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" 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.
There are many symptoms that signal progressive hair loss.
Before considering a treatment plan, it is important to diagnose it properly.
Between the ages of 20 and 35, it is not uncommon for men to see their hair thinning and their hairline gradually receding. Often caused by genetics, this baldness, whose scientific name is androgenic alopecia or androgenetic alopecia, can be treated and the progressive loss of hair slowed down, even stopped.
Over the normal life cycle of hair, which we will describe later, our scalp loses between 40 and 80 hairs per day. When this number approaches or exceeds 100, the hair loss is considered excessive.
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.
It is thought to affect:
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.
NORMAL STATE:
Legend 25 cycles on average in a lifetime
N+1, N+2, N+3, N+4... = cycle = 5 years
The life cycles of the hair follow one another
A. ANAGEN PHASE
B. CATAGEN PHASE
C. TELOGEN PHASE
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.
PROGRESSIVE HAIR LOSS:
Legend 25 cycles on average in a lifetime
N = cycle = 5 years
N+1 = 4.5 years - N+2 = 4 years
N+3 = 3.5 years - N+4 = 3 years...
Hair life cycles are getting shorter
A. ANAGEN PHASE
B. CATAGEN PHASE
C. TELOGEN PHASE
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.
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.
However, the evolution of this phenomenon can be slowed down and even stopped when treated at a young age, before the number of cycles has reached its end.
However, if left untreated—which is often the case—it continues relentlessly until the scalp is left bald, a total absence of hair.
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.
