Hello need advice!

[Zack01]

Hello my name is Zack.....

 

I'm only just 21 and I think I've been "losing hair" since I was 16. It has really effected me I don't feel young because i've been losing my hair this whole time and now its got to a point were i think its so noticeable i don't really want to go out to all the night clubs and party with my friends because im so embarrassed by it!

 

I always wear a hat pretty much the only time I'm not wearing a hat is when I'm in my bedroom on my own. I'm so embarrassed about my hair that the other day I went to a pub with a friend for a few drinks and the bouncer came up to me and told me to take my hat off and i did..... but as soon as he left i put it back on this happened twice more and then ended up with me getting man handled out of the pub.... just so you know it wasn't because I was violent or anything he asked me if I speak English and i said no i speak Spanish he didn't take kindly to it I was slightly drunk I usually wouldn't say those kind of things but my hair makes me panic so much!

 

I mean I always think to myself why so young because I feel like if I was 40 then i wouldn't mind but I'm sure you go through all the same thing no matter what age, It just makes me feel like i cant join in with some of the fashion things people do my age and i feel like if i went up to a girl my age she would think I'm like 30 or something all ready and kind of be like get away!

 

I recently shaved my head after the pub incident because i just thought if i tried that maybe i would look good because some guys do and that would be that, unfortunently i dont look so good.

 

I'm very sorry for the long rant of that, I've never talked to anyone about how I feel about my hair and I have a lot of emtions about it that i keep to myself!

 

So i've been looking at the norton scale, but i can't figure out what I am. The really strange thing about my hair is that I actually have hair every were on my head i can feel hair every were on my scalp yet their so thin on the top with my new shaved head in some lights it looks like i have no hair on the top and that i'm all ready fully bald, also just to make clear this isn't like a drama thing because i've shaved my head before when i shaved my head and had hair you could see my scalp through the hair on top. I've never experienced hair falling out, people say that when they shower clumps would come out or when they just ran there hand through their hair it would fall out. This has never happened to me do some peoples hair just fall out with out noticing?

 

I understand it might all be hard to say with out photographs but what would your suggestions be? I've tried regane but maybe it's fair to say not properly. I was wondering if i got a hair transplant it wouldn't cost as much if i already have a bit of hair on top as they wouldn't need as many grafts? would that be true? I'm sorry for the long message and maybe uncertain question, I'm not really quite sure what I'm asking myself but if anyone has any ideas......

 

Also most sorry for my very poor spelling and grammar. (I'm Dyslexic)

[aw33]

Hey Zack,

 

Losing your hair at a young age is tough. I am going through it as well - I was 17 when I noticed my hair thinning and today, I am 20 and I am still going through it. The best single piece of advice anyone in the world right now could give you is to get on Finasteride. If it wasn't for Finasteride, I STRONGLY believe that I'd be a NW5-6 right now but instead I am only a NW3. The lower your NW pattern, the better your chances of obtaining adequate HT results - for instance, I have a better chance of restoring my hair and having a "fuller" look with an HT as opposed to a NW5 who would need a lot more work done to achieve that same look.

 

Finasteride is available as Propecia and Proscar and there are some other brands as well. Proscar is a 5mg version which you cut into 4ths and it is quite affordable. Propecia on the other hand comes with just the right dose (1mg) and it is a bit more expensive. They are essentially the same thing. You can also try Rogaine 5% foam if you haven't already tried it, it is said to work quite well for young men who haven't been losing their hair for a long time.

 

Wearing a hat is fine - almost everyone here has worn them to cover up their baldness. What I'd recommend is a different hair style - try a few different ones and see if you can find one that suits your current state. If you find that growing your hair out is not an option due to your level of hair loss, then just buzz it.

 

Your too young for an HT and the thing about Propecia and Rogaine is that while it can help you significantly improve your current situation by helping you to keep your existing hair or slowing down your hair loss, in the majority of men, it will not grow back a lot of hair. So unless you happen to be one of those lucky few that grows back a significant amount of lost hair with Finasteride + Rogaine, your best case scenario for the present is being able to keep your existing hair. It really is out of your hands for the time being but the good news is that if you get on Finasteride and wait a few more years for your hair loss to stabilize and if you have decent donor hair characteristics, a hair transplant can help you to greatly improve your appearance.

 

Don't worry too about something you don't have much control over for the time being. I could tell you that there are women out there who don't care about hair loss, who look for things beyond your physical appearance but the truth is, most women who are around your age do put A LOT of emphasis on looks. Don't think much about it and try to find a decent hair style, otherwise buzz your hair. Wear a hat and take it off when you need to without thinking twice about it. Focus on your career and on your fitness. When the time comes, you can be ready for a good hair transplant that can give you what you are looking for.

Edited May 17, 2010 by aw33

[Zack01]

Hi Thank you for the reply!

 

After reading your reply I decided to look at the chart again.I'm basically 4A because my hair is thin all over in that exact location, i do have hair all over it but it's so fine and brittle you can hardly see it. I've been reading up on Hair Transplants and have seen many saying to deffentlly not do it before your 25 due to further hair loss. but as my hair is already thin it is very obvious were all the hair i'm going to lose completely is, it would also make sense as if i lost all the hair were my thin hair is now i would end up with the same baldness my Dad has now. so if you can know were the baldness will be could you not get a hair transplant at a younger age and keep it in mind were you would have to go back to get another one? I have done rogane but i didnt quite keep it up properly and i think i might give that another go. I'm to scared to try propecia because of the side effects. Another question do you think your fitness and diet can have much effect on your hair?

