QUESTION: Hello, I am a 20-year-old university student in Toronto, and I have been using hair gel for the last 3 years. I had wonderful, thick hair, and I did not spike it during high school. However, in university, I changed my style and started wearing faux-hawks and spikes. I had a bad habit of spiking my hair and sleeping with the gel on. I talked to my hairdresser, and he informed me that such mismanagement results in hair loss and breaks the hair root. He said that gel does not destroy hair; sleeping on spiked gel hair destroys the hair follicle and root, leading to hair loss and root destruction. Since he was a barber, I thought I should ask someone like you. I am male and 20 years old, with no family history of male pattern baldness. I am a biology student at university, and isn’t hair loss genetic? I.e., it has to be among your family members. Both my mom and Dad, and most people in their family, have thick, nice hair right into their 50s and 60s. How come I am loosing hair so early at age 20? I suspect its my mismanagement rather than male-pattern baldness that is to blame. Is this possible? Any medical opinion will be appreciated. Thanks
ANSWER: Hi, There are two possibilities. First is that the gel causing the hair to shed, in which case it will grow back. The second possibility is that you have early male pattern baldness in which case the hair will not grow back. An easy way to find out which applies to you is to do a genetics test for the genes causing MPB.
