Hairloss in brothers

[sausage]

I am aware of others around my age that are losing their hair. I am 27, I have a brother a year older than me. He started balding at about 16 years old, I noticed and within a year it was happening to me too, you would expect this as we have the same genes.

There are 2 other guys I know that are balding but they both have brothers who are not balding. I find this a bit odd myself.

The brothers:

First pair:
29 year old, been balding around 9 years.
his brother 27 not balding at all.

Second pair:
27 year old, been balding around 7 years.
his brother 29 not balding at all.

Why do some brothers get away with it.

I have 2 younger brothers who are an age where I was in early balding. I also think one of them has started balding too. I expect all 4 of us brothers will be baldies.

Is it more common for brothers to bald at a similar sort of age or is that actually not that common and there can be vast differences in the balding age of brothers.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

[StressedToTheBald]

I'm no expert, but I think only twins share the exactly same state of hair - both end with hair or both end up bald. In all other cases, brothers might be different in the sense of having different dominant genes. I've found somewhere that we only share 50%, more or less, of genes with our parents and brothers and sisters. If thats the case - good chances are that half may inherit baldness and half not. Just a theory anyway..

"Genes

Common baldness cannot occur without the presence of specific inherited genes. These genes can be passed on by either parent. A gene is a single bit of chemically encoded hereditary instruction that is located on a chromosome and actually represents a tiny segment of DNA. Chromosomes occur in pairs (humans have 23 pairs), and every individual gets one set of chromosomes from each parent. Hair loss in men is now felt to involve more than one gene. When several genes govern a trait, it is called polygenic.

Genes that are located on the X or Y-chromosomes are call sex-linked. Genes on the other 22 pairs of chromosomes are called autosomal. It is felt that the genes governing common baldness are autosomal (not sex linked). This means that the baldness trait can be inherited from the mother’s side of the family or the father’s side with equal frequency. The commonly held notion that baldness comes only from the mother’s side of the family is incorrect, although for reasons not fully understood, the predisposition inherited from an affected mother is of slightly greater importance than that inherited from an affected father.

The term, “dominant” means that only one gene of a pair is needed for the trait to show up in the individual. A “recessive” gene means that both genes need to be present in order for the trait to be expressed. The genes involved in balding from androgenetic alopecia are felt to be dominant.

Just because one has the genes for baldness, it doesn’t mean the trait will manifest itself. The ability of a gene to affect one’s characteristics, i.e. be visible in a particular individual, is called “expressivity”. Gene expression is related to a number of factors, the major ones being hormones and age, although stress and other factors can be reasons for hair loss and balding in some individuals.

It is of interest that, although genes for some types of male hair loss have been mapped, none of the genes for male pattern baldness have yet been identified. This suggests that any kind of genetic engineering to prevent common baldness is still many years away."

[sausage]

I suspect both my parent had the balding gene, my dad lost his hair in his late 20's I think. I only noticed from old photo's. Plus my mum looked into our family history and found out that we were related to a professional footballer who is totally bald (he is retired now). So it was inevitable that my hair would disappear.

This weekend = time to have a good look at my hair in the mirror, buzz it to grade 0 and if I absolutely cannot stand the way I look, it is time to book a transplant.

[StressedToTheBald]

I suspect both my parent had the balding gene, my dad lost his hair in his late 20's I think. I only noticed from old photo's. Plus my mum looked into our family history and found out that we were related to a professional footballer who is totally bald (he is retired now). So it was inevitable that my hair would disappear.

This weekend = time to have a good look at my hair in the mirror, buzz it to grade 0 and if I absolutely cannot stand the way I look, it is time to book a transplant.

Then all chances were sadly against You.
Similar story here. I actually think us bald people need look no further but our father, essentially it feels like somewhat of a mirror, we all end up as replica of our father's baldness.

I never really go to grade 0. Worst case I set up scale 1 on the Philips trimmer.. whats annoying is that even what I cut my hair closest to zero - I can still notice the balding in the crown, in front it doesn't look as bad at it does in the back.