[aw33]

4A pattern isn't bad. Genetics are hard to fully comprehend - you cannot simply base your future pattern on your father. My father lost his hair around age 25, is 5'6 and weighs 140 lbs. I am 6'3, weigh 210 lbs and lost my hair at age 17. You never know what your future holds for you. It isn't as easy as simply getting another HT once you further develop your hair loss pattern - an HT is expensive and it isn't easy to go through.

 

Are you afraid of using Propecia because of all the negative reviews of it you have seen ONLINE? Think about it, even if all of those reviews were accurate, even if you could find 10,000 negative reviews about Propecia, just imagine all the positive reviews of the drug that people don't post. Most people that benefit from a drug don't scour the net looking for places to post their stories, they simply keep using the drug and keep quiet unless they are asked directly (like many of us here on these forums, including myself currently telling you my positive results with the drug). Based on what the drug makers themselves claim, if only 2% of the people taking the drug in the study got affected by the side effects and if you see 10,000 negative reviews, you can just imagine the number of people that have benefited from this drug.

 

The only thing that causes Male Pattern Baldness is your genetics. According to current science anyways.

Edited May 17, 2010 by aw33

[1982UK]

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/showthread.php?t=141111

 

Have you read this thread?

A company have managed to effectively cure male pattern boldness and are currently testing it on a larger amount of people the first group of 20 guys all regrew hair (actual new follicles)

 

2013 is when the company intend to launch it.

[Zack01]

Thanks for the reply again!

 

You made some very sound points I didn't think of. I agree with what you said regarding the father issue but my dad, his brother and their dad all have the exact same baldness and as i have thinning in the exact same area am i not almost certain to have the same baldness in a couple of years? The only thing i don't know is what the mens hair is like on my mothers side as she was adopted and has no knowledge of her blood family. I think right now i may be over thinking about my hair again.. before i shaved my head i tried topic the hair concealer and was very happy about my hair and even went outside a lot with out my hat on feeling very confidant. The time in the pub i refered to in my first post was on the day i had just ran out and after the experience of getting chucked out over a hat i felt very low and so shaved my head the next day as a reaction to that night. I think if i grow my hair out again and try the topik again i will stop thinking so much about my hair, and then carry on with the regain and think about a hair transplant a few more years down the line. Do you think that's a good plan?

 

Also the propica again you made a very good point to which i hadn't thought about. The side effect that worries me the most is the erectile dysfunction, if i was to get this i think that would be even worse to me than losing my hair.. I've read that some people who took propica and got erectile dysfunction have it because it's in their mind that they will get it because it says they could in the side effects. I happen to be quite a big hypercondriac person by nature and fear that would happen to me. but do you personally think that propica is a lot better than regane (minoxidil) or would you say the same?

[aw33]

Well, even if your pattern did closely resemble that of father/uncle/grandfather, would that be a chance your willing to take? Would that be a chance an ethical surgeon would be willing to take?

 

A shaved head looks bad on many people, I personally don't like the way it looks either so I came by with a new style. I buzzed the top of my head where the hair is thinner and I shaved the back and sides of my head where the hair is thicker and this produces a layered and fine looking pattern. However, I'd be much more not interested in putting so much time and effort into my hair and would rather focus on other aspects of my body/face. For instance, these days I just buzz my hair and my head looks like Jason Statham's, with a fair bit more hair. I try to focus on grooming well and keeping myself in top shape.

 

I personally have never tried a concealor of any sort. I sweat a lot, the wind in Toronto is unpredictable and I go through many different types of activities throughout my day so I just don't bother with them. If your hair really bothers you that much and if you can go about your day with Topikk on then by all means go for it.

 

The main thing essential for a successful HT is stabilization of your baldness. There are 3 ways that your hair loss can be stabilized:

 

1. Finasteride

2. Age (For example, a 50 year old who has stable hair now that he has been gradually losing his hair for the past 25 years)

3. Only hair loss experienced is a matured hair line (In some men, the only form of hair loss they encounter is a receded hair line and nothing else)

 

If we had a way to successfully stabilize hair loss indefinately then I'd be the first one to go under the knife for a transplant. Since we don't, we have to use the best alternatives which for now involve taking Finasteride for a long time so that it can slow/stop your MPB.

 

As for you being afraid of the drug (which is understandable, my father asks me all the time about what the drug may cause in 20-30-40 years from now), there really isn't much you can do. You can either take the drug and try it out for some time (1 year to fully evaluate results) or you can avoid the drug and let your hair loss progress. Since your a NW4A at such a young age, I am going to assume that your father, uncles and grandfather mostly have NW6 patterns. There is no guarantee but there is a good chance that you too are destined to become an NW6 - a hair transplant at that stage is difficult and expensive. Depending on your donor hair, you might need as many as 6000-8000+ grafts to achieve a decent look and the price can run you in at over $20,000.

 

Think hard about it and make your decision. If I was in your shoes, I would go for it.

 

GL

[Bill - Seemiller]

1982UK,

 

A company have managed to effectively cure male pattern boldness and are currently testing it on a larger amount of people the first group of 20 guys all regrew hair (actual new follicles)

 

That's a pretty bold claim. While I will remain cautiously optimistic, I wouldn't start singing its praises until further testing and it's actually released.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill