Devastating hair loss at 21.. advise?

[cyrilhan]

Hello all

i have been losing my hair since puberty, now i am only 21 years old and i am already a norwood 4 i would say. i have lost my hair in a devastating way and still do, even though i have been a year and half on finasteride now.

at the beginning it worked for me, my crown improved much and hair loss was moderated. then a couple of month ago i started to lose my hair again .

I would appreciate any advise from anyone , specially who had a similar experience at such a young age. 

this probelm of hairloss is highly affecting my psychological state, i would do anything to resolve that.

thanks for reading

[lakes9925]

Hopefully your sides and crown dont dip to low, If they dont than a good HT would work for you

[Lennney]

I didn't have the experience you've had, but I hope I can help at least somewhat.

I've heard fin has a shed period somewhere between 2-5 months from various sources, but it sounds like you're much past that (you say 1.5 years). 

It's far out of my wheelhouse, but maybe a higher dose will help...? Again, I'm purely speculating.

I say the above because fin works by inhibiting DHT. The unlucky balding population has hair that is sensitive to DHT. It could be that enough DHT is getting through to the hairs to make them fall out with your current dosage. I've also just read an estimate which says fin blocks about 70% of DHT while dutasteride blocks about 90%. 

The hair on the sides and donor is not sensitive to DHT.

My current advice is to get a haircut which doesn't bring so much attention to your balding pattern. Even if it's not the Jason Statham buzz cut, reducing the "bulk" (use thinning shears/feathering scissors) will minimize the transition from healthy full hair to the balding area. Does that make sense? It's like you have trees next to a empty plot of land - where you want to make that more of plants or shrubs next to an empty plot of land. I would go 1-3 on the sides and 3-5 on the top, where there is a difference of two in the sides and top.

I honestly can't imagine loosing my hair at such a young age. I do feel for you. I have generic advice that's good for your life like: take care of your health (diet & exercise) and try to build confidence through success in professional life as well as hobbies and activities. See if you like rock climbing or something active. Confidence comes from success, not from looks. There are plenty of confident ugly people and plenty of attractive people with no confidence. Get some "wins" under your belt.

Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I'd definitely consider a HT. With your current aggressive progression, you will be a Norwood 7 in little time. The good news is you know your fate and can at least plan for it. You'll never have a full and thick head of hair - this is just a fact of life. Your best case is finding out what your donor is capable of. With this in mind, start visualizing what REASONABLE density & coverage you could achieve. Look for others, on this site and elsewhere who come from a similar Norwood progression. Age doesn't matter only their results. See what the successful ones aimed for, and the pitfalls of unsuccessful patients. You'd be looking basically at results of 4000+ to get coverage, maybe 3000+ if you chose to not address your crown (which I think may be fine without it, and many on here say they think it a futile endeavor due to growth & density factors). Consider using a doc who is good at BHT, since you want to use the "less valuable" body hair in the middle and the more precious donor for the hairline.

Best of luck. I genuinely hope it helps.

[Payam]

I would only consider a FUT and nothing else, the issue here is that with hairloss this aggressive at 21 you might be headed for a nw7.

I know this is not what you want to hear but, don't have a transplant now, wait until you're 30 at least to see how your hairloss has progressed and then make the decision. 

[Vickykuril]

At this age with this amount of hairloss there is no need to wait 9 years till u turn 30, but u should atleast wait for 2 three years more minimum and see the progression on your crown how deep the pattern is going. Once ur pattern is determined in your crown Dr can plan a long term goal to restore ur hair bcuz none of the ethical Dr’s are comfortable to work on such a young patient even if u have lost alot of hair.

snap decision is the worst thing u can do, just have patience now and do extensive research for the best result u can achieve, we are lucky that hair restoration looks so natural nowadays, 

Patience, extensive research, conservative approach and realistic desired results will help u to achieve mental peace regarding ur looks.And do not fall for FUE , after two fut u can go for FUE cuz u need to utilise maximum amount of grafts. Prepare urself financially for two three HT  in the next decade.

Perspective!

Edited June 29, 2019 by Vickykuril

[Darrenking]

I’ve worn hats since a young age , wore hats having sex with partners , refused to go to normal nightclubs where have to take off hat I know how you feel ...... it feels like nothing you do can hide it, don’t think mine was hat bad at 21 but it’s just got worse and worse aged 35 and I wear a hat everywhere because I have no confidence meeting anyone or being seen without my cap