The destruction of Armando's sebum-back-up theory w/pictures
- Thread starter michael barry
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Scientific evidence or common sense?
Its clear, Sebaceous gland generate a very inestable material continuosly and our body have to eliminate it.
BTW Bryan, I documented sebum in prepubertal persons and the same with steroids. Don't is it enough to criticize current theory about common baldness?
You say: "I'm not saying that children have no sebum at all, I'm saying that they have a lot less of it than adults."
I am saying that children only have sebum in zones with terminal hair, don't in others areas like back or forehead.
You say:
"I'm saying that they have a lot less of it than adults."
It could be you are wrong, despite dispersed dates showed in the study, anyone can see that there is not a great difference between adults and prepubertal subjets. The figures are all mixed.
Armando
Its clear, Sebaceous gland generate a very inestable material continuosly and our body have to eliminate it.
BTW Bryan, I documented sebum in prepubertal persons and the same with steroids. Don't is it enough to criticize current theory about common baldness?
You say: "I'm not saying that children have no sebum at all, I'm saying that they have a lot less of it than adults."
I am saying that children only have sebum in zones with terminal hair, don't in others areas like back or forehead.
You say:
"I'm saying that they have a lot less of it than adults."
It could be you are wrong, despite dispersed dates showed in the study, anyone can see that there is not a great difference between adults and prepubertal subjets. The figures are all mixed.
Armando
michael barry
Senior Member
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Armando wrote:
"Dear Michael;
In my opinion sebum is vital for hair growth, but it is important generate sebum and at the same time eliminate it. This is the reason I talk about sebum flow.
Armando"
People with androgen=insensitivity syndrome hardly produce any sebum AT ALL Armando, and have great hair, and never bald, no matter how short the wear their hair.
Women have much less sebum than men and rarely lose hair.
People who use topical spironolactone have less sebum, and their hair grows better
BODY hair has very little comparitive sebum, and when moved to the scalp it grows and doesnt miniaturize.
Armando never answers the tough questions that disprove his theory, he just ducks and weaves and lays down evidence from childrens' studies totally unrelated to Bryan's assertions.
I get so sick of people with agendas on hairloss forums. I couldn't care less about promoting any particular idea or product or diet or lack of shampooing etc.
Fluridil users certainly have less sebum as do dutasteride users. When Ive piddled around with revivogen, I had less sebum also. Nizoral lessens sebum AND EVEN SHRINKS THE SEBACEOUS GLAND, which sprio and revivogen and fluridil probably do also. A sebaceous gland might be formed when follicular neo-geneisis occurs from stem cells and epilithal cells, but that doesn't mean hairs need sebum Armando.
I have ears, and formed ears when I was a fetus in my mom's gut, but I could live without either both ears or one ear. It doesn't mean that ears "are vital for human development". I have an appendix I probably dont need also. I have hair on my *** that I could also do without.
DO you ever think about what your assert?
"Dear Michael;
In my opinion sebum is vital for hair growth, but it is important generate sebum and at the same time eliminate it. This is the reason I talk about sebum flow.
Armando"
People with androgen=insensitivity syndrome hardly produce any sebum AT ALL Armando, and have great hair, and never bald, no matter how short the wear their hair.
Women have much less sebum than men and rarely lose hair.
People who use topical spironolactone have less sebum, and their hair grows better
BODY hair has very little comparitive sebum, and when moved to the scalp it grows and doesnt miniaturize.
Armando never answers the tough questions that disprove his theory, he just ducks and weaves and lays down evidence from childrens' studies totally unrelated to Bryan's assertions.
I get so sick of people with agendas on hairloss forums. I couldn't care less about promoting any particular idea or product or diet or lack of shampooing etc.
Fluridil users certainly have less sebum as do dutasteride users. When Ive piddled around with revivogen, I had less sebum also. Nizoral lessens sebum AND EVEN SHRINKS THE SEBACEOUS GLAND, which sprio and revivogen and fluridil probably do also. A sebaceous gland might be formed when follicular neo-geneisis occurs from stem cells and epilithal cells, but that doesn't mean hairs need sebum Armando.
I have ears, and formed ears when I was a fetus in my mom's gut, but I could live without either both ears or one ear. It doesn't mean that ears "are vital for human development". I have an appendix I probably dont need also. I have hair on my *** that I could also do without.
DO you ever think about what your assert?
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Armando Jose said:
No. Why would you think so?
Armando Jose said:
I didn't see any information in that abstract you posted about relative LEVELS of scalp sebum in adults and children. The main topic of that study was differences in CHEMICAL COMPOSITION of sebum in adults and children, so I'm assuming that you still don't have any scientific evidence that children produce substantial amounts of sebum in their scalp.
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Bryan, you and all, can read the numbers in this study (*) of the same investigators. Then you can conclude that prepubertals and postpubertals have the “same†sebum in hair scalp.
The study with children to compare is:
http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v84/n ... 4599a.html
Proportions of various straight and branched fatty acid chain types in the sebaceous wax esters of young children
Stewart, Downing
J Invest Dermatol, 84:501-503, 1985
Figure 1 is important
(*) Variation in Sebum Fatty Acid Composition Among Adult Humans
http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v83/n ... 4792a.html
OTOH, current theory is based in the non-existence of steoirds-hormones before puberty, then if androgens are present in scalp hairs years before puberty, how affect this to the theory?
Michael Barry wrote:
“I get so sick of people with agendas on hairloss forums. I couldn't care less about promoting any particular idea or product or diet or lack of shampooing etc.â€
My agenda: My first chance with hair loss is a totally free “productâ€, “Let hair growâ€. The second Jojoba oil, a wonder and cheap natural product to avoid new hairs enter in the process of common baldness, and third, Oropelum, a non treatment for life, holistic and natural, to fight in all angles of alopecia to try to recover the last hair lost, no more than 30 months.
Have you any agenda, Mr. Barry?
You also wrote:
“A sebaceous gland might be formed when follicular neo-geneisis occurs from stem cells and epilithal cells, but that doesn't mean hairs need sebum Armando.
I have ears, and formed ears when I was a fetus in my mom's gut, but I could live without either both ears or one ear. It doesn't mean that ears "are vital for human development". I have an appendix I probably dont need also. I have hair on my *** that I could also do without.
DO you ever think about what your assert?â€
Yes, sometimes I think the reason we have not antennas or other devices more useful than hair, but the fact is the fact: Nature give a us a luxuriant scalp hair. The reason probably is blowing in the wind.
And finally you wrote:
“Women have much less sebum than men and rarely lose hair.â€,
Have you facts about sebum in scalp hairs between sexes? My guess is they are equals.
Armando
The study with children to compare is:
http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v84/n ... 4599a.html
Proportions of various straight and branched fatty acid chain types in the sebaceous wax esters of young children
Stewart, Downing
J Invest Dermatol, 84:501-503, 1985
Figure 1 is important
(*) Variation in Sebum Fatty Acid Composition Among Adult Humans
http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v83/n ... 4792a.html
OTOH, current theory is based in the non-existence of steoirds-hormones before puberty, then if androgens are present in scalp hairs years before puberty, how affect this to the theory?
