Does Hair Loss Come From Your Mother’s Side of the Family?
If you’re wondering whether you’ll lose your hair, someone has probably told you to look at your mother’s father. If Grandpa on Mom’s side kept a full head of hair, you’re safe. If he went bald, you’re next.
It makes for an easy family rule. Genetics just aren’t that simple.
You can inherit a genetic tendency toward hair loss from both sides of your family. Your mother’s side matters, but so does your father’s. Looking at one grandfather cannot reliably tell you what is going to happen to your hair.
Why Does Everyone Blame Mom’s Side?
There is some science behind how this myth got started.
One gene associated with androgenetic alopecia is the androgen receptor gene, which is located on the X chromosome. Men inherit their X chromosome from their mother, which helped create the idea that male pattern hair loss must come from Mom’s side of the family.
But that is only one piece of a much larger genetic puzzle.
Male and female pattern hair loss are influenced by many genes, not one single “baldness gene.” Those genetic influences can come from both your mother’s and father’s sides of the family.
So your maternal grandfather may provide one clue. He does not provide the answer.
Your Dad’s Hair Matters Too
If your father, paternal grandfather, brothers, uncles or other relatives have experienced pattern hair loss, that family history matters as well.
In fact, when you look around your family, you may see completely different patterns. Your father may have significant hair loss while his brother has very little. One sibling may begin thinning relatively young while another keeps much more hair as he gets older.
That is one reason predicting your own future by looking at a single relative doesn’t work very well.
What Do Genetics Actually Have to Do With Hair Loss?
Androgenetic alopecia, commonly called male pattern hair loss or female pattern hair loss, involves an inherited susceptibility of certain hair follicles to hormonal influences, including dihydrotestosterone, or DHT.
Over time, susceptible follicles can gradually become smaller and produce finer, shorter hairs. Eventually, some may stop producing visible hair.
Your genetics can influence whether you are susceptible, when hair loss begins, how quickly it progresses and the pattern it follows. But you cannot determine all of that simply by deciding whether Mom’s or Dad’s side has “better hair.”
What If Hair Loss Runs on Both Sides of Your Family?
Family history can tell you that you may have an increased genetic susceptibility, but it cannot tell you exactly what your hair will look like five, ten or twenty years from now.
What you can pay attention to is your own hair.
If you’re noticing gradual thinning, a receding pattern, changes around the temples, increasing scalp visibility or thinning through the crown, those changes tell you more about what is happening today than your grandfather’s old photographs ever could.
Dr. Matthew Lopresti evaluates the pattern, progression and characteristics of your hair loss to help determine what may be happening and what options, if any, may be appropriate.
Your mother’s father may be part of your hair-loss story. He isn’t the author of it.