Why Do Some Men Keep Their Hair Into Old Age
While Others Begin Losing Their Hair Young?

For most men who are losing their hair before they'd like to, the answer is genetic.

Hair loss, like eye color, is an inherited trait. While you were still forming in the womb, your hair follicles were being genetically coded. If genes responsible for hair loss were present, they made the hair follicles on top of your head sensitive to the hormone dihydrotestosterone, or DHT. These follicles were then predisposed to begin shrinking when you reached adulthood.

Unfortunately, once this genetic process begins, it will continue throughout your lifetime. As the hairs produced by your ever-shrinking follicles become finer and finer, they will begin failing to grow to normal length. And what is first noticed as "thinning hair" or a "receding hairline" progresses to baldness when the shrinking follicles finally stop producing any hair at all.

In 1988, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first medication for application to the scalp that has been proven to grow human hair: Minoxidil solution 2%. Minoxidil has been clinically proven to slow down or help halt hair loss in some cases, and to help regrow hair on the vertex of the head in some cases. But it has demonstrated little effect on frontal baldness (e.g., the temples), the area of greatest concern to most balding and thinning men. To remain effective, Minoxidil must continue to be used on a daily basis.

Non-surgical hair replacement refers to the use of a hair system, hairpiece, wig or hair extension. The name most commonly used today is "hair system" which is a product made of human or synthetic hair, which is woven or clipped to a man's or a woman's existing hair or is attached by tape to the scalp.

A wig is the name normally reserved for a "fashion wig" or cranial hair prosthesis, whereas a hair extension refers to the method by which one can add volume, length or color dimensions.  Today's hair replacement systems are a secure and convenient hair loss solution for those who are not candidates for surgical hair restoration or who want to achieve more density than is possible by hair transplantation.

You can also try herbal products such as Propecia^®  Many men are concerned about reported sexual side effects with the drug. In truth, the side effect of lower libido was noted in only 1.8% of the men taking the drug in clinical trials, versus 1.3% on a placebo. Further, this side effect always went away in men who stopped taking Propecia, and also disappeared in most men who continued taking Propecia, according to the manufacturer Merck & Co.

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