palerider,
There is no hard and fast answer on when the right time is; yes there are individuals on this site who had HT's in their early 20's; as a general rule though, that is not the ideal time; mainly, you want to make sure your hair loss has stabalized before you get a HT; at 24, chances are you are going to loss more hair in the future; IMO, I would get on finasteride and wait at a few years to see if it stabalizes your hair loss; with your diffuse pattern the finasteride/minoxidil combo may make a big differance; I have had no side effects with finasteride; for the most part the side effects are rare/miniscule;