Q: The men in my family all seem to lose their hair, so I guess there’s nothing I can do about that, right? How can you fight genetics?
A: While it’s true that genetics play the largest part in whether a man will experience hair loss (male alopecia), there are behavioral factors that do influence hair loss.
In 2013, an article was published in the journal Plastic Reconstructive Surgery studying factors that influence male hair loss.
The researchers took an interesting strategy to study both genetic and behavioral factors: they studied a set of 92 identical male twins.
Each of the twins were studied in a number of ways:
Testosterone levels were measured in their saliva
Digital photographs of their hair (or lack of it)
Precise measurements of front, side, and top of head hairlines
Observer judgments of hair thinning in each part of the head
Questionnaire regarding their lifetime of behaviors
Then, each man’s hair loss was correlated with their behaviors over a lifetime, and compared with their identical twins.
The theory is, each identical twin has roughly the same genetics, but different behaviors, so this is a way to see how much genes vs. behaviors tend to influence hair loss.
(In reality, genetics aren’t quite so simple, but for our purposes we won’t need to worry about that)
RESULTS:
Genetics
Unsurprisingly, genetics played the biggest factor in hair loss in front and on top (but not on the sides).
If hair loss is in your genes, you are more likely to lose your hair.
Age
Again, not surprising: the older a man was, the more likely he was to have hair loss.
This was true on every part of the head.
Children
Maybe this one isn’t as surprising to those who have children: the more children a man had, the less hair he had in the front.
Possibly, this is due to the increased stress associated with having children (but they’re worth it anyway, right?)
Diet
More caffeine was correlated with more hair loss in the front and top of the head.
Those men who drank more than 4 alcoholic drinks in a week had more hair loss on the sides and top of the head.
Interestingly, those men who completely refrained from alcohol also had more hair loss on the sides and top of the head.
Smoking
Men who smoked had more hair loss on the front and top of their head.
The researchers suggested that smoking restricts blood flow to hair follicles, and this makes the follicles die.
Disease history
Men who had a history of skin disease lost more hair on average on the sides and top.
Clothing
Here’s a surprise: wearing a hat actually protected men from hair loss on the sides of their head.
I’ve always heard that hat-wearing led to hair loss, but the researchers suggested that hats protect the scalp from sun damage, and this may explain why hat-wearing prevents hair loss.
Stress
Here’s another interesting twist: increased lifelong stress led to less hair on the top of the head, but more on the sides.
Hormones
Twins with more salivary testosterone than their twin counterparts had more hair on the sides of their heads.
NOTE:
This might be an important time to mention that correlation does not necessarily equal causation.
Just because these factors were associated with more hair loss, that doesn’t mean there’s a direct causal link.
It could be that there are other factors that cause both the behaviors and the hair loss.
However, if this information helps you quit smoking or cut down on excessive drinking, don’t let this stop you.
DISCUSSION:
Therefore, there are a number of things one might do to prevent hair loss, even if one has a genetic predisposition for hair loss:
Reduce stress
Cut back on the caffeine
Quit smoking
Drink moderately (under 4 drinks a week)
Some drinking is actually helpful for hair loss.
Wear a hat
Increase testosterone
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