If you start losing hair in your 20s, are you guaranteed to be NW6-7?

[Eugenix Hair Sciences]

On 11/10/2018 at 10:52 AM, AnalogFeel said:

Any stories here of guys who were say NW2-3 but also with diffuse thinning and maybe a thinning crown who ended up say a 3-5 pattern long term?

Or are you guaranteed to be a very high norwood in old age

You are not guaranteed to be Norwood VI or VII. Baldness is unpredictable. It also depends on the history of baldness in your family. But it is not necessary that you will have the same level of baldness.

However, it is better to see a dermatologist and start with precautionary measures. Prevention of the progression of baldness is most important.

[Adier]

@Z--If i respond well to DHT blockers for how long can I keep my current hair?. I am a NW1.5-NW2 diffused and 25. My paternal grandfather was NW5A at 54 ,my father is NW4 diffused at 58. All my paternal my uncles are in the range of NW2-NW5. 

[THE TRUTH]

Like Eugenix said, baldness can never be predicted with certainty. 

There are 200 different genes involved in hairloss. It's a lot more complex than the Androgen Receptor gene and the X chromosome...

But here is what I'd say 

if you start losing hair before the age of 25 and your father and/or grand-father are completely bald ( Norwood 6-7 with a horseshoe)  then yes you have very very high chances of becoming Norwood 6-7 too...

There are only 3 ways on earth that exist to avoid it 

By taking oral 5alpha reductase inhibitors for the rest of your life. Finasteride and Dutasteride.

Surgical castration. 

Male to Female HRT (estrogen, spiro, bicalutamide) 

Minoxidil, PRP, topicals, exosomes, transplants, microneedling will never be able to stop  the progression of androgenic alopecia. 

[deeznuts]

On 11/10/2018 at 12:22 AM, AnalogFeel said:

Any stories here of guys who were say NW2-3 but also with diffuse thinning and maybe a thinning crown who ended up say a 3-5 pattern long term?

Or are you guaranteed to be a very high norwood in old age

If you've got a thinning crown and diffuse thinning, you're probably not a NW2-3. If you have diffuse thinning then your pattern includes the diffuse loss. 

[Gatsby]

I think if you commence balding in your early twenties and if it is also aggressive then it's best to assume you will progress to Norwood 6 and 7. I say this if one is planning for surgery. It's better to be conservative and to plan with the worst case scenario in mind. That way you will always be erring on the side of caution and creating a safe plan. All the best!

[Z--]

12 hours ago, Adier said:

@Z--If i respond well to DHT blockers for how long can I keep my current hair?. I am a NW1.5-NW2 diffused and 25. My paternal grandfather was NW5A at 54 ,my father is NW4 diffused at 58. All my paternal my uncles are in the range of NW2-NW5. 

Like a few ppl said, I don't think it's possible to predict. DHT blockers are supposed to be more effective in the crown. If you're a NW2 at 25, there's a chance you can maintain that for a decade or two (or longer). There's also a chance that your hairloss is so aggressive, that you'll end up at the pattern you're going to end up at -- especially if the medication loses efficacy over time. At Norwood 2 and medication and only 25 years, I wouldn't do a transplant. You're already doing what you can which is good.

[Adier]

@Z--Thanks for the response. I don't know whether my hair loss is agressive or not. I started balding 4 years ago. I was NW1 at that point with no thinning nothing. I have had a stressful period during July - December last year which was where i believe my hairloss picked the pace. I first went for topical finasteride and Minoxidil and now after 3 months of that upped it with oral finasteride and topical Minoxidil. Mt hairline doesn't look bad there is thinning but my scalp is diffusely thinned which is what I want to improve. Hopefully i can thicken and maintain for atleast 5-8 years.

 

[Adier]

@GatsbyHow to know that your balding is agressive?

 

[Gatsby]

58 minutes ago, Adier said:

@GatsbyHow to know that your balding is agressive?

 

If for example you notice that your hair has receded from say 18-22 to a Norwood 3 for example.

[Adier]

@GatsbyMy hairline has receded from NW1 to NW2 in the last four years but my whole scalp has diffuse thinning. My left part has less recession compared to my right side. My donor seems very thick though.

[Vann]

10 hours ago, Gatsby said:

I think if you commence balding in your early twenties and if it is also aggressive then it's best to assume you will progress to Norwood 6 and 7. I say this if one is planning for surgery. It's better to be conservative and to plan with the worst case scenario in mind. That way you will always be erring on the side of caution and creating a safe plan. All the best!

