Baldness

[Yai]

Why don't women get bald as they get older like men ?

[WendyW]

According to http://www.helioshealth.com/mpb/causes.html#Anchor
-Hormone-220 it all down to hormones they say that:

.

Testosterone, Hair Follicles, and 5-alpha reductase Male pattern baldness depends on the presence of male hormones. Levels of these hormones are high in males after puberty. The most well known male hormone is testosterone. Testosterone can be converted into a more potent hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT) by a 5-alpha reductase, an enzyme found in skin cells and hair follicles. Men with male pattern baldness have high levels of DHT in their skin. When this hormone binds to a hormone receptor on the hair follicle, it slows down hair production. The follicles also produce weaker, shorter hair and may stop making scalp hair altogether. All that is left may be vellus hair--the soft fuzz that covers most of your body. In short, male pattern balding depends primarily on DHT and 5-alpha reductase levels and their binding effect on hair follicles. Male pattern baldness does not affect all hair at the same time; some hair is more "androgen sensitive" than others. For instance, you are more likely to lose the hair on the sides of your head than on the top of your head.

[andy hughes]

I think that last observation is the wrong way round - if I was losing my hair at the sides, not the top, I'd have a flame-red mohican as a fasion statement, instead of my usual let's-just-forget-about-it Number Two.