What causes hair loss in young men? 5 reasons (and what helps)

Noticed more hair on your pillow or in the plughole lately? If you’re losing your hair earlier than your mates, it can feel like you’ve been dealt a bad hand. But hair loss in young men is surprisingly common, affecting up to half of all men by the time they reach 50, and for some it starts in their late teens.¹

The most common cause is male pattern baldness, which can start at any age after puberty.¹ It’s far from the only one, though. Stress, tight hairstyles, diet, and certain medical conditions can all cost you hair in your teens and twenties. Here are the five most common causes of hair loss in young men, and what you can do about each one.

Is it normal to lose hair at a young age?

Yes. Everyone sheds around 50 to 100 hairs a day as part of the normal hair growth cycle, and it usually goes unnoticed.² It becomes hair loss when hair falls out faster than it regrows, or when the follicles gradually stop producing it. If that’s happening in your twenties, you’re neither unusual nor out of options. The earlier you work out the cause, the more you can do about it.

1. Male pattern baldness

Male pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia) is by far the most common cause of hair loss in young men. It’s genetic, so if your dad or grandad lost their hair young, there’s a fair chance you’ve inherited the same sensitivity.¹

The culprit is dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a hormone made from testosterone. In men with a genetic sensitivity to DHT, it gradually shrinks the hair follicles, so each new hair grows back shorter, thinner, and lighter than the last.¹ Thinning usually shows first at the temples, the crown, or along the hairline. Left untreated, the follicles keep shrinking until they stop producing hair altogether. Our guide to why men go bald covers the science in more detail.

The upside of catching it young: male pattern baldness responds well to treatment, and starting early protects more of your hair (more on that below).

2. Stress

Between work, rent, and everything else, your twenties can be a stressful decade. Severe or prolonged stress can push a large number of hair follicles into their resting phase at once, a type of hair loss called telogen effluvium.³ A few months after the stressful period, those hairs shed together, which can be alarming.

The reassuring part: telogen effluvium is usually temporary. Once the trigger has passed, the shedding settles and hair typically regrows over around six months.⁴ Regular exercise, decent sleep, and cutting back on caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol all help keep stress (and stress-related shedding) in check.

3. Traction alopecia

Man buns, cornrows, braids, and tight ponytails all pull on the hair follicles. Worn tightly and often, they can exert enough force to damage the follicles and pull the hairline back over time, a form of hair loss called traction alopecia.⁵ Chemical relaxers and harsh styling products can make it worse.

Caught early, it’s reversible. Switch to looser styles and hair usually starts to regrow within a few months, once the follicles recover.⁵ Keep up the tight styles for years, though, and the follicle damage (and the hair loss) can become permanent.

4. Diet and rapid weight loss

Hair is one of the first things your body deprioritises when nutrients run short. Low iron, zinc, or protein can all trigger shedding, and crash diets or sudden weight loss can set off the same temporary hair loss as severe stress.⁶ A balanced diet with enough protein usually gives your hair everything it needs. Supplements only help if you’re actually deficient, so it’s worth checking with a clinician before you start swallowing pills.⁶

5. Medical conditions and medicines

Sometimes hair loss has a medical cause. Alopecia areata (an autoimmune condition that causes patchy hair loss), thyroid problems, scalp infections, and some medicines can all lead to hair loss in young men.²

The pattern is the clue. If your hair is coming out in patches, shedding suddenly, or falling out all over your scalp rather than receding gradually, speak to a clinician before starting any treatment. The right fix depends on the cause.

How to treat hair loss in young men

Male pattern baldness is progressive, so the earlier you act, the more hair you keep. Two hair loss treatments are clinically proven to slow it down and regrow hair, and they work in different ways.

Finasteride

Finasteride is a daily tablet that blocks the conversion of testosterone into DHT, tackling male pattern baldness at its hormonal root. A 2024 network meta-analysis of treatments for male pattern hair loss ranked oral finasteride among the most effective options for increasing hair count, and European treatment guidelines rate the evidence behind it at the highest level.^7,8

Most men who take it either see some improvement or find their hair loss slows down. It doesn't work for everyone, and it works while you're taking it rather than permanently.

Minoxidil

Minoxidil is applied directly to the scalp as a spray or foam, where it encourages the supply of nutrient-rich blood to the follicles and stimulates regrowth in thinning areas such as the crown, temples, and hairline. In trials, topical minoxidil increased hair count compared with a dummy treatment, and it sits alongside finasteride at the highest level of evidence in European treatment guidelines.⁹

The evidence is strongest for the crown. Regrowth at the temples and the frontal hairline is less well established, and the licensed products are indicated for the vertex, so that's where to expect the most.

Using both together

Because they work differently, finasteride and minoxidil are stronger combined. In one randomised trial, 94% of men using both treatments saw their hair improve, compared with 59% using minoxidil alone.¹⁰ If you’d rather not take a daily tablet, minoxidil is available on its own as a spray, or as a foam. For more detail on how the options compare, our guide to the best hair loss treatments for men breaks down the evidence for each.

The numan take

Hair loss in young men is common, and it’s usually treatable. Male pattern baldness is the likeliest cause, and clinically proven treatments like finasteride and minoxidil work best when you start them early. If your hair is shedding suddenly or falling out in patches, get it checked, because stress, diet, and medical conditions need a different approach. Whatever’s behind it, you have options, and acting sooner protects more hair.

References

^{1 Asfour L, Cranwell W, Sinclair R. Male androgenetic alopecia. MDText.com, Inc., South Dartmouth; 2000.}

^{2 Website NHS. Hair loss. nhs.uk. 2025. [accessed 7 Sept 2026] Available from: https://www.nhs.uk/symptoms/hair-loss/}

^{3 Hadshiew, I. M., Foitzik, K., Arck, P. C., & Paus, R. (2004). Burden of hair loss: stress and the underestimated psychosocial impact of telogen effluvium and androgenetic alopecia. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 123(3), 455–457. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-202X.2004.23237.x}

^{4 Hughes, E. C., & Saleh, D. (2024). Telogen effluvium. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430848/}

^{5 Billero, V., & Miteva, M. (2018). Traction alopecia: the root of the problem. Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, 11, 149–159. https://doi.org/10.2147/CCID.S137296}

^{6 Guo, E. L., & Katta, R. (2017). Diet and hair loss: effects of nutrient deficiency and supplement use. Dermatology Practical & Conceptual, 7(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.0701a01}

^{7 Gupta AK, Talukder M, Williams G. The impact of monotherapies for male androgenetic alopecia: a network meta-analysis study. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2024. doi:10.1111/jocd.16362}

^{8 Kanti V, Messenger A, Dobos G, et al. Evidence-based (S3) guideline for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia in women and in men, short version. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2018;32(1):11-22.}

^{9 Gupta AK, Venkataraman M, Talukder M, Bamimore MA. Relative efficacy of minoxidil and the 5-α reductase inhibitors in androgenetic alopecia treatment of male patients: a network meta-analysis. JAMA Dermatol. 2022;158(3):266-274.}

^{10 Hu, R., Xu, F., Sheng, Y., Qi, S., Han, Y., Miao, Y., Rui, W., & Yang, Q. (2015). Combined treatment with oral finasteride and topical minoxidil in male androgenetic alopecia: a randomized and comparative study in Chinese patients. Dermatologic Therapy, 28(5), 303–308. https://doi.org/10.1111/dth.12246}