I'm 20 but...

[Shad]

I'm 20 but I've been receding at the temples quite a far bit. My vertex is fine, but my front is just a big nono. I know it's not as bad as some of the pictures posted on here, but it's definitely happening. I can't style my hair the way my friends are doing, and getting sweaty or going swimming started becoming nightmares for me. I've started minoxidil 3 weeks ago, but I'm sure it'll need more time before the results come in. Any ideas what I could or should do for my current situation? Thanks. 

[Shad]

618 months?! I'm assuming you mean 6 - 8 months...? Haha. 

So apart from that is there anything else I can do?

[Shad]

I feel like I'm receding too much. What if I want a straight hairline...? Or is that impossible without HT?

[JayLDD]

99% sure this is not a "maturing" hairline.  Hard to see proportions and density still strong but looks close to norwood 3 territory.

 

If you want to keep your hair then forget minoxidil entirely and get on finasteride as a maintenance treatment and you can add nizoral shampoo as a mild anti-androgen also for mild benefits on top of that. Once your teenage hairline is gone, you can get slight improvements from meds but a transplant is your only option. Not that you should opt for that at this point, your number one should be finasteride.

[Shad]

How should I get my hands on finasteride? Does it serve to maintain my current hairline or are there other effects? What about propecia? And why should I stop minoxidil? Thank you.

[Shad]

This is a picture of my hair from the top, vertex seems ok. And it looks like I can hide the crown with the fringe growing out. But the V is really a no go.

[Melvin- Admin]

1 hour ago, Shad said:

How should I get my hands on finasteride? Does it serve to maintain my current hairline or are there other effects? What about propecia? And why should I stop minoxidil? Thank you.

You can get it prescribed by a hair transplant surgeon or dermatologist, yes there are side effects but they are rare, but they do exist, educate yourself first before taking the medication. Do not stop minoxidil, it works quite well especially in combination with finasteride. Medication all serve to maintain hair, in rare cases it may regrow hair in some patients. 

Warm regards- Melvin

[JayLDD]

1 hour ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

You can get it prescribed by a hair transplant surgeon or dermatologist, yes there are side effects but they are rare, but they do exist, educate yourself first before taking the medication. Do not stop minoxidil, it works quite well especially in combination with finasteride. Medication all serve to maintain hair, in rare cases it may regrow hair in some patients. 

Warm regards- Melvin

Agree somewhat, but I don't think its a good idea to give noobies the impression that they will maintain on minoxidil or that its an alternative to finasteride, because they won't and its not. Most studies show an efficacy period of a few years before people are below baseline if they are solely on minoxidil, its also a pain in the ass of a routine and people become somewhat dependent on it and risk a big shed if they ever stop for what are in 90% of cases mediocre results to begin with. He's not growing back a teenage hairline just because he's taking minox, the statistics suggest most likely he won't grow back anything at all, just maintain more effectively. That's why I wouldn't recommend it OP who by the sounds of it is hoping for an improvement more drastic than it can provide.

Edited July 26, 2018 by JeanLDD

[Melvin- Admin]

2 hours ago, JeanLDD said:

Agree somewhat, but I don't think its a good idea to give noobies the impression that they will maintain on minoxidil or that its an alternative to finasteride, because they won't and its not. Most studies show an efficacy period of a few years before people are below baseline if they are solely on minoxidil, its also a pain in the ass of a routine and people become somewhat dependent on it and risk a big shed if they ever stop for what are in 90% of cases mediocre results to begin with. He's not growing back a teenage hairline just because he's taking minox, the statistics suggest most likely he won't grow back anything at all, just maintain more effectively. That's why I wouldn't recommend it OP who by the sounds of it is hoping for an improvement more drastic than it can provide.

I never understood the become dependent on minoxidil thing, it’s a treatment just like finasteride, the hair that is lost when the treatment is stopped is the hair it was maintaining, it’s not as if minoxidil makes you balder that’s a total myth and has no science behind it. I never said it was a replacement to finasteride I said it works well in combination with finasteride, I’ve personally gotten great results from it and will always recommend it in conjunction with finasteride. 

[JayLDD]

1 hour ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

I never understood the become dependent on minoxidil thing, it’s a treatment just like finasteride, the hair that is lost when the treatment is stopped is the hair it was maintaining, it’s not as if minoxidil makes you balder that’s a total myth and has no science behind it. I never said it was a replacement to finasteride I said it works well in combination with finasteride, I’ve personally gotten great results from it and will always recommend it in conjunction with finasteride. 

I don't think anyone understands specifically the exact workings of dropping minoxidil when used in conjunction with and obviously people are going to have different experiences, but I've read at least 30 of those from people on both treatments who experience drastic sheds after dropping the minox, despite having long term stabilisation prior.  The reality is that minoxidil doesn't stop the miniaturisation process, over 30% have no period of improvement on it and the efficacy is short term without an anti-androgen like finasteride.

 

 

Not sure the exact source of this chart but I've seen similar elsewhere.

