26, NW2 - is HT a good idea? Want Zac Efron hair...

[GuitarBoy]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm 26 and NW2. I have a Zac style haircut - longish, a bit shaggy with a fringe. My hair is good and thick, but of course it has been slowly receeding at the temples. I look terrible with short hair (I have a high forehead, which is why I've had a Zac type haircut forever, it disguises how high my forehead is).

 

I'm not taking any medication for the receeding hairline, as I don't know enough about it and generally dislike taking any meds.

 

I believe the receeding hairline started around age 20 but it has been extremely slow. I dislike how I am covering the bald patches with longer hair. Combover gives the wrong idea, but essentially I am using the longer hair around the receeding bits to cover it. I love my long hair and I really don't want to cut it.

 

I've been researching a bit on the forum and it seems there are conflicting views about whether it's a good idea for NW2 candidates to go ahead with HT. Was hoping to get some more comments here, and get an idea of what you guys think I should do. I don't want to make a huge mistake and make my situation worse. All opinions welcome...

[mahhong]

I would strongly recommend you don't get an HT for NW2 at your age. At your age you have no idea how your hairloss will progress (if it progresses at all). You could be an NW6 by the time you're 30, or you could still be an NW2 at 50. But the last thing you want to do is give yourself an HT to get a nice NW1 hairline and then find you start balding much more severely.

 

Family history will tell you a bit about what you might expect, but that alone can't say for certain how bald or not bald you'll get. The hairloss medications available also don't seem to work that well in the hairline unfortunately, though it is worth talking to a doctor to get a proper opinion and see if the medications might be suitable for you at this stage.

 

The problem with HTs is that we don't have enough available donor hair (the hair that will remain with you for life) to cover the entire top of your head at full density. A HT works by giving someone enough hair to look convincingly like they have a good head of hair, but it cannot replace an indefinite amount of lost hair. If you could guarantee you would remain an NW2 for the rest of your life you could afford to transplant enough hair to give yourself a juvenile hairline, but you cannot guarantee that and have to assume you'll lose some more. If you were to get an HT now a good doctor would want to be very conservative with how much hair they transplanted and so the results wouldn't be dramatic and probably wouldn't blend into your native thicker hair well.

 

If you have a good head of hair my advice to talk to a doctor about starting medication for hairloss, which will probably help you keep what you have for a good while longer. Also look at your family history; if there is hairloss in your father or grandfathers that's an indication of what you might be headed for. But even if there isn't, hairloss could still be in your genes from generations back.

 

You've definitely been wise to seek out opinions before you make any decisions, but at 26 you could (worst case) have another 40 or 50 years of hairloss ahead of you. I of course hope you don't, but it's best to think in those terms to be safe. You don't want to transplant a bunch of hair into your hairline then find your crown and vertex start balding - you want to make sure you always have enough donor supply to have options, and that means planning conservatively in the first instance.

 

I know it's not always nice to hear these sorts of things; hairloss is not fun and there is still no surefire way to get a full head of hair again. My advice is to keep it up with the stylish Zac-style hair, talk to a doctor about your hairloss concerns, look into medication and think about an HT hopefully much further down the line, if the balding persists. Let's hope you keep your hair for a long time to come!

[GuitarBoy]

Mahhong - thank you very much for your considerate reply.

 

It is definitely hard to hear that a HT may not be a good option. I am fairly self-conscious about my receeding hairline, but I do understand that it's not possible to determine the full extent of the hair loss I will experience over my life.

 

I would love to get the temples covered and then my hair problems would be over. But this isn't realistic at all, given that I am 26 and I suppose I am bound to lose more hair over the next few years. I can't imagine not having my long hair though

 

If the pace of my hair loss continues to be slow for the next few years; at what age do you think it would be acceptable to go for a HT?

 

I am going to talk to my parents about it as well, and try and find out what my grandfathers hair was like, and what my uncles and cousins hair is like. My dad was born with white blonde hair (like me), but his stayed blonde his entire life (he is 60 now and it is still white, though it has receeded around his temples and crown). For me, my hair turned brown in my teens and has stayed that way. I will find out about the rest of my extended family to see what their situations are like.

 

Thanks again for your advice.

[Spanker]

got pics?

[ffar]

First of all, show as some pictures. Secound... if your family history of hair loss is not only NW2 I wouldn't recomendet HT for now. But if it is just NW2 go for it.