Coping with Male Pattern Baldness

The purpose of this book is to provide support and advice for those of us who have fallen victim (or perhaps been saved) by male pattern baldness. For more information on the causes, please refer to a different source, as the aim of this work is personal acceptance.

Why me?

Baldness can strike a man at any age. It has been reported that baldness can begin anywhere from the early teen years onward into adulthood. Of course, the earlier this happens, the more likely it will have a negative affect on the individual's self esteem and consequent social interactions. This results typically in one of a few possible courses of action.

1. The person becomes depressed, and takes no action.
2. The person gets angry, and withdraws from social interaction.
3. The person becomes desperate, and invests large (or small) amounts of money in supposed baldness cures, treatments, and procedures.
4. The person pretends/acts like nothing has changed, and is unaffected.
5. The person takes steps to hide their hair loss without attempting to "cure" it.

The most common question that one facing male pattern baldness will ask himself is "Why me?". The fact is, male pattern baldness is hereditary. Other forms of hair loss however, do not fit under this category. So one has to ask themselves, are any of my relatives bald/balding? One cannot simple follow the idea that baldness comes only from the mother's father. Baldness can be inherited from a father, grandfather, or even through the mother as a recessive gene.

Is there any hope my hair will grow back?

Pay very close attention this. There is no scientifically proven, 100% completely effective cure for baldness.

Once a hair follicle has died, it will never grow back, or begin to produce new hairs. However there are many misconceptions about baldness. For example:

• If I shave my head, the hair will grow back thicker
• Hairs grow in cycles, right now my hair follicles are in a resting phase
• I'm not balding, I'm just thinning

Lets analyze these for a moment. First, the idea that shaving your head will make your hair grow back thicker is completely false. There is absolutely no evidence to support this, nor does it make any sense on a scientific level.

Secondly, yes, hair does grow in cycles. What you need to realize is that if you are visibly balding, that means you have lost at least half of your hair. This kind of hairloss is not related to the on and off growing cycles of normal healthy hair cells. It is normally to lose hairs every day, but when this amount begins to exceed what is normal, visible hairloss will occur.

Lastly, balding and thinning are the same process. They are just different stages of progression. Some people experience a thinning of hair in certain areas of the head, whilst others will experience a complete loss of hair in certain parts. If your hair is becoming thinner, this means that your hair follicles are either dying, or becoming weak and consequently only producing tiny, often colorless hairs. Note, some people claim that in this phase, dying your hair produces the illusion of more hair. Others counterclaim that these colorless "baby hairs" are not able to retain the pigment from the dye.

As we speak, companies are currently researching a new technique that is being called "Hair Cloning", and sometimes "Hair multiplication". Until this becomes a commercially available and scientifically proven reality, this should not be considered as a realistic alternative to accepting your baldness.

Will anybody ever find me attractive?

This may come as a surprise to those of us who have just begun to lose our hair, but the answer is yes. Even if you are young, It is a 100% certainty that you can still be attractive to other people and potential partners. Let's consider a few reasons as to why this is:

1. People are attracted to men for reasons beyond hair only, specifically
   1. Intelligence
   2. Charisma
   3. Personal Style
   4. Social skills
   5. Education
   6. Wealth and power
   7. Muscle mass/Body Physique
   8. Eyes, voice, etc.
2. Baldness can be seen as a sign of masculinity and heightened testosterone
3. Some people are specifically attracted to bald men
4. Some people are completely unconcerned with hair, and instead focus on other traits

If you are only beginning to bald now, or have been bald for a longer period of time but have not taken action on the matter, a good piece of advice is to create an action plan. The most important purpose of an action plan is to build, maintain, and/or restore your confidence and self esteem.

The first step of your action plan is to accept yourself for who you are. You are an individual with a potential that is only limited by your personal desire. You can be, or you already are an attractive person to someone.

Say no to drugs, rugs, and plugs!

Most men that lose their hair go through a phase where they believe that they are a special case, and that they can in fact change their fate and cause their hair to stop falling out. That they are not like every other poor fool who has lost their hair. It is during this phase that the individual is most likely to invest in products which claim to repair, restore, regrow, or otherwise cure baldness completely. Lets look at a few of the more common options that claim to repair or restore hair:

1. Chemicals: Rogaine, Propecia, Avacor, etc.
2. Supplements: Saw Palmetto
3. Surgery: Hair transplant, scalp reduction, etc.
4. Others: Laser treatment, scalp massage, etc.

Of course there is a plethora of other products and services that are targeted towards men facing male pattern baldness. But the specifics of these individual products are not important to the scope of this document and are well documented in Wikipedia articles.

Other products and services exist today which are designed to hide and conceal hair loss. Some of these options are:

• Scalp coloring products (Such as Topik)
• Hair pieces, Toupees, etc.
• Artificial hair thickening sprays

The purpose of these products again is not to cure baldness, but to conceal it's existence completely with varying degrees of success. Generally speaking, no matter what you decide to do, the end result will almost always be the same. You will have lost considerable amounts of money depending on the route you choose, your body may be permanently altered in a way that limits your future options (Surgery only) and may cause bodily harm, and you will be left unsatisfied, and with lower self confidence than before.