Michael Barry wrote:
“I get so sick of people with agendas on hairloss forums. I couldn't care less about promoting any particular idea or product or diet or lack of shampooing etc.â€
My agenda: My first chance with hair loss is a totally free “productâ€, “Let hair growâ€. The second Jojoba oil, a wonder and cheap natural product to avoid new hairs enter in the process of common baldness, and third, Oropelum, a non treatment for life, holistic and natural, to fight in all angles of alopecia to try to recover the last hair lost, no more than 30 months.
Have you any agenda, Mr. Barry?
You also wrote:
“A sebaceous gland might be formed when follicular neo-geneisis occurs from stem cells and epilithal cells, but that doesn't mean hairs need sebum Armando.
I have ears, and formed ears when I was a fetus in my mom's gut, but I could live without either both ears or one ear. It doesn't mean that ears "are vital for human development". I have an appendix I probably dont need also. I have hair on my *** that I could also do without.
DO you ever think about what your assert?â€
Yes, sometimes I think the reason we have not antennas or other devices more useful than hair, but the fact is the fact: Nature give a us a luxuriant scalp hair. The reason probably is blowing in the wind.
And finally you wrote:
“Women have much less sebum than men and rarely lose hair.â€,
Have you facts about sebum in scalp hairs between sexes? My guess is they are equals.
Armando
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Armando Jose said:
Armando, there is no information in that abstract about the level of scalp sebum in those children, so why did you post it?
Armando Jose said:
Nobody ever said that there are no androgens at all in scalp hair follicles before puberty, just that the levels are low.
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Bryan
Please read the full study. The same links and Download pdf at right.
I am sorry, I though that it was visible the pdf.
Armando
Please read the full study. The same links and Download pdf at right.
I am sorry, I though that it was visible the pdf.
Armando
michael barry
Senior Member
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Androgens do exist before puberty. This is known. Little boys have more androgens than little girls do.
Men have more sebum than females do. Bryan has posted these studies before and we have all seen them.
I think "Armando" must mean "shitt for brains" in Spanish.
Its pathetic, like a fish struggling for its life on the shore, watching Armando try and save his patently WRONG baldness idea from the several PROOFS against it. The damned anti-shampoo nuts have as much reasoning. Its wrong, easily disprovable, and a waste of time, yet there Armando is, desperately trying to purport it.
Men have more sebum than females do. Bryan has posted these studies before and we have all seen them.
I think "Armando" must mean "shitt for brains" in Spanish.
Its pathetic, like a fish struggling for its life on the shore, watching Armando try and save his patently WRONG baldness idea from the several PROOFS against it. The damned anti-shampoo nuts have as much reasoning. Its wrong, easily disprovable, and a waste of time, yet there Armando is, desperately trying to purport it.
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Michael Barry wrote:
A lot of manuals say the contrary but, by the way,
Where are them? Are they circullating in blood flow?
I don't think so, only in the vicinity of scalp hairs.
Armando
A lot of manuals say the contrary but, by the way,
Where are them? Are they circullating in blood flow?
I don't think so, only in the vicinity of scalp hairs.
Armando
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Armando Jose said:
Armando, you say that you're actually a professional biologist of some sort, and yet you're not all that familiar with basic human physiology? I find that surprising.
Here's a little material on androgens from a standard medical reference book, Goodman & Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics:
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Bryan, I know that you say.
I read a lot of studies where testosterone leves in the moment of birth are great and it diminished in a few weeks to a level almost zero. But these values are in plasma.
My idea is that levels of steroids in scalp hairs from children are comparable to adults.
Armando
I read a lot of studies where testosterone leves in the moment of birth are great and it diminished in a few weeks to a level almost zero. But these values are in plasma.
My idea is that levels of steroids in scalp hairs from children are comparable to adults.
Armando
michael barry
Senior Member
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"levels of steroids in scalp hairs from children are comparable to adults."
-------------------that is laughable. Alpha five reductaste simply converts TESTOSTERONE to DHT in the hair follicle. If there is only 20 ng/dl roaming around in blood/plasma/etc. vs 2.5/dl, the alpha five reductase enzyme is only going to get to convert a small portion of the DHT that it would before adulthood. Hardly any, just a tad of it.
When Marty Sawaya added testsoterone to hairs in cultrue, she found it suppressed male pattern baldness hair, while invigorating beard hair. What is so hard to understand about that?
-------------------that is laughable. Alpha five reductaste simply converts TESTOSTERONE to DHT in the hair follicle. If there is only 20 ng/dl roaming around in blood/plasma/etc. vs 2.5/dl, the alpha five reductase enzyme is only going to get to convert a small portion of the DHT that it would before adulthood. Hardly any, just a tad of it.
When Marty Sawaya added testsoterone to hairs in cultrue, she found it suppressed male pattern baldness hair, while invigorating beard hair. What is so hard to understand about that?
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I'll admit that I'm a little weak on all the details of Armando's theory of hairloss, but I believe he claims that the actual LENGTH that you keep your hair at (!) is critical for the health of your hair follicles, the idea being (supposedly) that the longer your hair, the more space there is for the sebum to flow out along the length of the individual hairs, thus relieving the "backed-up" flow of sebum! 
However, I've posted at some length in the past about the elaborate series of experiments that Kligman and his colleagues did on the effects of shampooing on the scalp and hair; included in his observations was the surprising finding that sebum does NOT even naturally flow along the length of hairs at all, but seems to almost have a sort of aversion to contact with strands of hair! :freaked:
Kligman's conclusion was that the only way that sebum gets onto hair in the first place is through PHYSICAL CONTACT, like when you comb your hair, or scratch your head, or sleep on a pillow, etc. The hairs on our head definitely do NOT act as a sort of "sink" or "repository" through which (or into which) sebum is drawn or attracted. Sebum only gets onto hair if we FORCE it onto our hair through physical contact.
Those findings are another strike against Armando's theory about "sebum backup".
However, I've posted at some length in the past about the elaborate series of experiments that Kligman and his colleagues did on the effects of shampooing on the scalp and hair; included in his observations was the surprising finding that sebum does NOT even naturally flow along the length of hairs at all, but seems to almost have a sort of aversion to contact with strands of hair! :freaked:
Kligman's conclusion was that the only way that sebum gets onto hair in the first place is through PHYSICAL CONTACT, like when you comb your hair, or scratch your head, or sleep on a pillow, etc. The hairs on our head definitely do NOT act as a sort of "sink" or "repository" through which (or into which) sebum is drawn or attracted. Sebum only gets onto hair if we FORCE it onto our hair through physical contact.
Those findings are another strike against Armando's theory about "sebum backup".
hair today gone tomorrow
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Bryan said:I'll admit that I'm a little weak on all the details of Armando's theory of hairloss, but I believe he claims that the actual LENGTH that you keep your hair at (!) is critical for the health of your hair follicles, the idea being (supposedly) that the longer your hair, the more space there is for the sebum to flow out along the length of the individual hairs, thus relieving the "backed-up" flow of sebum!
