Cliff notes: Does being predisposed to baldness genetically include people who will go bald at a later age and very slowly compared to most people?
My brother and all of my cousins have no signs of any hair loss. All of us are in our mid 30s to mid 40s. We’re Asian, if that’s important.
However, out parents/uncles have had hair loss with varying degrees…generally they lost their hair very gradually, certainly more slowly than most people. One exception: one uncle who is 77 years old and still has a complete head of hair, no receding hairline…just abit of grey.
I have a very thick full head of hair. I’m 36. My dad and uncles and have hair loss but they started losing their hair later and more slowly than most people.
Okay now the long version:
I keep hearing that if you are not genetically predisposed to being bald you have nothing to worry about. What exactly does that mean specifically? It seems very broad.
-My father is 72 years old…he isn’t bald but has hair loss. Hair still mostly black. Still has most of his hair, and by most I mean like 70%. Fully grey beard if that’s relevant.
-My eldest uncle (dad’s older brother): about 76 or 77…complete full head of hair…bit greyish he started greying in recent years.
-older cousin (dad’s side): 42 years old…100% full head of hair from what I can see. no receding hairline as far as I can notice. Him and I have the same grandfather.
My grandfather on my dad’s side - he is 100 years old and now has very little hair, mostly just grey hair on the sides of his head. I will note that he has had serious illnesses and almost died 6 years ago…this may have expedited his hair loss
On my mom’s side, my uncle, as far as I can remember, had a lot of hair…not a full head of hair but a good amount. He was about 65 to 70 years old and had no grey hair at all. In generally very healthy head of hair even if not perfect.
Now the anomaly: on my dad’s side, my youngest uncle went bald so young. Don’t know what happened there.
and now ME:
I am 36… full head of hair…very thick black hair. I’ve never had a single strand of gray hair. I’ve always wished i had thinner hair (easier to style)
I also have excessive body hair all over, my arms look silly with thick hair…almost like a monkey…not sure if that is relevant to head balding.
My brother is 38 and has a full head of hair…as far as I can see it hasn’t started receding yet…or if it has…it’s only receded by an amount that is hard to notice.
So in a nutshell: I have an uncle who in his 70s with a 100% full head of hair.
My dad, grandfather, other uncles, etc.: do lose hair, but later and more slowly than most who go bald. My generation, including my brother and all of my cousins…none of us have any hair loss at all so far…our age range is 30s to mid 40s.
I do notice my generation ages better than my parents generation. Watching old videos…my parents in their late 30s looked sooooo much older than my siblings and I look now…and I am the youngest one at 36 (my oldest sibling is 43).
So does that categorize me as being genetically predisposed to balding?