Facts about Baldness

Environmental factors do not seem to affect this type of baldness greatly.

Psychological problems due to baldness, if present, are typically most severe at the onset of symptoms.

The trigger for this type of baldness is DHT, a powerful sex hormone, body and facial hair growth promoter that can adversely affect the hair on the head and prostate.

Incidence of pattern baldness varies from population to population based on genetic background.

The lack of iron associated with anemia can cause many complications, including hypoxemia, brittle or rigid fingernails, cold intolerance, impaired immune function, and possible behavioral disturbances in children.

Baldness, with some variance in definition, typically refers to the lack of hair on parts of or the whole scalp.

Some men who experience balding may feel proud of their baldness, feeling a kindred relationship with famous or historically significant bald men.

Male pattern baldness is classified on the Hamilton-Norwood scale I-VIII.

Baldness has, in recent years, in any case become less of a (supposed) liability due to an increasing fashionable prevalence of very short, or even completely shaven, hair among men, at least in western countries.

Male-pattern baldness, androgenic alopecia, is characterized by hair receding from the lateral sides of the forehead, known as a "receding hairline."

Consuming large amounts of oil to get at small quantities of beta sitosterol is likely to exacerbate male pattern baldness.

Beards and a full head of hair were seen as being more aggressive and less socially mature, and baldness was associated with more social maturity.

Surgery is another method of reversing hair loss and baldness, although it may be considered an extreme measure.

One theory, advanced by Muscarella and Cunningham, suggests baldness evolved in males through sexual selection as an enhanced signal of aging and social maturity, whereby aggression and risk-taking decrease and nurturing behaviors increase.

The treatments for baldness approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration are finasteride (marketed for hair loss as Propecia) and minoxidil.