass my hand in my wet hair. The thing that bothers me most is that I have no history of balding in both sides of my family. I even asked my father about my great grandparents and all died with full heads of hair. I went to 2 different dermatologists and both were very little help. I’m just curious to know what would be my best course of action. I am much more interested in preservation than regrowth. While the front is getting thinner and some hairs seem to be "runts" and half as long as others, I can live with it for now, although hair gel is all but useless. But at 150+ hairs a day I imagine it’s only a matter of time. I also know that I am in good health with good blood work. Although I am in medical school and sometimes under loads of stress, but not so much recently. Should I go through the MPB routine like others or might I have a different case. I dont see the harm in SE and propecia but meds seem to only be affective for the crown and for people with typical MPB. | ||
| gone |
hi tom for 2 years ago i was very stressed, the doktor had told me i had cancer so i was woried and so on thene they did a operation and thene they tol me i didnt have cancer.Thene after 3 or 4 months people told me you are starting to loose your hair and thene i got stressed again and i been thinking about the hair ever since. by the way im 19 and the only thing i can think about is okey i have mpb in my family but not mutch, for example my father his hair started thinning little bit but his 45 and my grand father strated loosing his hair whene hi was 60 ....so do you think it can bee stress that did this to my hair. my hair looks almost the same has i did 2 years ago...and i have been doing the s.e for 4 months now and my hair feels stronger, i dont now if it works for me but anyway big thank you for giving me hope, my hair is very important to me because people always say to me that i should be a model and i want to try but my thin hair is giving me bad selfestim...sorry for my english...thank you tom. | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
John: I'm sure you know that diagnosis on the Internet is impossible, but one thing you wrote is intriguing - "While the front is getting thinner and some hairs seem to be "runts" and half as long as others..." If you go to - Male Pattern Baldness, you'll see the section about the hair cycle. Read it carefully. If you have some hairs that do not grow as long as others, this means that the follicles are in a truncated anagen stage of the hair cycle. Short cycling is a possible indication of impending male pattern baldness. You're in medical school. This article might interest you - Control of Hair Growth. | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Gone: Sometimes the physical and psychological stress of an operation and the loss of blood can trigger telogen effluvium, a temporary form of hair loss. The scalp exercise, a nutritious diet, and a healthful lifestyle possibly could help with your hair problem . At 19 years of age your body (and hair follicles) should respond to this regimen unless the underlying cause of your hair loss (genetics, DHT) is too great. | ||
| gone |
thanks tom one other thing that came in my mind is that i have lived a very unhealthy life and pretty stressful. By that i mean i have always been a heavy drinker since i was 12 and i have been on alot of drugs since thene too....my quastion is do you think my unhealthy life could have anything to do whit it. Now i dont drink mutch and i exercise, eat healthy and i dont use anyform of drugs.... | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Gone: Hair loss is determined by both genetic and environmental factors. This is called multifactorial inheritance. (The color of the eyes and hair is determined strictly by the genes.) Diet and life style are included in environmental factors. Heavy drinking and lots of drugs don't do much for hair. You're still young and you're now out of that destructive (but fun) life style. A good diet and healthy way of life might reverse all the damage you did to your cells, and that includes hair follicle cells, when you were very young. | ||
| Paul |
Tom: I read some previous posts by people who seem to have a similar problem as me, but i still have questions - I've been growing my hair long for a few months. like others, i have become somewhat aware of hairs in the shower. After reading this site, i am discovering that that may not be anything to worry about. There are no hairs on my pillow, not alot of noticeable hairloss throughout the day, and i do not notice any typical m.p.b. patterns. Despite all this however, I still feel like my hair looks a bit thinner than i've ever noticed. I appear to others as a man with a full head of hair, but when i look closely, i feel as though it is thinner throughout the top of my head. I notice this particularly anywhere the hair is parted. i eat/exercise/live fairly healthy and do not experience out-of-the-ordinary stress. is it possible/common to bald all over without the typical m.p.b. pattern? could my longer hair just be falling in such a way now that i am not used to (as my hair was always short) and it just SEEMS to be thinner to my paranoid self? my personal theory is perhaps shorter hair is less inhibited by gravity and so it goes in any direction it wants (thus making my hair seem "fuller"), whereas longer hairs are forced to lay flat in one direction only. what do you think? | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Paul: A short hair style almost always gives your hair a fuller, more robust look; longer hair styles often make the hair look stringy. "my personal theory is perhaps shorter hair is less inhibited by gravity and so it goes in any direction it wants..." That's my personal theory too. | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
This page is getting too long. Please post new messages on this topic here - Normal Hair Fallout, page 3. |
