Salt The Fries

Sorry, I realised I made a topic in not appropriate section. Thanks in advance for moving it, and sorry for my clumsiness.

Hello, it may seem that I'm new to the forums, but I have been lurking here for over a year now. My name is Jakub, I'm from Poland, I'm an English studies graduate and I will turn 23 next month. Let me start with saying that historically speaking I was always very confident about my hair. To a certain point, it seemed that I have head full of hair, beautiful hair I might subjectively add (in fact only part of my appearance I was proud of at that time), and receeding won't be a factor here, or at least it won't be that severe. Which, in the end, was completely untrue. I noticed that something's amiss around late 2007, and I felt that some kind of intervention would be required here. Well, in early 2008 I started research on this topic, but my country is extremely lacking in information about this matter. I have never came across any forum about this problem dedicated to men. Only some hair forums or sub-forums on other forums, but only for women. And, in the end, the information that was there was superficial at best. There is very little awareness about hair problems here, I'm very confident that even term "hair follicle" here (in Poland I mean) may sound exotic to many. To prove my point, once I discovered this very forum, and I raised my awareness and learned about certain processes, and I went to the local dermatologist, she was unable to comprehend certain terms. So, I discovered this forum in early 2008 and seeing how some of you succeeded despite having really bad situations gave me a morale boost. I wanted to make a difference. I'm very grateful for this forum's existence, now I'm much more aware and educated person on this matter (though in the end, it may mean NOTHING). Then, with adequate knowledge and awareness, I went to dermatologist (she's PhD - so I was like "reasonable") from Eris Institute (a private one, and kind of costly), and ever since I have started a treatment. It was somewhere between March and May 2008. Firstly, I had to get rid of dandruff and itching scalp. I have been using special shampoo Selsun Blue, fluconazole pills, and Elocom foam in order to get rid of it. Then I started using Ducray Anaphase shampoo (around $17-18 for 150 ml, but worked great) combined with Regaine (which is called Rogaine in the US) and diet supplement containing "hair-oriented" vitamins and minerals and I have been using them 'till early 2009, then the dermatologist suggested me to drop Regaine to see how organism will handle itself with that, because according to her everything was coming along very fine and that the hair was strong. And then after another visit, we also dropped diet supplement and Anaphase shampoo. In the meantime I had dandruff again, so this time I had to use Nizoral shampoo (my own suggestion), Clobex foam (I had to apply it on the whole scalp and leave it for 10 minutes, then rinse using normal shampoo), fluconazole pills, of course I couldn't use Nizoral and Clobex at the same time. Oh, and I forgot, during the whole process, I have been growing my hair, so in the end I had long hair, I kept it that way because I felt I'd see the progress better, and I believed everything was fairly OK, up to a certain point, and I didn't have any concerns for some time. I cut my hair short (to accept reality, actually) 1 month and week or 2 ago, and it was then when I had my last visit, and now I don't use anything, I have been only told some suggestion what to eat, what to avoid to eat, and I was aware that I have to expel estrogen from my organism so I asked about that, and she told me what activities should I consider doing, etc., and my next visit there is supposed to take place this fall (my visits there were in 2-3 month intervals). But to be honest, I don't feel she is a person capable of helping me anymore. She isn't specialized in hair loss treatment. Of course, she is competent, but her competences end somewhere, and for example she couldn't say anything of releavance about any means of blocking DHT, etc., personally she didn't believe that anything from so-called DHT blockers would work (because it's basically unproven here in Poland). Now in retrospect I think that giving up on Regaine, Anaphase and vitamins and minerals was a bad idea. I don't know if this is the sole reason (and I'm aware it isn't) that contributed to the progression of my hair loss, which is sadly the case, but I feel that I shouldn't be giving up on them. If anything I feel that I should have keep using them and also take care about my hair on different fields, such as keeping good blood circulation, block DHT, and expel estrogen. Anyway, when I started the treatment, my fringe was strong, I noticed loss in the temple's areas, and now my fringe isn't even strong anymore and I feel that I experience simultaneous loss in my fringe and temples. At this point, I can still comb over my hair and cover everything, but it won't last long, and if there is rain or strong wind I feel horrible. And I now believe it's severe, and at this rate, in a year I'd have to have a buzzcut and in three years, I'd loss most of the top anyway. The point is, after some point, it won't matter if I have the hair or not. But now, when I still have the chance, I want to keep what I have as long as it's possible, though the chances are getting more and more slim (just like hair is getting more and more thin). I can imagine the further progression of the hairloss, now the only area where my hair is strong is the very central part of the fringe, the sides of the fringe are weak (there are follicles there, but not as much), and I have parting, so my hair splits in half, but it falls down on the sides of the fringe as if it was already dead (I could spike my hair 2 years ago, now it would be next to impossible, because it falls down), and I noticed the progression of the loss over the course of a year (not to mention huge difference between what was in 2006 and 2007 vs. now). I don't know what else I might add, I'm 185 cm tall and I weigh 79 kg, so I'm not overweight (although I used to be, but I got slim 5 years ago, at peak of 63kg, but now I have stable weight of 79-80kg and it holds firmly in this threshold for a very long time and I'm happy with that). Now, I would like to ask you, guys...What would you recommend me? I returned to using Anaphase shampoo, but it can't be everything, I need some effective means of keeping good blood circulation of my hair, to block DHT, to expel estrogen and to stimulate my hair follicles, so what medicine should I take? What activities should I consider doing? etc. What should I eat? What to avoid in eating? I'd appreciate some more insight, i.e. naming substances which I need, or I should avoid. And is the risk of follicles being attacked is the same when I have more dense hair in a given place? Or it doesn't matter at all? Of course, if you need any more details, I can ask every question if you feel it would help you more. I can also upload some photos, if you want me to. Now, I want to express my reasons and motivations behind all that. I an accept going bald (in the end, I'd have no choice), but I don't want to do it. There are several magnitudes of my motivation here, so I'll try to list them: psychological reasons - even though I'm very unsuccessful person when it comes to relationships, it's not like I fear I would stop becoming attractive like my life would depend on it (actually I do not want to force myself into doing everything to become attractive to anyone), it's not the case; I don't lack self-esteem both on physical and psychological level, in fact I have very strong belief system and I'm very self-reliant and overall I'm happy with my looks; but I want to have that psychological advantage over people, especially that I'm an individualist and outsider who only lets people close to him as much as he sees fit; philosophical reasons - I don't want to passively let the forces of nature destroy a part of me, and I want to defy them, especially that, to me balding process is grotesque and absurd one, and most importantly without any purpose, just with effect (and I treat it as unnecessary fault in the design). I'm sure if you're familiar with poem "Design" by Robert Frost, you will easily understand me. aesthetical reasons - I have strong aesthetic sense, and I'm kind of visionary person, I have very strong vision of what I want to achieve and how I want to shape/influence myself and my surroundings, and becoming bald would dispel, and interfere with my aesthetic preference and perception, and basically my self-image; typically I don't feel particularly attached to any features attributed to men, so I won't feel contorted by someone saying that being bald is masculine (or that women like it); not at all Sorry for chaotic style and the overload of information. It's just that this matter is very important to me. Thank you in advance, Jakub.