Something I’ve Noticed About Who Loses Hair Young

[Mike Tyson]

When I look around in college I’m one of the few guys with a receding hairline, but I see a few others. Generally there are some receding hairlines, but if the guy is normal weight and normal body fat then he might have recession but the hair is still thick.

I only ever see diffuse thinning in obese guys. I can’t think of one case (except one guy I know that was a heavy steroid user that lost almost all of his hair, he also got all of the other side effects suggesting his body couldn’t handle high hormone levels) where a non obese male had diffuse thinning. What is the connection here, if there is one? Have any other young guys noticed this?

 

[swingline747]

coincidence.

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

When I look around in college I’m one of the few guys with a receding hairline, but I see a few others. Generally there are some receding hairlines, but if the guy is normal weight and normal body fat then he might have recession but the hair is still thick.

I only ever see diffuse thinning in obese guys. I can’t think of one case (except one guy I know that was a heavy steroid user that lost almost all of his hair, he also got all of the other side effects suggesting his body couldn’t handle high hormone levels) where a non obese male had diffuse thinning. What is the connection here, if there is one? Have any other young guys noticed this?

There's evidence in the literature that male pattern baldness correlates with insulin resistance, however the correlation is not well-understood. That's a clear pathway for what you're seeing on your college campus, but it's only a hypothetical pathway. A larger sample size with a more robust analysis would be necessary for us to arrive at clear conclusions.

Though I'm reluctant to say the following, it may also be that men who lose hair at 18 are more likely to indulge in comfort food.

 

[Chromedome1990]

There is no connection, at least in my opinion.

*TRIGGER WARNING* UN-SCIENCE INCOMING!

Me personally, I was in the best shape of my life when I started balding at the ripe old age of 17. Working out regularly, good diet, but no supplements or steroids whatsoever. And yet, in a matter of 4 months I lost roughly 50% of the density in my frontal crown area. It's been a while now, but back in college I remember seeing diffuse thinning guys every now and then, and I don't recall any of them being outright obese. Also consider this - have you ever seen a bald sumo wrestler? Hell, even look at "My 600 lb Life," most of the guys on that show are fullheads and they're all diabetic (not to mention, well, 600 lbs). Non-white ethnicities tend to have higher rates of insulin resistance and diabetes than whites, yet it's non-whites who tend to fare better in terms of hair follicles. During college I spent quite a bit of time in the South Pacific (American Samoa to be exact). If I recall, something crazy like 80% of the population is obese, and 1 in 3 are diabetic. And yet, among the obese men I recall seeing down there, I can't remember seeing a single man above Norwood 3. Most were Norwood 1-2, even into their 40s.

I believe there are factors to hair loss other than genetics/DHT since if that was the only cause, finasteride/dustasteride would work for everybody, and that clearly isn't the case. However, I do not believe the theory that diet/weight can affect hair loss in any meaningful way.

As a bonus, here's Jon Brower Minnoch, the fattest man to have ever lived.

Notice the Norwood 0 hair line?

 

[Mike Tyson]

There is no connection, at least in my opinion.

*TRIGGER WARNING* UN-SCIENCE INCOMING!

Me personally, I was in the best shape of my life when I started balding at the ripe old age of 17. Working out regularly, good diet, but no supplements or steroids whatsoever. And yet, in a matter of 4 months I lost roughly 50% of the density in my frontal crown area. It's been a while now, but back in college I remember seeing diffuse thinning guys every now and then, and I don't recall any of them being outright obese. Also consider this - have you ever seen a bald sumo wrestler? Hell, even look at "My 600 lb Life," most of the guys on that show are fullheads and they're all diabetic (not to mention, well, 600 lbs). Non-white ethnicities tend to have higher rates of insulin resistance and diabetes than whites, yet it's non-whites who tend to fare better in terms of hair follicles. During college I spent quite a bit of time in the South Pacific (American Samoa to be exact). If I recall, something crazy like 80% of the population is obese, and 1 in 3 are diabetic. And yet, among the obese men I recall seeing down there, I can't remember seeing a single man above Norwood 3. Most were Norwood 1-2, even into their 40s.

I believe there are factors to hair loss other than genetics/DHT since if that was the only cause, finasteride/dustasteride would work for everybody, and that clearly isn't the case. However, I do not believe the theory that diet/weight can affect hair loss in any meaningful way.

As a bonus, here's Jon Brower Minnoch, the fattest man to have ever lived.

View attachment 84603

Notice the Norwood 0 hair line?

Yeah that’s fair I mean we’re really just comparing anecdotes here, although my school is basically only white people and I think there are some differences along racial lines with respect to hairloss. I was just wondering if anyone else had noticed this, once you start losing hair you tend to examine everyone else’s and I’ve been looking for a few years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a diffuse thinner that wasn’t extremely overweight. But again that doesn’t prove anything because you’ve had the opposite experience, albeit with a different racial group.