Baldness involves the state of lacking hair where it often grows, especially on the head. Baldness is not only a human trait. Baldness has, in recent years, become less of a (supposed) liability due to an increasing fashionable prevalence of very short, or even completely shaven hair among men, at least in western countries.

Baldness that is genetically determined is rare, and often irreversible. Baldness, at least amongst men, is becoming a macho look, and treatments that work or help or prevent are becoming much more abundant. Baldness is defined as an area of the scalp that is no longer covered by hair.

Beards and a full head of hair were seen as being more aggressive and less socially mature, and baldness was associated with more social maturity.

What treatments are there for hair loss in men? For instance, wearing hats does not "choke off" hair roots and promote baldness. Common causes of patchy hair loss are: alopecia areata (patches of baldness that usually grow back), traction alopecia (thinning from tight braids or ponytails), trichotillomania (the habit of twisting or pulling hair out), and tinea capitis (fungal infection).

A common condition, alopecia areata usually starts as a single, quarter-sized circle of perfectly smooth baldness. Common conditions in this category are: telogen effluvium (rapid shedding after childbirth, fever, or sudden weight loss), and androgenetic hair loss (male-pattern baldness).

The amount and patterns of baldness can vary greatly; it ranges from male and female pattern alopecia (androgenic alopecia, also called androgenetic alopecia or alopecia androgenetic), alopecia areata, which involves the loss of some of the hair from the head, and alopecia totalis, which involves the loss of all head hair, to the most extreme form, alopecia universalis, which involves the loss of all hair from the head and the body.

A common myth about male-pattern baldness is that you inherit baldness through your mother's male relatives. Actually, baldness can come from either side of the family, or both.

There are a number of reasons why men start to go bald, but if you are a man between the ages of about 20 to 45 and you start to lose scalp hair, then the chances are 95 per cent certain that you are experiencing male pattern baldness.

The trigger for this type of baldness (called androgenetic alopecia) is DHT, a powerful sex hormone, body, and facial hair growth promoter that can adversely affect the prostate as well as the hair located on the head.

Previously, early baldness of the androgenic type was thought to be sex linked dominant in males and to be sex linked recessive in females.

Of course, aside from all these scientific reasons, baldness could be linked to intellect or wisdom simply because people go bald as they age and become more experienced and less intelligent people tend to die younger.

Baldness can be caused by emotional stress, sexual frustration etc. Emotional stress has been shown to accelerate baldness in genetically susceptible individuals. Thus, stress due to sleep deprivation in fit males is unlikely to elevate DHT, which causes male pattern baldness.

There are many misconceptions about what can help prevent hairless, one of these being that frequent ejaculation may have an influence on MPB. The claim that frequent ejaculations can cause baldness is often viewed with skepticism.