Hats and Baldness...settle a dispute for me.

[ideaguy]

look inside your hat when you take it off. if it's got a lot of hair (yours)
in it,there's a problem.

 

[FedoraGent]

look inside your hat when you take it off. if it's got a lot of hair (yours)
in it,there's a problem.

Everyone, and I mean everyone's a comedian.

Jon

 

[squid]

look inside your hat when you take it off. if it's got a lot of hair (yours)
in it,there's a problem.

And if it's full of someone else's hair it's not a problem?

 

[J.B.]

Hair today, gone tomorrow...

Good ol' Snopes "Thick Talk" hair article gives us...

"A hat — tight or otherwise — doesn't cause hair to go the way of the dodo; hair thinning and hair loss are simply natural parts of the aging process. The mistaken belief hat wearing brings about this condition (we found mention of this belief in a book published in 1929) began during an era when hat-wearing was the rage for men, and people mistakenly concluded one caused the other. The contradictory evidence that plenty of hat-wearing men retained full heads of hair well into advanced age was, of course, ignored."

 

[J.B.]

look inside your hat when you take it off. if it's got a lot of hair (yours)
in it,there's a problem.

And if it's full of someone else's hair it's not a problem?

Trust me on this one -- if your esposa is a brunette and you have a hatful of long, blond hair -- it's not a problem. IT'S A DISASTER!

(And you're going to be the one that gets dis-assed.)

 

[Mulceber]

And you're going to be the one that gets dis-assed.

ooh. I'm not sure I want to know the technical aspects of that process.... -Jan

 

[Byrne Sherwood]

A friend of mine, who started balding in his teens, has theory of hair displacement. Under this theory, one doesn't lose hair, it just migrates from one's head to one's back. Anyway, that was his experience. I have heard that there is a relationship between baldness and testosterone, i.e. the more testosterone, the more likely to bald. Myth? Perhaps, but it might explain my friend's premature baldness; he was one of those people who could grow a full beard in a week at 17.
Either way, who cares about going bald if your noggin is covered by a hat most of the time?

 

[Mulceber]

well the whole testosterone/baldness thing would certainly explain why steroid users lose their hair...at least I think they do. -Mulceber

 

["Doc" Devereux]

A friend of mine, who started balding in his teens, has theory of hair displacement...

I always liked Richard Stilgoe's theory. He suggested that the hairs on your face get sick and tired of having their heads sliced off with a razor every morning, and eventually become so depressed that they decide to commit suicide by leaping off the top of your head!

 

[The Wingnut]

It's a wives' tale. About a year and a half ago after 27 years of having fairly thick hair, mine decided to jump ship. It's been getting worse and worse. I did some research into what causes baldness, and it's genetic / chemical more than anything else.

Your hair folicles come under attack by certain types of testosterone, and as you get older, other chemicals in the body that prevent the 'miniaturization' and eventual dormancy of the follicles due to presence of DHT (di-hydro testoterone) are produced less, and carried less to the scalp due to less blood circulation as you get older. You lose hair, it falls out, it doesn't grow back as quickly, or doesn't grow back at all. The only solution is to chemically block DHT or have transplants done(from the more resistant follicles at the back of the scalp to the affected areas). Both are expensive.

A hat will simply prevent the sun and elements from reaching your scalp. It won't kill hair follicles by rubbing against them, it won't kill them by trapping heat or preventing oxygen exposure, the only real effect it could have would be to cut off circulation due to being too tight...and you'd get a headache and have the hat streched to prevent that, anyway.

 

[FedoraGent]

A friend of mine, who started balding in his teens, has theory of hair displacement. Under this theory, one doesn't lose hair, it just migrates from one's head to one's back. Anyway, that was his experience. I have heard that there is a relationship between baldness and testosterone, i.e. the more testosterone, the more likely to bald. Myth? Perhaps, but it might explain my friend's premature baldness; he was one of those people who could grow a full beard in a week at 17.
Either way, who cares about going bald if your noggin is covered by a hat most of the time?

