“Does Having Long Hair Make Men Go Bald? The Rock Star Hair Loss Myth”

Reader question:
I'm a 29-year-old guy and I've had long hair since my teens. I'm into rock and metal music, so I've always worn it well past my shoulders. Recently I've started noticing loads of hair in the shower and in my brush, and my temples don't seem as thick as they used to be.

It got me thinking about how many male rock stars had huge heads of long hair when they were younger but ended up with thinning hair or baldness later in life. Does having long hair put extra strain on the follicles and make men go bald faster? Would cutting it short actually help?

Hair Loss Review Centre answers:

No. Simply having long hair does not make a man go bald.

Growing your hair to your shoulders, halfway down your back or even longer doesn't change the biological process responsible for male pattern hair loss.

What long hair can do, however, is make normal shedding look considerably more dramatic. And certain ways of wearing long hair can potentially cause other forms of hair loss.

So, before reluctantly booking yourself in for a buzz cut, let's separate the myths from what can actually happen.

Why does long hair look like it's shedding so much?

This is largely an optical illusion.

Imagine finding 20 hairs that are 2cm long in the shower. You might barely notice them.

Now imagine those same 20 hairs are 50cm long. Suddenly you've got what looks like an enormous clump wrapped around your fingers or blocking the plughole.

The number of hairs can be identical. The volume of hair you're looking at isn't.

Long hair also tends to become tangled in brushes, combs, clothing and bedding, meaning shed hairs can accumulate before you eventually find them.

So if you've recently grown your hair considerably longer, don't automatically assume that seeing more hair means you're actually shedding more follicles.

But can the weight of long hair pull it out?

For most men, no.

A healthy hair follicle is perfectly capable of supporting a long strand of hair. The additional weight of naturally growing hair isn't normally enough to cause the follicle to stop producing hair.

If long hair itself caused baldness, we'd expect men and women who grow their hair long to routinely develop permanent hair loss simply because of its length.

That isn't what happens.

There is, however, an important exception.

Tight hairstyles can cause hair loss

If you have long hair and regularly pull it into a very tight ponytail, bun, braids or another high-tension style, you can repeatedly place stress on the follicles.

Over time, this can contribute to traction alopecia.

The important word here is traction. It's the repeated pulling force rather than the length of the hair itself that's the problem.

Men with long hair should therefore avoid constantly tying it back extremely tightly, particularly if they're beginning to notice breakage or thinning around areas that receive the most tension.

A relaxed ponytail is very different from wrenching your hair backwards every morning until your forehead feels two sizes bigger.

What about headbanging?

Here's where the rock and metal question gets more interesting.

There isn't good evidence that headbanging causes male pattern baldness.

Your follicles aren't going to suddenly become sensitive to DHT because you've spent Saturday night throwing your hair around to Metallica.

However, very vigorous handling of long hair can contribute to tangling and breakage, particularly if the hair is already dry, bleached or damaged.

And that's an important distinction.

Hair breakage isn't the same as going bald

When a hair breaks somewhere along its shaft, the follicle can still be perfectly healthy underneath.

Male pattern hair loss happens at the follicle.

In genetically susceptible men, androgen hormones, particularly dihydrotestosterone (DHT), contribute to progressive follicle miniaturisation. Over successive growth cycles, affected hairs become finer and shorter.

Eventually, they provide less and less scalp coverage.

Whether the surviving strand is cut to 5mm or allowed to grow to 50cm doesn't change that underlying process.

So why do so many male rock stars eventually cut their long hair?

Probably for many of the same reasons millions of other men do.

They get older.

Rock and metal just give us a particularly visible example because we're used to seeing photographs and videos of musicians spanning several decades.

A male guitarist might become famous at 22 with an enormous mane of hair. We then see the same person at 35, 45, 55 and 65.

Some retain fantastic hair. Others don't.

That's not evidence that the long hair caused their thinning. Male pattern hair loss is extremely common, and rock musicians aren't biologically exempt from genetics and ageing.

There can also be a cosmetic reason for cutting it.

Long hair can look fantastic when it's dense. Once significant thinning develops, however, keeping the hair very long can sometimes emphasise the loss of density. Shorter styles can make thinning hair easier to manage and, in some cases, make it appear fuller.

The haircut didn't cure the hair loss. It simply changed how visible it was.

My temples are thinning. Is my long hair responsible?

If you're a man noticing progressive recession at the temples, particularly alongside a family history of baldness, male pattern hair loss is a much more likely explanation than the fact you've grown your hair long.

Look at the pattern rather than the length.

Are your temples gradually moving backwards?

Is the frontal hairline becoming less dense?

Are the hairs around the temples becoming finer and shorter?

Is your crown beginning to look thinner?

Those changes are more suggestive of pattern hair loss than simply finding long strands in your shower.

Would cutting my hair short stop me going bald?

No.

Cutting your hair doesn't alter the follicle beneath the scalp, change your genetics or prevent DHT-related follicle miniaturisation.

It can certainly make your hair easier to manage. It can reduce tangling and breakage. And a good shorter haircut can sometimes make thinning hair look considerably better.

But cutting long hair short doesn't stop male pattern baldness.

Likewise, shaving your head doesn't make the hair grow back thicker. The newly cut hairs can initially look thicker because you're seeing the wider, blunt end of the hair shaft, but you haven't created new follicles.

Should I keep my hair long if I'm starting to thin?

If you like having long hair, there's no reason to cut it purely because you're frightened that the length will make you bald.

Instead:

• Avoid constantly wearing very tight ponytails or buns.

• Be gentle when detangling wet hair.

• Don't aggressively brush through knots.

• Be sensible with bleaching, straightening and excessive heat.

• Take photographs of your hairline, temples and crown every few months.

• Pay attention to changes in density and pattern, rather than the apparent size of a clump of long shed hairs.

And if you're seeing genuine progressive recession or thinning, deal with the hair loss itself rather than blaming your hairstyle.

Conclusion

Having long hair does not cause male pattern baldness.

Long strands can make everyday shedding look far worse than it really is, and tight hairstyles can potentially cause traction-related hair loss. Excessive styling and rough handling can also cause breakage.

But that's very different from androgenetic alopecia.

So the ageing rock star who once had waist-length hair and now has a receding hairline probably didn't go bald because he grew his hair long.

He's subject to the same genetics, hormones and ageing process as the rest of us.

If you're a man with long hair and your temples or crown are genuinely getting thinner, don't blame the ponytail.

Look at what's happening at the follicle.

This article is for general information only and isn't intended to diagnose or treat a medical condition. If you're experiencing persistent, sudden or unexplained hair loss, seek advice from an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.