So I’ve been doing some Facebook stalking lately…

I mean, research for this hair loss blog, of course.

In my Facebook research, I found that approximately 1/3 or 33% of the guys I went to high school with are going bald. It was the class of ’03 and, today, toward the end of July in the year 2017, that means the vast majority of us are 32 years old. Time flies, whether you’re going bald or you’re not…

5 Takeaways from My Hair Loss “Research” on Facebook

1. Many Men Lose a LOT of Hair Before Turning 30

The guys in my high school class represented all the classes on the Norwood Scale. Norwood 3 was the most common pattern of hair loss I observed, but there were some guys rocking legit, horseshoe, Dr. Phil patterns (all of them were white, as expected).

Most of the white guys who had simple, Norwood 3 receding hairlines just kept their hair short and looked fine.

The men with more advanced balding, NW 4 and beyond, tended to shave their heads with few exceptions. I found lots of slick-bald men, too; it was quite surprising!

I knew some of the guys who started going bald very young, in their early 20s. And, it seemed that the vast majority of those fellows were full-on members of the bald community. The earlier hair loss gets you, the worse it affects you, generally speaking. As always, there are lots of exceptions to that rule.

As I said, I found about 33% of my classmates were balding. And that figure lines up with the general, balding stat cited by the ISHRS, or International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons. They state that men have roughly a 30% chance of having hair loss by the age of 30, 40% by the age of 40, up to a 90% chance at the age of 90.

2. Asians Don’t Go Bald Young

This isn’t always the case, obviously. But I went to high school in Washington state with many Asians.

And, I couldn’t find a single Asian, former classmate of mine who was balding. In fact, the overwhelming majority of them had Norwood 1, basically straight-across, Ross from Friends hairlines.

I’ve seen bald, young Asians before, granted. But it’s a relatively rare phenomenon, for young Asian men to go full Prince William before they enter their middle ages. Asians often do go bald, just usually a bit later and to a lesser extent than whites.

3. Norwood 2 was the Most Common Pattern Overall

Granted, some guys probably weren’t quite full Norwood 2’s. But I found the vast majority of men had experienced some recession, but they probably didn’t yet qualify as “balding.” In other words, they had mature hairlines.

Mad Men actor Jon Hamm has a classic mature hairline, with slight recession at the front and at his hairline corners.

4. Norwood 1 is Still a Common Pattern among 32-year-olds

This was surprising to me. A significant number of my classmates hadn’t receded at all. Overall, more guys had mature hairlines than juvenile hairlines, but many (approximately 25%) had no recession whatsoever. I’ve researched the hairline maturation process extensively, and most of the analyses I’ve reviewed stated that the transition typically occurs in men before the age of 30. Obviously there are many, many exceptions to that rule.

5. The Balding Guys Said No to Comb Overs!

In past decades, the comb over was a legitimate style option for balding men. In the morning, they’d swoop their strong, side hair over the bare, mid section of their scalps and hope for the best!

This is never a good idea!

Facebook Stalking & 30-Something Hair Loss – Conclusion

Time marches on. The older you get, the more common hair loss will become.

Nobody was actually balding while still in high school that I can recall. But then again, maybe a couple guys were going bald. I can think of a few guys who were rocking sort of weird, thin, comb over styles back in the day. My guess is they had a secret they were hiding.

One dude who used to bully me is bald now, which makes me happy.  I don’t generally wish hair loss on people, but I’m glad he went bald. He was a real pretty boy (and asshole) back in the day, and I’ll bet his hair loss gave him some much needed perspective in life.

If I do a similar round of stalking, I mean, research in 10 years, I’ll sure I’ll find a lot more bald and balding classmates. Eventually, the majority of us will be balding, the women included. Such is life.

Robert Price

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.