 

And comparing to finasteride in terms of efficacy:

 

 

 

It's not a simple commitment with multiple applications per day as in the various studies, the efficacy is low and shorter term compared to finasteride,it doesn't stop the miniaturisation process and on top of that its hard to apply with longer hair and can make your hair look like shit when its sitting on the scalp all day as its supposed to. 

 

 

Just my opinion based on the facts. Not saying it doesn't work (although it doesn't for a significant amount of people),  just that for myself with experience it wasn't worth the hassle and it on top of that statistics clearly show finasteride does heavier lifting without the pitfalls. That's without even mentioning issues like it inhibiting collagen synthesis which can come with issues like facial bloating, wrinkles and dark circles which are heavily documented.  My main point would be that OP is unlikely to get to an "age appropriate" 20 year olds hairline just because he's going through the extra hassle of using minox.

 

Same impression by the doctors I talked to before I got on finasteride and later on Erdogan's opinion, none were thrilled by it or their patients experience of it and just suggested finasteride.

 

 

Edited July 26, 2018 by JeanLDD

[SBSinNYC]

As a 20 year old, you have the luxury of being smart and deliberate about your situation.   You may or may not be facing a problem down the road, but either way it is still largely down the road.  Find an excellent doc or two and talk to them.   Have them help you determine your situation and montitor over time to clarify further.   There may be others who disagree, but I would be highly suspicious of any doc who proposes a HT for someone your age, unless the circumstances are highly unusual. 

Yes, taking finasteride can help maintain your current density and volume, but beware side effects.  Especially at 20years old, there can be side effects you don’t want to have to deal with at this time in your life.  At the same time, starting the process of understanding your situation and path forward will help ease your mind.  

Best of luck!  

[JayLDD]

30 minutes ago, SBSinNYC said:

As a 20 year old, you have the luxury of being smart and deliberate about your situation.   You may or may not be facing a problem down the road, but either way it is still largely down the road.  Find an excellent doc or two and talk to them.   Have them help you determine your situation and montitor over time to clarify further.   There may be others who disagree, but I would be highly suspicious of any doc who proposes a HT for someone your age, unless the circumstances are highly unusual. 

Yes, taking finasteride can help maintain your current density and volume, but beware side effects.  Especially at 20years old, there can be side effects you don’t want to have to deal with at this time in your life.  At the same time, starting the process of understanding your situation and path forward will help ease your mind.  

Best of luck!  

To the contrary, if I got on finasteride at 20 rather than when I was getting close to 22 I would have avoided tens of thousands of dollars spent and multiple hair transplants. The potential side effects that made me scared to get on it to begin with never materialised in the slightest when I actually got on the drug, as is the case for 95% of users.

[Shad]

Should I buy Propecia (finasteride) online? I don't want to waste any money seeing the doctor. 

[Legend007]

U better get on finasteride ASAP ... u have miniaturization on ur hairline just like me .. ur hairloss is similar to mines .. but I enjoyed great hair till I was about 37 .. at first I thought the recession will just stop by itself .. but it doesn’t ,.,  and since U r experiencing this at an early age , ur hairloss is going to be more aggressive .. start to worry if u notice more miniaturization throughout ur scalp ,, then u really need to hop on meds .. if ur current hair right now feels thick n not fine n brittle then finasteride should help u ,, n slow down ur hairloss .. so don’t wait till ur hair becomes too thin / smaller Diameter .. then meds won’t be too successful .. so don’t get started too late ..

as for the bald areas on ur hairline ,, nothing u can do about it .. it’s gone .. should of went on meds before it went bald .. 

[Shad]

So can I get finasteride online? Plus do I go for 1 mg or 5 mg?

[Legend007]

U should get evaluated by a doctor .. but usually ur general practitioner probably won’t know much about hair ..

u can google search HIMS , I’ve been hearing there adverstising a lot.. for like $25 u can get an online evaluation from their doctors , n then u just sign a monthly subscription with HIMS n they send u generic propecia, for around $20 .. 

i would use that service myself but I have excellent health insurance thru Kaiser..

my personal experience I’ve been on finasteride for almost a year now .. my hairline is still  receding from a Norwood 2 almost 3 .. I let my hair gotten too thin,, I fukked up .. it was just 2 years ago I was a Norwood 1 with a lot of hair .. really dense hair that I had to cut every month .. but my hair caliber was thinning n I didn’t notice it .. once ur hair starts thinning hair enough,, the receding begins .. 

so u still pretty lucky ,, u still have dense hair ,, so do ur best to maintain .. if u do nothing u get balder n balder .. 

n nope I have no side effects .. at first I thought I did, but nope I didn’t .. 

[Shad]

I'm not... I'm in Asia. Is there a way that I can do it internationally?

[BaldingtimetoLdar]

That's not a maturing hairline, it's receding quickly. 

[jjsrader]

My younger brother had beautiful long blonde hair and his hairloss began the same way (w/lots of hair in the very front getting smaller and smaller).  It began when he was about 21 - please do everything you can w/medications to keep most of it as long as you can.

Good luck.