Does Wearing A Hat Make You Go Bald?

Most people wear hats for protection against the sun or for fashion. But do you believe your favorite baseball cap is also making you unfashionably bald? It looks like your parents had a different reason for telling to you to stop wearing your hat all the time.

People have always associated wearing hats with the cause of baldness. Interestingly, the hair-related myth started a long time ago and it was first referenced in 1929. In the book The Childs Heredity by P.B. Popenoe, the author noted that “the wearing of tight hats and other causes blamed for pattern baldness have nothing to do with the case.”

Hats might not be the reason why you’re going bald.

So what exactly causes baldness? Popenoe’s book might have the answer when it stated that “the pattern is one of the inherited possessions of the family.”

Hair loss or alopecia has several causes which include stress, chemotherapy, or scalp infections. However, the most common type of hair loss is male/female pattern balding or androgenetic alopecia (AGA).

People tend to believe that wearing tight hats or tight hairstyles like cornrows, ponytails, and braids will lead to hair loss. Although hairstyles that continuously pull on the hair can cause damage on your hair follicles, scientists have found that a hat wouldn’t have the same effect on the scalp.

Wearing tight hats can cause headaches but not hair loss.

So if it isn’t your favorite fedora, what could be causing your hair to fall out? Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine may have found the gene responsible for alopecia. According to the scientists, the gene called Prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) has been found in high numbers of bald scalps.

So there you go, folks: wearing your favorite hat will not make you bald. Perhaps the only reason why your parents wanted to you take off that baseball cap is because it is in dire need of a good washing.