Why is my hair thinning?

May 11, 2006 11:46 AM

My hair is thinning. What's going on?

I'm not going bald and my hairline is just where it should be, but I've noticed that over recent months my hair has become finer. It's become so fine that my scalp can be seen -- and I've got a full head of hair!

I have a beard. If I take a hair from it I can see a definite change in colour and thickness. At the end it is thick a black, but towards the follicle it becomes thin and ginger (almost colourless).

So what's going on? Am I going to go bald? Could the thinning be a symptom of something more serious?

posted by popcassady to health & fitness (11 comments total)

You're getting older—very serious indeed (but better than the alternative). Thinning hair is not the same as balding, and it happens to both men and women.

I've got black/brown hair, but about five years ago, I noticed some hairs in my beard turning red. Those hairs are gray now.
posted by adamrice at 12:16 PM on May 11, 2006

But I'm only 27!
posted by popcassady at 12:19 PM on May 11, 2006

But I'm only 27!

Age has nothing to do with this; it's genetics. I started losing my hair at the end of high school.
posted by aeighty at 12:21 PM on May 11, 2006

I had grey hairs at 19. My dad was completely gray at 35. I've met guys with receding hairlines in their early 20s. It's different for everyone.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 12:21 PM on May 11, 2006

Well- it could be balding- can be toher things too.
If you go to a derm they will do a little blood work, possibly tell you toake biotin or something.

I would just go to CVS, brooks, etc and buy the mens generic rogaine and start applying.
I guess it CAN get to late.
I may be at that point.. and I'm a girl. :(
posted by beccaj at 12:22 PM on May 11, 2006

But I'm only 27!
I went through a period in my late teens/early twenties where the shower drain would plug-up with the hair that I was losing. It was really worrying. But it stopped and I was not bald. Still not bald.
Your body changes as you age (duh). Get used to it. The best advice I can give is live with it. Don't try to fight it. You'll age much more gracefully and attractively if you just roll with it. If you try to fight it, you can easily end up looking like the prototypical congresscritter...a comb-over and color not found on anyone your age.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:46 PM on May 11, 2006 [1 favorite]

At 22 my hair started thinning... not getting bald, just as you described it, it was just getting thinner. I asked my dr. and he said you have male pattern baldness... it happens in all men to a certain extent. As you get older you start losing some of your hair. But don't worry it doesn't mean you will have a big bald spot. Just that your hair will be thinner. I was appalled and asked him what I could do about it. The basic answer is either deal with it or take pills/supplements etc. the rest of your life. I don't want to be on pills the rest of my life so I chose to just deal with it.
posted by D Wiz at 12:50 PM on May 11, 2006

Yep, you're just getting older. Happened to me around 27 too. And I shouted "But I'm 27!". Hairline stayed the same for a few years... then that started goin' too. Denial's a waste of time!
posted by baklavabaklava at 2:15 PM on May 11, 2006

My hairline started to recede very slowly at 27, and at 32 it seems to have stopped (like I should be so lucky). My brother had grey hairs at 27 (but he's seen combat, so maybe it's something to do with stress). Guy at uni had hair like the guy in Grover's restaurant at 18.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:53 PM on May 11, 2006

Doesn't sound serious. Mine will start to do this in about ten years, I'm betting (and I'm female). Some women get to old age with thick braids of hair--but I've watched my mother's hair thin through her late thirties and into her forties, and my grandmother's did the same (and continued to thin throughout her life). My ex-husband had a receding hairline when I met him (he'd just turned 15), and my dad's younger brothers all had the thinning you described and receding hairlines by our age.

Make the best of it. The baby-fine hair is softer and easier to style than thick hair. Me, I'm growing my hair out to my knees one last time, so that when it starts to thin and I need to pick a new hairstyle, Locks of Love will have one heck of a wig for some child.
posted by Cricket at 9:02 PM on May 11, 2006

Happened to me in my late 20's too. But I looked at my parent's wedding photo, saw how far Dad's hairline had receeded at age 21, and figured I was ahead of the game.

Now I'm nearly 40, and still have a lower hairline than he does in that photo. I think that not worrying about going bald has helped.
posted by Pinback at 2:46 AM on May 12, 2006