Do you have the problem of receding hairline that began at a tender age of 20 or 19 years and it is becoming the horror that gives you sleepless nights? Learn more about meaning and signs, what causes receding it and a lot more. This discussion will focus on the male (men and teenagers). If you are a woman, we have insight on receded hairline women that will help you so much.
What is a receding hairline?
This refers to a is a type of progressive hair loss mainly experienced by men and some women where your hairline will begin to thin commonly on either side of your forehead (temples) before you get a bald patch on top of your head.
It is one of the classes of hair loss in men, a condition is popularly known as androgenic alopecia or male baldness patterns. It is characterized by a widow’s peak where your front forehead forms a V shape pattern.
Although the problem is common in older men (above 25 years of age), it can be seen in younger people including teenagers. Do not be surprised if you begin having it early. I know people who begin having the problem of receding hairline at 20 or at the age of 19 years.
In fact, most people begin experiencing the problem when they are in their teens, i.e. it will begin thinning and as they grow, it will start receding. If this happens at a young age, it might be a pre-disposition to hair loss, which is caused by genetics or associated with a certain autoimmune response, alopecia being the biggest suspect.
Signs to expect and stages
We have looked at what it means and before we look at its causes, you need to understand signs of receding hairline that you will experience when you have this problem. This problem does not happen overnight and you should keenly be studying your hairline.
To begin with, you will have a loss above your temples that often form a letter M shape where the middle and side hairs remain while you lose lateral ones on your forehead. This is the initial stage. With time, you will begin having hair loss on top of your head but this might be depended on the causes.
To some people, they need to tilt their head to be able to see their hairlines and in some extreme cases, it might form a horseshoe shape where your scalp center remains bare with only hair on the back and sides of your head. You will, therefore, notice pronounced and high temples when it is receding.
Finally, when you are suffering from this condition, you will notice more hair collecting in your water tub, each time you wash your head. This should worry you, especially if you are a teenager. More can also be seen with your comb and hairbrush. On average, people should lose up to 100 strands every day during brushing, combing, etc. and this is considered normal.
Other signs include sensitivity to cold, slower or stagnant hair growth rate, i.e. slow growth in anagen, catagen and telogen stages.
What are its causes?
If you are suffering from this stigmatizing problem, you need to know what some of its causes are. This can help you decide the best cause of action to completely deal with this problem. So, what are the main causes?
1. Excessive and Continued Production of Dihydrotestosterone (DHT)
There are many causes, principal among them genetics and the role of hormones in the body. Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a male sex hormone responsible for stimulating secondary sexual characteristics during puberty is one of the main direct causes.
This hormone is a derivative of androgen and formed when 5-alpha-reductase acts on androgen. Once it has outlived its significance, it might cause some unwanted side effects in the body, key among them inhibiting the growth of hair.
This problem is often common in people whom DHT production seems to increase rather than reduce after puberty. In such a scenario, it might build up in various places in the body, including in follicles. When this happens, DHT might bind itself to these follicles chocking blood flow, starving them of nutrients and eventually they will begin to thin up, shrink, before falling off.
If this condition left unattended to, it will lead to permanent hair loss and baldness in most areas of the scalp. This can have social and physiological effects, which seem to make most people with them, including women to want to get medical help and/or try various drugs, medications and home remedies to stop it.
However, DHT does not cause receding or inhibit hair growth in every man. Some people might not be affected if its production goes down naturally. Since it is genetically caused, it might be hard to avoid it, if you have the gene present in you. However, while discussing ways to stop receding hairline and treatments, we will definitely see how it can be tackled.
2. Genes – Inherited Factors
When it is from genes, it is closely associated with hormonal causes. People who suffer from it are found to be having a gene referred to as Androgen Receptor or AR. The stronger this gene is, the earlier you will see it recede.
This explains why receding hairline is common in teenagers who are as young as 15 years old. Initially, it was believed that the gene could only be passed by a mother to son but recent research has shown it can also be passed by the son’s father.
There are other genes, which have been found to trigger male baldness patterns even for those who might not be having a strong Androgen Receptor gene.
3. Age – a major cause
The other cause is age. According to the National Institute of Health (US), hair thinning and receding is common in older people and about 65% of men suffer from baldness or a pattern of baldness and about 25% of these men start suffering from this problem while at the age of about 30 years.
4. Environmental factors – stress
DHT is not the only cause of this problem and baldness. Some environmental factors have been found to favor this hereditary condition. For instance, people who live under prolonged emotional stress are found to have their hairline recede faster.
5. Medications and chemotherapy
Some medications have been known to cause this issue in both men and women. Some of the drugs that can accelerate hair loss and recession include medications rich in Vitamin A, those for treating heart disease, blood pressure, cholesterol, gout, and anti-depressants.
For cancer patients, chemotherapy is known to cause temporary loss and this can worsen your recessing hairline.
6. Poor Eating Habits
The foods we eat can accelerate this problem. Avoid eating refined foods (grains and sugar) as it worsens hair loss. Ensure you also avoid low protein diets as a protein it is essential for its growth. Furthermore, some researchers have found a correlation between heavy smoking and this problem
7. Other Causes
Other conditions and diseases that have been associated with it in people include the following:
- Male pattern baldness – The main cause in men
- Thyroid problems
- Adrenal gland cancer
- Burns
- Seborrheic dermatitis – Causes too many oils (sebum) or dry scalp. Both scenarios can cause hair loss.
- Trichotillomania
- Weakened immunity especially to lupus and diabetic patients
Other scalp infections such as fungal, eczema, acne (especially cystic acne associated with DHT) can cause this problem, although they are much rare, except for the fungal infection. Since most of the causes are also causes of hair loss.
Does it pass through mother’s genetics or father’s genetics?
There are rumors that this condition is passed from mother’s side of genetics. This is not true as it is passed from both parents, is hereditary. To know where it comes from, look at your mother’s and father’s brothers.
Note
We mainly focused on the causes of men (some of these factors cause it in women too). We did not cover anything on how to stop, treatment, haircuts, and much more since we have covered them in detail in our other posts.