Am I balding at 15?

[thebullyeagle]

So ever since i was 14 ive been noticing my hairline receding/thinning. So right now its only on one side of my hairline, the other part of my hairline is completely healthy. But the other side is not. At first the baby hairs on that side fell out and then it started to recede. I was ok with that, but now more hair is thinning and I can see my scalp clearly and its continuing to thin even tho im only 15. And i cant take minoxidl or finasertide cuz im under 18. also my parents wont let me try anything natural cuz they think its impossible to bald at my age. pls help me.

[thebullyeagle]

[BaldDude]

It’s possible. You have to compare your hairline to how it looked before puberty. I noticed my hairline started receding at 14. 

[thebullyeagle]

Ye ive compared it and its definately thinner and i can see a lot more scalp, but is there anything i could do at my age to fix it?

[thebullyeagle]

I really dont want to lose my hair so early in life. 

[BaldDude]

I think you’re too young to go on anti-DHT meds like finasteride. You should ask your doctor about saw palmetto.

[thebullyeagle]

Ill be sure to ask my dermatologist in a few months. I have an appointment with im for my acne so I think im going to ask him the next time i see him 

[BaldDude]

Nizoral shampoo may help block DHT in your scalp too. You have to leave it on for at least 5 minutes. I don’t use it to cuz it dries out my hair making it look thinner. 

[thebullyeagle]

I looked at it and it looks like its for anti dandruff? i also see lots of sulfates and parabens. isnt that bad for hair?

[AlexMeister21]

Do you have a family history of balding?

[thebullyeagle]

yes I do but they all balded in their late 20's and late 30's not teens. Im the only one. my brother is 18 and he shows no signs of balding. 

[John1991]

The inflammation in that area and the fact that the other side is totally unaffected lead me to say no.  That and you being 15 just make it seem like the answer to your question is no.  Then again, what inflammation appears to be there doesn't seem like it would impact hair at all.  This is a tough call.

Edited July 27, 2022 by John1991

[thebullyeagle]

Oh do you think that its just stress induced then? Cuz i mean ye my other side is totally unaffected but i thought it just takes time for both to recede. The only problem with my hair is that its super thin on one side and i can see through it. i think the inflammation that ur talking about is just my acne lol im a teenager. 

Edited July 27, 2022 by thebullyeagle

[AlexMeister21]

18 minutes ago, thebullyeagle said:

yes I do but they all balded in their late 20's and late 30's not teens. Im the only one. my brother is 18 and he shows no signs of balding. 

Hard to say. I do see some thinness in the photos you posted, but it doesn't look that bad. However, I know at 15, it's tough and expectations for hair are different at that age. If the men in your family all went bald from 20s - 30s, then you should prepare to take some action. Don't think you should take oral fin at your age. I don't know too much about topical fin, but maybe it would be worth researching. I'm seeing mixed sentiments regarding it though.

[Melvin- Admin]

I doubt you are balding at 15. Even if you bald young, it shows around 20. 

[mafpe]

i started losing hair from 16. one day i just started shedding a lot. i didn't visibly recede until 19 though. started taking meds around 21.

i can't really advise you because of your age, DHT blocker in a way alters hormone, and i am worried of what it might do to you since you're at the age where your hormone is bursting. there are people who says that it affects them to the point they have gynecomastia (man boobs). i have no idea if it's true or not, and if it would. 

if you want to try finas, you should micro dose it in very small amount and see how it affects you. as far as i know, DHT shampoo aren't really effective, but it might reduce a little bit of scalp DHT. i think you should approach it very mildly until you're no longer a teen.

stress affects your hair very harshly, when i'm stressed for long period, my hair can be somewhat see through, but when i'm not, they look.... fine... so on the bright side, it might just be stress. 

i think it's best you take on things that won't have any heavy side effect, especially if it's going to affect the hormone. 

[THE TRUTH]

5 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

I doubt you are balding at 15. Even if you bald young, it shows around 20. 

I disagree with your statement Melvin and also with OP's parents statement that it is impossible to bald before 18. 

This is just not true. 

In this particular case it is debatable whether OP is balding. 

But generally speaking there are MANY cases of young guys starting to bald as early as 15-16 in high school. 

I had a friend of mine back in the day with extremely agressive Male Pattern Baldnedd who started going bald at 15.

He is now a full Norwood 6-7 at 30 with a shaved horseshoe. And he is extremely depressed because of this situation. 

OP I think you shouldn't wait and get on oral Finasteride/Dutasteride IMMEDIATELY. 

Remember, time is off the essence when it comes to fighting the evolutionnary curse of Permanent Male Pattern Baldness. 

Worst case scenario with these drugs is they will slow down your potential hairloss VERY significantly to the point that it doesn't affect your life. 

