As our prehistoric ancestors moved north, they lost their skin pigmentation to compensate for the diminishing UVB levels that they found at higher latitude. Baldness would have become an advantage due to the greater capacity to synthesise vitamin D in the skin of the bald pate.
One theory that suggests baldness evolved in males through sexual selection as an enhanced signal of aging and social maturity. The study found that men with facial hair and those with bald or receding hair were rated by other men and women as being older than those who were clean-shaven or had a full head of hair.
Is Balding Part of Evolution? While there is no proof that it is part of the evolutionary process, evolution has not weeded it out. Some scientists argue that baldness may have evolved as a sign of maturity from a later life stage associated with wisdom… just as the emergence of facial hair signals sexual maturity.
Ryan explains that there are genetic markers for male-pattern baldness that are found in Europeans, but not in Asians or Africans, which means that these genes originated after humans migrated to Europe some 40,000 years ago.
Male pattern baldness is related to your genes and male sex hormones. It usually follows a pattern of receding hairline and hair thinning on the crown. Each strand of hair sits in a tiny hole (cavity) in the skin called a follicle.
What's more, in 2008, a study suggested that because it increases the area of skin exposed to sunlight, male pattern baldness may have evolved to increase the production of vitamin D. This vitamin protects against prostate cancer, which interferes with reproduction and can lead to premature death.
In general, however, the highest rates of male pattern baldness are found among Caucasian men. The second highest rates belong to Afro-Caribbeans. Native Americans, on the other hand, do not struggle much with male pattern baldness. As mentioned, pattern baldness is genetic, that is, hereditary.
Men all have roughly the same amount of testosterone. Certain genes make your hair follicles more or less sensitive to the amount of testosterone in your body. Basically, an enzyme converts testosterone into a substance that shrinks hair follicles.
A well-polished bald male head was often used by tribes of cavemen to blind predators. As a result every cavemen hunting group of 8 had one bald member, and thus thousands of years later 1 in 8 men experience early on set of baldness.
The group was followed for 16 years. The authors concluded: “We found no correlation between the mortality and the extent of graying of the hair or baldness or facial wrinkles in either of the sexes, irrespective of age.
And a rising number of millennials in the USA say they're also experiencing hair loss. Is baldness more common today? The answer to this frequently asked question is yes.
Although it is a widely accepted opinion that common baldness is an autosomal dominant phenotype in men and an autosomal recessive phenotype in women, or indeed that baldness is genetically influenced, it is based on surprisingly little empirical data.
Men inherit their “X” chromosome from their mother and “Y” from their father. Baldness is strongly associate with the AR gene found on the “X” chromosome. A large study looking at 12,806 men of European ancestry found that people with the gene had more than twice the risk of developing MPB than people without it.
But men's concerns about balding appear to go back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. In the Bible, two bears mauled 42 boys after they mocked the prophet Elisha by calling him "Baldy". Baldness was also said to be an obsession of Julius Caesar, who reputedly tried all manner of things to get his hair back.
Male-pattern baldness is an inherited sensitivity to dihydrotestosterone (DHT, a by-product of testosterone), which leads to finer hair, a receding hairline, and finally a deserted scalp. That's why scientists—who may be thinning up top themselves—have put balding in their crosshairs.
Anthropologists tell us that humans once had a protective coating of hair covering their entire bodies which helped to regulate body temperature and protect skin from the sun.
Male Baldness and Its Discontents
A signifier of wisdom, gravitas (dignity), and severitas (sternness), male pattern baldness was considered an ideal characteristic of an upstanding Roman citizen, and was used to convey venerability on portraits of philosophers.
Men of European descent also go bald 80 percent of the time, while hair loss is less common and occurs later in life for men of African and Asian ancestry. "Basically, some disorders have been associated with baldness on an epidemiological level, including cardiovascular disease and cancer," Heilmann-Heimbach says.
In Ancient Rome it was desirable for men to have a full head of hair. This was a problem for Julius Caesar. Being bald was considered a deformity at the time, so Caesar went to great pains to hiding his thinning hair. And because of it he used to comb his thin locks forward over the crown of his head.
What Percentage Of Guys Have Chest Hair? A study of over 1100 men ages 17 - 71 found that only 6% had no chest hair at all, while 56% displayed a moderate amount of chest hair. 38% of men displayed a light amount of chest hair.
Development and growth
Although vellus hair is already present in the area in childhood, chest hair is the terminal hair that develops as an effect of rising levels of androgens (primarily testosterone and its derivatives) due to puberty. Different from the head hair, it is therefore a secondary sexual characteristic.
As we age, our prolonged exposure to testosterone starts to play a visible role on other body hair as well. Just like it transforms the vellus hair on a young man's face into a thick beard, it also changes the nearly invisible hair that grows in places like our ears into thicker strands.
On the other hand, China is a country where the number of men who go bald is the least. Some other countries like Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Malaysia also have low levels of male pattern baldness.
Certain races have higher rates of hair loss compared to others. Caucasians have the highest rates out of all the ethnic groups. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Native American Indians, Inuits, and Chinese have the lowest rates.
1. Czech Republic. We did say number one would be a surprise. The Czech Republic has as many as a staggering 42.79% of men who deal with baldness.