Hello everybody
This is my first time posting, and I have some questions regarding my hairline and some possible treatments.
As you can see from the pictures below, I would say I am somewhere between a Norwood 2 and a 3? I am 23 years old, and first noticed my hairline receding when I was about 19/20. At that time, I started taking Rogaine, and it seemed to have an effect. After being on it for about a year, I noticed a possible slow down in hair loss, and also the growth of some peach fuzz (fine vellous hairs?) in my hair loss areas around the temples. Does that mean it was working?
Unfortunately, due to financial reasons, I had to stop on the rogaine treatment for the past year or so. The receding seems to be increasing, and the middle of my hairline also feels like it is thinning now. The crown of my head seems fine. I am wondering if I go back on a rogaine treatment (I have been able to get some more), will it still have a possibility of working? I have heard that once you stop a treatment like rogaine, starting it back up again will do no good. Is that true? Also, if I switch to the generic 5% minoxidil (much cheaper), will that make any difference?
I definitely have baldness in my family, on both sides, but it seems like almost all of the men in my family suffered only from a receding hairline (to a Norwood 5 or 6). It also doesn't help, as you can see in the pictures, that I inherited a big ol' forehead and pretty fine hair, which make it all the more noticeable.
Right now I am also taking some biotin vitamins, which my mother said makes for healthy hair. Does this affect/prevent hairloss in any way? I can notice my hair seems a little thicker when I take it.
Would anyone recommend anything else? I am aware that I probably won't regrow any hair, but keeping what I have now will help put me at ease, as I do not feel ready at all to be balding so badly at this age (as I'm sure everyone feels). Being bald as an old man, fine, but not in my 20's, please.
Thanks a lot for any info/advice.