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male pattern baldness progression

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jfrank

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hey, can you guys tell me how male pattern baldness normally progresses.. (apart from the norwood scale) for example, we all know that the temples first start to thin.. recede back.. is the next to go is the back of the head? what about the frontal hairline? does that go together with the temples?

for the last few years i've been experienced general thinning on top.. in the last few months my frontal hairline was hit hard.. i started to dramatically shed at the temples and frontal without the typical thinning cycles.. this started two weeks after i started propecia.. as of now, the shedding is quickly progressing into my frontal hairline... however, the back of my head has stabiized.. i am still shedding all over, but it seems less noticable in back.. is that normal male pattern baldness?
 
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dead

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The course male pattern baldness takes is different with each person.
 
Krooksbane

Krooksbane

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Ive seen men with a bald spot in the back of the head, and their front hairline doesnt look a day old. And the other way around, the back looks fine, but when the guy turns around your like WOAH forehead where there shouldn't be forehead.
Its weird. Some people have both front and back.
Belive me, since I've been thinning in the front, and starting fighting the good fight against hairloss, all I look at nowadays are peoples hair. And I've seen every kind of male pattern baldness there COULD ever be.
Hell, I've seen it with women too.
Is it wrong to get jealous at a toddler, because he has all his hair?
OR am I a twisted individual?
 
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arjun17

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How male pattern baldness usually progresses (long)

hi jfrank,
just as tynan and krooksbane have said, its different for every person. But USUALLY the hairline above the temples recedes first, before any other change is noticeable. Once the hairline has receded past the normal mature NW2 position, there may be some generalized thinning all over the front. And yes, the middle of the hairline usually lags behind the sides (temples) i.e. it starts receding only after the sides are already NW2. (BTW, it is written on some sites that NW2 includes mild MIDFRONTAL recession as well as some temple recession - in my experience that's very rare, mature hairline is usually only temple recession. If you ask a non-balding man over 30 about how his hairline has changed since his teenage days, he will most likely tell you that its only the temples which have receded some - the middle hairline is still sitting exactly where it was in adolescence)
Crown thinning usually starts once the person reaches NW3 or so, and there is already deep temple recession and significant frontal thinning. The top will also have thinned simultaneously, though the crown nearly always has worse thinning than the top. Also, there is a segment of the top just above the crown, which will be quite thick compared to the rest of the top, front and crown. This is the "bridge" which separates the bald crown from the receding hairline in NW4 and NW5. This breaks down much later than the rest of the hair on the top. In NW6, most of the bridge has gone, and the top is now bald - but the sides of the bridge are still there, which look like a triangular segment of hair when seen from the side. In NW7, the sides of the bridge have disappeared, the bald crown is very expansive, extending quite far down the back of the head, and the hair on the nape of the neck is also mostly gone. Most NW7s have also lost their temple hair (that little triangular projection of hair which juts out from the hair on the sides of the head to join the hairline) NW7 is a severe form of male pattern baldness, a lot worse than NW6, even though they are only one class apart. Most people who reach NW7 begin losing hair very early in life and at quite a fast rate - generally (though not always) people who begin thinning at an average or later than average age and at a normal rate don't go further than NW6.
So to sum up, the most common sequence of thinning is:-
1. Receding hairline above the temples only.
2. Generalized frontal thinning, with or without recession of the middle portion of the hairline (in some people, the middle is remarkably stable, persisting even when the rest of the top is already a NW5 or NW6.)
3. Crown thinning (accompanied by some thinning of the top)
4. Further receding of the temples and front, and crown thinning progressing to form a bald spot on the crown.
5. Both the receding hairline and bald crown keep increasing in size, until the bridge breaks down, and the top of the head is bald, with only the horseshoe band of hair remaining.

Possible signs of future severe baldness (NW7) are:-
1. Significant thinning or receding of the temple hair.
2. Thinning on the nape of the neck.

Aside from the regular Norwood patterns, there is also the type A (front-to-back) pattern, in which the middle hairline and temples recede together , gradually progressing to the top of the head, with little or no loss at the crown. This is relatively rare.
And finally, there is diffuse thinning, in which the hairline stays put at a NW2 or so, but the entire front , top , and crown thins out simultaneously without involving the DHT-resistant areas (the sides and back). An advanced stage of diffuse thinning would look like a typical NW6 or NW7, except that this stage has been reached directly from a NW2, without passing through Norwood 3-5.
Cheers,
Arjun
 
Dave001

Dave001

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The so-called "mature hairline" is just a euphemism for mild recession. There is not any distinction to my knowledge between Androgenetic Alopecia and a mature hairline, other than that the latter is often attributed to hairlines which appear to have stopped progressing. The mythical "mature hairline" is becoming a pet peeve of mine.
 
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jfrank

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well, perhaps i have just started my journey into NW2.. my frontal hairline is barely 2" wide now... I have however, noticed something interesting.. i have bad hairloss/thinning on frontal top where i spread my hair... howver, my mom has the very same thing (so does my 24 year old sister to some degree) and in addition has the same fine quality of hair.. in addition, she and i both have diffiuse thinning... is this a change that i may be suffering her fate instead of my norwood 7 dad? (who is the only one in my immediate family who is bald)
 
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arjun17

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To dave001: You are right, the mature hairline IS male pattern baldness, its just a very mild degree of it which nearly all men past a certain age show. The corners of the frontal hairline are highly sensitive to DHT (in men only, not in women!), more so than any other place on the scalp. What is puzzling to me though is why the hell does it stop abruptly (in the non-balding men) at any time between mid 20's - early 30's?. I understand why the recession does'nt show up immediately after puberty ( around age 15-17 for most guys) because even though DHT is present in high levels in the body, it needs some time (several years) to wear out the hair follicles of the frontotemporal region. But why does it suddenly stop, never to start again? My paternal grandfather had receded to NW2 by around 27, but did'nt recede at all after that for half a century. That is a good example of a mature hairline. Technically, it is androgenetic alopecia - the very same DHT which miniaturizes the entire top of the head in balding men , acts only on a triangular area of hair at the corners of the forehead in non-balding men. Again the main factor is genetics here - it is genetically predetermined how much or how little you are going to recede. "Mature hairlines" vary from man to man. Some have a very slight recession, both shallow (not extending very far inside the hairline) as well as narrow (not extending very far laterally towards the middle).In other men , the recession may be deeper, wider, or a combination of the two.
Jfrank - it sounds like your mom has some degree of FPB (female pattern baldness). Was your maternal grandfather bald , or did he just have limited hairloss ? If your hair texture resembles your mom's side , it MAY be that you will follow your maternal grandfather's pattern. Also see if your pattern of balding has anything in common with your dad's.
Cheers,
Arjun
 
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jfrank

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well, my mom's dad had a great full head of hair... and so did all of his children. (except for my mom).. My dad has the typical male pattern baldness.. it appears that my hair is thinning in all the areas that my dad is bald.. however, the worse thinning follows my mom's progression..
 
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