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What Is a Mature Hairline?

Judith Smith Sullivan
Judith Smith Sullivan

A mature hairline is the hairline of an older male. Typically, boys and young men have a lower hairline than adult men. The hairline recedes slightly with passing decades, resulting in a wider space between eyebrows and hairline. Usually, the mature hairline occurs between the ages of 17 and 29, although it may vary considerably from individual to individual. The average space between the forehead and eyebrows for men is 2.4 to 3.2 inches (6 to 8 centimeters.)

A mature hairline is not male pattern baldness. It is simply a part of aging, like wrinkles. A receding hairline that is caused by male pattern baldness is much higher and more distinct than a mature hairline. In fact, most men can wrinkle their forehead to find where the juvenile hairline was. A juvenile hairline probably touched the highest wrinkle.

Not all men lose their juvenile hairline. In some cases, the hairline remains intact for the majority of their lifetime. In other cases, the hairline may recede so slowly that it only becomes apparent late in life.

The hairline of an older male is referred to as a mature hairline.
The hairline of an older male is referred to as a mature hairline.

Individuals who suffer from receding hairlines sometimes choose hairline restoration procedures. If the individual is a young man, in his 20s or 30s, he may want to have the hairline from his youth. In many cases, hair loss specialists will advise against this, since it can look unnatural on an older man.

The actual mature hairline shape may be regular, irregular, or peaked. Hairlines are very different depending on the shape of the head and face as well as the hair itself. A regular hairline is symmetrical, usually having smooth contours in a defined line. An irregular one has dips and valleys, usually not in a symmetric pattern, around the forehead.

A man with a receding hairline.
A man with a receding hairline.

A widow's peak is a hairline which has a point or dip in the middle of the forehead. The widow's peak can be quite subtle or very defined. In some cases, it begins at the temples and gradually moves downward, creating an M-shaped hairline. In other cases, the hairline is rounded with a small tip at the middle, forming a peak.

Usually, the shape of the juvenile hairline, whether it is regular, irregular, or a widow's peak, is retained throughout the aging process of a maturing hairline. The hairline may change slightly, but usually only in thickness. If a mature hairline is in fact male pattern baldness, the receding hairline may look like a widow's peak in the early stages, but will eventually thin out to an obvious receding hairline.

Discussion Comments

Chorzol

Ugh, how I hate falling hair.

anon957728

@Post 4: I agree with everything except "Quality of life is dependent upon your hair, and society tends to stigmatize people with hair loss. "

The quality of life in itself is independent on this, but true, as long as one has a regular or captivating head shape which allows those who do to not lose the look (besides it changes and somehow "matures") when losing hair, or even look better than with hair for some people. I admit I am lucky on this side and that helps as it allows me to keep the thinning hair progressively shorter.

Some parts of the society expect too much from people to be confident with their baldness -- confidence beyond common sense, I'd say.

It's relatively offensive to women to accept from them, on the contrary, any lack of confidence, as if they are still the gender to be rescued, always expect sympathy toward them, and not accept that we would rather have the locks, as you say, to be able to express ourselves in more different styles and looks, instead of having the shaved or buzzed bald or thinning head of hair. This can be stylish, but it ends up being the only style of hair a bald man can pull off, because long hair only on the sides tends to make people look older.

Women want to be reassured and it's OK, but don't see it as a lack of confidence if we sometimes need that as well.

anon291758

Learning to accept and live with it is truly the best way to manage hair loss. However, that philosophy is truly depressing even still. Quality of life is dependent upon your hair, and society tends to stigmatize people with hair loss.

Losing your hair is also a loss of self-expression. While completely bald can be quite stylish if worn properly, it is not a style very many people can identify with.

Hair loss is not life-threatening condition, but it is irritating when people cannot sympathize with the condition.

Markus

@myharley - There's a few products on the market that claim to be pretty good at controlling hair loss. But they're really only a temporary fix and can help for a few years depending on how quick your balding. This is an age old problem.

Just as women refuse to show signs of aging in their faces so do men with their hair. Take Donald Trump for instance. With all his money, he could afford to have some kind of scalp surgery done and know one would ever know.

How else is it possible for a man his age to still have a head full of hair with no visible mature hairline? Inquiring men want to know.

myharley

If given a choice, my husband would rather have a receding hairline than male pattern baldness. He was bald at an early age, just as his dad was.

He finally got to the point where he just kept what little hair he had shaved off because he figured it wasn't worth fighting. It really did look better all shaved off than with just a small amount of hair.

While my husbands brother is not bald, he does have a receding hair line. Even though the front part of his hair is receding, he has thick hair on the rest of his head.

This is something that you cannot really change, and is going to happen no matter what you do. You can try some type of hair restoration if it really bothers you. I don't think the creams or special shampoos really help.

Has anyone found a product that helps with this?

honeybees

Many times people think that women are the ones who are most concerned with their hair, but I know several men who are just as worried about what their hair looks like.

It seems like this is something that is closely tied to genetics. If men in your family start to have a mature hairline at an early age, it is common for several other males to have this as well.

When my son was about 25 he noticed the changes in his hairline. I told him it was just a mature hairline, but this didn't make him feel any better. This really started to bother him as he is always pretty conscious of the way he looks.

The same thing happened to his dad, but when it started happening to him is when he really noticed it. This is something that I think he notices way more than anybody else.

Because this happens so gradually, I think it is something that he will learn to live with and accept as part of life.

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    • The hairline of an older male is referred to as a mature hairline.
      By: Felix Mizioznikov
      The hairline of an older male is referred to as a mature hairline.
    • A man with a receding hairline.
      A man with a receding hairline.
    • A mature hairline is not male pattern baldness.
      By: nito
      A mature hairline is not male pattern baldness.
    • A mature hairline is considered part of aging and not necessarily balding.
      By: vasilisa_k
      A mature hairline is considered part of aging and not necessarily balding.
    • Male pattern baldness -- a receding hairline at the forehead and a bald patch at the back of the head -- can be caused by genetics and related to the hormone testosterone.
      By: draganica
      Male pattern baldness -- a receding hairline at the forehead and a bald patch at the back of the head -- can be caused by genetics and related to the hormone testosterone.