What percent of Americans are bald?

What is the Average Age People Start Losing Hair

If you’ve started noticing some of your hair falling out, it’s natural to wonder whether it’s temporary or an indication of more hair loss to come. That naturally leads to the next question: when do men typically start balding?

The answer is: it depends.

While most men experience some loss of hair thickness as they get older, male pattern baldness (androgenic alopecia) can start at any age. When and how much you lose depends primarily on genetics, although statistics show that the likelihood of hair loss only increases with age. The following chart shows the percentage of men with noticeable hair loss at different ages.

Hair Loss in Teenagers

While you may feel like you are too young to start losing your hair in your teens, the reality is that hair loss can begin as early as 15 or 16 years old. While it’s uncommon, hair loss in your teens tends to come on gradually, beginning with thinning hair or a receding hairline.

Starting to lose your hair at this age can be especially difficult, as few people this age are experiencing the same thing. If you notice or think you are losing your hair at this early age, you should consult with a physician, or professional at Bosley, on the reason and what options are available to you. Chances are, there are ways to preserve your hair, especially if you start early.

Hair Loss in Your 20s

The majority of androgenetic alopecia (or male pattern baldness) sufferers start noticing their hair loss in their mid to late twenties. By age 20, about 20% of men have at least some visible hair loss. Since your 20s are often a time for finding yourself and meeting new people, hair loss can have a significant impact on your social life and confidence in general. And while some men feel comfortable shaving their heads and going completely bald, others have a harder time adjusting to this new reality. If you relate to this, now is a great time to address your hair loss and take action. The earlier you do something about your hair loss, the greater the opportunity to preserve your hair.

Hair Loss in Your 30s and Beyond

By the time you turn 30, you have a 25% chance of displaying some balding. By age 50, 50% of men have at least some noticeable hair loss. By age 60, about two-thirds are either bald or have a balding pattern. While hair loss is more common as you get older, it doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to accept. It’s never too late to address your hair loss. No matter what stage you’re in, there are solutions that can help.

Hereditary vs. Non-Hereditary Hair Loss

While the majority of hair loss is caused by male pattern baldness (which is a hereditary condition), there are other non-hereditary causes for hair loss — although these are usually temporary (unlike male pattern balding).

These hair loss causes can happen at any age, and will usually continue until the external factors have been addressed. If your hair loss is caused by any of these factors, make sure to consult your primary physician.

Lifecycle of a Hair Follicle

The average scalp contains about 100,000 hairs, and you lose about a hundred hairs every day. Many people lose up to 50% of their hair before they start to notice the thinning.
Each individual hair survives for an average of four years, during which time it grows about half an inch each month. Usually around the fifth year, the individual hair falls out and is replaced within six months by a new one. When the hair doesn’t cycle back to the growing phase, that’s when hair loss occurs. This is the normal growth phase of your hair and the technical terms for the stages of hair growth are:

• Anagen (growth phase)
• Catagen (transitional phase)
• Telogen (resting phase)

Summary

If your hair loss turns out to be hereditary (like the majority of male hair loss), you have a number of different options depending on your level of hair loss and your specific balding pattern. If you’re ready to do something about your hair loss, start by learning about the various treatment options that are available.

If you want to talk to a Bosley professional about your hair loss, schedule your free consultation now.

What to do next?

To learn more about your hair restoration options, download Bosley’s FREE info-kit, The Complete Book on Hair Restoration, to see how great your hair can look. If you’re ready to do something about that bald spot or thinning hair now, schedule a FREE in-person or video consultation with a trained Bosley hair restoration specialist. Together with a Bosley Physician, we can help you find out what’s causing your balding and what treatment solution is right for you.

Bald Eagle

Introduction
The bald eagle is one of the largest birds of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. Bald eagles typically can be found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting. In Channel Islands National Park, due to the persecution by humans and the effects of organochlorine chemicals such as DDT, breeding bald eagles were eliminated by the mid-1950’s. In an innovative reintroduction program conducted 2002 and 2006, sixty-one young bald eagles were released on the northern Channel Islands.

