Could BBC ultimately result in MPB anyway?

[Sir Harry]

Sly Brothers and Sisters: I have a question that may sound a little silly, but bizarre: I have a friend whom I used to bowl with, older guy in his 60s, possibly 70 by now. Back in the early 2000s, he started shaving his head although he had a very nice afro. Due to Hurricane Katrina, many of us were forced to relocate near and far. I would see this guy sporadically for the seven years following Katrina. Until yesterday, I last saw him in summer 2009, and he was still sly at the time. When I saw him, he had lost some weight and was wearing a cap, but he grew his hair back. I told him, "I didn't recognize you with hair!" He said. My brothers were going around with dreadlocks and braids, and so I wanted to grow my hair out and try it for myself! He asked me "Why don't you try it?" I told him my hair days were over, my hairline had receded faster than the floodwaters from Isaac. He then took off his cap and he had wisps on the top and his crown was......bald! I said, jokingly "I guess that dreadlocks look you were going for didn't come out like you hoped!" He was not offended, it was just us and he said "I don't know what happened, during the last decade when I shaved my head, my hair would still grow back....and I started shaving around 58 years old!" I said "Well MPB struck me around 26 years old, so at least you had an extended period to enjoy your hair!" I didn't want the conversation to turn ugly, but IMHO, he needs to just go back to sly at this point, but that's not for me to say....Anybody here lost hair AFTER going BBC or know someone who has? Thanks for reading, listening and sharing. Thoughts?

[-Doug-]

I wouldn't think that it causes it. It would make sense that shaving just masks the progression of MPB. If you keep it so short (shaved) that you can't see the change it will be more dramatic of a change when you do grow it out. That's my take on it at least.

[Frontier Guy]

Not answering your question directly, but my MPB didn't actually begin until I was 55, and still (at 57) it's only slightly in evidence around the temples. My stubble is "full coverage" by lunchtime or soon after. Based on family genetics I don't really expect to have notable thinning until mid to late-60s.

However ... once it turned gray that was the time to go Sly.

I'd rather be the "old bald guy" versus the "old gray-haired guy" any day.

[wonderer]

SlySirHarry12 -Sure !Head shaving does not make your hair thicker or stronger-hair is not a lawn grass ,but many ppl believe in that (shaving head =stronger hair) but that's just a myth ,,, anyways if somebody start to lose his hair it has all with the  genetics predisposition and it has nothing with head shaving (but if you shave your head, you will more likely have a better scalp hygiene and that's really good against skin conditions   )and balding can also be a symptom of some autoimmune disease (A.Areata   can be caused by bad tooth or some other nasty process in your body),skin condition like skin fungus,allergies  etc. all of them  can contribute to hair loss ...

[Free at Last]

 Yea My dreadlock days are over too.....
What is left on my head are many gray strands as well

[Andrei]

Nobody reported shaving his beard and noticing some day it was gone.
I don't think that MPB is a direct consequence of shaving.

[Slynito]

I never had an increase in MPB, but the couple times I let my hair grow in it was a heluvalot more grey...couldn't believe it. When I cut it off in '05 it was solid black, I swear!

[BBC56]

shaving definitely didn't cause the baldness; it would have happened anyway.

[slane]

I started buzzing my hair very short when I was 18.  When I tried to grow it out again at age 23, I noticed that the top couldn't match the pace of growth that the sides put out.  After 6 months of not buzzing, I had 3 inches or more on the sides, and <2 inches on the top.  It doesn't matter any more, but I don't think that choosing to keep it super-short for those five years made a whole lot of difference.  

So I'm with the previous posters in that I believe your hair-style doesn't affect growth.  Kinda like that wives' tale where if you shave more often it grows back thicker... that's not true and I should think the same for the reverse.

[Sir Harry]

I think my friend may have had MPB all along and was in denial....but you didn't hear that from me Oh, well it is what it is...I think he needs just to go back to sly......MPB with dreads?....Ummm, no.....just....no.

[Razor X]

I started buzzing my hair very short when I was 18.  When I tried to grow it out again at age 23, I noticed that the top couldn't match the pace of growth that the sides put out.  After 6 months of not buzzing, I had 3 inches or more on the sides, and <2 inches on the top.  It doesn't matter any more, but I don't think that choosing to keep it super-short for those five years made a whole lot of difference.  

That pretty much mirrors my own experience, except I was somewhat older than you and I did not give my hair six months to grow out. I don't think I even lasted a week.  I suspected that I might be able to get some decent coverage, given enough time, but I knew it would be a slow and arduous process and I just couldn't face the prospect of looking really awkward for months while it grew out.

 It was kind of hard to get used to the notion that I could not grow my hair back.  MPB continues its progression even though the head is shaved, but we tend to think that if we stop shaving it will look just like it did before. 

[palmerproject]

Does any other bbcs wishes it did? I know iknow I do cause then I wouldn't have to deal with the shadow. Oh well I did notice that my hairline was starting to recede right before I went back to sly earlier this week. So that shadow will be gone someday.

[Doctor X]

Aside from disease processes that can cause other types of hair loss, MPB is purely genetic (well, not purely; it's genetics interacting with testosterone.)
 
One of my anatomy and phys. profs. once told us that there was a sure cure for stopping MPB if caught early enough, but no one ever opts for castration as a tradeoff!