Hair loss, aging process, and metabolism are complex topics, but that makes it all the more interesting to understand their interconnections and their effects on the human body.

Hair loss affects both men and women, and its causes are not fully understood yet. There is a connection between hair loss, aging, and metabolism, evident through various observations. Both men and women tend to experience hair loss with age. Interestingly, castrated individuals and pseudohermaphrodites are immune to hair loss - hence, hair loss must have something to do with hormones. That's why hormonally induced hair loss is also referred to as androgenetic alopecia. The effectiveness of hormone-modulating medications like Finasteride in only about half of the users - and not all - raises further questions.

The mechanisms of the pathogenesis of androgenetic alopecia are not fully understood, leading to limited and varying treatment options. Historically, various remedies have been proposed over the centuries, from wigs and hairpieces to surgical interventions and hormone modifiers, and non-hormonal therapy. Many of these approaches are based on understanding how androgens work in the hair follicle.

But what does this have to do with the aging process? Children and teenagers have special regenerative abilities. Injuries in children heal much faster than in older people. The high energy and metabolism state of youth are likely the main reasons for this - enabling remarkable regeneration. Until around the early teenage years, there is a particularly high energy level. The idea of mirroring the metabolism of a ten-year-old child could possibly lead to similar regenerative abilities in adults - with corresponding effects on hair growth. After all, who has seen hair loss in a 10-year-old (unless there are toxins involved)?

The great researcher Hans Selye pointed out that stressors throughout life not only accelerate the aging process but also damage mechanisms that respond to these stressors. Youth is associated with the remarkable ability to regenerate and resilience to stress due to its better stress management, while adulthood is considered a declining state of imperfect repair and impaired ability to recover from the same stressors.

The hair follicle, as a complex "mini-organ" structure, shows signs of misadaptation and stress in individuals with hereditary hair loss, similar to other aging organs. Therefore, attention should be focused on the interaction between stress, energy, and aging to better understand the pathology of hereditary hair loss.

When we talk about energy, oxygen is often the bottleneck. The fastest athlete is usually decided at the cellular level - who can bring the most oxygen into the cells and produce the most energy.

Because oxygen is the crucial bottleneck for meeting the energy needs through the combustion of blood sugar or fat.

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