Most people these days are aware their parents are the cause for genetic baldness and fortunately all those old snake oil cure-alls are disappearing. Most ‘cures’ that were peddled were for vasodilators (opening blood capillaries), while at the same time creating heat. The principal being that when the ‘tonic’ would heat the scalp, blood vessels would open to disperse this heat and in so doing would feed hairs, but it wasn’t until transplanting hairs came along that it was realized your own body shut down the blood to the bald scalp where the hair roots no longer needed the strong sub-epidermal capillary supply.
When hormones are more readily able to enter the cells in the follicles and the hair roots where they will combine with enzymes, they are able to stimulate a chemical messenger that can then trigger the ageing factors of the DNA. This consequence of ageing of the hair follicle cells will result in hair follicles reducing in size, and as a result a decreased hair root cell activity.
These two actions also decrease the available blood supply at the hair roots. The sub-epidermal area can carry three quarters of the scalp blood (and is always the first area affected as the scalp tightens). When the hair follicles start to die, they will increasingly draw the blood from the dermal area. Consequently, the decreased requirement for sub-epidermal blood results in calcification of the capillaries, which obviously results in less blood available, slower healing, less hair and receding hair loss.
Follicle length also determines the length of the growth phase for that particular hair—shorter follicles produce shorter hairs like those found on the arms and face of a child. In the adolescent male, the facial and main trunk hairs which are genetically designed to grow are stimulated by the production of testosterone to produce deeper follicles resulting in stronger hair in those areas.
No comments:
Post a Comment