The Genetic Evolutionary Survival Of Hair Loss

[Jesse Wilson]

I've finally come to the conclusion that the pattern of hair loss we see is determined genetically and is not (at least not directly) based on blood supply or cushion of the horseshoe area.

The reason this is the case is because chimps have hair loss too. It must play some important roll for social status in their environment. This trait was selected against while in Africa probably due to heat and sun exposure. When some humans left Africa, the vestigial trait was no longer selected against so it made a comeback which is why it's more common in lighter skinned peoples who didn't recently adapt in the hot sunlight of the African Savannah. It may have even given an advantage for extra sunlight absorption since people probably wore skins to stay warm, they weren't getting as much sunlight. This trait wasn't already evolved for women which is why they didn't really get it except by accident during the short adaption from black to white.

Completely bald men are considered more dominant - perhaps not just a cultural thing, but a vestige of bald chimp-like ancestors being more dominant. Leaving the horseshoe makes them appear funny-looking and weak, but that could be due to cultural expectations. This is obviously cherry picking what is cultural and what is vestigial, but it still seems like it might be partly true.

The only strange thing about this trait is that it makes such a neat, abrupt, contrasting bald and hair line on the back of the head.

 

[Rudolphus]

I don't think there's any evolutionary basis for it really. A few theories have been put forward, though none has been proven. I think it is just one of those genetic glitches that doesn't have any evolutionary significance. There are a lot of flaws in the human design, and baldness happens to be one of them.

 

[barfacan]

Best theory I have heard is that pattern balding is a special form of "male decoration". There is reasonable agreement that balding males males look older. The theory is that a little balding makes younger males look more mature and thus more attractive to females.

Remember, it is "survival of the fittest" and a male merely surviving to (say) the ripe old age of 35-40 might have been a mate-worthy accomplishment in stone-age female eyes. Also, older males tend to have access to more resources, more expereince, etc. What if you can fake this at a younger age?

Peter H. Proctor, PhD,MD

 

[Jesse Wilson]

Bullshit, I see them as weak, ugly and ill.

Look up the studies on this. Vin Diesel, the Rock, Bruce willis, etc. I think if a guy shaves his head completely (not leaving the funny horseshoe) and has a bit of muscle, it just seems more dominant. Doesn't really matter, but the fact that some people find it dominant might be a vestige of when chimp-like ancestors went bald.

 

[Jesse Wilson]

This is a good theory and may have helped the trait come back after we moved out of Africa.

 

[Jesse Wilson]

I don't think there's any evolutionary basis for it really. A few theories have been put forward, though none has been proven. I think it is just one of those genetic glitches that doesn't have any evolutionary significance. There are a lot of flaws in the human design, and baldness happens to be one of them.

Could be, but the pattern is too ornate for it not to have been selected for. Maybe the pattern is a vestige of our chimp like ancestors.

 

[BaldyBalderBald]

Bullshit, just a genetic disorder due to many copies of a corrupted DNA.
f***, if i have a time travel machine i'll get back and seek for the first European balding mutants that reproduce themselves in the first place and kill them all.

My father was bald at 22, norwood 7

He's now 53 and suffer from squamous cell carcinoma on his scalp due to years of sun exposure, he have to avoid sun or wear a hat whenever he goes outside, if he doesn't, this will be evolving into skin cancer.

Does it sound like a
Genetic Evolutionary Survival to you ?

Fuckin' A-Right, Hairs are on our head for a purpose you know, protecting skin from harmful UVA and UVB, this is not a cosmetic trait

Nature doesn't give a sh*t about cosmetic, everything has a purpose

 

[Rudolphus]

Bullshit, just a genetic disorder due to many copies of a corrupted DNA.
f***, if i have a time travel machine i'll get back and seek for the first European balding mutants that reproduce themselves in the first place and kill them all.

My father was bald at 22, norwood 7

He's now 53 and suffer from squamous cell carcinoma on his scalp due to years of sun exposure, he have to avoid sun or wear a hat whenever he goes outside, if he doesn't, this will be evolving into skin cancer.

Does it sound like a
Genetic Evolutionary Survival to you ?

Fuckin' A-Right, Hairs are on our head for a purpose you know, protecting skin from harmful UVA and UVB, this is not a cosmetic trait

Nature doesn't give a sh*t about cosmetic, everything has a purpose

I'd have to agree. I just don't buy the idea that there is some kind of evolutionary explanation for baldness. My opinion is it is just another genetic flaw in the human design.

 

[Jesse Wilson]

Bullshit, just a genetic disorder due to many copies of a corrupted DNA.
f***, if i have a time travel machine i'll get back and seek for the first European balding mutants that reproduce themselves in the first place and kill them all.

My father was bald at 22, norwood 7

He's now 53 and suffer from squamous cell carcinoma on his scalp due to years of sun exposure, he have to avoid sun or wear a hat whenever he goes outside, if he doesn't, this will be evolving into skin cancer.

Does it sound like a
Genetic Evolutionary Survival to you ?

Fuckin' A-Right, Hairs are on our head for a purpose you know, protecting skin from harmful UVA and UVB, this is not a cosmetic trait

Somehow the trait survived all this time which means it wasn't selected against. Perhaps because women didn't care that much in pre-Tinder generations. The gene probably had a beneficial roll in our evolutionary history (perhaps in our chimp-like ancestors) for two reasons: it's a very specific pattern and modern male chimps have baldness on their head. It's unlikely that it's just a common glitch male apes have. Everything on the body is a glitch in some sense, but the selective pressure for hair seems fairly simple and important. In order for something so important to just go away, there were probably, at some point in history, a benefit to male pattern baldness.

To be clear: Today there is no benefit for male pattern baldness at all, except for perhaps forcing the people who can't stop it to be less superficial.

 

[BaldyBalderBald]

Again i don't talk about cosmetic, chicks, Tinder and such sh*t, i'm 31 and married, this new generation is doomed in many ways, and i feel bad for them, being so pressurised by social medias, aspect, eternal youth and attractiveness.This must be even more painful for them than it was for me in my late 10's/early 20's

I talked about Survival of the fittest Darwin and Spencer theory.

Baldness is linked to increase mortality actually, basically the opposite.
Bald people are more prone to skin cancer (scalp skin is 100% of time exposed directly to the sun, and is much more thin and fragile than the rest of our skin), heart diseases, and prostatic cancer. This is what we know as of today.

Seems pretty far to me to the Survival of the fittest trend and the Gettin' pussies Chad's movement.

This is not a genetic enhancement of our species, but a genetic decay of it