Phenotype of Normal Hairline Maturation
August 2013
in “
Facial Plastic Surgery Clinics of North America
”
TLDR Children's hairlines change shape as they grow, with women often developing a widow's peak and men's hairlines becoming more convex and possibly balding at the temples, influenced by genetics and hormones.
The 2013 study analyzed the maturation of hairlines in 1,051 children aged 5 to 18 years and found that hairlines evolve from a common concave shape in childhood to more distinct shapes in adulthood, with predictable changes occurring between the ages of 17 and 29. In females, the hairline typically moves upward, leaving a widow's peak in 81% of mature women, while in males, the hairline transitions to a convex shape and may develop a balding corner due to the recession of the temple mounds. The study also noted the influence of genetics, hormones, and environmental factors on these changes and provided a model system to define hairline anatomy, which is useful for educating patients and assisting in hair restoration surgery. The findings, based on thousands of observations, suggest that these patterns of hairline maturation are genetically coded and vary between sexes, with women's hairlines showing a wider range of variations.