This ^

Imagine if you started taking finasteride right when you were born (only thinking of the hair side effects) you probably wouldnt lose much hair. However, you wouldnt take it that young... because one you dont expect to lose hair when youre young. Another is that you dont really notice that youre losing hair until you start losing. So its hard to say when its going to stop. We take these medications are a preventative to the future hair loss battle. Now there are options like PRP, derma rolling, RU, and others... but none are permanent. None are ever lasting.

When you get a scar its doesnt go away completely, it still remains, think of it as if you had surgery and your incision scar forms scar tissue. You cant really get rid of that... itll form and scab around. You cant really pick the scab from the inside since its whats holding your skin closed. If you keep picking at it and focusing it with creams and gels you can potentially make it fade evenly with your surrounding tissue... but it will always be a scar no matter what you do.

Its a tough reality but it is something very difficult to swallow and come to terms with. My best advice... is shave your head, see what you look like with your hair short. Consider medical therapy, consider seeing a dermatologist and your PCP (primary care physican) to run some tests, and if you do plan for surgical options you say youre 25 so think of doing the utmost best to preserve your grafts (expect to have 5-6 HTs in the worst case - not saying it will be that many or that bad just think ahead).

In my case, i will say I started taking finasteride when I was young I believe it was 19-20 because I saw the signs of my brother losing hair. I noticed that my hair shed a ton while I was on it so I only did it for about 2 years then stopped for a few months and started again. However, I have noticed that after 9 months the first year, my hair loss really stabilized and I was one of those hyper responders so I figured it was just temporary. Issue was... my hair was really thick and curly so I didnt grasp how aggressive my hair loss was. I took it for about... 5-6 years then switched to Dutasteride and really saw how my hair has improved. I still lost hair while taking fin but it was really really slow. That just shows how aggressive it can be. However, in the last year of fin I really had some good results. I am assuming that my hair loss was caused by a bunch of factors, stress, hormones, crap diet, etc. But on Dut I feel like my hair not only recovered some areas but made some hairs in my hair line thicker. (I have wavy/curly hairs) So, just think of the long term. I am sure at 25 you arent able to grasp what may happen, but neither was I and I am really glad i kept my routine... otherwise I might have been a NW4+ (at the worst) but I may never reach that point thanks to my preemptive actions or I may reach that point if my medical therapies dont keep up.

 

The short thing i am trying to say is...  hair loss could be really aggressive early and slow down as you age. You will NEVER know what may come next. whether that's super aggressive hair loss, really great response to medication, or even a new synthetical hormone therapy to help regrow hair. Whatever you do, just dont rush into anything and see your physician(s) about your concerns. 

[MissMyLongHair]

Can I ask how long you have been on Dutasteride for @Vann?

[Vann]

2 minutes ago, MissMyLongHair said:

Can I ask how long you have been on Dutasteride for @Vann?

For over 2 years. After a year I noticed my hair getting a bit thicker but the 2nd year on Dut really showed most of the improvement. I cant say it was solely due to Dut. Because I think the time spent on Fin really helped with stabilizing. However, now i just shed normally. (the normal hair shedding you have daily) I dont really see anything more significant.

If youre wondering what happened when I switched... I had the same feelings that I did on Fin. When I first started Fin I had some minor discomfort in my groin for like... I think the first 6 months which was like once or twice but within that time frame. Then it went away. With Dut I had it a little more often like 5-6 times but I want to say after the first 3 months on the switch I never really noticed anything different. No nocebo effect, no sexual issues, no hormonal changes. Literally the same thing with just better hair results.

[gillenator]

On 11/10/2018 at 10:55 AM, Curious said:

The younger you are when you start losing your hair, the more likely it is you will be high on the Norwood scale as you get older.  I started losing it at 25 and became a NW 6.

I cannot begin to tell you how many young men in their late teens to early 20’s that I heard from over the years  who were beginning to experience aggressive MPB…an extremely high percentage of them had classes 6 & 7 in their family history, more so 7s.

[THE TRUTH]

9 minutes ago, gillenator said:

I cannot begin to tell you how many young men in their late teens to early 20’s that I heard from over the years  who were beginning to experience aggressive MPB…an extremely high percentage of them had classes 6 & 7 in their family history, more so 7s.

Very true. 

If you start balding  before the age of 25 and your dad or your grandpa is Norwood 6-7 then 90% chance you will end up the same. 

Oral Dutasteride is your best bet in such case as well as any other adjunct treatment to complement it. 

[gillenator]

I agree since DUT inhibits both Type 1 and 2 DHT.