A new study suggests that people who agonize over hair loss (known as androgenetic alopecia) might have their big heads to blame. A UK researcher has determined that men and women whose skull bones keep growing during adulthood are far more likely to develop male and female pattern baldness.

The Medical Hypotheses journal reports a possible breakthrough in our understanding of androgenetic alopecia which could one day lead to an alopecia cure.

Paul Taylor from Top Hair Loss Remedy.com spent seven years of independent research into androgenetic alopecia following concerns about his own hair loss. In his article, he explains how both male and female thinning hair and baldness involves the continued growth of the skull bones that lie directly under the scalp where hair loss develops. This bone growth is called skull expansion.

Skull expansion seems to have finally solved certain mysteries that have been baffling hair loss boffins for years. These include why the same shape (or pattern) of hair loss will always develop in men with extreme baldness. Severe hair loss at the front (frontal baldness) and crown of the head will leave just a small horseshoe shaped area of hair growing at the back and sides. Skull expansion explains why this happens - something the current theory for hair loss cannot do.

Another mystery involves the male sex hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Male pattern baldness has been linked to DHT, but this hormone also causes body and facial hair to grow at puberty. Skull expansion explains how DHT is connected to both hair loss and hair growth.

If this theory for androgenetic alopecia by skull expansion is confirmed, it could lead to a total redirection of genetic research, affect future treatment methods and might eventually lead to an alopecia cure.