Hang on to your hair, guys: a test to predict baldness is on the way

MANY young men still boasting a full head of hair may not want to know if they are about to lose it.

But scientists may in future be able to test for baldness, after discovering 287 genetic differences in men who lose their hair.

Half of British men can expect to lose their hair by their 50th birthday, with male pattern baldness the most common cause.

But the findings could also provide hope for a drug to prevent it.

Men like Prince William, who lose their hair at around the same time as their fathers did, may be unsurprised to learn that 80 per cent of male pattern baldness is passed through our genes.

However, mothers are actually to blame since most of the genetic signals come from the X chromosome down the female line.

The study, published in the journal PLOS Genetics, looked at more than 52,000 men through the UK Biobank. It is the most comprehensive of its kind into the subject.

Fail-safe predictions are still some way off, but the results should help to identify subgroups of the population for which the risk of hair loss is much higher. The study’s principal investigator, Dr Riccardo Marioni, from the University of Edinburgh, said: ‘We are still a long way from making an accurate prediction but these results take us one step closer. The findings pave the way for an improved understanding of the genetic causes of hair loss.’

Male pattern baldness usually strikes in someone’s late twenties or thirties, generally starting with a receding hairline, followed by thinning on the crown and temples. While sufferers do not normally go completely bald, they are often left with a horseshoe shape around the back and side of the head.

Such baldness is thought to be caused by oversensitive hair follicles, linked to having too much of a certain male hormone.

The genetic regions linked to baldness in men also link to hair growth in dogs, which could be significant in terms of drug development or related conditions.