Am I Losing My Hair? Hair Loss Warning Signs

Do you notice that your hair is thinning or there is a bald spot on the back of your head? You may be suffering from male pattern baldness, the most common form of hair loss in men. Robert Angelino, founder of HairLab, a medical and natural hair restoration center located in Beverly Hills, California, tells how to spot the warning signs of impending hair loss.


It seems my hair is thinning out. Is thin hair a warning sign of hair loss?


Yes. If your hair is thinning, it’s the start of a progressive cycle that will eventually result in some sort of hair loss. Hair progressively gets thinner and when thin enough, will fall out. Don’t fret, though. This is a natural process that usually starts in your 20s and progresses throughout middle age.

Almost all men in their 20s will start to have some hair loss but that is totally natural as some hair recedes and a more mature hair line develops. This is a rite of passage which should be accepted. Not everyone at 30 can have their 18-year-old hair line. You want to have a mature, slightly receded hair line at that age. It is very odd looking to see a 50-year-old man with an adolescent hair line. Sometimes we will get a 20-year-old man whose hairline has begun to recede and he is feeling paranoid about it and wants hair transplant surgery immediately. We tell people like him that if we did a hair transplant surgery to bring back your youthful hairline, it wouldn’t look natural and would in fact look quite weird when you reach middle age. If they are really insistent we will recommend they use something topical like the lasers or Rogaine to maintain a fuller head of hair. A receding hairline is just a natural rite of passage and unless you are going full on bald, it is something to accept with grace.


Why do some people lose their hair early in life and some not at all?

It is simply a genetic luck of the draw. Think of Bill Clinton, the Kennedy men or Ronald Reagan. Those men had full heads of hair throughout their middle age. They had these great low hair lines with widow’s peaks and while many might get jealous, we have to realize it is just genetics. Some people will lose their hair and some will not. Why? All men when they reach a certain age produce DHT, the enzyme that that is the cause of hair loss, but for some people it simply does not have the effect of causing hair to thin and eventually fall out.


How do I spot hair loss and what should I do if I suspect I’m losing my hair?


If you are looking in the mirror every day, hair loss is a very gradual process that is very hard to notice. Often someone will suddenly see the back of his head and realize that he has this thinning or bald spot in the middle of his hair. But most people don’t take notice until they have lost lots of hair. Some people are obsessed with their hair and come in all paranoid when they start losing just a little. They come to a place like HAIRLAB and see our hair expert and we give them their options. We almost always try topical treatments like lasers and Rogaine before we resort to hair transplant surgery. Not all hair restoration centers are like us, however. Some only have the money and not your best interests in mind. They will be happy to rush right into surgery at the client’s request and that is not right. Lots of people are very happy to have options that might be very effective before they move to hair transplant surgery.


The information in the article is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.