The main cause of male hair loss is due to genetics. There is a single dominant gene that controls male baldness. This gene is usually passed down from generation to generation. There are some other reasons such as illness or medication that will cause hair loss in some men but this is usually temporary and hair will grow back when they recover or stop taking the medication. This type of hair loss is called alopecia areata. When this occurs the hair may grow back with no color in some cases. Hair loss only occurs in men that have a genetic predisposition for it and the genetically susceptible follicles show an increased activity of an enzyme 5-alpha-reductase. In men that become bald, the hair loss starts when they are very young and becomes more severe as they age.
Hair has two parts. There is the shaft, which lies just above the skin and the root, which lies below the skin. The root sits in a sort of well, which is called the follicle. Even though hair seems to grow, it is made up out of dead protein called Keratin, which is made by the hair matrix. This is located at the base of the follicle and is a subcutaneous fat. The two types of hair are villus, which is a hair that has no color and is almost invisible. This type of hair is usually seen on the forehead and bald scalp. Then there is terminal hair that has color and is course and much thicker than villus hair. Terminal hair becomes villus when baldness occurs. Anyone that will predisposed to baldness will show signs such as thinning by the age of fifty and in some cases it can start as early as their mid thirties but this only applies to every one in three men.
