Need your comments

[tastybeef]

Hello.

 

I'm a 20 year old college student. I've been told that I had thick hair as a child. But looking back through high school pictures, I can't say that's true in my teenage years. Every picture where I had gel in my hair, my scalp was somewhat visible. It doesn't help that I'm rather pasty and I have black hair.

 

I never entertained the idea of hair loss until 2 months ago. My girlfriend of 9 months had told me before that she could see my scalp under the sun. I never took that seriously because it sounded absolutely normal. Then I started to notice hair on my pillow and in the bathtub. I kept a rough count of 20 hairs on my pillow every night and about 20 in my hands as I shampoo. This bothered me, but I read somewhere that people lose around 50 to 150 hairs everyday.

 

Then my friend made a comment about my thinning hair on the crown. I was bothered and started taking pictures so I could see what exactly she was talking about. And there it was. It's in my weblog.

 

I went to a dermatologist and she said it was male pattern baldness. That's odd because my mother's side of the family didn't seem to be carrying the X-linked allele for the MPB. On the other hand, my father has always had fine thin hair, just like I do. Anyway, I started to apply 5% Minoxidil on Feb. 17th.

 

I need some comments and answers to my questions:

 

1. Do I really have MPB? I don't have hairline recession in the front. It's just thinning of the crown.

 

2. Does exercise help or not? I've heard the rationale that exercise increases free testosterone and exacerbates hair loss.

 

3. What kind of shampoo/conditioner should I be using?

 

4. When can I expect to see results from using minoxidil? So far, I feel like there has been little results. Coupled with the fact that I cut my hair after I just started using minoxidil, I feel like my scalp is even more visible.

 

5. Should I take Propecia? My dermatologist was hesitant to prescribe it because I'm rather young and she didn't want to cause hormonal imbalances. However, I've heard that it's quite effective despite the possible side effects.

 

6. Has anyone tried Revivogen?

 

Below is my weblog:

 

http://www.hairtransplantnetwo...-page.asp?WebID=1194

 

The pictures are in the Log 1 and Log 2.

 

Thanks for reading. I'm glad I found this forum.

[tastybeef]

Hello.

 

I'm a 20 year old college student. I've been told that I had thick hair as a child. But looking back through high school pictures, I can't say that's true in my teenage years. Every picture where I had gel in my hair, my scalp was somewhat visible. It doesn't help that I'm rather pasty and I have black hair.

 

I never entertained the idea of hair loss until 2 months ago. My girlfriend of 9 months had told me before that she could see my scalp under the sun. I never took that seriously because it sounded absolutely normal. Then I started to notice hair on my pillow and in the bathtub. I kept a rough count of 20 hairs on my pillow every night and about 20 in my hands as I shampoo. This bothered me, but I read somewhere that people lose around 50 to 150 hairs everyday.

 

Then my friend made a comment about my thinning hair on the crown. I was bothered and started taking pictures so I could see what exactly she was talking about. And there it was. It's in my weblog.

 

I went to a dermatologist and she said it was male pattern baldness. That's odd because my mother's side of the family didn't seem to be carrying the X-linked allele for the MPB. On the other hand, my father has always had fine thin hair, just like I do. Anyway, I started to apply 5% Minoxidil on Feb. 17th.

 

I need some comments and answers to my questions:

 

1. Do I really have MPB? I don't have hairline recession in the front. It's just thinning of the crown.

 

2. Does exercise help or not? I've heard the rationale that exercise increases free testosterone and exacerbates hair loss.

 

3. What kind of shampoo/conditioner should I be using?

 

4. When can I expect to see results from using minoxidil? So far, I feel like there has been little results. Coupled with the fact that I cut my hair after I just started using minoxidil, I feel like my scalp is even more visible.

 

5. Should I take Propecia? My dermatologist was hesitant to prescribe it because I'm rather young and she didn't want to cause hormonal imbalances. However, I've heard that it's quite effective despite the possible side effects.

 

6. Has anyone tried Revivogen?

 

Below is my weblog:

 

http://www.hairtransplantnetwo...-page.asp?WebID=1194

 

The pictures are in the Log 1 and Log 2.

 

Thanks for reading. I'm glad I found this forum.

[Raphael84]

Me Beef,

 

Hello,

You seem as though you have already amassed good knowledge on this subject which can and will only be advantage to you.

 

1. Although the photos with flash seem to show more scalp than normal, the photos without flash look good for me. However, from those photos I can not tell if you have MPB or not. If you are losing a lot of hairs when you shower and sleep, this suggests that possible. MPB can absolutely effect the crown only. Although not the majority, many suffer crown loss long before any temple recession.

 

2. No way whatsoever. Obviously important to a healthy lifestyle, but it is a TOTAL myth that this will affect your hair.

 

3. It really depends if you have dry/greasy hair, dry scalp etc etc... so long as you dont use anything to highly concentrated.

 

4. Results especially from Minoxidil alone are really a long term thing. For me, you will not see much before 12 months. Also, please remember that these meds are primarily preventative and no improvement, whilst very possible, is necessarily guarenteed.

 

5. Tough call. Ultimately your decision but it comes down to this. If you are suffering MPB, regardless of your age, if you want to fight this, then Propecia is a MUST consider. Obviously, deciding factors such as its potential side effects are not so great, and this is where your age may play a part. It feels much more of a problem for you than maybe a 50 year old guy. But remember less than 2% experience any effects. If you genuinley feel and your dermatologist has explained that you are a MPB sufferer, give it some thought. But make the decision for you.

 

6. Never heard of it!

 

Good luck!

[tastybeef]

Thanks for your responses Raphael84.

 

I feel like I should get a second opinion on the MPB. Perhaps this time, I'll seek a hair loss specialist.

 

In the mean time, I will look into Propecia and Proscar. It's just hard to be convinced into taking drugs that are not that well studied yet. I've found many related publications on PubMed, yet none of them elucidate a mechanism of action. Of course, it could very well just be a simple competitive inhibitor of 5-alpha reductase. But the fact that it's ingested is bothersome since I only want it to work in the scalp.

 

Does anyone know if finasteride works topically?

 

Again, much gratitude for views and responses.

[Marvin]

I know a guy who looks like a NW2 from the front, but from the back he is a NW6 who is clearly advancing to NW7. It can definitely hit the back heavier than the front, and go on for a while that way.

[Mr. GQ]

Marvin next time you see that guy ask him who did his transplant and how much he paid for it