Hair loss is a fact of life for most men 35 and older. And male pattern baldness makes up a whopping ninety-five percent of men who are losing hair. But such does not make it any easier for the guy trying to just eek out a living and pay off his bills. Every day he is bombarded with images of unrealistic expectations of guys who are his age and who have already gotten it all–the career, the car, the house, the gal, and yes, the look of eternal youth. You see them wherever you go, whether it’s at the checkout line in the grocery store or during the football game. Youth and stamina are all an unspoken right to manhood. So hair loss hits a guy pretty hard, especially when he’s not prepared for it.
So what is male pattern baldness (MPB) and how do I know if I have it? Male pattern baldness is usually determined by its appearance. You can also tell by your family history. Do Dear Old Dad or Grandpa Joe have it? Basically then, if it’s in your genes and you’re following the pattern of male pattern baldness, you have MPB.
There are several ways to determine if you have MPB. You can have your dermatologist examine under your scalp with a magnifying instrument called a densitometer. It assesses the the size of your hair follicle to see how much it has shrunk. Or you can visit a hair loss clinic for a scalp biopsy to diagnose the cause of your hair loss. But before you rush off to a clinic keep in mind that this analysis will only assess the possibility of poison-induced hair loss such as lead or arsenic which is very rare. Poisoning does not cause male pattern hair loss.
But you don’t have to wait for an appointment to ascertain whether or not you have MPB. You can see for yourself if your balding is, in fact, MPB by comparing it to the standard Norwood Scale. This is a great tool for accurately diagnosing male pattern baldness, and it will also prevent you from misdiagnosing your hair loss. Basically the Norwood Scale is a collection of diagrams showing the progression of the condition. Initially your hair will recede along the front of the hairline from the temples to the top. Soon you will also realize that another bald spot is showing at the crown of your head. Your hair thinning will continue from both ends working inward until there is just a thin band of hair separating the two sections, and ultimately you will have hair only around the sides and back of your head.