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http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussi...ic.php?t=13962

New Hypothesis about Common Baldness
AJ Soler
Elda - Alicante, Spain

"Common baldness or Alopecia affects a high number of people. The etiology and pattern of hair loss has not been completely xplained, probably because hair is one of the most dynamic mammalian structures. The hair follicle can both renew itself through an intrisic stem cell population and has the ability to cycle asynchronously (It can grow and rest independent of other follicles).

Sebum is vital for hair growth, and it is created and eliminated continuously due to its high instability. In this hypothesis, the existence of a sebum flow outward and another one inward towards the hair follicle, is proposed. If there are problems of elimination in its way outward, this causes problems in the inward flow. Therefore the detention of sebum flow towards the inside of the hair follicle is proposed as the initial and triggering factor of common baldness.
This hypothesis provides a simple explanation of the characteristic pattern of hair loss and why Alopecia affected areas do not appear at the sides and back of the head. These are the areas we rest daily on absorbent surfaces such as the pillow, where sebum can be drained driectly, avoiding in this way its possible detention. The hair located in the "sensitive" areas has to eliminate sebum by carrying it longitudinally along the hair shaft, or in a transversal way by contact with neighbouring hair.

On the other hand, it seems that the follicular papilla is a result of migration of transient amplifying cells from the bulge region to the hair germ during anagen induction.

It is then logical to think that the route of such cells is the same that sebum must cover. If sebum stops, then its physical, chemical and biological properties change and may cause an alteration or decrease of the cells that reach their aim, which can explain the miniaturization process that is observed in common baldness.

From that point the rest of alterations in other involved systems, such as the hormonal, immune, circulatory, fibrosis processes, etc. can be explained.

Baldness is a degenerative process that affects each hair individually, easily reversible at the initial stages, and more difficult to reverse as time goes by."