Chances are you have heard the name DHT. And if you haven’t the chances are virtually 100% that you have DHT floating around in your system and there is a 90% chance that it may be having an effect on your appearance.

Dihydrotestosterone is a form of testosterone that is one of the primary factors responsible for androgenic alopecia; more commonly known as male pattern baldness in men and female pattern baldness in women. Many experts in the hair regrowth industry simply refer to it as the hair loss hormone. While this description is accurate perhaps a better description would be the hair loss mediating hormone.

The hair cycle includes two major phases: the growth phase and the resting phase. The growth phase last from 4 to 5 years while the resting phase last two to three years. Unbeknownst to most people there is a delicate balance of hair loss and hair replacement going on right on top of their head. Every day about 125 hairs are lost with most being replaced and the cycle continues virtually unnoticed.

The main traffic cop sitting on top of our head is a hair cycle control officer known as 5 alpha reductase type 2 whose sole purpose is to convert testosterone to DHT. Over several hair cycles dihydrotestosterone causes hair to become finer and shorter. This unsavory traffic cop also is obsessed with stopping the traffic on the growth side of the road while letting an unusually large number of cars pass on the resting side, leading to a giant stack up.

In summary, DHT (dihydrotestosterone) is a concentrated form of testosterone that damages hair quality and growth.

Its effects can be seen in men as hair loss usually beginning at the forehead or on the top of the head toward the back. Some men lose only some of their hair and have only a receding hairline or a small bald spot in the back. Others are not so lucky, especially those individuals whose hair loss started at an early age and has been advancing ever since. For these men it is likely they will lose all of the hair on top of the head, but will retain hair on the sides and back of the scalp.

In women, hair loss begins on the top of the head and is usually a thinning of the hair rather than total and complete loss of hair. Women generally don’t experience the dreaded receding hair line.

If you feel you may be one of the 90% affected adversely by DHT there is good and bad news. The bad new is if you have lost a great deal of hair there are no really good answers beside hair transplant surgery. On the other hand if you are one of the lucky ones who have recognized the condition early it can be slowed or even reversed. There are some excellent hair regrowth products designed to reduce or block DHT levels and supply the scalp with nutrition designed to promote healthy hair growth. If you are looking to improve your appearance through slowing or reversing androgenic alopecia this is an option worth considering.