[sausage]

I never really go to grade 0. Worst case I set up scale 1 on the Philips trimmer.. whats annoying is that even what I cut my hair closest to zero - I can still notice the balding in the crown, in front it doesn't look as bad at it does in the back.

Trouble for me is I never look at myself in the mirror, I just can't do it.

So I was just buzzing it to a grade 2 all the time, but I got the courage to look in the mirror last weekend and it looked terrible. My hair left on top is thin so compared to my surrounding horseshoe hair it looked awful. Thick horseshoe hair that is too long (even grade 2) looks horendous when you have thin nothingness on top especially when your only 27.

So it had to be buzzed down to a grade 1 but I still thought it looked pretty damn bad so this weekend I may buzz to a grade 0 to get rid of that thick to thin contrast on my head so it just blends in. But I will still look like an idiot.

Just need to buy a digital camera and i can start getting some consultations done for surgery as I cannot cope.

[StressedToTheBald]

I hate it too.
Whats really annoying, I've trimmed my hair to 1 in the past and still balding areas are clearly visible. Further more - when I see bald people who shave, yes do their hair with razor, their balding lines are still visible and that sucks big time.
Still I'll have to go shortest once again.. the longer my hair is, the more ridicolous is looks, also applying anything on the hair is more difficult.

How do You range on Norwood scale ?
I think I am at least 4, maybe even 5, or in between.
I see some people even here on the forum beeing scared and in panic although they seem to have full sets of hair, I doubt they're even Norwood 1, the real misery starts with 3, 4 and guys with Norwood 7 - they probably feel even worse than I do.

[baldozer]

The term, “dominant” means that only one gene of a pair is needed for the trait to show up in the individual. A “recessive” gene means that both genes need to be present in order for the trait to be expressed. The genes involved in balding from androgenetic alopecia are felt to be dominant.

So you mean that if either the father or mother passes the balding gene, the son will be bald. If that is the case, then how come I know a family where the father is bald, but none of his children are. Secondly, if a man is bald, how many percentage chances are that he would pass the gene?

[John777]

Back to the original post, my younger brother is 19 going on 20, and I can see a similar pattern forming in his crown. I probably started about the same age. I haven't had the heart to tell him yet. I'm hoping his girlfriend or someone else will notice first.

And I truly believe that any woman worth your time or effort will not give a damn about your hair (just like my brother's girl won't, just like the girl I just started seeing doesn't). In fact, I see bald guys, fat guys, bald fat guys, ugly guys, bald fat ugly guys, all the time with very attractive woman. I think the key is just to not give a damn and be confident. Obviously much easier said than done.

[StressedToTheBald]

Back to the original post, my younger brother is 19 going on 20, and I can see a similar pattern forming in his crown. I probably started about the same age. I haven't had the heart to tell him yet. I'm hoping his girlfriend or someone else will notice first.

Maybe its more fair to tell him. I mean I wish I had someone to warn me early on. If he doesn't mind about his hair thats a different issue, but if he does - its gonna be easier to fight the problem early on.

And I truly believe that any woman worth your time or effort will not give a damn about your hair (just like my brother's girl won't, just like the girl I just started seeing doesn't). In fact, I see bald guys, fat guys, bald fat guys, ugly guys, bald fat ugly guys, all the time with very attractive woman. I think the key is just to not give a damn and be confident. Obviously much easier said than done.

Some girls don't care, others might, while some wouldn't like us regardless if we have hair or not. Other things are more important beyond doubt, but first impression when it comes to first impression sadly comes from the ouside. We watch and both guys and girls are at first visual beeings. Selfconfidence is important, no one likes to go bald - we should reflect on the outside how we feel on the inside and I have to say that it doesn't feel right that us young people in 20s and 30s have lost hair like people in their 60s or 70s.. its how I feel too, and it simply doesn't feel right, it doesn't even feel natural regardless of what evolution theories tend to speculate.