Quick and Cool Facts

• The scientific name means «a white-headed sea eagle» and comes from the Greek words halos, meaning sea; aetos meaning an eagle; leukos meaning white; and kephalus referring to the head. Bald is from the Middle English word balled, meaning shining white.
• Rather than do their own fishing, bald eagles often go after other creatures’ catches. A bald eagle will harass a hunting osprey until the smaller raptor drops its prey in midair, where the eagle swoops it up.
• Had Benjamin Franklin prevailed, America’s emblem might have been the wild turkey not the bald eagle.
• The largest bald eagle nest on record, in St. Petersburg, Florida, was 10 feet in diameter and 20 feet tall. Another famous nest—in Vermilion,Ohio—was shaped like a wine glass and weighed over 2 tons. It was used for 34 years until the tree blew down.
• Immature bald eagles spend the first four years of their lives in nomadic exploration of vast territories and can fly hundreds of miles per day. Some young birds from California have reached Alaska.
• Bald eagles can live a long time, with a longevity record of 28 years in the wild and 36 years in captivity.
• Bald eagles occasionally hunt cooperatively, with one individual flushing prey towards another.

Appearance
The plumage of an adult bald eagle is evenly brown with a white head and tail. The tail is moderately long and slightly wedge-shaped. Males and females are identical in plumage coloration, but reversed sexual dimorphism, which occurs in many raptors, is evident in the species in that females are 25 percent larger than males. The beak, feet, and irises are bright yellow. The legs are feather-free, and the toes are short and powerful with large talons. The highly developed talon of the hind toe is used to pierce the vital areas of prey while it is held immobile by the front toes. The beak is large and hooked, with a yellow cere.

Range
The bald eagle’s natural range covers most of North America, including most of Canada, all of the continental United States, and northern Mexico. It is the only sea eagle endemic to North America. At minimum population, in the 1950s, it was largely restricted to Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, northern and eastern Canada, and Florida. It presently occupies historical habitats from the bayous of Louisiana to the Sonoran Desert and the eastern deciduous forests of Quebec and New England. Northern eagles are migratory,while southern birds are resident, remaining on their breeding territory all year.

Historical records indicate that in the early 20th century bald eagles bred on all islands within the park, with at least two dozen nesting pairs over the 8 Channel Islands. Breeding bald eagles provided important ecosystem functions in the northern Channel Islands. For example, bald eagles were once the top marine aerial predator and probably fed upon a variety of seabirds and fish. Bald eagles are generally highly territorial, and in the past this behavior may have prevented golden eagles from colonizing the islands. Due to the persecution by humans and the effects of organochlorine chemicals such as DDT, breeding bald eagles were eliminated by the mid-1950’s. In an innovative reintroduction program conducted 2002 and 2006, sixty-one young bald eagles were released on the northern Channel Islands. Bald eagles have also been reintroduced on Santa Catalina Island

Habitat
The bald eagle explores sea coasts and other large bodies of open water with an abundance of fish as well as rivers,large lakes, and mountainous open country. The bald eagle prefers old-growth and mature stands of coniferous or hardwood trees for perching, roosting, and nesting. Selected trees must have good visibility, an open structure, and proximity to prey, but the height or species of tree is not as being in close proximity to water. The bald eagle is extremely sensitive to human activity, and is found most commonly in areas free of human disturbance.

Feeding
The bald eagle’s diet is opportunistic and varied, but most feed mainly on fish. When fish sources are unavailable, eagles may rely largely on carrion, especially in winter, and they will scavenge carcasses up to the size of whales, though it seems that carcasses of hoofed animals and large fish are preferred. They also may sometimes feed on subsistence scavenged or stolen from campsites and picnics, as well as garbage dumps. Mammalian prey includes rabbits, hares, raccoons, muskrats, beavers, and deer fawns. Preferred avian prey includes grebes, alcids, ducks, gulls, coots, egrets, and geese. Most live prey are quite a bit smaller than the eagle, but predatory attacks on large birds such as the great blue heron and even swans have been recorded. Reptiles, amphibians and crustaceans (especially crabs) are preyed on when available.

Fishing is a learned behavior for the bald eagle, and so juvenile eagles spend their first year eating carrion (carcasses) until they become proficient at fishing (Dooley et al. 2005). Prey remains from bald eagle nests on Santa Catalina Island contained almost 90% fish (Newsome etal. 2010), but an historic bald eagle nest on San Miguel contained more bird remains than fish (Collins et al. 2005). The abundance of seabirds and pinnipeds on the northern Channel Islands means eagles likely take advantage of those resources more than in other areas. This could pose a problem for recovery of bald eagles on the northern Channel Islands (see below), because pinnipeds and seabirds contain more DDE than do marine fish, due to bioaccumulation at higher trophic levels.

