RESEARCHERS have identified that mothers have a lot to do with male baldness, with genetic signals coming from the inherited X chromosome.

Some sons wear their baldness with pride, others do everything possible to hide it.

It's a fashion in some groups and perception of ageing in others.

Whichever way you look at it, men still want to know why some go bald early in the life while others wonder how long before it happens to them.

The University of Edinburgh project, which was the largest of its kind to date, studied 52,000 men and found 200 genetic signals related to male baldness.

These genetic variants may finally provide the answer to predicting a man's chance of severe hair loss.

"We identified hundreds of new genetic signals.

"It was interesting to find that many of the genetics signals for male pattern baldness came from the X chromosome, which men inherit from their mothers," study leader Dr Saskia Hagenaars said.

But mothers can't be blamed for every bald son.

The researchers are still looking at all the 200 genetic signals and how to accurately predict an individual's hair loss pattern.

"However, these results take us one step closer.

"The findings pave the way for an improved understanding of the genetic causes of hair loss," University of Edinburgh's Dr Riccardo Marioni said.

In the meantime, many of the identified genes, which are related to hair structure and development, are likely to be of great interest to companies involved in the research and development baldness treatment.

The research report was first published by PLOS Genetics.