Right...so that's just growdy.

Jon

 

[Terry Lennox]

It's the same as...

If you use a wheelchair, you'll have trouble walking...

If you wear glasses, you'll loose your perfect vision.

If you eat Big Macs you'll gain weight... oh wait that one is for real...

 

[Twitch]

Baa! Humbug! Blasphemy! Poppycock! Wives' tales! I began losing my hair in my 20s and am VERY thin on top now. I never wore hats in my youth or 20s or 30s or 40s other than baseball caps for occassional sun protection while outside.

 

[WideBrimm]

Bald from wearing hats?
Sounds like an urban myth to me!

I've got real fine hair, and by my early 20's it was going down the shower drain in big gobs And I was hardly ever wearing hats then. (I wish I had.)
Now in my 50's I've got a natural monks hairstyle --- and a full beard too.
There's something about baldness that makes a guy want to grow a beard.
And now I'm a full time hat wearer. I never leave home without it.

 

[IndyBlues]

Exactly, no way it can contribute to baldness. I wear pants every freakin day of my life, and my butt is as hairy as ever.
Ok, that was kinda gross....but it makes my point.
'Blues

 

[ledsled]

Goin' the Rogaine route...

Great analogy IndyBlue!

I think WingNut did a good job explaining the chemistry behind thinning hair. I don't have a mind for chemical names, so here's my layman's version of it:

I asked a dermatologist about a year ago about my thinning hair. It was just starting up in back (on the crown). I never noticed it until I realized I got a sunburn up there!

What I recall from the conversation (and exam) was basically the hole of the hair folicle that comes through your scalp gets smaller, and therefore the strand of hair that grows through that hole gets thinner. The process continues until the hair gets choked off and falls out. I guess the folicle eventually closes up.

I also learned that the people who go bald starting up front (near the temples/forehead) are screwed. There's nothing you can do about that kind of baldness. The other people who start going bald at the crown can try Rogaine or Minoxidil. The impact of using it varies tremendously between individuals. I don't know if it is really doing anything for me or not. I don't think I am getting any thinner, or at least I am getting thinner so slowly I cannot tell.

The dermatologist warned me that the catch22 with using Rogaine or Minoxidil is that if I ever stopped, my hair loss would return to whatever state I was genetically predisposed to. Like if the Rogaine works and I take it until I am hospitalized when I am 90, I could go into the hospital with a full head of hair and come out totally bald... if that was the natural progression for me. Or perhaps I never would have gotten anymore than thinning hair. The only way to tell is to stop using the Rogaine.

A couple more things: The dermatologist told me to get a generic form of Rogaine/Minoxidil at a discount store like Target or Walmart. It's about $18 compared to $40 for the name brands AND it is the same stuff! He also told me that Rogaine/Minoxidil came in a pill form, but it was expensive and only available with a prescription. He said that it's the same as the topical liquid that is available without a prescription, but sometimes people have different results with the different methods. Neither method was better than the other... except on an individual basis.

It is a pain to have to use a dropper and put it on my scalp twice a day, but I'm not ready to see a different head in the mirror.... if I have a choice. I have never given much thought to my hair... before this year!

 

[czack]

Don't fight Mother Nature

It was a lifetime of purchasing Rograine that led me to the decision to go all smooth and shiny on top. BTW, to quote a fellow lounger, "Who needs hair when you got a sweet hat."

 

[The Wingnut]

Ledsled, you should look into Propecia medication and Nizoral shampoo. So far, this is the best solution to retaining your hair. I was on it for about a year and my hair loss halted and regained slightly. I'm off of it now due to the expense, and due to the fact that a close-cropped military fade haircut isn't affected much by a receeding/thinning hairline. I worried more about my hair when I had it grown out long so I could style it with pomade.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I've toyed with the idea of just shaving it off, but I'm afraid that, as big as I am, I'd scare people.

 

[ledsled]

hair stuff

Propecia medication and Nizoral shampoo

Are those prescribed or over-the-counter? Thanks.