However, I've posted at some length in the past about the elaborate series of experiments that Kligman and his colleagues did on the effects of shampooing on the scalp and hair; included in his observations was the surprising finding that sebum does NOT even naturally flow along the length of hairs at all, but seems to almost have a sort of aversion to contact with strands of hair! :freaked:
Kligman's conclusion was that the only way that sebum gets onto hair in the first place is through PHYSICAL CONTACT, like when you comb your hair, or scratch your head, or sleep on a pillow, etc. The hairs on our head definitely do NOT act as a sort of "sink" or "repository" through which (or into which) sebum is drawn or attracted. Sebum only gets onto hair if we FORCE it onto our hair through physical contact.
Those findings are another strike against Armando's theory about "sebum backup".
yah...according to armando, buzzing your head is a big no-no. However, its known that african americans dont bald nearly as much or as soon as Caucasians do, YET mots of them keep their hair very close cropped. Something doesn't add up here.
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HTGT wrote:
"yah...according to armando, buzzing your head is a big no-no. However, its known that african americans dont bald nearly as much or as soon as Caucasians do, YET mots of them keep their hair very close cropped. Something doesn't add up here."
More Curly hair??
Armando
"yah...according to armando, buzzing your head is a big no-no. However, its known that african americans dont bald nearly as much or as soon as Caucasians do, YET mots of them keep their hair very close cropped. Something doesn't add up here."
More Curly hair??
Armando
hair today gone tomorrow
Senior Member
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Armando Jose said:
armando...around here their hair is BUZZED...to a 1 or 0 its very very close cropped...at least for most of them...they usually keep their hair much shorter than Caucasians do...yet whites bald sooner and more frequently than blacks....hair cant curl if its 1mm long or less.
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Thank you Bryan for your interesting comments.
I am aware with Kilgman’s experiments about sebum movement in hair shaft but, He failed in one thing: “Sebum is continuously produced†and the experiment didn’t contemplate this issue, it was realized with no sebum movement.
In other work of Dr. Hay (*) pointed out the same question but in Merino sheep.
One thing is clear, when sebum is removed by any mechanism; it is easy to be replenished again. Is this a real sebum flow? It is possible.
At contrary, the inward sebum flow is a real movement. It is produced by a gradient in the amount of sebum and studyes in Germany about titanium bioxide and penetration in hair follicle seems confirm it, and curiously, the process is only active in anagen phase.
By the way, I thought that in this forum there is a very clever people, but at the moment anyone of them asked me, where goes sebum inward?, What is the final of the travel to the inner part of pilosebaceous unit?.
Comments are wellcome.
Armando
(*)The migration of sebum and suint components along wool fibres of Merino sheep
JB Hay and SC Mills
Abstract
It has been shown that isotopically labelled sheep wool wax is carried passively along the wool fibre as a band by growth of the wool, and that it does not flow along the fibre to any large extent during experiments of several months. This supports the view that the function of sebum, in mammals in general, is to protect the hair (wool) fibre and the condition of the coat, and contrasts with the reported rapid spread of sebum over the human skin surface. It also seems unlikely that wax lost from the fleece during exposure to rainfall is replenished with sebum freshly secreted onto the surface, since sebum does not migrate. Two methods were used to obtain labelled wax, direct application of labelled cholesterol to the skin surface and intradermal injection of labelled sebum substrate. Prior washing of the wool with detergent showed that wax already on the fibre was not the cause of the observed lack of flow of newly formed wax. Isotopically labelled suint components were also carried passively by wool growth. It is unlikely that wax is transported to any extent by suint in the wool; this is in contrast to the suggested role of sweat in facilitating the spread of sebum over the human skin surface. Some spreading of radioactive wax and suint bands was noted however, possibly because of diffusion and mechanical disturbance of the wool.
Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 33(5) 817 - 825
I am aware with Kilgman’s experiments about sebum movement in hair shaft but, He failed in one thing: “Sebum is continuously produced†and the experiment didn’t contemplate this issue, it was realized with no sebum movement.
In other work of Dr. Hay (*) pointed out the same question but in Merino sheep.
One thing is clear, when sebum is removed by any mechanism; it is easy to be replenished again. Is this a real sebum flow? It is possible.
At contrary, the inward sebum flow is a real movement. It is produced by a gradient in the amount of sebum and studyes in Germany about titanium bioxide and penetration in hair follicle seems confirm it, and curiously, the process is only active in anagen phase.
By the way, I thought that in this forum there is a very clever people, but at the moment anyone of them asked me, where goes sebum inward?, What is the final of the travel to the inner part of pilosebaceous unit?.
Comments are wellcome.
Armando
(*)The migration of sebum and suint components along wool fibres of Merino sheep
JB Hay and SC Mills
Abstract
It has been shown that isotopically labelled sheep wool wax is carried passively along the wool fibre as a band by growth of the wool, and that it does not flow along the fibre to any large extent during experiments of several months. This supports the view that the function of sebum, in mammals in general, is to protect the hair (wool) fibre and the condition of the coat, and contrasts with the reported rapid spread of sebum over the human skin surface. It also seems unlikely that wax lost from the fleece during exposure to rainfall is replenished with sebum freshly secreted onto the surface, since sebum does not migrate. Two methods were used to obtain labelled wax, direct application of labelled cholesterol to the skin surface and intradermal injection of labelled sebum substrate. Prior washing of the wool with detergent showed that wax already on the fibre was not the cause of the observed lack of flow of newly formed wax. Isotopically labelled suint components were also carried passively by wool growth. It is unlikely that wax is transported to any extent by suint in the wool; this is in contrast to the suggested role of sweat in facilitating the spread of sebum over the human skin surface. Some spreading of radioactive wax and suint bands was noted however, possibly because of diffusion and mechanical disturbance of the wool.
Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 33(5) 817 - 825
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My theory about common baldness
Although some respectable person can thing that it is only a waste of wide-band but, I hope anothers person can have another new point of view or theory about common hair loss.
Here is is my work published in Medical Hypotheses
TITLE:
Cultural Evolution as a Possible Triggering or Causative Factor of Common Baldness.
Author: Armando José Yáñez Soler
Graduate in Chemistry Studies
Diploma in advanced studies: Biotechnology applied to Health Science
Mailing Address: c/ Dos de Mayo, 37 E03600 Elda (Alicante)
SPAIN
E-mail: [email protected]
TITLE:
Cultural Evolution as a Possible Triggering or Causative Factor of Common Baldness.
ABSTRACT:
Common baldness (alopecia) increasingly affects a higher number of individuals at earlier ages, independently of gender. One of the reasons could be lack of knowledge concerning its etiology. The human being has evolved to become a naked monkey, although there is no apparent reason to continue the evolutionary process up to becoming a bald monkey. According to this theory, common baldness is a degenerative process derived from certain inadequate cultural practices, such as excessive hair cutting or certain types of haircuts that prevent contact among hairs themselves and limit outside contact in ways that would alleviate balding. Blocking the flow of sebum towards the base of the hair follicle—and so interfering with the arrival of the stem cells to the dermal papilla with consequent hair miniaturization—ends up being the first negative physiological effect derived from certain cultural habits. As time goes by, other mechanisms become altered, which leads to a less and less reversibility of the process.
INTRODUCTION:
It is generally accepted that loss of memory in people over 60 years of age is mainly due to cultural factors;1 that is to say, the viability or destruction of determined neurons is due to certain behaviours of the individual. This process could be similarly related to the problem of common baldness.