Reproduction
Bald eagles nest in trees except in regions where only cliff face sor ground sites are available. They tend to use tall, sturdy conifers that protrude above the forest canopy, providing easy flight access and good visibility. In southern parts of their range, bald eagles may nest in deciduous trees, mangroves, and cactus. It’s unknown whether the male or the female takes the lead in selecting a nest site. Nests are typically built near the trunk, high up in the tree but below the crown.

On the Channel Islands, where large trees are scarce, bald eagles have built nests on cliff faces, rock shelves and shallow cliffs, as well as in island pines and Torrey pines. One pair even attempted nesting in a grassland on Santa Cruz Island.

Bald eagles build some of the largest of all bird nests—typically5 to 6 feet in diameter and 2 to 4 feet tall and ranging in shape from cylindrical to conical to flat, depending on the supporting tree. Both sexes bring materials to the nest, but the female does most of the placement. They weave together sticks and fill in the cracks with softer material such as grass, moss, or cornstalks. The inside of the nest is lined first with lichen or other fine woody material, then with downy feathers and sometimes sprigs of greenery. Ground nests are built of whatever’s available, such as kelp and driftwood near coastal shorelines. Nests can take up to three months to build, and may be reused (and added to) year after year. The female lays one to three eggs with a usual clutch size of two eggs. The eggs are incubated for approximately 35 days, and the young eagles fledge 10 — 12 weeks after hatching. Bald eagles become sexually mature at five to six years with maturity usually corresponding to when their head and tail feathers become white.

Conservation Status
The bald eagle’s recovery is a spectacular conservation success story. Once abundant in North America, the species became rare in the mid-to-late 1900s—the victim of trapping, shooting, and poisoning as well as pesticide-caused reproductive failures. In 1978 the bird was listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Since 1980, gentler treatment by humans along with the banning of DDT (the bird’s main pesticide threat) has led to a dramatic resurgence. By the late 1990s, breeding populations of bald eagles could be found throughout most of North America.

In 2002, with funding from the Montrose Trustees Restoration Program, the park (in conjunction with partner, Institute for Wildlife Studies) began to introduce juvenile bald eagles to the northern Channel Islands. This was done using a technique called «hacking». Birds of approximately 8 weeks of age were kept in one of two hack towers on Santa Cruz Island until they were ready to fly (at approximately 3 months of age). Sixty-one young bald eagles were introduced to the northern Channel Island between 2002 and 2006.

Today, bald eagles are again an important part of the island ecosystem. 2006 marked the first successful bald eagle nest on the Channel Islands in over 50 years, and since that time, the recovering bald eagle population on the islands has grown. As of 2013 there were five breeding pairs on Santa Cruz Island, two on Santa Rosa, and one on Anacapa, and a total of over 40 bald eagles on the northern Channel Islands.

Recovery of bald eagles on the northern Channel Islands was seen as critical to recovery of the endangered island fox, since nesting bald eagles might dissuade dispersing golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) from establishing breeding territories on the islands (Coonan et al. 2010). Golden eagle predation was responsible for the massive decline of island foxes on the northern Channel Islands in the 1990s.

In June 2007, the bird’s recovery prompted its removal from the Endangered Species list. Continuing threats to bald eagle populations include lead poisoning from ammunition in hunter-shot prey, collisions with motor vehicles and stationary structures, and development-related destruction of shoreline nesting, perching, roosting and foraging habitats.

Based upon information of population trends, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has listed the bald eagle a species of Least Concern and current data demonstrates that the population is presently increasing.

Additional Information

• National Audubon Society
• BirdLife International
• All About Birds
• The ICUN Red List of Threatened Species
• The Peregrine Fund
• Coonan, T.J., C.A. Schwemm and D.K. Garcelon. 2010. Decline and recovery of the island fox: a case study for population recovery. Cambridge University Prfess, UK.
• Dooley, J.A., P. B.Sharpe and D.K. Garcelon. 2005. Movements, foraging and survival of bald eagles reintroduced on the northern Channel Islands, California. Pp. 313-321 in Garcelon, D.K. and C.A. Schwemm, eds., Proceedings of the Sixth California Islands Symposium. National Park Service Technical Publication CHIS-05-01. Institute for Wildlife Studies, Arcata, California.
• Collins, P.W., D.A. Guthrie, T.C. Rick and J.E. Erlandson. 2005. Analysis of prey remains excavated from an histoirc bald eagle nest on San Miguel Island, California. Pp. 103-120 in Garcelon, D.K. and C.A. Schwemm, eds., Proceedings of the Sixth California Islands Symposium. National Park Service Technical Publication CHIS-05-01. Institute for Wildlife Studies, Arcata, California.
• Newsome, S.D., P.W. Collins, T.C. Rick, D.A. Guthrie, J.E. Erlandson and M.L. Fogel. 2010. Pleistocene to historic shifts in bald eagle diets on the Channel Islands, California. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(20):9246-51.
• Sharpe, P. B. 2012. Bald eagle Restoration on the California Channel Islands, January -December 2011, 10th Annual Report.

