Hair loss - Emotional Toll of Male Pattern Baldness

Category: Health

Every year people spend over 8 billion on hair loss treatments worldwide. This colossal number illustrates how deeply people are affected by it. There is a deep connection between an individual’s self-image and their hair. Good, shiny and thick hair is a hallmark of conventional attractiveness. Recently, social media has played an active role in making people feel inadequate. Everyone constantly doubts themselves. It has set high standards for beauty and attractiveness. People can easily cope with grey hair and split ends because there are quick fixes available. You go grab a hair dye or get a trim, but sadly, there is no quick fix available in case of hair loss. It puts a constant toll on our mental health. One of the most common types of hair loss is Male Pattern Baldness. Around 50 % of men are affected by Male Pattern Baldness. What is Male Pattern Baldness? Male pattern baldness is a condition that affects over half the male population. Genetic factors mainly cause it, and it tends to thin out hair in patches. Facts state that by the age of thirty-five, around 40% and by the age of fifty, 85% of men suffer from baldness. Additionally, 18% of people start to develop it around the ages of 18 or 19. It usually begins with a receding hairline and short and thinner hair around the temples, forming an M-shaped hairline. Eventually, the crown’s hair strands start to thin out, and gradually, the bald patches meet, leading to complete baldness. Male pattern baldness is also known as Androgenetic Alopecia. Androgenetic refers to hormones like testosterone, and Alopecia means hair loss. There are other forms of hair loss but with different patterns. Male pattern baldness is prevalent, but most men don’t realise that they have it until it’s too late. We all know someone going through it, whether it’s our favourite celebrities or close friends and family. It occurs when your body undergoes hormonal changes and results in the conversion of hair from terminal hair to shorter, thinner hair. Male hormones such as testosterone can be a major cause of Androgenetic Alopecia. stages-of-male-pattern-baldness Stages of Male Pattern Baldness There’s a very famous scale known as the Norwood scale. Knowing which stage you fall in will help you effectively understand your hair situation’s seriousness. Stage 1: In this stage, the person has a full head of hair and only has slightly thinner hair at the beginning of the hairline, which usually goes unnoticed. It is tough to see any significant changes in this stage. Stage 2: In stage two, you start to see a more significant recession in your hairline. This generally happens around the temple area. Stage 3: By the time you get to this stage, you significantly start to notice the M-shaped hairline formation. Balding continues so that there is little or no hair left at the temples. At this point, people start panicking or face things such as low confidence while going out, socialising, etc. Stage 4: The hairline at the temples starts to recede even further and becomes most evident in this stage. You can also clearly see hair thinning at the crown of your head at this stage. If you view it from the top, it looks like a U-shaped hairline, and there is only a tiny strip of hairline separating the bald spots. Stage 5: By the time you reach stage 5, the hairline keeps receding. It is somewhat similar to stage 4 but slightly more severe. At this point, the strip of hair separating the hairline and the crown starts thinning and disappears. Stage 6: This is where the strip of hair vanishes entirely, and the two bald sections merge into one, making you bald over half of your head, and individuals only have hair on the sides of their head. Stage 7: This is complete baldness where even the hair on the head's back and sides starts to thin and disappear. The earlier you identify your stage and start treating it, the better.