Bald guys make better football players

OK, I admit, it's not strictly scientific, but after Troy Polamalu was stopped by his hair (again) last month I think the conclusion is obvious - bald guys make better football players. USA Today has the full story here but if Bill Cowher's reading this...I'm free most Sundays, just give me a call.

Hair, uh, what is it good for?

In one of those moments you can only really have in the bath, I suddenly wondered the other day why we have hair (which made a change from my usual worrying about why I don't). A quick search on Google provided the following answer:

"At one time, it was believed that body and scalp hair is a useless evolutionary leftover from our primate past. At most, it was believed, hair may have some peripheral functions such as insulating our bodies from extremes of temperature. As our understanding of the human body increased-especially by applications of molecular biology that sees body functions in fine detail-we learned that the hair follicle plays a role in many processes involving the skin. We learned that the hair follicle is a source of stem cells that can be active in wound repair as well as in hair growth and regrowth. We learned that hair follicles can be a source of some types of skin tumors, and may be implicated in diseases of uncertain cause such as alopecia areata. And, of course, we learned how hair follicle function is intimately associated with whole-body systems such as genetic control of androgenic hormone production, thyroid gland responses to internal and external environments, and nutritional status. Hair follicle function is highly integrated with molecular signals to and from these whole-body systems."

Wow! Apparently hair is pretty useful...I'm starting to wish I hadn't asked.

Going bald and feeling ugly

I know a lot of us feel less attractive when we start losing our hair but I was wondering the other day exactly why that is. I mean, I know we're culturally conditioned to think of hair loss as a negative thing but where did that come from in the first place? Is it an unwelcome reminder of our mortality we'd rather do without? Is it something in our genes from the dawn of human civilization which equates lack of hair with something to be afraid of? Answers on a postcard to the forum!

Top 10 Hair Loss Myths

Well, it took me a while to put it together but I've added a new article called "Top 10 Hair Loss Myths" which can be found here. If anyone has any more myths which they think should be added just let me know (post something to the forums, perhaps). I think the next thing I might put together is something about hair transplants, maybe "10 Things You Should Know About Hair Transplants"?

Welcome to the Hair Loss Heaven blog!

I've been working hard over the past few weeks getting the Hair Loss Heaven website in order but I also thought it might be nice to start a blog as a less formal way of keeping everyone up to date with what's going on. I'll update the blog as often as possible and try to share my thoughts on how the site is growing. See you in the forums!