Human ancestors in the African savannah, over 3.5 million years ago, adopted bipedism as a step towards evolution. In such way, the human being improved his watching possibilities over the high grass. His hands got rid of the locomotion process and, this way, he had better access to feeding resources that had been formerly unreachable. Such upright walking modified our hair. We gradually eliminated and miniaturized our body hair, while our scalp hair grew longer and denser to improve the thermal isolation of the brain. In parallel, body hair loss avoids excessive hosting of parasites and, consequently, the time invested in peer hygiene is reduced in favour of practicing some other cultural habits.
Human hair is the most evolved type of hair in any species. The pilosebaceous unit consists of the hair shaft, outer and inner sheaths, the dermal papilla, the sebaceous gland, the erecting muscle, the vascular system, the annex nervous system, and the bulge region that provides stem cells for epidermis and hair regeneration. Any hair shows a cycle with an anagen (growth) phase followed by a catagen (resting) phase and a telogen (fall out) phase after which the process starts again. Moreover, the determining and characteristic feature of the human hair is its asynchrony; that is to say, its autonomy to self-regulate its own hair cycle independently from the hairs next to it.2 This unique trait allows us to shed our hair without realizing it, retaining our image, which eases other’s recognition of us and consequently our recognition of others, taking a huge step towards the species’ cultural evolution.
The pilosebaceous unit is among the most complex mechanisms of the human body and provides a location where most of the biological systems intervene, which makes the study of human hair a huge puzzle. The primitive germs of the pilosebaceous unit are exclusively formed during embryo development, one of the crucial stages for physiological development. On the human body, apart from those specialised forms comprising eyelashes, eyebrows, ear and nose, two types of hair grow: that which is in the scalp and the corporal or body type. Scalp hair starts growing immediately after birth. Body hair is mostly delayed until puberty when the body begins preparing itself for reproductive tasks.
Hair loss might be caused by a great number of factors that usually affect hairs diffusely, in a general rather than localised way. The difference between common baldness and other hair loss phenomena lies in the fact that it only affects certain regions of the patient's scalp. Some researchers have tried to discriminate different types of hair on the scalp. The problem is that these differences have been only observed in individuals affected by common baldness, but they have not been corroborated in healthy patients.3 Techniques of hair transplantation are often cited as evidence of the genetic differences among hairs on the scalp, but nowadays the concept of donor dominance of donated hair over resettled areas is uncertain.4 It is not only questioned but many experts agree that the most effective way to surgically fill in “resistant†hair is scalp reduction of the areas affected by removal of bald scalp and closing the adjacent areas together, although even this effect is often temporary. All these factors lead me to think that there are not different types of hair on the scalp and that control mechanisms are the same in women and men. Strong reasons would be necessary so that Nature evolved different hairs on the scalp.
Baldness classification scales in both women and men have been modified and interwoven as investigations have advanced. The number of cases of common baldness in male patients suffering hair loss similar to female patients is rising,5 as are the numbers of females suffering male pattern baldness.
THEORY:
At the beginning of the 20th century, the French dermatologist Raimond Sabouraud talked about the relationship of baldness and seborrhoeic problems.6 Sebum production by the sebaceous gland is critical for hair and epidermis health. Sebum is mainly formed by triglycerides and wax esters, both unstable materials susceptible to oxidation and which must be renewed continuously. This need to create and to eliminate sebum makes it flow through a centrifugal track impregnating all the surfaces running both outwards from and inwards toward the hair follicle. In the author's opinion, the central hypothesis is that sebum componentes not only are discharged to the skin surface but also exert effects on the lower/proximal hair follice, including even the anegen hair bulb and its dermal papailla. Although the inward flow is not supported yet by bibliography, there are facts that suggest it, such as the observation that sebum is accumulated at the base of the hair follicle in damaged hair, proving that sebum has reached this area. Moreover, it has been acknowledged that within the hair medulla the highest concentration of lipids is found and that its chemical composition is very similar to that of sebum.7,8
The inward directional flow is not easy, since the pathway is narrow and sebum must slide between the epidermis connective tissue and the outer root sheath of the hair. Once the path is chosen, the sebum must necessarily arrive at the end of the dermal papilla. There is no possible way back. Blocking this sebum flow toward the inner hair follicle seems to be the initial triggering cause of the common baldness degenerative process (Figure 1).
At this point the key question would be: Why is the flow of sebum at this area eventually blocked? The only plausible reason for biologically causing the obstruction of sebum flow would be a drastic increase of the inward sebum flow. Talking in economic terms, when the demand of a product increases or decreases disproportionately, there appears the risk of destabilisation for the rest of products. If the imbalances persist for a long period, costs go higher. In a similar way, if the assimilation of outwards sebum is interrupted, it is very likely for the inwards flow of sebum to be altered as well.
Sebum has two ways of being eliminated toward the outside. One is a longitudinal way, sliding through the hair shaft (from the base of the hair shaft to the tip of the hair), and the other one is a transverse way, transferring it from one hair to its neighbour (more remarkable if the hair density is higher). The sebum produced is continuously eliminated by combing, washing, brushing the hair, touching or massaging it or even while we rest our head in an armchair. However, the most important and recurring agent accomplishing this function is the bed’s pillow, as it is an absorbent surface able to eliminate the sebum. (Human beings spend one third of their existence sleeping.) It is interesting to underline that no baldness happens in areas where this drainage cannot be interrupted. All these factors lead to the idea that lack of contact with an absorbent surface firstly causes the problems related to sebum drainage.
In my opinion, the triggering cause of the process of alopecia is the detention in the sebum flow moving towards the root of hair. Such a simple fact brings with it an alteration of all the biological, hormonal, immunological, circulatory and neuronal systems, making the process less and less reversible.
CULTURAL OBSERVATIONS
This theory can provide a satisfactory explanation for the different percentages of common baldness affecting different people, depending of the type of hair they have. The most susceptible individuals to suffer from baldness will be those who cut their hair excessively short, whose hair is thin, straight or with low hair density. On the contrary, it is very difficult that individuals with high hair density and thick hair suffer from baldness, even if they wear short hair.
This theory also would clearly explain why the incidence of common baldness is different in both sexes, and it is due to the fact that women usually wear longer hair than men. However, it must be mentioned that nature provides both sexes with the capacity to have long hair. It is not something exclusive to the female gender. Long hair allows the elimination of sebum, even in the hair located at the top of head, since sebum can move in a longitudinal way along its surface till it reaches the absorbent surface. Similarly, it can be explained why there is less repercussion in people with a high hair density, or with thicker or curly hair, since these physical characteristics of hair influence the favouring or impedance of sebum outward flow. The theory explains why certain ethnicities or cultures such as Native Americans, rastafaris, gypsies, etc, do not suffer from common baldness. However, the contrary example would be those women who suffer from baldness since they cut their hair shorter due to aesthetic reasons (especially the part of the “fringe†or “bangs†over the forehead area). Such is the case of the cultural groups like the Zo’e or the Yomibato in the Amazon jungle or the Palawans in the Philippines.
