Androgenetic alopecia, or baldness, is a condition that affects everyone, both genders included. But it manifests differently on each one of them. The causes of androgenetic alopecia are the same, independent of which gender it’s affecting. What does change, however, is how it develops.

Androgenetic alopecia goes by the name male pattern baldness for men and female pattern baldness for women. And accordingly, both develop differently in each gender affected. 

This leads to people commonly asking themselves the reason why men get bald spots and women hardly do. It all comes down to gender and genetics.

Cause of Androgenetic Alopecia

There are many things that can trigger hair loss in a person. However, most of those hair losses are actually “hair shedding,” meaning it is reversible. In the case of androgenetic alopecia, it is truly hair loss since the production of hair can cease completely.

The mechanism that sets off androgenetic alopecia is set in place since the moment of inception via genes. Androgenetic alopecia is a hereditary condition. Genes from one or both of your parents are to blame. As a curious titbit, although mostly associated with men, a study pointed out that more than 55% of the time, the genes came from the mother.

Anyway, these genes make you sensitive to the hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT) when active. DHT is a hormone that comes as a by-product of testosterone, the main male sex hormone. 

Testosterone goes on to become dihydrotestosterone, thanks to an enzyme called alpha 5 reductase. When testosterone roams freely around the body, not bound to any hormonal receptors, it is “free testosterone.” Alpha 5 reductase acts on that free testosterone and converts it into DHT. 

DHT, meanwhile, sets out to attach itself to the hormonal receptors of your hair follicles. This bonding causes a reaction which ends up shrinking the hair follicles. 

When the hair follicles shrink, you will notice since your hair will start thinning with them. The shrinking continues progressively until a point where the hair follicles can no longer grow any hair, effectively causing baldness.

Androgenetic Alopecia in Men: Male Pattern Baldness

In men, androgenetic alopecia receives the name of male pattern baldness, and it manifests in the hairline. 

The male hairline and temples start receding back into the scalp, revealing previously covered parts. In some cases, hair loss can occur further back from the hairline in the form of expanding baldness in the crown area.

Androgenetic Alopecia in Women: Female Pattern Baldness

In the case of women, there is no receding hairline. Instead, the thinning of their hair starts at the crown area where the hair parts. The gradual thinning of the hair is therefore observable at the roots of it. Some women do develop a receding hairline akin to men, but that is rare to see.

In Closing

In summary, the reason why men get bald spots and women hardly do is simply because of how androgenetic alopecia affects every gender. It is important to note that women can get bald spots from conditions like alopecia areata and scalp infections. Those, however, are mostly reversible and do not constitute real, permanent hair loss.