Male pattern baldness is not a laughing matter. It usually starts with the hair at the temples, which gradually recedes to form an "M" shape. You also may find your hair is finer and does not grow as long as it once did. The hair on the crown of your head begins to thin out and eventually at the top points of the "M" meet the thinned spot on your crown. Over time, you are left with a horse-shoe pattern of hair around the sides of your head. Any remaining hair in the balding areas usually manifests some miniaturization. It is thinner and grows at a below-normal rate, changing from long, thick, coarse, pigmented hair into fine, unpigmented sprouts. Male pattern baldness does not affect all hair at the same time. Some hair is more sensitive than others, usually on the crown and upper forehead.

An important distinction to make is that male pattern baldness is not triggered by normal, everyday hair loss. On any given day, approximately 100 hairs fall from the scalp; a completely routine phenomenon. Similarly, dead skin cells simply fall away, to be replaced by newer layers that grow underneath. Hair follicles--tiny micro-organs that grow strands of hair--continually grow new hair to replace fallen hair. In the case of male pattern baldness, hair follicles are weakened by exposure to DHT, and no longer produces new hair.

A number of treatments have produce mixed results in restoring hair, but once the follicle's ability to produced hair is hampered it's difficult to reverse the process of male patterned baldness. People suffering from the problem in its later stages find a variety of products, aimed at thickening existing hair, to be cheaper and more effective.

There are many products and hair loss treatments available for combating male pattern baldness, but determining which will actually work for you, and suit your budget is a difficult task. It's important to realize that, so far, no proven cure or remedy exists for male pattern baldness, some people have claimed spectacular results while others have felt the very same product to be a waste of money.

Modern science is making commendable inroads into defeating the hormonal imbalance that is responsible for cause hair loss in middle-aged men, but the bare truth is; male pattern baldness is an inevitable, hereditary, aging process which we can do little about. Instead we can try to minimize the effects using hair thickeners, and take good care of our hair early on in life.

Mentioned below are some tips and a brief description of the merits and disadvantages of the popular hair loss prevention techniques:

Tips for preventing hair loss

• Avoid over-brushing your hair
• Avoid blow-drying your hair
• Wear a hat when you're in the sun
• Use mild shampoos / nutrient enriched conditioners
• Keep out of heavily chlorinated pools

Scalp exercises

Some specialists maintain that the stretching of the thin tendonus membrane, known as the galea, which covers the scalp reduces blood flow to the follicles and exasperates hair loss. Developing a series of five-minute exercise to stretch and exercise this membrane have produced marginal effects for some

Unnatural hair loss

While male patterned baldness is a natural process that occurs in many middle-aged men, there are several causes of unnatural hair loss. Male patterned baldness can begin as early as your twenties, resulting from an excess of testosterone in the hormonal system which is broken down to form DHT - an inhibitor of hair follicle reproduction. This process, known as Anagen effluvium, is largely heredity and irreversible.

Another condition is known as Telogen effluvium (TE), which is temporary and usually causes by external influences. TE is a temporary loss of hair due to transitory damage to the follicles. The most common causes of TE are:

Hormonal changes - this includes pregnancy, birth control pills, menopause

• Emotional stress - and mental illness, or psychological breakdown
• Physical stress - surgery or prolonged illness
• Thyroid problems
• Medications - blood pressure and gout medication, high doses of vitamin A or steroid use
• Fungal infection of the scalp

Fortunately TE isn't permanent. Within a six-month period the follicles replenish the supply of hair. Cell reproduction inhibitor medications are another cause of unnatural hair loss, also relating to TE. Chemotherapy is the most widely known of these and results in total hair loss. In the same way as the therapy's medication destroys rapidly reproducing cancer cells, so it kills rapidly reproducing hair follicle cells. The good news is that once chemotherapy is completed, the hair usually grows back within six months to a year.

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