Not losing hair - just a bad hairline!

[Sermono]

Hi all,

 

First of all, I want to say that this forum looks great. There's quite a few of them out there but this one seems to have by far the best community. I was just browsing for info but seeing how helpful everyone is encouraged me to actually sign up.

 

My situation is a bit different to the people on this board. I'm just about to turn 25, and I'm not actually suffering from hair loss - but my hairline has always been very high. I've been pretty conscious about it for a long time, which is why I've always worn my hair long, but it doesn't fully hide the problem.

 

Ideally, I'd like to have a transplant to fill in the gaps in my hairline at the front. I thought I'd ask you guys what your opinions on this would be? My maternal grandfather still has most of his hair at gone 70, and my dad has a thinning crown but still a reasonable amount on top at 50.

 

My main concern would be losing my normal hair at the front and being left with a couple of weird patches remaining at the front from the grafts, but this could be got around by taking some grafts from nearby areas, right? Or would that not work?

 

I've attached a few photos taken on my webcam to show my problem firsthand. I figure I'm a Norwood III but if people have a more experienced eye I'd be happy to hear their thoughts...

 

I appreciate that my problems aren't as severe as most of the people on this board, but if the outcome would be good, I don't see any reason not to sort mine out. Thoughts and experience would be appreciated!

[JayWalker]

Looks fairly similar to me.

I have always had a high hairline, but it has moved due to MPB.

You certainly wont have had that hairline all of your life I dont think, but its not a problem. A wealth of knowledge on here, I came on completely clueless about a year ago and spent a good while educating myself.

I had my transplant nearly 2 weeks ago.

 

Im not in anyway qualified on hair, but many on here are, and will give you sound advice.

 

 

Just to add, you are still young, I'd see how things go in the next few years as you may have just developed a mature hairline and that is it.

You dont want to jump in too young.

Edited October 25, 2011 by JayWalker

[mattj]

By "gaps" do you mean your receded temples at both sides?

 

I don't want to contradict you but you do look like someone who has hairloss. How long has your hairline looked as it does now? Can you trace it back to childhood? If you can't remember and have no photographic evidence of any sort then it's possible that you've slowly receded over a long period of time (since your mid-late teens, say) and got to where you are now very gradually.

 

You might be able to say with certainty that this isn't what happened, but I'm just basing this on what I see, and what I see is classic hairline recession in the male pattern. A 2 or thereabouts on the Norwood scale.

[Sermono]

Yup, I mean my receeded temples. Perhaps you guys are right, and I am losing my hair. I've always had a high hairline as I mentioned earlier - and I remember one of my friends pointing out I had a 'massive receedo' in my second year at uni when I was about 19. That was just over five years ago now. It's quite possibly got worse since then.

 

The thing is, I don't have any photographic evidence because I've been actively hiding it for years

 

Hmmm. What would you guys recommend?

[Sermono]

Having checked older photos, it's obvious I had semi-receeded temples even at 18-19 (Facebook didn't exist before then so it's hard to see anything prior to that). Quite how extensive it was, I don't know. There's no photos with my hair pulled back as in the shots above....

[mattj]

Hairloss can creep up on you. It's not totally uncommon for hairloss to begin when a man is still in his teens.

 

The two main treatments are Propecia and Rogaine. Both of these work best on the top and at the crown, and are less successful at the hairline, but contrary to what many people say they can produce results in the frontal region.

 

And by results I mean a small chance of some fairly minor re-growth of hair, with a slowing down or halting of the hairloss being the main benefit. I'd advise you to have a poke around in this forum for info as I feel it's necessary to read a wide range of experiences and opinions before starting treatment.

[byron]

i have a slightly better hairline than you but not that much better

 

at the moment i am on rogaine foam and nizoral shampoo if i can juts maintain what i have now id be very happy, im not looking to go down the HT route until later in life

 

rogaine foam and nizoral shampoo 3 times a week, although i am using it more than that as hairloss freaks me out, you are not alone my friend, im 27

[richie48]

hey bud

 

sorry but this is absolutely classic denial , you are losing your hair ,

 

everybody thinks the same shit at first , " bad hairline " or " cow lick " or " just a double crown "...........

 

we all feel the same way at first , denial .......

 

if your serious about keeping what you've got now , get on the meds , finasteride or propecia , creams like minox do work but can be a pain for some guys to use , ichey scalp ,reddening of the skin , greasy , i know ,i used them for a while .

