[Joe Wicked]

Steve,
I wear a goatee and I started to notice spots of baldness starting to creep into it as well as other parts of my face. I thought it odd, so I asked my doctor at a visit. He thought it was just an extension of my balding on top. I later realized that it was the shaving cream I was using. It was not rinsing off very well and was clogging the pores and hair follicles. I used some of those face cleaners with a high alcohol content and the problem went away. Sounds like your friend had a similar problem where the follicles and pores were clogged. The alcohol cleaned them out and allowed the hair to grow again.