Medically speaking, we get to blame our parents for a lot of different disorders. From heart disease to hair loss, genetics play a significant role in the way we look and our overall health. So, are your parents responsible for your hair loss? Let’s look at the list.
Top Causes of Hair Loss
- Heredity-based hair loss, a.k.a. androgenic alopecia
- Aging
- Alopecia areata
- Stressors such as childbirth, illness, etc.
- Hair care
- Traction alopecia
- Hormonal imbalances
While androgenic alopecia is most directly labeled a heredity-based form of hair loss, three others on that list can have a genetic contributing factor. For example, hormonal imbalances may run in the family. Even without androgenic alopecia, aging can affect the hair follicle production and some families might be more prone to that than others. How your body reacts to stress can also be an inherited trait.
While the top seven causes of hair loss might be related to your family, that doesn’t mean you have to sit down and accept the loss. Sometimes, you can even fight your genetics. When it comes to hair loss, here’s how you fight.
Is All Hair Loss Hereditary?
No, but the primary reason for hair loss is. The number one reason for hair loss is what we call male-pattern baldness – though it occurs in all genders. Hereditary hair loss in this fashion can impact as much as 80 percent of all men by the time they are 70 years old, according to Penn Medicine.
Worse yet, it can strike while you are young. Some men start losing their hair in their teens or early 20s.
Other forms of hair loss aren’t directly genetic but are still related to your family. For example, you might have hair loss related to thyroid disease or cancer treatment. While neither of these causes are directly related to genetics, we do know that some diseases – like thyroid issues – tend to be more prevalent in families with a history of thyroid disease.
So, is that hereditary hair loss? Not exactly, but you can still blame your family if you want to.
Will I Go Bald If My Dad Is?
The genetics of hereditary hair loss are confusing and much more complicated than the recessive gene tables taught in some high school biology classes. According to the Journal of Invasive Dermatology, the answer is super complicated: “Although it is a widely accepted opinion that common baldness is an autosomal dominant phenotype in men and an autosomal recessive phenotype in women, or indeed that baldness is genetically influenced, it is based on surprisingly little empirical data.”
That would mean that a man whose father is bald is more likely to lose his hair as he ages, but a daughter might not be. On the other hand, the daughter of a bald man whose maternal grandfather was also bald might experience hair loss or might not.
Is Hair Loss from Your Mother or Father?
Yes. The truth of the matter is that inherited hair loss could be from either or both sides of the family… and it may simply be a factor of aging. At 20 years old, 20 percent of men have hair loss and at 90 years old, 90 percent do. Is that aging or heredity? It’s hard to decide.
You might also get hair loss from your kids!
In both men and women, physiological stress leads to hair loss… and in women that includes childbirth. The American Academy of Dermatology says many new moms see extensive shedding of their hair right after childbirth. For most people, that’s just a shift in the stage of hair growth and the lost hair will soon be replaced with new hair.
But that’s not always the case. Pregnancy is hard on the body and can lead to stress-related hair loss. In fact, how we deal with stress is an important factor in hair loss and most of us agree, families can be a primary stressor. Other physiological stressors, like COVID and other diseases, can also lead to unnatural hair loss.
Autoimmune conditions like thyroid disease or alopecia areata can lead to hair loss as can some medications – like radiation or chemotherapy for cancer. Some forms of autoimmune disease and cancer can be hereditary, so once again it’s hard to say who is most to blame for your hair loss.
Can You Reverse Hereditary Hair Loss?
There is no cure for hereditary hair loss, but you may be able to slow it down or possibly even reverse it – depending on how exactly your family caused your hair loss. If it was a stressor, illness, or shock… treating or addressing the instigating factor that caused the hair loss may result in hair regrowth. In other cases, hair loss shampoos or hair transplant surgery may be the best option to reduce the trauma of hair loss.
Precision Hair Restoration Can Help You Find the Cause of Your Hair Loss
When you visit us at Precision Hair Restoration, we can help you stop blaming your family for your thinning hair and help you find a treatment alternative. Are you ready to get your hair back? Contact us today to evaluate the process.