Many people affected by common baldness have noted that they started to suffer from it during military service. This theory could explain this fact. The difference in hair length is the key. Military people, skinheads and others wear their hair short and therefore they can induce problems with the sebum flow. On the contrary, hippies, Hindus, etc. wear long hair. Therefore while some of them are susceptible to suffering from baldness, others are not.
This also explains why it is so easy to induce alopecia at the crown area with what is called tonsure, a practice undertaken by certain religious orders, since they isolate certain hairs in such a way as to stop sebum flow.
BIOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS
As has been mentioned, sebum is an agent susceptible to oxidation, and during this process the quality and its composition are modified, increasing its viscosity and compactness, altering the acidity of the environment and modifying its biological signals. Common baldness is a degenerative process, and blocking the sebum flow seems to be the trigger that leads to a chain reaction process. These posterior facts have been often considered as causal elements in baldness, but arguments have failed when trying to prove such theories. They have been proven to be side effects that increase the problem’s seriousness and that might make it less reversible.
A very important detail to take into account is the fact that sebum carries biological signals such as androgens and stem cell, which are created in the bulge area. (Notice its location just below the sebaceous gland duct.) Blocking the inward-flowing sebum seems to provoke a series of effects such as:
- Blockage of physical material that feeds the hair shaft. Apparently sebum does not reach the hair dermal papilla.
- Blockage of certain biological signals such as our own sebum substances or the information carried thereby. When the quantity of sebum is increased, the amount of hormonal components grows as well, especially dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and an excess of this substance seems to produce negative effects upon hair growth, parallel to an increase of the production of the sebaceous gland.
- Increase of microorganisms fed from sebum lipids. Such an increase can provoke the body’s immune reaction of rejection. Nowadays it is commonly accepted that pilosebaceous units do belong to the immune system.
- Decrease of the production pace and blockage of stem cells, preventing arrival to the dermal papilla, leading to the process of hair shaft miniaturization in all cases of common baldness.9
- The blockage of sebum flow provokes oxidation and an increase of free radicals and higher sebum viscosity. This phenomenon may alter its composition qualities and consequently, different kinds of rejection are more likely to happen.
- Due to action of lipoxygenases, free fatty acids appear and their peroxidation leads to neuroprostanes that cause death by apoptosis in the neural system. The author postulates that something similar happens in the hair system.10
- The tissue next to the hair loses vascularization and the amount of sebum increases in the areas around the hair root and the latter is likely to suffer episodes of inflammation. Such inflammation of the tissues makes the way narrower and further hinders the mobilization of the sebum.
- Stem cells leaving the bulge region will not reach their initial destiny and their pluripotentiallity allows them to create different cellular tissues as keratinocytes, provoking fibrotic processes around the hair follicle.
All these processes can happen one after the other one or in a parallel way. The process of common baldness becomes more complicated and difficult to reverse.
SCIENTIFIC DATA AND PERTINENT TRIALS
It must be admitted that hard data trying to find the joint link between common baldness and hairstyle are practically nonexistent, despite the great number of facts that can be observed in daily life. This might be due to the fact that science does not mesh with the always-changing dictates of fashion, which are part of human cultural evolution. But in order that a hypothesis can be turned into a theory, it must fulfil the minimum requirements of the scientific method, and one of these is that the investigator can reproduce and repeat the results. The question would be: Is it possible to induce common baldness in healthy individuals? Nowadays there are many ways to cause hair loss, as it could be due to drug side effects (for example chemotherapy), serious deficiencies of nutrients, post-traumatic or even very stressful situations. But all these causes lead to a generalized loss of hairs, not just to part of them as happens in the case of common baldness; and on the other hand, once the causative agent is eliminated, hair is usually recovered in a natural way. My hypothesis should prove that specific areas of alopecia are caused just by hindering the normal elimination of sebum. Shortening the length of hair is enough to stop the longitudinal flow of sebum, but in order to stop the transverse flow among hairs, it is necessary to cut hair even shorter; that is, to shave it in order to get a total isolation of hair, even if it is thick with high hair density. Therefore tonsure becomes the appropriate tool, and its practice proves us the high efficacy of this method. A similar reasoning would be able to explain the great number of people with receding hairlines, probably due to an excessive cut of the hair at the front area.
On the other hand, my hypothesis would be strengthened if it were proven impossible to induce baldness in areas that are usually preserved. Fortunately, daily observations give examples in this sense. A very clear one would be bald individuals who decide to shave their heads. They must do it daily because they are not able to eliminate the hairs at the sides. This fact is probably due to the impossibility of stopping the sebum flow, since at these areas the pilosebaceous follicles can drain sebum in a direct way to an absorbent surface through repeated contact while we sleep.
Another very important detail is that tonsure was also practiced on novices, some of them before puberty. It can be found even on girls and women, with the same inexorable results: the appearance of a bald area in all the cases. These facts seem to point out that in order to make a bald area, it is much more useful to negatively modify the elimination of sebum rather than the general hormonal influence of people. In brief, it seems that tonsure is a universal method to produce a localised alopecia on any person.
CONCLUSION:
According to the theory, common baldness is a degenerative process derived from certain inadequate cultural practices. This phenomenon is observed in both men and women and it affects a greater number of individuals nowadays, but it seems easy to prevent just by growing hair long enough to prevent the loss of contact among hair shafts and the outside, and this way, maintaining the outward sebum flow. However, once common baldness exists, the process must be stopped or hair loss is unavoidable. As time goes by, the processes increase and they become less reversible. So there is a paradox: it is useless to try to recover hair lost during the past years while it could be very easy to prevent its loss. Therefore, prevention appears to be the most suitable solution.
This theory has some points to be stressed:
- It tries to make clearer the initial and triggering cause of common baldness, which is the same in men and women regardless the localization of the hair in the scalp. It does not distinguish alopecia areata, receding hairlines, etc.
- The theory gives relevance to the sebum and its foundations, supporting the general opinions of the people who suffer common baldness: those people realized that in a determined stage of common baldness, there is a sebum alteration over the scalp. As a result, this theoretical development restructures the old theory of â€clogged follicles†and gives relevance to baldness caused by seborrheic dermatitis.
- In case this theory were confirmed, the importance of the genetic component in common baldness would be reduced. Genetics determines the type of hair, predisposing to common baldness in individuals with thin and low density hair, but it does not destine irremissibly these people to develop baldness. Therefore, by modifying a specific component of cultural evolution--in this case a fashion--the problem in question could be solved in an effective and preventive way.
- Besides the entire body of supporting scientific evidence, I would like to mention Occam's razzor: "Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate," and its corollary: Given more than one theory or solution to a problem, it is much more interesting and fruitful to study in depth the simplest of the theories.
The author is trying to contribute his point of view in order to solve a problem that affects a high number of individuals, although he is also aware that this thought-provoking theory will give rise a lot of skepticism. Common baldness is not a deadly condition, although it causes serious problems to people’s self-image and self-esteem, especially to women. Opening new scientific research regarding this subject is suggested, as well as research on the sebum flow into the hair follicle and its connection with the transport of stem cells or label-retaining cells, which are extremely important to the biological mechanism of hair.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
The author is grateful to the proffessors Ralf Paus and Dr. Christos C. Zouboulis for their very constructive comments on the manuscript, and also to Michael A Leake for his valuable help to make the text more understandable for English-speaking readers.
