Reasons young male adults suffer from hair loss and possible solutions

Hair loss can affect anyone regardless of gender, orientation and age. We want to particularly focus on young males dealing with hair loss as it may come as a surprise to many. However, the unfortunate fact is you can suffer from or see signs of early hair loss even in your teenage years. In this blog, we will look at the reasons young male adults or teenagers deal with hair loss as well as possible solutions — including both surgical and non-surgical hair replacement — to help deal with this long standing problem.

Hair loss for teenagers and young adults

Believe it or not, you can start balding or experiencing hair thinning well into your early teen years. While most male adults tend to start losing their hair in their twenties or thirties, studies have shown that 16 percent of boys aged 15-17 can deal with male pattern baldness or alopecia (via Young Men’s Health). One just needs to look at former Manchester United player and football legend Wayne Rooney, who was pictured with a receding hairline way back when he was a kid.

Even Wayne Rooney at aged 12 was going bald! pic.twitter.com/9DKXExad5F

— 10 Football (@10appfootball) January 5, 2016

If hair loss can be devastating for adults who are in their late twenties or thirties, one can only imagine how much more stressful and anxiety-inducing it can be for teenagers or those entering college or university. Their time for socializing and becoming an adult is drastically affected by a lack of self-esteem and confidence caused by their early hair loss. With that said, there are many reasons why young males can experience early hair loss.

Reasons for hair loss with young male adults

Male pattern baldness - The main culprit for every man dealing with hair loss is male pattern baldness or androgenic alopecia. The most common reason for hair loss, male pattern baldness occurs when the DHT — dihydrotestosterone — a testosterone-derived hormone shrinks hair follicles and causes hair to stop growing. In essence, this is caused by a combination of hormones as well as genetics. The latter is why some men may suffer hair loss early while others can suffer it later on or not at all. Genes from both your father’s and mother’s side can result in you experiencing androgenic alopecia.

As Hairs To You podcast guest Nicole Budani stated, “Androgenic alopecia is like genetic hair loss -- what you typically see with most men where the hair loss starts at the front or the crown, and then kind of moves together. … I'd probably say like 95% of people out there that have hair loss have androgenic alopecia. So essentially, if you have the genetics for hair loss and it can be both on mother and father's side. This is a really big misconception. Everybody always says this. ‘Oh, it's always on my mom's side.’ No, it can be on both sides. But if you do have hair loss on one side or the other side, you can genetically inherit that and have hair loss.”

Autoimmune disorders - Androgenic alopecia is the most common reason for hair loss. However, there are many types of alopecia such as alopecia areata, another major cause of hair loss. This is an unpredictable autoimmune disorder where the body attacks its own hair follicles and causes patches of hair to fall off resulting in bald spots. This can be on the scalp but also in other areas such as the beard, eyebrows and more. In some cases, the hair may grow back.

Other types of autoimmune disorders include alopecia totalis, where a person loses every hair follicle on their head resulting in a completely bald scalp. There’s also a more extreme and rare type called alopecia universalis where a person can lose hair on their entire body.

Stress or telogen effluvium - It’s very possible that any hair loss you suffer might be temporary and that’s because of excess stress. The early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic saw lots of people complain about hair loss and hair shedding, especially with women.

This type of temporary hair loss is called telogen effluvium and occurs when a number of follicles enter the telogen phase of the growth cycle, also known as the resting phase. With no nourishment, the follicles fall out from the scalp which leads to an increase in hair shedding on your bathroom floor or when you’re brushing your hair. This is usually triggered by childbirth, fever or excess stress. Once the stress is under control, the hair grows back usually after a few months to nearly a year.

READ: COVID, telogen effluvium and reasons for hair loss

Nutrition - A poor diet can also be a cause for hair loss. Nutrition deficiency is one factor, and particularly important micronutrients include iron, zinc and vitamin D where a deficiency with either one can result in potentially weakened hair follicles and hair shedding. Research has also shown that certain diets such as low calorie, restrictive diets can contribute to one’s hair falling off.

Chemotherapy - This is more of an expected reason, but those who decide to undergo chemotherapy to treat cancer can experience hair loss. This is because while chemotherapy can be extremely effective in treating cancer, it can also kill hair follicles in the process. The good news is most of the time, this hair loss is temporary and the hair is expected to regrow a couple of months after treatment is complete. In some rare cases, however, the hair may not grow back.

Poor maintenance - It’s also possible to lose your hair without having stress or genetics coming in the way. It could simply be your environment or the way you’re taking care of your hair. Want an example? If you’re taking too many showers with scolding, hot water, this will not only dry out and damage your hair, but can make it weak and result in hair breakage. The same can happen if you over shampoo your hair. Good maintenance is key to keeping your hair strong, healthy and long lasting.

Solutions for hair loss

If you’re dealing with hair loss as a young male adult, you shouldn’t fear too much. There are far more solutions out there today than there were a few decades ago. Here are some of the notable ones:

Hair transplant surgery - This is by far the most popular option as hair transplants can be extremely effective. This is the surgical process of transplanting hair from the back of the head onto areas of thinning or balding. It can take six months to upto a year for results to bear fruit.

Hair transplants are not without their cons though. For one, they carry a fairly expensive upfront cost — one that many young males will likely not be able to afford. There’s also a chance of infection as well as a botched job, especially if you go for a cheaper option. A poorly done transplant is usually irreversible or will require shelling out more money to fix it. There’s no guarantee the hair will last either as hair being transplanted can also fall off in the future while non-transplanted hair is still fair game for shedding permanently.

Hair fibers - A more inexpensive and instant solution to dealing with hair loss is using hair fibers. Hair fibers are made of a protein called keratin which is usually extracted from wool, rice or rayon. It can also come from human hair which happens to be made of keratin. Hair fibers notably contain static electricity charges which allow them to stick to your existing hair. They are mostly ideal for those who still have plenty of hair left but are experiencing balding or thinning. The hair fibers will act as a camouflage in a way by filling up your balding or visible scalp areas and providing the illusion of a full, voluminous scalp. The downside is they are not permanent and will need to be applied everyday as they wash off easily with water.

Hair loss prescription medicine - Another popular option is hair loss prescription medicine. The most popular one by far for men is finasteride which is known to not only stop hair loss, but in some cases, regrow hair. However, it’s best to start early as an advanced stage of hair loss likely won’t see any results from this drug. Any significant results will usually take a year to show.

READ: Should you opt for finasteride if you're dealing with hair loss?

There are other options including minoxidil and dutasteride, but one thing they all have in common is that they come with the risk of potential side effects such as a decreased sex drive, brain fog and much more. In some extremely rare cases, these side effects do not go away even after discontinued use.

Hairpieces and hair systems - The last and final option is to opt for a hair replacement system. There is a learning curve as well as regular maintenance and purchases required, but the benefits are endless and make it well worth it. You get a full head of realistic and natural-looking hair instantly without having to wait months; no chances of long-term side effects; and it comes at a much more affordable upfront cost. Not to mention, if you don’t like it, you can simply take it off which you can’t do with a botched hair transplant for example.

Superhairpieces client Hector notably tried hair fibers as well as prescription medicine such as finasteride and rogaine. In the end, it was a hair system that truly gave him peace of mind and the confidence not to worry about his hair or appearance anymore. Check out his hair loss story below:

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