When I was little, I remember hearing that wearing hats too often would cause you to go bald. Having worn hats throughout my life,  I have come to the conclusion that the advice was more conjecture than fact.

One of the more popular myths that has popped up recently is that of the man-bun, and more specifically, whether or not the man-bun causes premature baldness. Of course, having had “experience” with some questionable science, I found myself interested in the topic.

As I made my way through the articles online, I found a significant trend. This trend is that experts agree that man-buns can cause premature baldness, but only if people put excessive amount of stress on their follicles.

Traction alopecia, as defined by biology-online.org, is “circumscribed or diffuse loss of hair from repetitive traction on the hair by pulling or twisting.” Using this definition, the correlation between the man-bun and traction alopecia is apparent.

Whenever a man or woman puts their hair up into a bun, they stress their hairline. So, if a person were to continually style their hair, they would be more likely to develop traction alopecia.

“If the tension is every day and constant, it is more likely to lead to alopecia,” New York dermatologist, Lisa Airan says.

In addition, if a man is more prone to baldness, due to his genetics, then that plays a factor in the development of alopecia as well.

Although this all makes it sounds like guys should avoid man-buns, that is not the case. You can still wear a man-bun, just cut down on the stress on your hairline by not pulling the hair so tight.

That may be simple advice but the alternative is losing your abundant locks. So heed the warning and take it easy on your hair so your follicles won’t be impaired.