REFERENCES:
1) Scarmeas N., Levy G., Tang M. X., Manly J., Stern Y. “Influence of Leisure Activity On the Incidence of Alzheimer's Disease.†Neurology 2001 Dec 26; 57(12): 2236-42
2) Stenn K.S., Paus R. “Controls of Hair Follicle Cycling.†Physiol Rev 2001;81: 449-94
3) Ellis J.A., Stebbing M., Harrap S.B. “Genetic Analysis of Male Pattern Baldness and the 5Alpha-Reductase Genes.†J Invest Dermatol. 1998 Jun; 110(6): 849-53
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1747.1998.00224.x
4) Hwang S., Kim J.C., Ryu H.S., et al. “Does the Recipient Site Influence the Hair Growth Characteristics In Hair Transplantation?†Dermatol Surg 2002 Sep;28(9): 798-9.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1524-4725.2002.02041.x
5) Paik J.H., Yoon J.B., Sim W.Y., Kim N.I. “The Prevalence and Types of Androgenetic Alopecia in Korean men and Women.†Br J Dermatol 2001 Jul; 145(1): 95-9.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1747.1998.00224.x
6) Sabouraud R. Maladies du cuir chevelu. I Les Maladies Séborrhéiques. Séborrhee, acn’s, calvitie. Paris, Masson et Cie, 1902.
7) Briki F., Busson B., Kreplak L., Dumas P., Doucet J. “Exploring A Biological Tissue From Atomic to Macroscopic Scale Using Synchrotron Radiation: Example of Hair.†Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-legrand) 2000 Jul; 46(5): 1005-16
8) Wix M.A., Wertz P.W., Downing D.T. “Polar Lipid Composition of Mammalian Hair.†Comp Biochem Physiol B 1987; 86(4): 671-3
9) Panteleyev AA., Jahoda CA., Christiano AM. “Hair follicle predetermination.†J Cell Sci. 2001 Oct; 114(19): 3419-31.
10) Montine T., Neely M., Quinn J., et al. “Lipid Peroxidation in Aging Brain and Alzheimer's Disease (1,2).†Free Radic Biol Med 2002 Sep 1;33(5): 620-6.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0891-5849(02)00807-9
FIGURES:
FIGURE 1. Eschematic Diagram of Pilosebaceous system / unit. Due to the easy oxidation of the sebum produced by the sebaceous gland, the latter must be created and eliminated continuously. A small part of the sebum produced will make its way through the base of the hair follicle. Blocking of the sebum flow could represent the trigger cause of common baldness.
B – Bulge; E – Epidermis; FP – Follicular or Dermal Papilla; M – Matrix Keratinocytes; NV Nerve system; ORS – Outer Root Sheath; S – Hair Shaft; SC – Stem Cells; SG – Sebaceous Gland.
The figure can ve accesed at
http://www.againstalopeciaandbaldness.com
Armando
Although some respectable person can thing that it is only a waste of wide-band but, I hope anothers person can have another new point of view or theory about common hair loss.
Here is is my work published in Medical Hypotheses
TITLE:
Cultural Evolution as a Possible Triggering or Causative Factor of Common Baldness.
Author: Armando José Yáñez Soler
Graduate in Chemistry Studies
Diploma in advanced studies: Biotechnology applied to Health Science
Mailing Address: c/ Dos de Mayo, 37 E03600 Elda (Alicante)
SPAIN
E-mail: [email protected]
TITLE:
Cultural Evolution as a Possible Triggering or Causative Factor of Common Baldness.
ABSTRACT:
Common baldness (alopecia) increasingly affects a higher number of individuals at earlier ages, independently of gender. One of the reasons could be lack of knowledge concerning its etiology. The human being has evolved to become a naked monkey, although there is no apparent reason to continue the evolutionary process up to becoming a bald monkey. According to this theory, common baldness is a degenerative process derived from certain inadequate cultural practices, such as excessive hair cutting or certain types of haircuts that prevent contact among hairs themselves and limit outside contact in ways that would alleviate balding. Blocking the flow of sebum towards the base of the hair follicle—and so interfering with the arrival of the stem cells to the dermal papilla with consequent hair miniaturization—ends up being the first negative physiological effect derived from certain cultural habits. As time goes by, other mechanisms become altered, which leads to a less and less reversibility of the process.
INTRODUCTION:
It is generally accepted that loss of memory in people over 60 years of age is mainly due to cultural factors;1 that is to say, the viability or destruction of determined neurons is due to certain behaviours of the individual. This process could be similarly related to the problem of common baldness.
Human ancestors in the African savannah, over 3.5 million years ago, adopted bipedism as a step towards evolution. In such way, the human being improved his watching possibilities over the high grass. His hands got rid of the locomotion process and, this way, he had better access to feeding resources that had been formerly unreachable. Such upright walking modified our hair. We gradually eliminated and miniaturized our body hair, while our scalp hair grew longer and denser to improve the thermal isolation of the brain. In parallel, body hair loss avoids excessive hosting of parasites and, consequently, the time invested in peer hygiene is reduced in favour of practicing some other cultural habits.
Human hair is the most evolved type of hair in any species. The pilosebaceous unit consists of the hair shaft, outer and inner sheaths, the dermal papilla, the sebaceous gland, the erecting muscle, the vascular system, the annex nervous system, and the bulge region that provides stem cells for epidermis and hair regeneration. Any hair shows a cycle with an anagen (growth) phase followed by a catagen (resting) phase and a telogen (fall out) phase after which the process starts again. Moreover, the determining and characteristic feature of the human hair is its asynchrony; that is to say, its autonomy to self-regulate its own hair cycle independently from the hairs next to it.2 This unique trait allows us to shed our hair without realizing it, retaining our image, which eases other’s recognition of us and consequently our recognition of others, taking a huge step towards the species’ cultural evolution.
The pilosebaceous unit is among the most complex mechanisms of the human body and provides a location where most of the biological systems intervene, which makes the study of human hair a huge puzzle. The primitive germs of the pilosebaceous unit are exclusively formed during embryo development, one of the crucial stages for physiological development. On the human body, apart from those specialised forms comprising eyelashes, eyebrows, ear and nose, two types of hair grow: that which is in the scalp and the corporal or body type. Scalp hair starts growing immediately after birth. Body hair is mostly delayed until puberty when the body begins preparing itself for reproductive tasks.
Hair loss might be caused by a great number of factors that usually affect hairs diffusely, in a general rather than localised way. The difference between common baldness and other hair loss phenomena lies in the fact that it only affects certain regions of the patient's scalp. Some researchers have tried to discriminate different types of hair on the scalp. The problem is that these differences have been only observed in individuals affected by common baldness, but they have not been corroborated in healthy patients.3 Techniques of hair transplantation are often cited as evidence of the genetic differences among hairs on the scalp, but nowadays the concept of donor dominance of donated hair over resettled areas is uncertain.4 It is not only questioned but many experts agree that the most effective way to surgically fill in “resistant†hair is scalp reduction of the areas affected by removal of bald scalp and closing the adjacent areas together, although even this effect is often temporary. All these factors lead me to think that there are not different types of hair on the scalp and that control mechanisms are the same in women and men. Strong reasons would be necessary so that Nature evolved different hairs on the scalp.
