Baldness, alopecia in men…
hair loss in men

" Like all the men in my family, I’ve been losing my hair since I was 30. 

We often hear this sentence, one which sounds quite like an ancestral curse that has affected, affects, and will affect all men of the same family. Are they destined to lose their hair?

Is there no way to ward off fate?

Is this really how it has to be? Of course not! If treated in time, balding can be stopped and hair growth preserved.

And if this phenomenon has lasted for more than 6 months, we can deduce that it is progressive hair loss.

It results in a visible loss of hair on certain localized areas of the head which gradually recede, with the progressive receding of hair from the front hairline (creating a characteristic “M” shape), the temples or the crown.

Hair loss in men occurs gradually or in spurts. And the prognosis is even more serious when hair loss starts early. Inherited through genetics, it can start as early as 17-18 years old.

Causes of baldness in men 

A disturbance to the life cycle of the hair 
To analyze progressive hair loss in men, we must first understand the life of the hair.
Hair follows a well-defined life cycle: the hair cycle. 

1. The anagen or growth phase lasts from 2 to 6 years. This is the key stage in the life of the hair during which the hair shaft is produced.
2. The catagen or transition phase lasts 2 to 3 weeks. During this very transitory regression phase, there is no more hair growth.
3. The telogen or regression phase: the hair is at the end of its cycle and falls out.

As we have just seen, hair follows a regular life cycle, growth and death. These cycles are programmed to repeat 25 times in a lifetime. But when one of the components goes wrong, the whole life cycle of the hair is disturbed.
Progressive hair loss in men is due to an eventual shortening of the anagen phase, or growth phase, of the hair. The hair thus transitions more quickly from the growth phase to the regression phase. This shortens the cycle time.
Then it snowballs. Hair cycles follow one after the other at an accelerated pace and the sequence of 25 cycles that were programmed to last a lifetime ends earlier. This causes an early exhaustion of the hair capital.

If this anagen phase becomes shortened, it is because the scalp and hair follicles begin to overreact to excess hormones. When we talk about male hormones, we are talking about testosterone. Its usual conversion to DHT (dihydrotestosterone) by the enzyme 5α-reductase must become excessive for it to affect the life cycle of the hair. And it is the hyperactivity of this enzyme that causes an overproduction of DHT which is responsible for the shortening of the hair's life cycle.

As a result of the sequence of these biological factors, we observe a thinning of the hair mass due to abundant hair loss with thinning, or even total disappearance, of hair on large areas of the scalp.

External phenomena such as fatigue, stress, vitamin deficiency and the use of hair products that are harsh on the scalp can accelerate the causes of baldness.

Progressive hair loss in men is not inevitable. There are anti-hair loss treatments

Hair loss is a source of anxiety for men who see their hair gradually losing density, bald areas appear and before long they are left without hair. What makes this process even more anxiety-inducing is that, very often, members of their entourage (father, uncles, brothers, cousins etc.) suffer the same fate.

Before considering hair transplants, there are several options available to men to combat this progressive hair loss. Anti-hair loss treatments and care, possibly accompanied by the use of food supplements, can slow down and reduce this progressive hair loss.