In the 21st Century We Still Care a Lot

One of the running off-camera jokes in Star Trek was the follically challenged Captain Picard: [bold added]

(Photo from startrek.com)

At a press conference about Star Trek: The Next Generation, a reporter asked Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry about casting Patrick Stewart, commenting that "Surely by the 24th century, they would have found a cure for male pattern baldness." Gene Roddenberry had the perfect response.

"No, by the 24th century, no one will care."

Finding the causes and cure for hair loss has been slow. While a few men embrace the condition by shaving their remaining hair,

most men who suffer from male pattern baldness are extremely unhappy with their situation and would do anything to change it. Hair loss affects every aspect of their life. It affects interpersonal relationships as well as their professional life. It is not uncommon for men to change their career paths because of hair loss.

Minoxidil (brand name: Rogaine) has regrown hair in about 40% of patients. Other sufferers resort to hair transplants and toupees.

Your humble blogger has long suspected that a hirsute maternal grandfather was the reason he is able to retain his hair past middle age. The science confirms:

androgenetic alopecia....affects around 80% of men by the time they are 80 years old (and about 50% of women, though it’s less obvious), and is characterized by thinning at the top of the head and receding at the front. Genes are primarily to blame, says [UCLA professor Carolyn] Goh. The most consistent is found on the X chromosome, “which means it came from your mother’s side,” she says.

But why do I have more hair than my younger brothers? As I was saying, progress has been slow....