Saving the Bald Eagle – a Conservation Success Story

A soaring, majestic silhouette on the skyline, the bald eagle has not only been the national symbol of the United States for more than 240 years, but it is also a symbol of how the Endangered Species Act can save wildlife from extinction.

The bald eagle is the only eagle solely indigenous to North America. A species of sea eagle, fish are a major part of its diet, although it will also eat waterfowl, small mammals and carrion. They are found in wetlands, near rivers and lakes, or on the coast throughout North America. Its wingspan ranges from 72 to 90 inches (182-228 cm) and they weigh around 10 to 14 pounds (4.5-6.4 kg) when adults. This makes them one of the largest birds of prey resident in North America (the Californian condor is the largest). They get their name from the old English world “balde” meaning “white-headed.”

Image

Pam Hergett/USFS

The bald eagle has been culturally important to Native Americans for millennia, but it started to be used as a symbol for the United States during the American Revolution, eventually becoming the official symbol of the U.S. in 1782. In the 18th century, it was estimated that there were up to half a million bald eagles in North America. However, numbers dropped catastrophically, to a mere 412 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states, by the 1950s.

Despite being a symbol of the nation, bald eagles suffered from public prejudice, with many people wrongly believing that the eagles killed lambs and other newborn livestock—even that they attacked young children—leading to a high level of persecution and the decline of the eagle in the U.S. The decrease and fragmentation of the wetland habitats preferred by eagles was also a major issue.

However, bald eagles gained some protection in 1918 under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and again in 1940 when the threat of their extinction led to Congress passing the Bald Eagle Protection Act (later amended to become the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act), which prohibited killing eagles or taking their eggs. Unfortunately, the widespread use of the pesticide DDT in the 1940s and 50s led to the decimation of eagle and other bird populations. One of the effects of this pesticide is thinning of eggshells, leading to a high level of chick mortality. Rachel Carson’s famous book Silent Spring publicized the threat that DDT posed both to humans and wildlife. And, thanks to pressure from the public and scientists, its use in agriculture was banned in the U.S. in 1972.

Image

Dave Menke/USFWS

The bald eagle population in the U.S. south of the 40°N parallel (encompassing eagles in Colorado and southern coastal states) was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Preservation Act U.S. in 1967 —the predecessor to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The bald eagle was subsequently listed as endangered or threatened in all of the lower 48 states under the ESA in 1978. Amendments to the Bald and Golden Eagle Act in 1972 also added more protections for the eagles, including protecting them from disturbance and increasing penalties for those breaking the law.

Listing the species as endangered or threatened led to the U.S. government and partners launching a number of initiatives to help the eagle recover. These included captive breeding programs and the reintroduction of eagles into historic habitats, shielding critical eagle habitat from development and degradation, and protecting eagle nests during breeding season. Eagles began to bounce back, and in 1995 the entire portion of the endangered population in the lower 48 states was downlisted to “threatened” under the ESA. By 2007, there were nearly ten thousand breeding pairs in the lower 48 states, and they were removed from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife as they were considered to have recovered. In 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that the bald eagle population in the lower 48 states (for the period 2018-2019) totaled 316,700 individuals, of which 71,467 were breeding pairs.

Image

Elizabeth Mellenthin

The recovery of the bald eagle is a conservation success story. A critical combination of effective laws, enforcement, collaboration between the U.S. government and partners, and public support led to the bald eagle clawing back from the brink of extinction to a flourishing national population.

However, even though the eagle is no longer considered to be legally threatened, they still face many human-caused threats including lead pollution (from gun shot and fishing weights), poisoning, collision with motor vehicles and wind turbines, and electrocution by power lines. We must ensure that we protect the eagle against these threats and reckless development in their habitats.

Defenders has fought against attempts to weaken the MBTA and the ESA, and we have also promoted restrictions on lead ammunition in order to reduce the amount of the toxic metal reaching species like the eagle.

In addition, we promote “Smart from the Start” renewable energy siting, to keep wind farms out of migratory pathways and promote innovative technology that deters eagles and other birds from turbines.