Hair loss due to improper care and gel usage

Hi, I am a 26 year old male who has always had great thick hair.  I normaly used lot of gel to style the hair on front half of my head every day for the last 6 YEARS, I also exercise excessively almost every day (2-3 hours) and used to sweat very profusely.  However I was HIGHLY ignorant & wouldn't take care of my hair, only washing it with shampoo maybe once every few months.  Sometimes the barbers told me that my scalp is very flaky/unhealthy & it could lead to hairloss, but I just ignored their comments....

The last 1.5 years I noticed the hair on the front of my head was thinner.  I normally just attrbitued this to a visual effect of the hair sticking due to the gel.  Then, few people said it seemed I was losing my hair on the front, which again I ignored.
However, I got a short hair-cut last week & noticed that the hair on the front of my head (exactly where I normally apply gel) is VERY thin and spread out.  My scalp is clearly visible and it looks like I am balding from the front.
My dad in his mid-50s still has full hair, but my brother is completely bald at 31.  Could my problem be due to hormones/genetics (but the thinning hair seems to be exact area where I normally apply gel??)
So many years that I used gel on my hair, I was exercising a lot (running, martial arts, weight-lifting, etc.) and because of sweat mixed with the gel and my not shampooing for a month or two, it has probably clogged many of the follicle pores on the front of my head where I apply the gel?  
Will the hair follicles that are clogged ever grow again if I have started taking care of my hair again??  If I try to maintain a healthy scalp now can I reverse the scalp damage and regrow the hair that has stopped sprouting, Or have I doomed myself with my arrogance and will always have this thin hair with visible scalp on the front??  I am thinking about using Rogaine but I know that it's only a temporary solution as the hair regrowth will stop if I stop using it.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Please stop beating yourself up over something over which you had no control.  If you made a mistake, it was in being related to your brother.  Scalp flakiness does not lead to hair loss, and sweating has nothing to do with it either.  It sounds as though you are losing your hair genetically.  The best treatment for that is Propecia.  See a doctor about getting that drug, which is safe and quite effective at holding onto the hair you have, and even growing some.  You've clearly still got enough to make taking it useful.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff

[TheJuan]

A related discussion, Anyone Experience Hair Loss Using AXE styling products? was started.