Are some people just naturally thinner on top?

[Jaygee]

I know it's a desperate question, but sometimes my mind lets me entertain the possibility. My uncle insists that a doctor told him, as a young man, that he had fewer follicles on top than most people, and this was long before any hair loss became evident. My bald dad, who is still skeptical that I'm losing it myself, insists that since I was a little kid I've "had a wide part". It sounds weird to me, since everyone with a buzz cut very clearly has the same thickness all around. My top, when I push the hair around, LOOKS like it should be much worse than it is, but my hair is about 3 inches long, and this covers it up completely. You'd never know a thing if you never pushed it around or saw me wet.

Is it unheard of, as far as any of you know, that some people DON'T have equal thickness on the top and back/sides? I just look at my hair parted (front-to-back, not to the sides like you would styling it) and I'm very disturbed. It looks like I shouldn't still be covered even with three inches. But I am.

Also, there's this guy I know at college who had pretty long hair last year that was combed back, and I was almost positive he was balding because I could see a lot of scalp through the mop. Then one day he showed up to class with a closely cropped head, and his hair looked perfectly normal. (It wasn't any regimen because this was a matter of one day). What kind of weird illusion had been fooling me? Is there some odd circumstance I'm unaware of that can make hair look thinner than it actually is when it grows out?


Damn. I'm just anxious over here.

 

[Jaygee]

"And with a mighty heave, he thrust his post to the top of the pile once more, in the hopes that there existed someone----anyone---out there, who would heed his call.

Was it to be?

Stay tuned."

 

[Jaygee]

I gotta time these better, I s'pose....

 

[gonna_win]

The amount and density of hair's vary's from person to person. I suggest you check online medical sites such as a medical journal or see a doctor/dermatologist personally to confirm my claim.

 

[mrlestat]

.
I believe the average human scalp has a much higher density of hair on the side and backs compared to the top of the scalp - I have read this on various sites... So there is hope...........

 

[Jaygee]

Thanks.

I have been thinking of seeing a derm again (only went once, said I wuz balding), but I'm kind of scared. If I can get a good answer to this particular question about back/sides vs. top, I guess I'll go for it.

Does anyone else have a thought?

 

[Trent]

i think you are right in some respects, some people just do have naturally thinner hair. this does not mean necessarily less follicles, i just mean thin hair. this would be me. I have always had thin hair (or i guess fine hair is a better phrase), so does my dad, who still has a pretty decent head of hair. I'm genetically prone to just thin hair, and not brad pitt mops. the weird thing about me is, that when i part my hair, like pull it as hard as i can down, even when its wet, the part is super thin, like almost non existent. but when its standing up or laying kinda flat on my head, my hair just looks thin, wispy and when i run my hands through it it just feels "easy to push my hands through" there's no knotting up, or resistance when i do that. Up until about six months ago, i always attributed the thin looking hair to just me getting my mature hair, the thin-like hair that was just what i inherited.

 

[Jaygee]

mrlestat: Can you remember some specific places where you read that?

 

[Jaygee]

'Ello.

 

[hanginginthewire]

Anyone else with thoughts on this? Do people have diffuse thinning on top as they age, even if they don't have male pattern baldness?

 

[Raphael13]

Yup. I have naturally thinner/finer hair than most people do. My lill brother has the same.

 

[JohnOKelly]

I've always had very fine hair, remember my mother saying so back when I was a kid.

 

[biddybomb]

it makes sense that most people will have less density on the top of their head compared to the back because that part of the skull expands far more as you grow relative to the back of your head and sides.