Hair Loss in the Man

By Ángelo Cervantes

When your own hair falls out, you start to get desperate. But don't get upset, we lose about 100 hairs a day, that's normal. However, if you notice more and more hair on the brush and maybe even bald spots on your head, there could be an imbalance in the body. This stops hair growth and makes it fall out more often. That's why it's important to understand the factors that are contributing to it: Genetics, an unbalanced diet, stress, and harsh hair care products; are just some of the causes. Fortunately, all of them have been well researched. Scientists now understand quite well what is going on in the body, and have formulated possible solutions. In this book, we show you how you can stimulate hair growth or stop hair loss.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ediciones Afrodita
• Release date: Mar 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215685044

Book preview

Chapter 1

General notion

about the hair

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Hair: Not necessary, but extremely important

As a naked ape, man occupies a special position among his closest relatives in the animal kingdom. Strictly speaking, of course, we're not really naked; the distribution of the hair coat shows only one pattern that is characteristic of humans. Whatever the reasons for the great reduction in the hair layer, from a purely biological and medical point of view we can say: If it is a matter of mere survival, then the hair is not necessary. On the other hand, we have to realize that hair plays an extremely important role, especially from a social and psychological point of view.

Last but not least, the importance of hair can be seen in the amount of time and money we spend on taking care of it. For most women, the cumulative time commitment is likely to be several months, in some cases even years.

Hair is not only an important topic for women, but also for men. For the strong sex the fear of hair loss is in the foreground. Several hundred million men worldwide are affected by the typical manifestation of male hair loss, hereditary (androgenetic) alopecia. According to one study, 40 percent of men between the ages of 30 and 50 have personally noticed hair loss. 15 percent have at least a pronounced receding hairline and 3 percent have just a fringe of hair. For most men, losing hair is at least uncomfortable; for some, it is related to serious mental health problems. Furthermore, there is evidence that baldness can have real negative social consequences. In the fight against baldness, men spend considerable resources. For example, American men are said to spend more than $7 billion a year on it.

The enormous importance of hair is not a new phenomenon in our modern Western society. Significantly, one of the oldest medicines we know of in medical history is a remedy for male pattern baldness: 4,000 years ago, ancient Egyptians rubbed a tincture of ground dog feet fried in oil and donkey hooves on their bald heads. We know equally strange mixtures from different centuries and from all over the world. But it's not just about fighting baldness. Although it is only about the mere beautification of hair, a huge effort has always been made throughout the world; by both men and women.

To fully understand the problem of progressive baldness, it is worth starting from the beginning in order to understand the causes of the problem and know how to deal with them:

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Hair structure

The part of the hair located above the surface of the skin is called the shaft. The one located in the skin is called the hair root (or hair follicle). In the place where the hair leaves the thickness of the skin, a recess is formed - a funnel for hair. The bulb is surrounded by a hair follicle. Hair type depends on the shape of the follicle: straight hair grows from a round follicle, slightly curly hair from an oval follicle, and curly hair from a renal follicle.

Each hair consists of three layers. The outer layer, the cuticle, is made up of flat, keratinized cells that overlap each other like tiles and perform a protective function. When the cuticle scales are tight, and overlapping neatly, the hair is silky, smooth, and shiny. If the cuticle cells are physically or chemically damaged, the hair becomes dull, brittle, and easily tangled.

Inside the cuticle is a cortical substance, the cortex, which consists of elongated keratinized cells that contain the pigment melanin, which determines the natural color of the hair. This layer gives strength and elasticity to the hair.

The central part of the hair is represented by the medulla, the core, which consists of keratinized cuboidal cells and air cavities between them. This layer is absent in fine hair (vellus). The purpose of this layer is unknown, but it is believed to transport nutrients to the cortex and cuticle. This may explain the rapid change in the hair during the disease.

Hair in normal position is oblique to the plane of the skin surface with the direction of inclination along Langer's lines, except for eyelashes, hair in the vestibule of the nasal cavity, and external auditory meatus, they are always located at right angles to the surface, and the