Cortisol is a stress hormone, which causes inflammation. When inflammation occurs in the scalp, ‘inflammatory cytokines’ build up in the hair follicles. Certain inflammatory cytokines are extremely destructive to scalp hair follicles. I previously wrote a fairly in-depth article about inflammatory cytokines and hair loss.
Ed has reasonably thick facial hair, which suggests he naturally produces relatively high DHT hormone and his hair follicles contain a lot of androgen receptors. If you have a large number of androgen receptors in your scalp and a reasonable amount of DHT in your bloodstream it can lead to hair loss in some people. Why doesn’t it cause hair loss in everyone? Because some people don’t have the added impact of inflammatory cytokines.
If, like Ed Sheeran, you have prolonged elevated cortisol, which leads to elevated inflammatory cytokines, plus high levels of DHT and androgen receptors in the hair follicles; you can say bye-bye to your hair at a fairly young age.
Sheeran has done well to hold out this long. Personally I believe anxiety is one of the biggest factors in hair loss. If you suffer from anxiety and you have high DHT levels your hair doesn’t stand a chance. Another celebrity example of this is the singer Gareth Gates who had a tremendously bad stutter, which is a symptom of severe underlying anxiety. He went on to rapidly lose his hair at a very young age.
You can certainly see the difference when you compare a photo of young Ed Sheeran to a more recent photo. I remember combing my hair forward like this for some time to try to hide my hair loss. I actually think he’d be better brushing his hair backwards using a hard-bristled boar brush. When you brush your hair in one direction with a hard-bristled boar brush it adds a lot of volume to the hair. Ed could try that.
What can Ed do about his hair loss?
If I was Ed, the first thing I would do is hit the gym hard and lose as much body fat as possible while building a load of muscle. This would make much more of a difference to his appearance than sorting his hair out.
At the same time as doing that I’d use the Hair Follicle Neogenesis Growth Factors serum, which contains growth factors that increase hair growth.
Whatever you decide to do Ed, good luck. I’ve enjoyed listening to your music and to be honest I think you might actually look better bald. Maybe you should try shaving your hair off and hitting the gym hard. I think that’s your best bet.
If you’re a celebrity losing your hair, write into me using the comments form below 😉
Are ginger people (redheads) more likely to lose their hair?
Hair loss is primarily determined by genetic and hormonal factors, and having red hair or being a “ginger” (having naturally red hair) does not necessarily make someone more likely to experience hair loss. Hair loss is influenced by a combination of genetic predisposition, hormones, and other factors.
Ginger people are born with less scalp hair follicles per inch than blondes and brunnettes. However, they are not known to be more succeptable to hair loss.
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