Baldness classification scales in both women and men have been modified and interwoven as investigations have advanced. The number of cases of common baldness in male patients suffering hair loss similar to female patients is rising,5 as are the numbers of females suffering male pattern baldness.
THEORY:
At the beginning of the 20th century, the French dermatologist Raimond Sabouraud talked about the relationship of baldness and seborrhoeic problems.6 Sebum production by the sebaceous gland is critical for hair and epidermis health. Sebum is mainly formed by triglycerides and wax esters, both unstable materials susceptible to oxidation and which must be renewed continuously. This need to create and to eliminate sebum makes it flow through a centrifugal track impregnating all the surfaces running both outwards from and inwards toward the hair follicle. In the author's opinion, the central hypothesis is that sebum componentes not only are discharged to the skin surface but also exert effects on the lower/proximal hair follice, including even the anegen hair bulb and its dermal papailla. Although the inward flow is not supported yet by bibliography, there are facts that suggest it, such as the observation that sebum is accumulated at the base of the hair follicle in damaged hair, proving that sebum has reached this area. Moreover, it has been acknowledged that within the hair medulla the highest concentration of lipids is found and that its chemical composition is very similar to that of sebum.7,8
The inward directional flow is not easy, since the pathway is narrow and sebum must slide between the epidermis connective tissue and the outer root sheath of the hair. Once the path is chosen, the sebum must necessarily arrive at the end of the dermal papilla. There is no possible way back. Blocking this sebum flow toward the inner hair follicle seems to be the initial triggering cause of the common baldness degenerative process (Figure 1).
At this point the key question would be: Why is the flow of sebum at this area eventually blocked? The only plausible reason for biologically causing the obstruction of sebum flow would be a drastic increase of the inward sebum flow. Talking in economic terms, when the demand of a product increases or decreases disproportionately, there appears the risk of destabilisation for the rest of products. If the imbalances persist for a long period, costs go higher. In a similar way, if the assimilation of outwards sebum is interrupted, it is very likely for the inwards flow of sebum to be altered as well.
Sebum has two ways of being eliminated toward the outside. One is a longitudinal way, sliding through the hair shaft (from the base of the hair shaft to the tip of the hair), and the other one is a transverse way, transferring it from one hair to its neighbour (more remarkable if the hair density is higher). The sebum produced is continuously eliminated by combing, washing, brushing the hair, touching or massaging it or even while we rest our head in an armchair. However, the most important and recurring agent accomplishing this function is the bed’s pillow, as it is an absorbent surface able to eliminate the sebum. (Human beings spend one third of their existence sleeping.) It is interesting to underline that no baldness happens in areas where this drainage cannot be interrupted. All these factors lead to the idea that lack of contact with an absorbent surface firstly causes the problems related to sebum drainage.
In my opinion, the triggering cause of the process of alopecia is the detention in the sebum flow moving towards the root of hair. Such a simple fact brings with it an alteration of all the biological, hormonal, immunological, circulatory and neuronal systems, making the process less and less reversible.
CULTURAL OBSERVATIONS
This theory can provide a satisfactory explanation for the different percentages of common baldness affecting different people, depending of the type of hair they have. The most susceptible individuals to suffer from baldness will be those who cut their hair excessively short, whose hair is thin, straight or with low hair density. On the contrary, it is very difficult that individuals with high hair density and thick hair suffer from baldness, even if they wear short hair.
This theory also would clearly explain why the incidence of common baldness is different in both sexes, and it is due to the fact that women usually wear longer hair than men. However, it must be mentioned that nature provides both sexes with the capacity to have long hair. It is not something exclusive to the female gender. Long hair allows the elimination of sebum, even in the hair located at the top of head, since sebum can move in a longitudinal way along its surface till it reaches the absorbent surface. Similarly, it can be explained why there is less repercussion in people with a high hair density, or with thicker or curly hair, since these physical characteristics of hair influence the favouring or impedance of sebum outward flow. The theory explains why certain ethnicities or cultures such as Native Americans, rastafaris, gypsies, etc, do not suffer from common baldness. However, the contrary example would be those women who suffer from baldness since they cut their hair shorter due to aesthetic reasons (especially the part of the “fringe†or “bangs†over the forehead area). Such is the case of the cultural groups like the Zo’e or the Yomibato in the Amazon jungle or the Palawans in the Philippines.
Many people affected by common baldness have noted that they started to suffer from it during military service. This theory could explain this fact. The difference in hair length is the key. Military people, skinheads and others wear their hair short and therefore they can induce problems with the sebum flow. On the contrary, hippies, Hindus, etc. wear long hair. Therefore while some of them are susceptible to suffering from baldness, others are not.
This also explains why it is so easy to induce alopecia at the crown area with what is called tonsure, a practice undertaken by certain religious orders, since they isolate certain hairs in such a way as to stop sebum flow.
BIOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS
As has been mentioned, sebum is an agent susceptible to oxidation, and during this process the quality and its composition are modified, increasing its viscosity and compactness, altering the acidity of the environment and modifying its biological signals. Common baldness is a degenerative process, and blocking the sebum flow seems to be the trigger that leads to a chain reaction process. These posterior facts have been often considered as causal elements in baldness, but arguments have failed when trying to prove such theories. They have been proven to be side effects that increase the problem’s seriousness and that might make it less reversible.
A very important detail to take into account is the fact that sebum carries biological signals such as androgens and stem cell, which are created in the bulge area. (Notice its location just below the sebaceous gland duct.) Blocking the inward-flowing sebum seems to provoke a series of effects such as:
- Blockage of physical material that feeds the hair shaft. Apparently sebum does not reach the hair dermal papilla.
- Blockage of certain biological signals such as our own sebum substances or the information carried thereby. When the quantity of sebum is increased, the amount of hormonal components grows as well, especially dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and an excess of this substance seems to produce negative effects upon hair growth, parallel to an increase of the production of the sebaceous gland.
- Increase of microorganisms fed from sebum lipids. Such an increase can provoke the body’s immune reaction of rejection. Nowadays it is commonly accepted that pilosebaceous units do belong to the immune system.
- Decrease of the production pace and blockage of stem cells, preventing arrival to the dermal papilla, leading to the process of hair shaft miniaturization in all cases of common baldness.9
- The blockage of sebum flow provokes oxidation and an increase of free radicals and higher sebum viscosity. This phenomenon may alter its composition qualities and consequently, different kinds of rejection are more likely to happen.
- Due to action of lipoxygenases, free fatty acids appear and their peroxidation leads to neuroprostanes that cause death by apoptosis in the neural system. The author postulates that something similar happens in the hair system.10
- The tissue next to the hair loses vascularization and the amount of sebum increases in the areas around the hair root and the latter is likely to suffer episodes of inflammation. Such inflammation of the tissues makes the way narrower and further hinders the mobilization of the sebum.
- Stem cells leaving the bulge region will not reach their initial destiny and their pluripotentiallity allows them to create different cellular tissues as keratinocytes, provoking fibrotic processes around the hair follicle.
All these processes can happen one after the other one or in a parallel way. The process of common baldness becomes more complicated and difficult to reverse.
