Genetic hair loss in men in the number one cause of male pattern baldness. This type of baldness can affect men as young as eighteen or twenty years of age and will continue until the age of forty-five. In this time, you may experience bald patches, crown baldness, or overall baldness. While there are treatments available, knowing more about the cause of male pattern baldness will help you be able to determine which treatment to seek. This type of baldness occurs when hair follicles are instructed to stop the grown of hair. While the loss of hair is normal, the hair follicle will usually continue to grow. But when a man is going bald, the hair follicle ceases from producing new hair. So when a strand falls out, a new one does not begin to grow.

Male pattern baldness can include a receding hairline, balding on the top if the head and near the neck and ears. Most men will never go completely bald and will often times shave their head in order to hide the bald patches. If baldness is strong on both sides of the family, chances are other males in the family will go bald at some point. This will just depend on their genetic makeup. Some men will never experience male pattern baldness. But for those that do, there are alternatives to living with bald patches. Topical treatments, pills, and surgery are ways to eliminate bald patches by growing hair or covering the areas with existing hair.