Simply put...
You inherit a gene from your mother which codes for an enzyme which coverts testosterone (T) into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Some versions of his gene code for a slightly altered version of the enzyme, in turn producing an isoformic DHT which behaves like the other (normal) version of DHT at every receptor: same mildly anabolic action; same stimulation of sweat and oil glands in the skin; same "hardening" of skeletal muscle tissue; same secondary sexual characeristics (broadened shoulders, body hair, beard, Adam's apple, deep voice etc etc)... EXCEPT when it comes to its interaction with the hair follicles on the top of the head (forehead to crown).
Isoformic DHT causes an induced auto-immune reaction in these head hairs... the hairs spend less time in their anagen phase (growing), less time in their catagen phase (converting to an unsupported club air), and increasingly more time in their telogen phase (a refractory rest period before renewed hair growth).
These shortened anagen and catagen phases produce shorter, thinner, blonder and wispier hairs (short anagen phase) which don't grow for very long and then don't properly root in the scalp (weak catagen phase), and then the hair follicle "sleeps" for an increasingly extended period.
After a few successive cycles under auto-immune rejection conditions the hairs only grow fuzz for short periods then are effectively permanently dormant.
There are other factors and processes involved (stress, toxicity, alopecia etc) but this is the predominant cause of male pattern balding.
If your mothers brothers are bald, or your maternal grandmothers brothers are bald, you'll probably go bald too... it doesn't matter if yor dad is bald or if your uncles on your dads side are bald.
What you can do, (short of a hair transplant) is take a drug named finasteride (prescription needed in Europe but over-the-counter in the US), which blocks the enzyme creating DHT.
The tiny testosterone boost is offset by aromatase enzymes taking up the slack (the extra test converts to estrogen).
One or two milligrams of finasteride (brand name Propecia) per day will drop DHT levels significantly without any real side-effects. Five milligram tablets (sold as the benign-prostate-hyperplasia drug Proscar) is enough to all but eliminate DHT completely... which in turn slows the bading process to a crawl (but it might make you slightly less horny).
Here in Ireland a 28-day pack of 1mg Propecia tablets (28 mg finasteride total) runs approx 75 euro... whereas a 28-day pac of 5mg Proscar tablets (140 mg finasteride total) runs only 48 euro.
...and the prostate drug (if you can get a prescription) is often covered by health insurance unlike the expensive "cosmetic" hair retention packaging of the same drug. Literally eight times the price.
So don't get ripped off... do your own research.
Also, keep finasteride tablets and the powder from the tablets (if you are cutting 5 mg tablets) well away from any woman of child-bearing years... a tiny amount of finasteride could effectively de-masculinate a male foetus... DHT is pivotal in sexual differentiation.
The Luke