SCIENTIFIC DATA AND PERTINENT TRIALS
It must be admitted that hard data trying to find the joint link between common baldness and hairstyle are practically nonexistent, despite the great number of facts that can be observed in daily life. This might be due to the fact that science does not mesh with the always-changing dictates of fashion, which are part of human cultural evolution. But in order that a hypothesis can be turned into a theory, it must fulfil the minimum requirements of the scientific method, and one of these is that the investigator can reproduce and repeat the results. The question would be: Is it possible to induce common baldness in healthy individuals? Nowadays there are many ways to cause hair loss, as it could be due to drug side effects (for example chemotherapy), serious deficiencies of nutrients, post-traumatic or even very stressful situations. But all these causes lead to a generalized loss of hairs, not just to part of them as happens in the case of common baldness; and on the other hand, once the causative agent is eliminated, hair is usually recovered in a natural way. My hypothesis should prove that specific areas of alopecia are caused just by hindering the normal elimination of sebum. Shortening the length of hair is enough to stop the longitudinal flow of sebum, but in order to stop the transverse flow among hairs, it is necessary to cut hair even shorter; that is, to shave it in order to get a total isolation of hair, even if it is thick with high hair density. Therefore tonsure becomes the appropriate tool, and its practice proves us the high efficacy of this method. A similar reasoning would be able to explain the great number of people with receding hairlines, probably due to an excessive cut of the hair at the front area.
On the other hand, my hypothesis would be strengthened if it were proven impossible to induce baldness in areas that are usually preserved. Fortunately, daily observations give examples in this sense. A very clear one would be bald individuals who decide to shave their heads. They must do it daily because they are not able to eliminate the hairs at the sides. This fact is probably due to the impossibility of stopping the sebum flow, since at these areas the pilosebaceous follicles can drain sebum in a direct way to an absorbent surface through repeated contact while we sleep.
Another very important detail is that tonsure was also practiced on novices, some of them before puberty. It can be found even on girls and women, with the same inexorable results: the appearance of a bald area in all the cases. These facts seem to point out that in order to make a bald area, it is much more useful to negatively modify the elimination of sebum rather than the general hormonal influence of people. In brief, it seems that tonsure is a universal method to produce a localised alopecia on any person.
CONCLUSION:
According to the theory, common baldness is a degenerative process derived from certain inadequate cultural practices. This phenomenon is observed in both men and women and it affects a greater number of individuals nowadays, but it seems easy to prevent just by growing hair long enough to prevent the loss of contact among hair shafts and the outside, and this way, maintaining the outward sebum flow. However, once common baldness exists, the process must be stopped or hair loss is unavoidable. As time goes by, the processes increase and they become less reversible. So there is a paradox: it is useless to try to recover hair lost during the past years while it could be very easy to prevent its loss. Therefore, prevention appears to be the most suitable solution.
This theory has some points to be stressed:
- It tries to make clearer the initial and triggering cause of common baldness, which is the same in men and women regardless the localization of the hair in the scalp. It does not distinguish alopecia areata, receding hairlines, etc.
- The theory gives relevance to the sebum and its foundations, supporting the general opinions of the people who suffer common baldness: those people realized that in a determined stage of common baldness, there is a sebum alteration over the scalp. As a result, this theoretical development restructures the old theory of â€clogged follicles†and gives relevance to baldness caused by seborrheic dermatitis.
- In case this theory were confirmed, the importance of the genetic component in common baldness would be reduced. Genetics determines the type of hair, predisposing to common baldness in individuals with thin and low density hair, but it does not destine irremissibly these people to develop baldness. Therefore, by modifying a specific component of cultural evolution--in this case a fashion--the problem in question could be solved in an effective and preventive way.
- Besides the entire body of supporting scientific evidence, I would like to mention Occam's razzor: "Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate," and its corollary: Given more than one theory or solution to a problem, it is much more interesting and fruitful to study in depth the simplest of the theories.
The author is trying to contribute his point of view in order to solve a problem that affects a high number of individuals, although he is also aware that this thought-provoking theory will give rise a lot of skepticism. Common baldness is not a deadly condition, although it causes serious problems to people’s self-image and self-esteem, especially to women. Opening new scientific research regarding this subject is suggested, as well as research on the sebum flow into the hair follicle and its connection with the transport of stem cells or label-retaining cells, which are extremely important to the biological mechanism of hair.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
The author is grateful to the proffessors Ralf Paus and Dr. Christos C. Zouboulis for their very constructive comments on the manuscript, and also to Michael A Leake for his valuable help to make the text more understandable for English-speaking readers.
REFERENCES:
1) Scarmeas N., Levy G., Tang M. X., Manly J., Stern Y. “Influence of Leisure Activity On the Incidence of Alzheimer's Disease.†Neurology 2001 Dec 26; 57(12): 2236-42
2) Stenn K.S., Paus R. “Controls of Hair Follicle Cycling.†Physiol Rev 2001;81: 449-94
3) Ellis J.A., Stebbing M., Harrap S.B. “Genetic Analysis of Male Pattern Baldness and the 5Alpha-Reductase Genes.†J Invest Dermatol. 1998 Jun; 110(6): 849-53
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1747.1998.00224.x
4) Hwang S., Kim J.C., Ryu H.S., et al. “Does the Recipient Site Influence the Hair Growth Characteristics In Hair Transplantation?†Dermatol Surg 2002 Sep;28(9): 798-9.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1524-4725.2002.02041.x
5) Paik J.H., Yoon J.B., Sim W.Y., Kim N.I. “The Prevalence and Types of Androgenetic Alopecia in Korean men and Women.†Br J Dermatol 2001 Jul; 145(1): 95-9.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1747.1998.00224.x
6) Sabouraud R. Maladies du cuir chevelu. I Les Maladies Séborrhéiques. Séborrhee, acn’s, calvitie. Paris, Masson et Cie, 1902.
7) Briki F., Busson B., Kreplak L., Dumas P., Doucet J. “Exploring A Biological Tissue From Atomic to Macroscopic Scale Using Synchrotron Radiation: Example of Hair.†Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-legrand) 2000 Jul; 46(5): 1005-16
8) Wix M.A., Wertz P.W., Downing D.T. “Polar Lipid Composition of Mammalian Hair.†Comp Biochem Physiol B 1987; 86(4): 671-3
9) Panteleyev AA., Jahoda CA., Christiano AM. “Hair follicle predetermination.†J Cell Sci. 2001 Oct; 114(19): 3419-31.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0891-5849(02)00807-9
FIGURES:
FIGURE 1. Eschematic Diagram of Pilosebaceous system / unit. Due to the easy oxidation of the sebum produced by the sebaceous gland, the latter must be created and eliminated continuously. A small part of the sebum produced will make its way through the base of the hair follicle. Blocking of the sebum flow could represent the trigger cause of common baldness.
B – Bulge; E – Epidermis; FP – Follicular or Dermal Papilla; M – Matrix Keratinocytes; NV Nerve system; ORS – Outer Root Sheath; S – Hair Shaft; SC – Stem Cells; SG – Sebaceous Gland.
The figure can ve accesed at
http://www.againstalopeciaandbaldness.com
Armando