Why?

[wstef]

I am a really curious person, and suffering from losing my hair has made me curious to why it happens.

Why does it happen? We pretty much know how but I can't seem to find out why we think it happens?

I wonder if it's meant to happen or if it's an unwanted side effect of modern living?

Any theories why we lose our hair like we do?

Or... is it just one of nature's mysteries?

 

[s.a.f]

Modern living? What about the bald guys 200,000 yrs ago?

 

[HughJass]

I wonder if it's meant to happen or if it's an unwanted side effect of modern living?

I posted this a while back, it's from Weston A Price's Nutrition andPhysical Degeneration:

The Aborigines of Australia are recognized to be the oldest living race of mankind. Note the prominent eyebrows and deep set eyes. The man at the upper right is holding his spears and wamara, or spear thrower. They are very fond of decorations on their bodies. Little baldness was seen even in the very old.
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_librar ... ice10.html

I don't know if other hunter-gatherers have been researched for male pattern baldness. I don't know if men had baldness 200,000 years ago like saf says- have you got a link saf?

Any theories why we lose our hair like we do?

Me and another guy here think cortisol plays a big role.

 

[wstef]

Modern living? What about the bald guys 200,000 yrs ago?

Diet, sleep patterns... the fact we live decades longer than our ancestors (e.g. people may have died in their 30s or 40s centuries ago... 18 would have been middle-aged)

I read that baldness was relatively rare in Eastern Asia until recent times, and it's speculated it's about diet. However, they seem to eat a lot more 5ARIs (soya, teas, their diets are rich in fresh fruit and veg and less animal fats etc).

Cortisol would make sense for me... I am constantly stressed with my job and life in general. I never get enough sleep (I need 9 hours to feel comfortable but life isn't always so sweet!)

I have read up on sleep quite a lot - because I am sh*t at it - and it's suggested that the block sleep we do (sleep in one block for the day) isn't really natural. Apparently we used to sleep in segments throughout the day, mainly at night.

I wonder if baldness is a condition or part of evolution... we grow beards and get body hair as we get older, so perhaps baldness is a sign of maturity and sexual attractiveness (although society usually see it as the opposite)

 

[s.a.f]

Pretty sure that diet, sleep patterns and stress were probably much worse for our primative ancestors who were struggling just to survive on a daily basis.

 

[Chris87]

I wonder if it's meant to happen or if it's an unwanted side effect of modern living?

I posted this a while back, it's from Weston A Price's Nutrition andPhysical Degeneration:

The Aborigines of Australia are recognized to be the oldest living race of mankind. Note the prominent eyebrows and deep set eyes. The man at the upper right is holding his spears and wamara, or spear thrower. They are very fond of decorations on their bodies. Little baldness was seen even in the very old.
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_librar ... ice10.html

I don't know if other hunter-gatherers have been researched for male pattern baldness. I don't know if men had baldness 200,000 years ago like saf says- have you got a link saf?


[quote:u8kk943q]
Any theories why we lose our hair like we do?

Me and another guy here think cortisol plays a big role.[/quote:u8kk943q]

Well first off I'm not sure what you mean by Aborigines are the oldest living race of mankind..there were races of people around before the Aborigines. Also, even if that is the case, your example doesn't really explain anything. male pattern baldness is genetic right? If you have a group of people..say group A...who dont have any genetic male pattern baldness...and people from group A only have kids with other people from group A...then no one in group A is ever going to have male pattern baldness, and neither are their kids...because they're all drawing from the same gene pool with no male pattern baldness

There may just be no male pattern baldness in the Aborigines gene pool, or very little..which is why they dont go bald as much. We could create the same thing if we wanted. If we could just have all people on Earth with no male pattern baldness gene have kids with other people in that group...and then ensure that people WITH male pattern baldness didn't have kids...we would probably be able to end male pattern baldness or dramatically reduce it at least. Of course this is not practical and would never happen.

 

[s.a.f]

Well first off I'm not sure what you mean by Aborigines are the oldest living race of mankind..there were races of people around before the Aborigines. Also, even if that is the case, your example doesn't really explain anything. male pattern baldness is genetic right? If you have a group of people..say group A...who dont have any genetic male pattern baldness...and people from group A only have kids with other people from group A...then no one in group A is ever going to have male pattern baldness, and neither are their kids...because they're all drawing from the same gene pool with no male pattern baldness

There may just be no male pattern baldness in the Aborigines gene pool, or very little..which is why they dont go bald as much.

Aboriginals are still Homosapiens like the rest of us. Their lack of m.p.b is no different from that of native american indians.

Even primates like chimpanzees experience m.p.b and they share 99% of our DNA, their lifestyles have'nt changed in 100,000's of years.

 

[wstef]

Pretty sure that diet, sleep patterns and stress were probably much worse for our primative ancestors who were struggling just to survive on a daily basis.

True, but it was less refined and produced. They pretty much ate food as it was and I don't think they ate things like grains, wheat, no additives, no preserving, the animals they ate were not kept in coups and pens and were free to roam around eating natural food, no hormones injected to make them grow better and bigger etc etc.

male pattern baldness is genetic, that's pretty much been established but why do some people not go bald? What differentiates people who go bald between people who don't?

Why does genetics make some people go bald and not others?

 

[s.a.f]

Why do some people have blonde hair and some brown? Why do some have blue eyes? Why are some left handed? Why do some people have lots of body hair or no bodyhair? :dunno: Why do some people have dangling earlobes and some dont?
All these differences are determined by genetics but nobody really knows why. M.p.b is just another to add to the list.

 

[wstef]

Why do some people have blonde hair and some brown? Why do some have blue eyes? Why are some left handed? Why do some people have lots of body hair or no bodyhair? :dunno: Why do some people have dangling earlobes and some dont?
All these differences are determined by genetics but nobody really knows why. M.p.b is just another to add to the list.

I was just wondering if there were any theories to whether it was "meant" to happen or just a defect.

I'm just going to continue believing that us follicly challenged men are simply the next step in evolution (but really I'd be more inclined to believe it was a defect in our genetics)

 

[s.a.f]

Found this:

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/28/132243863 ... ls-and-dna