Why do some men go bald at an older age?

[RockNRoller]

My stepgrandfather, when my grandmother first met him in the early 1970s, had a relatively good head of hair, though he was clearly balding:







He was in his mid 50s here. The photos are between 1972 and 1974, he was between 55 and 57 in them.

By 1987, at the age of 70, he had clearly lost much of his hair:



By 1991, age 74, the bit that was left on the crown was giving way:


And by the time he died in 1998, he was fully bald.

I thought the common idea was that if a man is to go bald, he will lose most of his hair in his 20s and 30s. Why, in some cases, can the "bald gene" suddenly switch on in a man's 50s?

[Alex23]

No one knows mate that's the thing. Aga won't be solved in a couple of centuries for sure. It's 2016 and we have no fcking clue how tackle hair loss apart stupid dht inhibition which is basically a shitty angle and minoxidil lol. Until we 100% block all androgens topically we are ****ed

[pajason]

This is a good question. We use to say that most balding is done in your 30s but we now regularly see people that do not even start to bald until the 50s. No 2 patients are a like and the variability is what makes humans amazing.

I had a buddy who had a full head of hair until 37 and now at 40 is a NW3. His hair looked like it did when he was 18 until 37. His dad has hair his brothers have hair(one of 3 is probably around a NW 4) Some people lose it as early as 18 and some don't start till 50. I would say that typically if you start losing it before 21 you are almost certain to end up a nw 6 or 7. And normally if you haven't lost much by 40 you likely won't end up much worse than a 3 or 4.

[incider]

Why do some men go bald at an older age?

A lot depends on the hair density you start out with.

Your stepgrandfather had good hair density on the sides of his head right up until his death, and it's clear that he started out with a great head of hair.

In my opinion he was gradually balding from his late 20's but his high hair density meant that the loss didn't really become noticeable until his 50's.

If he was starting out with thinner/lower density hair the same loss pattern would probably be noticeable from his mid 30's onwards.

[Alex23]

The ONLY way to save yourself from going bald is start dut, ru, oc and setipiprant BEFORE you start loosing hair.

[burtandernie]

What is the difference between age related thinning, and hormonal related thinning? How do you tell them apart? If you had age related thinning and you took dut would that help or is age related thinning completely separate from normal MPB?

[Alex23]

What is the difference between age related thinning, and hormonal related thinning? How do you tell them apart? If you had age related thinning and you took dut would that help or is age related thinning completely separate from normal MPB?

There is no age related thinning aga is aga. Old dudes without mpb have a nw1 all their life

[burtandernie]

There is no age related thinning aga is aga. Old dudes without mpb have a nw1 all their life

That is kind of how I felt about this, but I read an article a few days ago on a credible web site separating hormonal thinning from age related thinning. A large issue with MPB is so much conflicting information even doctors say one thing, and some other doctor says something else. It often feels like no one knows much of anything.
Anyway I am not a huge fan of finasteride which makes it tough for me to give it a shot since its basically the only real treatment. The whole neurosteroid thing is a huge sticking point for me that propecia alters that makes me kind of nervous. I would love sexual sides I could care less there. I just dont want gyno, permanent sexual sides, and maybe most importantly altered neurosteroids. One thing is for sure if you screw something up involving your brain it will never ever be fixed, and no one knows a dam thing about it either.

[Alex23]

That is kind of how I felt about this, but I read an article a few days ago on a credible web site separating hormonal thinning from age related thinning. A large issue with MPB is so much conflicting information even doctors say one thing, and some other doctor says something else. It often feels like no one knows much of anything.
Anyway I am not a huge fan of finasteride which makes it tough for me to give it a shot since its basically the only real treatment. The whole neurosteroid thing is a huge sticking point for me that propecia alters that makes me kind of nervous. I would love sexual sides I could care less there. I just dont want gyno, permanent sexual sides, and maybe most importantly altered neurosteroids. One thing is for sure if you screw something up involving your brain it will never ever be fixed, and no one knows a dam thing about it either.

Bro take fin dut, etc or you're Basically fcked. I swear to god i would rather have HIV, aids, cancer or be crippled in a wheelchair then be bald

[burtandernie]

MPB could be completely hormonal, and hormone levels are different by person so you could look at various other differences between people and assume its those differences like diet/smoking... when really it was determined by hormone levels and AR density/distribution instead. Sometimes studies can actually reach false conclusions.
When you get older your DP cells age and are more affected by oxidative stress. Your hair also gets more and more sensitive to the same amount of androgens so balding like most other things gets worse as you age. Hamilton did a study where young and old men both injected with androgens the older men go bald much faster probably from increased AR sensitivity. The missing key we need is a CB or RU that is fully studied that can help mitigate androgen receptors, and combine that with propecia/dut and you have a solid combo to stop androgens. Neither treatment will stop 100 percent androgens on its own.