Myth: Male pattern baldness is inherited from your mother's side of the family Fact: The gene for male pattern baldness can come from your mother's or your father's gene pool; therefore, baldness can be inherited from either side of the family ----------------------------- Myth: Losing an average of a hundred hairs per day is nothing to worry about because it's normal. Fact: If you don't have male pattern baldness, that's true, because the hairs that fall out will soon be replaced by new hairs sprouting from the hair follicles underneath the skin. If you do have male pattern baldness, however, even losing the "normal" hundred hairs a day can be a concern because many of those hairs are being shed by follicles that are in the process of dying, and therefore the new hairs those follicles make will be progressively thinner until the follicles are only capable of making fine, "peach fuzz" hairs. Eventually those follicles will die and no longer product any hairs at all. ----------------------------- Myth: You can increase the number of hair follicles by drugs, natural or chemical treatments, massage, diet, or other means. Fact: No. the number and diameter of your hair follicles is completely out of your control - it's hereditary. Nothing you do will alter how many hair follicles you have. But you can use preventive and treatment measures to combat the follicle-killing effects of DHT, the androgen created when the hormone testosterone is acted upon by the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase. ----------------------------- Myth: Cutting your hair can make it grow back faster and thicker. Fact: No. Hair grows at an average rate of half and inch per month. Because each hair shaft is slightly thicker at its base compared to its tip, hair can temporarily appear thicker for about a week after it has been significantly cut. But cutting hair has absolutely no effect on each strand's thickness or on the number of hairs that will sprout follicles. ----------------------------- Myth: If left uncut, my hair will just keep growing and growing. Fact: No. Length depends on your hair's natural cycle, which is unique to you. The longer the hair's growth phase, the longer the hair will grow. If you have a naturally long growth phase, you can grow your hair well below your wait. If you have a naturally shorter growth phase, your hair will be shed before it grows that long and only grow to a certain length. The duration of your particular growth phase is based on hereditary and is affected by nutrition. ----------------------------- Myth: Wearing a hat causes hair loss Fact: As long as you don't regularly wear a hat that's so tight it restricts circulation blood flow to the hair follicles - this will not cause hair loss. It can, however, damage hair because of the effects of seat, dirt and skin particles that can clog pores. ----------------------------- Myth: Blow-drying can cause hair loss Fact: No. But it can dry, burn and damage hair that may then fall out, to be replaced by new hair that will sprout from the follicle beneath the skin during the growth phase.