For many men, the gloomiest element of reaching middle age is not an expanding waistline, a lack of athletic ability or the fact that you suddenly know so many people who never heard 80s music. It is a thinning hairline.
It is something that can catch up with anyone and that includes documentary maker Louis Theroux, who has been detailing his recent struggles with alopecia.
Sharing his experience via his Instagram account, the 53-year-old said: “Alopecia update (try to remain calm!): new bald patches are appearing in my “top hair” (the hair on top of my head).”
However, he appeared to be taking it all in good humour, commenting that it was not all bad news: “BUT I can now grow a weird straggly and rather sparse white beard,” he remarked.
More positively, Theroux said there were some “tiny patches of regrow on my eyebrow”. One might ask what caused that. He said: “FWIW I’ve been taking vitamin D, iron, and something called biotin. Is it helping? Who knows?”
Many men seeking hair loss treatment may have gone through all these same stages: the initial disappointment and despair, the attempt to find a silver lining in terms of personal appearance options, and then the search for some kind of solution.
The treatments Mr Theroux has been using are all worth considering. Vitamin D, or more specifically D3, can be a factor because it has been established by trichologists that a mutation in vitamin D receptors can lead to resistance to vitamin D and therefore a deficiency in the vitamin itself.
Since Vitamin D3 is important in the formation of hair follicles, its lack is a clear factor in hair loss. Therefore, vitamin D supplements may at least go some way to slowing this process.
Iron deficiency is also widely agreed to have a similar effect, by damaging hair follicles. This can be remedied by taking iron tablets, as well as foods that are rich in iron such as nuts and red meat. A blood test can establish if you have an iron deficiency. If you haven’t, taking more iron won’t make any difference.
Biotin is a very important B vitamin that is found in many types of food, although it is available in pill form for those using it medicinally. Deficiency is naturally rare, although it can arise from eating a lot of egg whites. Its significance lies in the fact that it aids the production of keratin, the substance our hair and nails are made of.
According to Medical News Today, biotin can certainly help with hair health and a biotin deficiency can be associated with hair loss. However, it adds, as yet no research has shown it is effective in those who do not have a biotin deficiency.
Since Louis Theroux has not disclosed whether he has deficiencies for all or some of these substances, it is not clear how effective they might be even from an expert’s perspective, let alone his own stated uncertainty.
For many men, a hair transplant can ultimately prove the most effective solution to hair loss when all else fails. Whether Louis Theroux will go down this road, or simply take solace in a “weird straggly and rather sparse white beard” remains to be seen.