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- Have you ever heard that if your maternal grandfather
went bald that you will too?
Or what about the one where getting a scalp massage
will send more blood to your head
and cause your hair to grow back?
Some people also claim that if you shave your hair
it will grow back even fuller than before.
That is totally not true.
Sorry to break it to you.
All of these are bogus myths.
As long as men have been losing their hair
they've been trying to figure out what
causes baldness and how they can cure the sign of aging.
In fact, it's estimated that 40 million Americans,
that's men and women, are losing their hair.
And all those people are spending
more than one billion dollars a year
on everything from hair transplants to toupees
and spray-on hair.
Now hair, real hair, grows just under the skin
on our heads from the close to 100,000 follicles there.
This growth happens in three phases.
The anagen phase where it's growing,
the catagen phase in between,
and the telogen phase where it betrays us, falls out.
Hair falling out is totally normal.
We should lose 50-100 hairs everyday
as part of the telogen cycle.
But if more hair falls out than is replaced
you're probably balding.
But hey, take comfort that you are not alone my friends.
By age 30 a quarter of all men have already
started to lose their hair.
What's weird is why do humans go bald in the first place?
Baldness is actually pretty rare in other animals
and hair serves lots of important purposes.
It protects our heads from sun,
maintains our body heat when we're cold,
and may even attract a mate.
See this? I got this when I still had hair.
Some researches think it suggests a dominant status
or a sign of maturity in different societies.
Just think about all the amazing bald men in pop culture.
Lex Luthor, Walter White, Ming the Merciless,
Dr. Evil, Lord Voldemort.
Hang on, they're not all villains are they?
I mean, uh, uh...
Professor X, (claps hands) got it, hah!
Or how about Jean-Luc Picard?
Lots of people say he's pretty hot.
To understand baldness a little better
let's look at the different types that occur.
First the most common type is called androgenetic alopecia,
otherwise known as male pattern baldness.
It's related to our inherited genetic predisposition
from both our parents.
This effects how sensitive we are to a hormone
called dihydrotestosterone,
hereafter referred to as DHT for my sanity.
For most guys 5% of their testosterone
is converted into DHT.
If you're sensitive to DHT it acts like a toxin
on your hair follicles, producing thinner, weaker
almost colorless hair until hair production
in the follicle simply stops.
Researchers have found that male pattern baldness
also causes men to have an abnormal amount
of a protein lipid called prostaglandin D2.
Some dermatologists even think
that men can regrow their hair
if this inhibiting protein were removed.
Other types of baldness include the female pattern baldness
that occurs in some women post-menopause,
and autoimmune disorder called alopecia areata
and a condition called telogen effluvium
that makes your hair fall out faster than normal.
People can also have brittle hair from hair shaft defects
or, in rare cases, may even pull out their own hair
compulsively if they have a disorder
called trichotillomania.
Think that sounds scary?
You can also lose your hair from illnesses.
Fungal infections, burns, chemical applications,
medications and, of course,
cancer treatments like chemotherapy.
Smoking is also reported to increase the risk of baldness.
You should definitely see your doctor
if your hair starts falling out in clumps
or you get a burning, itching irritation on your scalp.
But if you're simply a victim
of the old male pattern baldness
I'd like to know how you deal with it.
Do you shave your head like I do?
Or have you tried one of the many treatments
or cures out there?
Let me know about your experience
on Brain Stuff's YouTube channel,
Facebook page or Twitter feed.
If you want to learn more about the bizarre
but everyday things that happen to our bodies,
check out our site at brainstuffshow.com
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