Science Journal

Why Are Men Susceptible to Baldness?

I have a friend, a girl whose scalp is becoming thinner and who reminded me of my male old teachers who were slowly getting bald. That moment gave me a question why male acquire more this hair condition than their female counterpart? Is it that the supply of keratin (a protein that forms the hair strand) of women is greater than men? So, as usual, I consulted Google.

Androgenic Alopecia is a scientific term for male or female pattern baldness. It is a dominant genetic trait passed down to the people who luckily received it. Their ARgene mutated, increasing the activity of androgen receptors in hair follicles. It will be turned on by a number of factors like changes in hormonal production, age, and stress. But men are susceptible to this pattern baldness because they have more testosterone than women. If ARgene is expressed there will be more conversion of testosterone into Dihydrotestosterone. This compound is responsible for shrinking the hair follicles, replacing the old hairs on the scalp with shorter and thinner hair that follow a pattern beginning from crown and hairline at the temples. DHT reduces the stem cells ability in the scalp to develop into the type of cells that composed the hair follicle which results in inevitable hair loss. But it does not affect much the hair follicles at the back and sides of the scalp because these areas contained numerous DHT-resistant follicles. 

Moreover, androgenic alopecia does not make them appear like an old meekly wise man, Socrates but can lower their self-esteem too. They feel 'not-cool' and 'not-young' but they should not feel bad about it because male-pattern baldness has an evolutionary advantage. They do not only provide a natural mirror to other people but make them look socially matured, less aggressive and more likely to see them as a nurturer of the youth. Some women would like that kind of personality.

 And if you are one of them having this baldness issue and do not want to hasten its progression, I advised you not to look yourself into the mirror because it would stress you out because as I have stated before stress can create DHT more.