Asian men are often admired for their lush, flowing locks and flawless hairlines. Unlike Caucasians, they rarely seem to go full George Costanza while in their 20s or 30s. But, according to a recent study, Asians are starting to run out of luck on the follicular front.
In a survey of 4,000 students from Tsinghua University in Beijing, 60% of respondents reported some degree of hair loss. 40% claimed to notice receding hairlines, and another 25% stated that they learned about their hair loss via friends or family.
The article I reviewed cited the opinion of Dr. Fu Lanqin, a prominent dermatologist at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing. Dr. Lanqin stated that in recent years, he’d seen a marked increase in the number of young patients seeking treatment for pattern hair loss.
She went on to say that, in her professional opinion, this generation is losing hair at a faster clip than previous generations.
A variety of factors were cited in the article as possible causes for this new baldness “epidemic.” Stress, insomnia, and “irregular life patterns” were considered to be among the chief causes of hair loss — those issues reportedly led to increased shedding in over 60% of the respondents.
My Take on This Survey on Asians and Hair Loss
This survey was a bit surprising to me. As I’ve stated in my hairline stalking on Facebook post, and in other articles on this blog, I rarely notice young Asian men with significant balding of any kind. I wonder if the hairline “recession” noted by Asian men could be attributed to the hairline maturation process, rather than pattern baldness.
Additionally, they often didn’t indicate which form of hair loss the respondents of this survey were suffering from. Some probably had telogen effluviam (stress-related hair loss), while others suffered from pattern hair loss, and others probably just were going through the hairline maturation process. In other words, the way hair loss was classified was troublesome, potentially.
While diet and other lifestyle factors can play a role in exacerbating pattern baldness, most experts believe that balding is a fundamentally genetic process.
This is all good news if you’re a Caucasian, I suppose. Bald is becoming the new normal, even in Asia, where the majority of men previously enjoyed lush locks into their golden years.
Robert Price is a writer, consumer advocate, and hair loss researcher with thousands of hours of experience in the field. His goal is to keep you out of the hair loss rabbit hole, underworld, or whatever you want to call it. He founded Hair Loss Daily, the unbiased hair loss blog, in 2016. You can learn more about Robert in the my story section of this website.
To all you Asian men out there I say: “Congratulations, and welcome to the club! I hope this trend is real and permanent and I hope you not only just embrace it but eagerly anticipate it. And learn to love it.”
I must be male pattern baldness’s greatest fan. I absolutely LOVE it. If I had my way, ALL men would be Norwood 7 male pattern bald by no later than age 40. I wish balding could start as early as puberty and be aggressive, taking less than five years to complete. And I wish it would be permanent and totally irreversible. I wish MPB were a universal rite of passage, eagerly anticipated by all men … and their girlfriends and wives. I wish all women felt the same way my wife feels about it. She thinks MPB is sexy and beautiful.
About one week ago I received something in the mail promoting hair pieces and toupees. Somehow, I got on someone’s mailing list for hair restoration ‘remedies’ and hair pieces. So I sometimes get promotional stuff in the mail and small adds occasionally pop up online on my computer. Darn! My wife saw me reading the material and said: “Don’t even THINK about it! Don’t you dare cover up your bald head! If you’re worried about sunburn or freezing your scalp when it’s cold, wear a hat, but don’t wear a hair piece. Please!” I reassured her that I had no intention of ever regrowing the hair on top of my head, or wearing a toupee, because of how much I love being bald. I believe her. I hope she believes me.