I'm a male, what are my chances of losing my hair? And if you are male, research has shown that you have a 60% chance of losing your hair, and it can start as young as your teens in some extreme cases.

I'm a female, what are my chances of losing my hair? Nearly 50% of women will be affected by permanent hair loss, while only 20% of women will completely escape hair loss / hair thinning during their lifetime.

Can women get Male Pattern Baldness? Of women with permanent hair loss, somewhere between 25 and 90% will follow the path akin to male pattern baldness - which accounts for between 90 and 95% of balding in men - but very few women ever encounter noticable balding.

Does a hairless person have hair follicles? Actually a hairless person does not really lose their hair follicles – the hairs follicles are still present in the bald spot.

Some interesting hair facts

How Many Hairs on Your Head?: About 100,000 hairs reside on the scalp.

Hair Fast Does Hair Grow? What is the Growth Rate of Hair?: Hair normally grows, stops growing, starts growing, stops and so on. In the course of a month, hair will grow at a rate of about half an inch - 9 millimetres - every month on our heads, for the average person.

Hair Age - How long does a Hair stay on your head?: Hair will be at least 4 years old before it is normally "shed".

Does age affect hair growth?: At 40 years of age, your hair grows for about 3 years before falling out. At age 60 your hair grows for about 1 to 1y 6m. Obviously, the shorter growing cycle will eventually mean much shorter hair.

What is theMaximum Hair Length?: The maximum length hair can grow to is about 25 inches, about 0.7 metres. When it starts to get longer than this, it has normally reached the stage where the hair just falls out - gravity, weight of the hair, age, all has its effects on how long hair grows. The hair follicle remains intact, so a new hair then starts growing from the follicle, when the older hair has fallen out.

What are Extraordinary hair lengths?: Hair lengths of over a metre have been achieved by some, but they normally wear their hair up. A noteable example is a chinese village where ladies are not allowed to cut their hair, and some rare people that have made it into the Guinness Book of Records for hair length.

How can hair stand up straight? A segment of the hair penetrating thru the dermal layer of the scalp is called the hair follicle or root. In association with the hair follicles works a smooth muscle, an involuntary type, that are known as "arrector pilus".

Arrector Pilus muscles help in flattening hair when there is a stress period and would raise hairs when in a shocked state - at other times it holds the hair in it's normal position.

What gives hair a glossy look or appearance? Why can hair be soft and smooth to touch? There are sebaceous glands that are connected to the hair follicles. The sebaceous glands secrete fats, an oily matter, know to be as sebum.

Sebum keeps our hair feeling smooth and soft, while giving the hair a glossiness

What are the Phases of the growth of hair?: There are two phases. They are called anagen (growth) and telogen (dormant or non-growth).

What is Normal Hair Loss?: A person will lose anywhere from 50 to 100 hairs a day.

Photo of lady's hair courtesy of Vicky53

Search Engine Optimization

Baldness and premature hair loss can be caused by genetics and therefore run in a family

Male pattern baldness can happen to male teenagers as well as to men.

Females are at risk of developing hair loss and female baldness, due to hormonal changes, such as with giving birth, or getting pregnant.

After age 30, hair loss and baldness in both men and women is to be expected.

After age 40, males will typically show signs of male pattern baldness and females will normally start seeing their hair thinning out.

Always remember, before acting on any information you find here or on any of our web sites, check with your health professional about whether the information is suitable for you.