Curiosity #15 Why do some people go bald?

curiousity (55)in #science • 7 years ago (edited)

Hey guys, Welcome again to my Curious article series.

So you Really wanna know why do some people go bald?

Do you know what most of the popular and creative people have in common, yes most of them are bald. For centuries shining dome has been a symbol of intelligence but everyone wants their hair to return.

Firstly , What is hair made of?

The full headed people have between 100000-150,000 hair on their scalp. The hair we see is made mostly of keratin. Keratin is just a protein that are leftover from the dead cells which are pushed upwards as new cells grow under them. Also the hair growth is controlled by hair follicles. These are the complex organs which helps growing hair life long.

The Hair growth has three phases:

1. Anagen : It is the Growth phase which 90 % of your follicles are experiencing right now due to which the hair grows at the rate of 1 cm per month. This phase can last for 2 to 7 years.

2. Catagen : This phase occurs after the anagen. It is the regressing stage causing the hair follicle to shrink. This phase lasts for about 2-3 weeks depending on your gene.

3. Telogen : This is simply the resting phase after the catagen. It lasts about 5-15 weeks and 200 hairs can shed during this stage in a day which is quite normal. Then a new hair growth cycle begins.

But not all heads are hairy. So What really happens to them?

Well , Men generally suffer from Male pattern baldness. This is Inherited. People with this condition the follicle becomes very sensitive to the hormone "Dihydro-testosterone". Everyone must have heard about "Testosterone". Yup dihydro-testosterone is the product of testosterone. They shrink those overly sensitive follicles making hair thinner and thinner but there is no sudden loss of hair. It happens over time according to the Nor-wood Scale. This scale describes the severity of hair loss.

Firstly hair along the side of the head along the temples , then hair on the behind of your head begins to make a circular pattern. Multiple balding areas are created and at the highest scale these areas meet and expand. Only leaving sparse hair at he back of the head.

But only genetics is not the cause. Long period of stress can release signal to the hair follicles and force them to the resting phase and shed away. Some women also experience it after child birth. Also the hair follicle can lose the ability to grow, this happens temporarily after a chemotherapy treatment.

Is there any cure to this?

Aaaaaaaand, the answer is YES. Scientist have actually found that below the skin the root of hair actually remain alive even after the baldness. Using this finding scientists have produced many drugs that shorten the resting phase and changes the phase into anagen. Other drugs are used to stop the production of Dihydro-testosterone , so that they doesn't affect the sensitive hair follicle.