Stable yet...?

[follically challenged]

Is there such a thing as hairloss stabilisation..? Is this a total myth? Or does it just apply to a select few...?

For example, Im approaching 35 years of age and considering that year to be the right time for my first HT.. 

Thanks in advance!

[follically challenged]

I should point out that my hair loss is thinning on top, (naturally very thin hair since forever,) and recession at the temples since i was around 21...

[Taken4Granted]

Same age here. When I say mine has stabilized, I mean it’s no longer aggressive and rapidly changing. I don’t think it stops for anyone, more like it asymptotically approaches some end state that becomes fairly clear and predictable once you “stabilize”.

[giegnosiganoe]

Are you taking finasteride?

[Melvin- Admin]

Hair loss is never truly stabilized. While you have hair left on your head, it’s not stabilized. However, the rate of loss may be slow. Medicine like finasteride and minoxidil give you time and dramatically slow the process. Generally, hair loss is more aggressive in your early 20’s, especially for those destined to be NW5+.

[Enhancer]

I recently made a post wondering why it slows down.  My grandfather was like that - NW3 very quickly by 25 and didn't reach NW5+ till 65-70, and he didn't even have meds.  This is often repeated by lots of people who experience the same thing, and a doctor stated this in an answer on Quora, wish I could find that post again.

[TorontoMan]

My father in his mid 30s, and my father now at 65. Receded to a Norwood 3 id say, with the M shaped hairline.. then stopped receding, just over time his hair has thinned slowly, which I’d say is quite normal given his age. But for the 30 years in between he didn’t lose much ground. Crown is thinner but still has enough hair in the mid, I even think if he cared enough, which he doesn’t, he would be able to recover most his hair with a transplant now 

[follically challenged]

17 hours ago, giegnosiganoe said:

Are you taking finasteride?

Nope. Biotin and saw palmetto

[follically challenged]

15 hours ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Hair loss is never truly stabilized. While you have hair left on your head, it’s not stabilized. However, the rate of loss may be slow. Medicine like finasteride and minoxidil give you time and dramatically slow the process. Generally, hair loss is more aggressive in your early 20’s, especially for those destined to be NW5+.

Why more agressive in early 20s though..? Is that for all people suffering from hair loss?

[Gabreille Nelson Mukhia]

21 hours ago, follically challenged said:

Is there such a thing as hairloss stabilisation..? Is this a total myth? Or does it just apply to a select few...?

For example, Im approaching 35 years of age and considering that year to be the right time for my first HT.. 

Thanks in advance!

For the age of 35, one can expect the progression to continue. The progression of baldness is aggressive from the 20s till the 30s. From the 30s till the 40s the speed of progression decreases a little. After the 40s, baldness would progress rather slowly. However, in some people it continues lifelong and in some it does not. There is no definite answer as to whether it will completely stop or not. Also, it cannot be generalised. Family history of baldness, effect of finasteride and a many factors also play an important role in it.

[follically challenged]

41 minutes ago, Gabreille Nelson Mukhia said:

For the age of 35, one can expect the progression to continue. The progression of baldness is aggressive from the 20s till the 30s. From the 30s till the 40s the speed of progression decreases a little. After the 40s, baldness would progress rather slowly. However, in some people it continues lifelong and in some it does not. There is no definite answer as to whether it will completely stop or not. Also, it cannot be generalised. Family history of baldness, effect of finasteride and a many factors also play an important role in it.

Interesting. So, upon seeing a specialist, (a really good specialist,) would they be able to predict future loss based on family history and characteristics..?

[Melvin- Admin]

2 hours ago, follically challenged said:

Why more agressive in early 20s though..? Is that for all people suffering from hair loss?

Typically, when you’re destined to be a high Norwood, in the early and mid 20’s is when it hits the worse. You have higher testosterone at that age, and higher testosterone means more conversion of DHT. 

[Gabreille Nelson Mukhia]

2 hours ago, follically challenged said:

Interesting. So, upon seeing a specialist, (a really good specialist,) would they be able to predict future loss based on family history and characteristics..?

They could predict maybe but baldness is unpredictable. And I wouldn't really trust 100% on the specialists' views regarding this. Baldness can be erratic and behave differently in different generations. 

[Dazed]

If you have a long time to wait I believe my hair loss stabilized  sometime in my 60s

[yesplease]

14 hours ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Typically, when you’re destined to be a high Norwood, in the early and mid 20’s is when it hits the worse. You have higher testosterone at that age, and higher testosterone means more conversion of DHT. 

I don’t know if I entirely agree with this. 

certainly those with early, aggressive MPB will typically progress to a high Norwood state relatively early in life. 

Others may hold up remarkably well through their 30s or 40s , then rapidly progress rapidly in their 40s and 50s. My hair was in great shape until about 35, now I’m in my early 40s and my emerging pattern seems to indicate that I’ll be a high Norwood. 

basically, imo, the bottom line is that there’s no way to predict with certainty when MPB will initiate, slow, stop or accelerate, regardless of age, immediate family history or testosterone levels. 

[Melvin- Admin]

7 hours ago, yesplease said:

I don’t know if I entirely agree with this. 

certainly those with early, aggressive MPB will typically progress to a high Norwood state relatively early in life. 

Others may hold up remarkably well through their 30s or 40s , then rapidly progress rapidly in their 40s and 50s. My hair was in great shape until about 35, now I’m in my early 40s and my emerging pattern seems to indicate that I’ll be a high Norwood. 

basically, imo, the bottom line is that there’s no way to predict with certainty when MPB will initiate, slow, stop or accelerate, regardless of age, immediate family history or testosterone levels. 

I don’t think it rapidly progresses later in stage, it just eventually catches up. My guess is hair loss occurs, just at a much slower rate. That’s why we associate balding with old age. Those old men who go bald, didn’t all of the sudden go bald, they’ve been balding for decades, it just finally starts to be visible with time.

[yesplease]

44 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

I don’t think it rapidly progresses later in stage, it just eventually catches up. My guess is hair loss occurs, just at a much slower rate. That’s why we associate balding with old age. Those old men who go bald, didn’t all of the sudden go bald, they’ve been balding for decades, it just finally starts to be visible with time.

Sometimes that is the case. The rate of balding stays the same (very slow) over many years and someone who is a NW 2-3 in his 20s ends up cosmetically more or less the same in old age. 
 

Other times the rate starts very slow, then significantly accelerates at some point, even later in life. 
 

I agree that someone with zero signs of balding is unlikely to all of a sudden become a NW 7 in his 60s. But, someone with mild, slow recession can certainly “speed up” significantly and become fully bald at some point. I lost WAY more hair from 37-39 than I did in any other 1-2 year stretch of my life. Once you start balding, the rate and final pattern are not guaranteed.  It’s always a wild card to some extent IMO. 

[follically challenged]

On 6/12/2020 at 3:06 PM, yesplease said:

Sometimes that is the case. The rate of balding stays the same (very slow) over many years and someone who is a NW 2-3 in his 20s ends up cosmetically more or less the same in old age. 
 

Other times the rate starts very slow, then significantly accelerates at some point, even later in life. 
 

I agree that someone with zero signs of balding is unlikely to all of a sudden become a NW 7 in his 60s. But, someone with mild, slow recession can certainly “speed up” significantly and become fully bald at some point. I lost WAY more hair from 37-39 than I did in any other 1-2 year stretch of my life. Once you start balding, the rate and final pattern are not guaranteed.  It’s always a wild card to some extent IMO. 

So, I'm curious, did you jump on meds? get a HT? or learn to accept it...?