 

if you start down the med route don't ever be tempted to give them up as you will lose any hair the meds have helped you keep .

 

at 25 most docs will think you're too young for a ht but i have also seen guys as young as 21 have proceedures done , an ethical ht surgeon will be best to judge that .

 

get on meds and see where your hairloss is in two or three years minimun , if you find you can't take the meds due to side effects you will know be then , and ht's without meds to stablize future loss are risky .

 

get on meds and assess your situation in a few years .

 

good luck

richie

[Sermono]

Well, I wouldn't exactly say I was in denial about it. I just hadn't really noticed. As I say, my hair was already pretty high around the temples even at 18-19. I've not really been monitoring the hairline or thinking about it a great deal until I posted up here and everyone suggested I might actually be losing hair too.

 

Anyways, I've done some reading and ordered some minoxidil foam. Nizoral shampoo doesn't really seem too pricey either so I've picked up a bottle of that to use every other day. We'll see what happens.

 

I'll look into finasteride too, but that's a lot more expensive and seems like it has some unpleasant potential side effects too. I'll think a bit harder about that.

 

EDIT - thanks for the help, by the way. It's been great to have some other people's opinions on things.

Edited October 26, 2011 by Sermono

[Spanker]

Generic proscar averages out to a little over $2 a month in the US, without a perscription.

 

I too would say you are at the beginning stages of loss.

 

Even if everyone in your family has a full head, some people get hit from recessive genes that are passed to them.

[jessie1]

Sermono,

 

You are in safe hands on this forum mate. Just keep tapping into the advice offered.

 

My hairloss is pretty much confined to the hairline but unfortunately this is not an area which is effectively tackled by meds. Well, my experience has lead me to that conclusion and in fairness I haven't seen many success stories when it comes to hairline maintenance or restoration on meds alone.....

 

Furthermore, I have been on FIN for 2.5 years and I'm not a big fan of it. I just take it because I'm frightened of the consequences if I don't. One thing I would say about FIN is that the clinical trials don't seem to reflect real life experiences of using the drug. I would say that personal experiences are much more credible and realistic than what the clinical trials would have you believe.

 

Jessie

[ziggy00]

Does you have any older family members with similar hair, i.e. just a big widow's peak?

[Sermono]

Proscar works out at more than $2 per month over in the UK, but I've taken the plunge and bought some. I'm now taking 1mg of Finasteride daily, got some Rograine foam which I've started applying today, and my Nizoral shampoo has just arrived. I'll use that every other day.

 

Other family members with similar hair - I guess my dad's hairline is a bit like that, but he's 55 so his hair is going on top and at his crown too. I don't have any photos of him when he's younger so I don't really know what his natural hairline was like, either.

[JayWalker]

Proscar works out at more than $2 per month over in the UK, but I've taken the plunge and bought some. I'm now taking 1mg of Finasteride daily, got some Rograine foam which I've started applying today, and my Nizoral shampoo has just arrived. I'll use that every other day.

 

Other family members with similar hair - I guess my dad's hairline is a bit like that, but he's 55 so his hair is going on top and at his crown too. I don't have any photos of him when he's younger so I don't really know what his natural hairline was like, either.

 

Sounds good, but I wouldnt use Nizoral ever other day, alot of chat about this recently, and it can cause alot of shedding. I just use once a week, its DHT blocking capabilities should be taken with a pinch of salt though, I've never seen any clinical trials that show the credibility of this claim.

 

I just like it as a deep cleaning shampoo for once a week.

[Sermono]

Just thought I'd post an update here - I've been taking Finasteride 1mg daily for the best part of 7 weeks now. I've experienced no noticeable sides, but at a couple of points I was pretty shocked at the amount of shedding I was getting. My hairline looked noticeably weaker at the 4 week mark than before I'd started.

 

I've also been using Minoxidil foam, but I've not been using that for the last 2-3 weeks because I've been travelling a lot and it's not as easy to carry as a few pills are. I'll start that again in the new year.

 

I'm hoping that the shedding means I'm responding well to the finasteride and I'll be interested to see how I look at the 3-4 month mark. I can't yet see anywhere where I'm having any noticeable regrowth - just the places where my hair has fallen out over the last seven weeks. I'm kinda hoping all that will start in the 3-4 month phase when the hairs go back into the growing phase.

[Spanker]

Stick with it.