new thread
For those of you who really want to know the future of your hair, particularly if you're younger, consider taking the 23andMe DNA test. I did that months ago.
Although my hair is longish but "terminal" at my older age, I don't have Male Pattern Baldness, and sure enough my 23andMe genetic profile report corroborates that. Yay. The test specifically mentions that particular genetic predisposition. It also tells you many other things about your health and ancestry plus is a bargain for $99. Up until just a few years ago this cost thousands, and only celebrities and rich people would do it. Anyway, I know now that my hair may gradually get shorter, but I won't go bald. http://23andme.com
An even less expensive method is to look at the males on your mother's side. If thay have kept their hair, odds are so will you. I can corroborate this in my own heritage. While males in my fathers family did suffer some loss due to MPB. Males in my mother's family kept full heads of hair throughout their lives. And to date, at age 62, so have I.
Yep! Dad was mostly bald by his early 30s, all the men in my mom's family have no MPB. Which brings up the old old joke..."Doctor, why am I going bald? None of the guys in my family even have a bald patch?" "Hmmm, noone in your mom's family?" "No, they all have it all!" "Well, sometimes it skips generations, how about your mom's m..." "Oh, sure! Granny Cueball!"
I've heard this many times, but my mother's side all have curly black hair. I have sick straight brown hair, just like my father. And his mother's side all have red hair, but his father had straight brown hair.
My grandfather, my father, and myself also all started to develop a receding hairline at 20 ( I'm 20 right now, it's just starting but it's noticable to me). I definitely get my hair from his side of the family ( which is good, my biological mother's side are all completely bald).
( which is good, my biological mother's side are all completely bald).
Well, I guess this dispels the idea that we can look at our mother's side of the family! Very interesting how you ended up with such straight hair.
Ted
My younger brother and sister also have their hair from my dad's side. I'm not sure about my half brother (dad and step-mom) but I think he gets that from my dad, too.
I'm sorry that you've noticed some regression of your hairline. Did your father and grandfather both recede at the same rate? Some guys recede only so much and then pretty much stay the same for decades thereafter.
It's kind of a bummer that my hairline is receding, but it's way better than being bald lol. And yes, my father, grandfather, and uncle all lost 1-2" on the sides of the hairline ( with the center staying in the same spot) by the time they were 30, but they all still have full heads of hair other than that. So I've accepted it. And if my grandfather is good measure to go by, I won't completely lose my hair color until my mid-fifties. And I'll go straight to white instead of gray ( which is great to me. I think white hair looks awesome!). My dad is 47 and you could probably count the individual grey hairs on his temples.
Overall, I think I'm getting a pretty sweet deal!
Damon
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Agreed.
My hair is an equal combination of both sides. My father's hair was stick straight, my mother's very curly. Mine is wavy.
Hair quality and potential MPB is a roll of the dice influenced by genetics on both sides.
Hi Jason,
First of all. Just suffice it to say that you have wonderful hair which I can only hope to achieve! Dammit I'm jealous! Your parents have given you lovely hair with great color and texture! My parents both have straight hair. And I ended up with what appears to be wavy hair.
I can say that my Mom's father had full hair until the day he died. I am not sure about my Dad's father because I never knew him. And I have never even seen a picture of him. But I can tell you that I shall be happy with my hair regardless of what it does! Vanity be damned! With that being said, I wish everyone anti-MPB powers! Onward and downward everybody!
Ted
Thanks Ted. Well, whereever your hair genes came from, you scored big-time on the genetic lottery. Thick and coarse - my favorite types of hair!
This photo shows what I was talking about a bit. My mother didn't like her curly hair and kept it very short so it's hard to tell just how curly it was here but you can see my dad's straight hair.
Mine was also a combination of types as my mother had very wiry and coarse hair but my dad's was very fine. I wish I ended up with more of my mother's coarseness but got mostly fine hair with some of medium texture mixed in.
It's a really interesting topic to me (as to most of us here, I would assume), and one that I still don't feel I have a really good grasp of. The origins of the MBP gene.
I know my father still has all his hair, as does his father (at around 88 years old). While my mother's father has been bold since his early 40's... doesn't really tell me much though.
I can see my hairline has thinned out a tad throughout the last decade or so, but my scalp still grows even, thick hair all over, generally speaking, and I really hope I will manage to escape that dreaded MBP, high hairline or not :D
So whether it's the father or the mother's side of the family, I still have no idea.
It's not quite a myth, just mis-stated. The gene that controls the MPB trait is in the X chromosome. Since women have 2 of them, they are much more likely to pass on that trait to their offspring. That doesn't mean the chances of the non-dominant trait will be zero, just much lower. You can still get MPB from your father, but the chances are low.
Guess that all this stuff is statistical one way or another. So, many of the individual 23andMe DNA test results are stated in this way - "Eye Color: Likely blue", "Male Pattern Baldness: Decreased odds", etc. Then they offer a "Confidence" figure, which in the case of these two was max 4 stars. Since I'm older anyway, it's clear that I don't have MPB and likely never will. On all other items such as eye color they were dead right, so I tend to have confidence in their report.
My Dad didn't have the greatest head of hair, although he was never bald, even when he passed away at 80. However, my grandfather on his side had a full head of hair when he passed away at the age of 85.
Although I never had the chance to meet any of my Mom's male side of the family, since they all lived overseas, my understanding is that they had good heads of hair.
I generally have a full head of hair at 60, with only minor recession at the temples, which hasn't changed in the past 10 years or so. Also, I have minor thinning at the crown, which also hasn't gotten any worse, and I do take propecia, mainly for "insurance" purposes.
Both my brothers, one who is deceased, have(had) full heads of hair.
David
Interesting stuff. Our local paper had a long article on the 23 and me test last Sunday. I may order one, but more for the disease markers. Due to a family history for heart attacks I'm already on a baby-aspirin per day regimen. I'm pretty sure already from my age (46) and family members that I don't have the MPB gene.
Chris
Is this one of those tests that also tells you what diseases
you're apt to suffer from later years? And if it is do you
really want to know? Your insurance company would love to get this
information. A number of companies did DNA testing on their
employees and found all sorts of diseases their employees would
likely get in later years and the insurance companies were
very eager to get those results.
This isn't a new discussion, some companies have been
doing it for years. And there were employees denied
health insurance based on these DNA results.
The FDA has ordered it off the market. Apparently no proof it actually works.