If you’re concerned about male hair loss, you have three options. You can embrace it, hide it or treat it.

Embracing Male Hair Loss

I wonder who was the first bald guy< Did Noah have hair? Or is male hair loss strictly a postdiluvian occurrence? Whatever the case, we do know there have been bald guys around for millennia. Look at all those Roman statues—most of those guys were bald.

Not everybody thinks male hair loss is a tragedy. Some of the sexiest men around today are bald. Think Sean Connery, Bruce Willis, Lou Gossett, Jr. or Patrick Stewart. What about Lex Luther and Professor X?

One of the things you can do about male hair loss is to shave what little hair you have left and go for the chrome dome look. It’s really quite sexy.

Hiding Male Hair Loss

I’m not being judgmental, and I sure don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings, but this is the least attractive possible option for dealing with male hair loss. Bald is sexy; comb-overs are not.

I suppose you could make a case that hiding male hair loss is associated with power. Look at the awful toupees some of the news anchors wear. They are pretty powerful men. Both Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte wore comb-overs. I guess some guys would rather be powerful than sexy.

Treating Male Hair Loss

Some men like their hair and don’t want to lose it. They choose to treat male hair loss.

90% of men who experience hair loss have androgenic alopecia, or male pattern baldness. It’s caused by a build up of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) around the hair follicles, which kills the follicle and causes hair to fall out.

DHT is a byproduct of testosterone (which gives credence to the bald guys are sexy theory), but some men have a genetic resistance to the effects of DHT on their hair. Those guys don’t go bald. The mother passes on the gene for DHT resistance, so if your mom’s father is bald, you could go bald, too.

Treatments for male hair loss work either to enhance hair growth, or to block DHT.

Minoxidil (Rogaine® is an over-the-counter treatment for hair loss in either men or women. It works by encouraging hair growth. You might still lose as much hair as ever, but you should (you hope) grow it back faster.

Propecia is a prescription treatment only for male hair loss. It works by blocking DHT. Avodart, a medication used to treat benign prostatic hypertrophy, also blocks DHT, and some doctors prescribe it to treat male hair loss.

Saw palmetto is an herbal treatment that is also thought to block DHT. It can be purchased at many drug or natural food stores.

Whatever medication you take, if you stop taking it, your hair will fall out again. For a more permanent solution, you can have a surgical hair transplant, where your own naturally growing hair is transplanted from one part of your body to your head.

Whether you choose to embrace it, hide it or treat it, you can do something about male hair loss. You just have to decide if you want to be sexy, powerful or beautiful.

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