Common folk wisdom says that baldness comes from the mother's side of the family. But it's not that simple. “The genes for hair loss are actually inherited from both sides of the family, not just your mother or your father,” Adam Mamelak, MD, a dermatologist in Austin, Texas tells WebMD Connect to Care.
The X or female chromosome carries the primary baldness gene, and men inherit this X chromosome from their mothers. This makes the hereditary factor around baldness most dominant on your mother's side.
Men inherit the baldness gene from the X chromosome that they get from their mother. Female baldness is genetically inherited from either the mother's or father's side of the family. Baldness may be influenced by a number of other factors as well, including age, health, diet, hormones, seasonal changes and climate.
One popular myth is that hair loss in men is passed down from the mother's side of the family while hair loss in women is passed down from the father's side; however, the truth is that the genes for hair loss and hair loss itself are actually passed down from both sides of the family.
If your father went bald, there's a good chance that you have the autosomal chromosome genes for it, but this has no impact on your chromosomal genes. (You can find out with a bit more certainty, for two of the genes on chromosomes X and 20, by taking a genetic test.)
All men inherit a Y chromosome from their father, which means all traits that are only found on the Y chromosome come from dad, not mom. The Supporting Evidence: Y-linked traits follow a clear paternal lineage.
And while it is true that you get half of your genes from each parent, the genes from your father are more dominant, especially when it comes to your health.
We inherit a set of 23 chromosomes from our mothers and another set of 23 from our fathers. One of those pairs are the chromosomes that determine the biological sex of a child – girls have an XX pair and boys have an XY pair, with very rare exceptions in certain disorders.
Boys, on the other hand, only receive a Y chromosome from their father and an X chromosome from their mother. That means all of your son's X-linked genes and traits will come straight from mom.
Unlike nuclear DNA, which comes from both parents, mitochondrial DNA comes only from the mother.
There's an old theory that says first-born babies were genetically predispositioned to look more like their father. It was believed this was so the father accepted the child was his and would provide and care for them.
It's all about Dad's genes
A man's X and a woman's X combine to become a girl, and a man's Y combines with a woman's X to become a boy. But if the sperm don't have equal Xs and Ys, or if other genetic factors are at play, it can affect the sex ratio.
Physical features such as hair color, hair texture, hairline, skin, and varicose veins are inherited from your mother.
Researchers have previously shown that a person's IQ is highly influenced by genetic factors, and have even identified certain genes that play a role. They've also shown that performance in school has genetic factors. But it's been unclear whether the same genes that influence IQ also influence grades and test scores.
Some studies have even found that newborns tend to resemble their mothers more than their fathers. In a 1999 study published in Evolution & Human Behavior, French and Serge Brédart of the University of Liège in Belgium set out to replicate the paternal-resemblance finding and were unable to do so.
In natural environments, where both the mother and father are contributing the right stuff, offspring come out at optimal sizes. In the past, other scientists have suggested that dad's genes are more robust because men need their children to look like them in order to believe they're really the baby's father.
Good gene indicators are hypothesized to include masculinity, physical attractiveness, muscularity, symmetry, intelligence, and “confrontativeness” (Gangestad, Garver-Apgar, and Simpson, 2007).
At what age do people typically start to lose their hair? Hair loss can start as early as your teenage years or might not occur until you're well past retirement. Generally, people begin noticing signs of hair loss in their 30s and 40s. More significant hair loss often happens when people reach their 60s and beyond.
You'll notice the signs of a receding hairline if your hair begins to thin at the temples, creating a more prominent widow's peak and a hairline that resembles the letter M or a horseshoe. Or your hairline might seem to recede or thin all the way across (Murphrey, 2021).
On average it takes 15-25 years for men to go completely bald. This process can begin at any age. About two thirds of men are either bald or have a balding pattern by the age of 60. In a nutshell, there is no particular age when you can expect to see hair loss.
Those people who have long hair and wonder, “Does having long hair make you bald?” will be pleased to know that simply, long hair does not cause balding. Balding, also known as androgenetic and pattern hair loss, is a hereditary condition. Pattern hair loss is biological.
About 70% of men will lose hair as they get older. And 25% of bald men see first signs of hair loss before age 21. “Recent advances offer a lot of hope in both treating and preventing different types of baldness,” says dermatologist Amy Kassouf, MD.
It is an established fact that the most common cause of hair loss in men, male pattern baldness, is an inherited condition. However, it may be surprising to hear but just because a father has male pattern baldness, it doesn't necessarily follow that their son definitely will, too.
Some characteristics that are passed down from parent to child in humans include: Eye colour. Hair colour and texture. Skin tone.