Did you ever ask yourself how many Americans are suffering from hair loss and how big the problem of hair loss is in the United States alone? Though statistical figures tend to shift on a daily basis, the current count is 50 million individuals. That’s right: 50 million Americans are coping with a condition where hair is mostly in its telogen phase or is already falling out.
30 million men suffer from male-pattern baldness. Over 80% of all these sufferers attribute their male-pattern baldness to heredity. The small majority owe their baldness to diet and other skin conditions. Now where did the 20 million go?
According to the current count, 20 million women are also suffering from balding. This is alarming, considering that society expects women to have nice hair. Going bald has never been this big an issue, and yet stress and polluted environments are contributing even more to the problem.
Why is this happening?
It’s normal for people to lose hair everyday. Since birth, we’ve been losing over a hundred stands of hair in a process similar to the shedding of fur of other mammals. These lost strands of hair are promptly replaced by younger hairs, and the process is continual and robust.
The first angle you should look at is heredity or your personal genetics. Unbelievably, your parents or ancestors could be the culprit why your hairline is receding right now. If your parents are not bald, you might want to go a few generations back. If baldness does appear at least once in your genealogic time line, then there’s a chance that the rogue gene trait for baldness was inherited by you.
Worldwide, around 99% of all cases of hair loss in men can be traced to heredity. But does this mean that women are also susceptible to genetic balding?
The answer is both a yes and a no. Yes, because there are some instances that women are balding because of genetic predisposition. But we have to say no as well because the majority of women who are suffering from accelerated hair loss usually have other things to blame for their plight.
Around 50% of women can trace their problem back to their parents/ancestors. Usually, the pattern of balding of women is less severe. We don’t usually see women with wreathes of hair. What we do see often are women with long and very thin hair.
Should Men be worried?
Are men bound to end up with just a few inches of hair around the ears? The answer is no. Take note that there are different types of balding patterns, and the wreathe-like pattern is just one of these patterns. Very few men actually progress to the most severe pattern. Usually, those past their 60 experience this kind of hair loss.
