Quick Test May Help Spot Male Hair Loss

June 2008

A 60-second hair comb and subsequent count of those that are shed appears to be an objective, reliable method of tracking hair loss in men, researchers found.

Among 60 men who had no signs of alopecia, those ages 20 through 40 shed a mean of 10.2 hairs during the count and those ages 41 through 60 lost a mean of 10.3 (P=0.60), Jeffrey Miller, M.D., of Penn State College of Medicine here, and colleagues reported in the June issue of Archives of Dermatology.

To get the hair counts, participants combed their hair forward over a pillowcase for 60 seconds and recorded the number of hairs that fell out.

"The 60-second hair count is a simple, practical, and objective tool for monitoring conditions associated with hair shedding," the researchers said.

There is no standard method for assessing the number of hairs shed daily, according to the researchers.

In addition, the generally accepted normal value for number of hairs lost per day -- about 100 -- has never been verified, they said.

In the study, researchers examined hair loss in 60 healthy men with no signs of male pattern baldness. Half were between the ages of 20 and 40 and the other half between ages 41 and 60.

Each of the men was given identical combs and instructed to wash their hair with the same brand of shampoo for three consecutive mornings. On the fourth, fifth, and sixth mornings, they were asked to comb hair forward over a towel or pillowcase of contrasting color for 60 seconds before shampooing and count the hairs shed.

To evaluate the 60-second hair count in a larger group of participants with a wider age range than in previous studies, Dr. Miller and colleagues recruited 60 white men who had no signs of balding. All participants were classified as Norwood-Hamilton stage I -- very minor or no recession of the hair line.

Half of the participants were ages 20 through 40 (mean 27.8) and the rest ages 41 through 60 (mean 49.4).

The procedure was repeated six months later and verified by the researchers.

Among participants in the younger age group, the number of hairs lost during the count ranged from zero to 78. Among the older age group, it ranged from zero to 43. The difference in range between the groups was not statistically significant (P=0.24).

The range in the older group, however, may better represent the normal range, the researchers said, because older men with no signs of balding are presumably less likely to progress to significant hair loss than their younger counterparts.

Investigator-conducted counts were similar.

In summary, the 60-second hair count is a simple, practical and objective tool for monitoring conditions associated with hair shedding. Low intrapatient variability demonstrates that dependable results over an extended period of time are obtainable. The similarity between investigator and subject hair counts indicates that patients can reliably count hairs," they add.

Based on their observations, the authors of the study conclude: "Studies of the 60-second hair count in normal women and in the setting of hair disease still need to be performed."