Last Updated on September 27, 2017 by Robert Price

I’m a freelance writer by trade, not a construction worker.

But over the years, I’ve been on quite a few job sites and one trend has emerged over and over again: lots of construction workers are bald.

They’re often absurdly bald too, relative to their ages.

Here’s a quick and relevant story for you. So I recently worked as a temp for a roofing company. Both the foreman and assistant foreman were completely bald, a la Prince William or Dr. Phil. One of them was 33, the other was only 28! Every other roofer on the job was bald or balding, too. If you’re interested, I chronicled my roofing adventure and observations about baldness that day in this post.

So, without question, construction workers, roofers, etc. are an usually bald group of people, in my experience.

Why do these building professionals often go so bald, so early? 

It didn’t quite make sense to me, either, until very recently when I started this hair loss site.

As I dug in and started researching hair loss like Tom Hanks researched AIDS in the movie Philadelphia, I learned many interesting and surprising facts about androgenic alopecia, AKA male pattern baldness.

And I believe there are four primary reasons why construction workers, handymen, roofers, and builders of every kind are disproportionately affected by early-onset hair loss. Here’s a quick overview on my findings, with some fun visual enhancements…

Okay, so that was sort of the brief overview of the four, main reasons why there are so many bald construction workers, builders, carpenters, etc. all. Feel free to share the graphic on facebook, twitter, email, your website, at the job-site, or wherever. Next, I’ll provide a more detailed analysis for you….

Why Construction Workers Go Bald Early

1. Construction Workers Like to Smoke

Nearly 30% of US construction workers are smokers, according to a 2011 CDC report (1). That’s the third-highest rate among all industries, just .3 percentage points behind miners and hotel/food-service professionals. The 30% figure is a little on the low-end, in my experience, but I’ll assume it’s accurate for the sake of this article.

And guess what? The science is in, and smoking isn’t good for your hair — or your lungs, or your heart, and the list could go on forever.  But it’s most definitely harmful to your follicular health.

Smoking and Hair Loss Study

A 2007 Taiwanese study involving 740 men found that heavy smoking (a pack or more per day) played a significant role in the development of moderate to severe pattern hair loss (1).

A number of studies have also been conducted on identical twins, who are genetically programmed to have the same number of hairs. And not surprisingly, the twins who enjoyed spending time in flavor country were balder than their non-smoking counterparts.

2. They Also Enjoy Drinking…Perhaps a bit Too Much

This obviously isn’t a blanket statement that applies to ALL construction workers. But research indicates that professionals in the construction industry partake in more heavy drinking than workers in nearly all other fields (2). Surprise, miners are the one exception, once again — but construction workers only lost the drinking contest by a few fractions of a percentage point.

Too much alcohol can be detrimental to your follicular well-being.

Yep, you guessed it: Heavy boozing has been shown to expedite hair loss in people who are genetically susceptible to the condition. A number of studies involving twins have demonstrated that excessive alcohol use can accelerate androgenic alopecia, or pattern baldness (3).

Why Booze is Bad for Your Hair

Heavy drinking can deplete zinc and iron, two minerals that play an important role in the hair growth cycle. It can also cause dehydration and potentially make your hair dryer, weaker, and thinner over time.

3. They’re Under a lot of Stress

Builders of all varieties deal with endless amounts of stress and general BS on a daily basis. A few common issues they face include tight project deadlines, uncertain work schedules, and ridiculously early start times. They also deal with considerably more pain than your average, cubicle-dwelling, Whole Foods-shopping suburbanite, which could exacerbate their general feelings of anxiety.

A 2012 study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that the construction industry has “one of the highest rates of work-related injuries and suicides, and also has a high prevalence of musculoskeletal pain among its workers” (4).

I can’t tell if he’s about to throw his blueprint or if he’s celebrating…

Pain can naturally lead to stress, among other psychological issues. Stress causes a type of hair loss known as telogen effluvium, a temporary condition that leads to shedding throughout the scalp. Some (not all) experts also believe that stress can accelerate the balding process, though there is no concrete scientific evidence to back that assertion at this point.

4. They Live Hard

Combining smoking with heavy drinking, extreme stress, and pain is a recipe for hair fall, by my estimation.

Doris Day, MD, a dermatologist in New York City, agrees with my assessment. She notes that combining the three harmful activities can create a perfect storm of sorts that ultimately damages the hair (5).

Now, I don’t want to make it seem like I’m being prejudiced against construction workers, or carpenters, or handymen, or roofers, or contractors of any kind! I have a lot of respect for the professionals in all of these fields, and I enjoy being around them.

I find people in all of the aforementioned skilled trades have great senses of humor, and moreover, as a group, I find them to be considerably more intelligent than the average moron.

But, from what I’ve seen, many of them lead fairly unhealthy lifestyles. And a ridiculous number of them seem to go bald, way earlier than they probably should.

Is there a correlation between hard living and early baldness? Yes, generally speaking, I believe there is. The vast majority of men go bald to some degree — about 80% of us, as a matter of fact. Going to extremes, in your personal life, probably will make your hair fall out a little (or maybe a lot) faster than it would otherwise.

Other Possible Reasons Construction Workers Go Bald Early

Diet

Diet may also play a role in exacerbating the balding process, to some degree. I’m not sure that construction workers eat better or worse than professionals in other industries. But any vitamin deficiency can potentially lead to hair loss (6), so it’s certainly possible that diet is a factor in the early-baldness equation.

Sun Exposure

Sun exposure was also found to promote hair loss in one of the studies done on twins. Construction workers are outside a lot…

I’m skeptical of the hair loss-sun link, but I suppose it’s possible that increased sun exposure is playing a role in this baldness “epidemic.”

The Silver Lining & Closing Thoughts

Pattern hair loss is a fundamentally genetic disorder. But, in my extensive research, I’ve found that outside factors such as heavy drinking, smoking, and extreme stress can play a role in accelerating the process.

The silver lining here is that if you, or the burly builder-man in your life, can quit or at least cut back on your unhealthy habits, then your hair loss could also slow down, perhaps dramatically. It could even stop your hair loss entirely, if you’re experiencing a case of telogen effluvium, the stress-related, temporary variety of hair loss I mentioned earlier. So if you were looking for good news, there it is!

I’m not sure if anyone has ever made the hair loss-construction connection before…

And honestly, I only made the connection in my own mind recently, out on that roofing job I mentioned at the beginning of the article.

Now, I’m sure some of you may be wondering: Why aren’t there more bald rock stars?

And I don’t know the answer to that question! But my guess is that it comes down to genetics, Propecia, wigs, hair loss doctors, and hair transplants! I may write an article on that subject, but that’s an a story for another day.

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.