Trust me that will save you tens of thousans of dollars further down the road. 

Once you lose your hairline completely or get a slick bald spot in the crown then none of these drugs (not even some extremely hardcore stuff like castration, lupron with estrogen)  can regrow it and you will have to get several hair transplant surgeries...And as you know now by researching on this forum transplants are very expensive and   uncertain. The truth is they can never recreate native hair density and you'll have to deal with combover and Toppik, SMP for the rest of your life. 

Drugs like Fina/Duta are fantastic or  preventing things from getting worse and in SOME rare cases regrowing existing miniaturized hairs but they absolutely do not regrow hairlines or bald patches and often do not even reverse diffuse thinning.

Keeping what you have by getting on medication early is a billion times easier than trying to play catch-up with transplants once you are far gone....

I would suggest OP gets on oral Dutasteride 0.5mg daily and oral minoxidil because I suspect an agressive version of Male Pattern Baldness. This is what I would do personnaly if you could go back in time. (I wish I could haha....) 

Now some of you may think "Bro this is too extreme you're crazy !!!" 

Well okay but I think the very minimum he should consider doing is 0.25mg finasteride daily or 1mg 3 times a week + topical minoxidil mixed with tretinoin. 

It is safe to use finasteride and dutasteride once puberty is over. If you have doubts then I would consult a very experienced endocrinologist + a hair transplant surgeon. 

However in case you do not want to use oral Finasteride (which I totally understand bro 👍) then I would get on minoxidil & topical finasteride to "buy you some time" until you are 18. 

But definitely take SOME action. Don't wait.  

Edited July 27, 2022 by THE TRUTH

[StillAlive]

Man, chill. I remember I went through a huge balding terror at around 17. Your hair is beautiful and thick. 

Puberty is all hormones and stress. Try to not think obsessively about it. It sounds impossible, I know. If you really ARE balding, you'll know by the time you are 20. Until that time? Hit the gym, meet girls, play music. Enjoy youth, it only comes around once. 

[NickJ]

I noticed my hair becoming blonder and thinner at 16-17 so it's possible that if you have a history of alopecia in the family that it starts pretty early

I had the chance that with me it was pretty slow (people really started noticing when I was 24-25) but I had 2 or 3 friends who had to shave their whole head around 20-21 because they had no density anymore

[SimpleLife]

Go see a doctor my bro, its impossible for us to tell whether youre balding or not based on some pictures. Any other advice than this is just folk here making assumptions and thinking what is best based on their biases & experiences

56 minutes ago, THE TRUTH said:

OP I think you shouldn't wait and get on oral Finasteride/Dutasteride IMMEDIATELY. 

This is reckless advice at this stage. Dont even think about taking any medication / OTC drug without talking to a doctor (preferably more than 1 in case one is clueless). Even vitamins that may seem unharmfull can permanently damage your body with the wrong dose.

But I do agree with @THE TRUTH that you need to take action now, make an appointment asap, in the meantime try not to worry about it by looking in the mirror 100x every hour, giving yourself even more stress (which is definitely a cause for hairloss)

48 minutes ago, THE TRUTH said:

Worst case scenario with these drugs is they will slow down your potential hairloss VERY significantly to the point that it doesn't affect your life. 

Nah that is not the worst case with these drugs, there are literally communities of people suffering from post finasteride / minoxidil syndrome. 

[SimpleLife]

You can also visit a hair transplant surgeon instead of a regular doctor so he can analyse your hair properly and give you advice based on a multitude of factors. The best ones in Europe charge ~€100 per consultation, depending on where you live your parents might be able to help you with this, if not shoot me a PM

[Gatsby]

7 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

I doubt you are balding at 15. Even if you bald young, it shows around 20. 

This ^ Put your hands in the advice of your dermatologist. You have a bit of acne and with hormonal changes it's best to take the advice of your specialist. Don't stress bro. 👌

[THE TRUTH]

25 minutes ago, SimpleLife said:

Go see a doctor my bro, its impossible for us to tell whether youre balding or not based on some pictures. Any other advice than this is just folk here making assumptions and thinking what is best based on their biases & experiences

This is reckless advice at this stage. Dont even think about taking any medication / OTC drug without talking to a doctor (preferably more than 1 in case one is clueless). Even vitamins that may seem unharmfull can permanently damage your body with the wrong dose.

But I do agree with @THE TRUTH that you need to take action now, make an appointment asap, in the meantime try not to worry about it by looking in the mirror 100x every hour, giving yourself even more stress (which is definitely a cause for hairloss)

Nah that is not the worst case with these drugs, there are literally communities of people suffering from post finasteride / minoxidil syndrome. 

That is simply not true. Please stop spreading unecessary fear mongering. 

We all agree that OP should consult an experienced hair transplant surgeon or trichologist and check under microscope whether there is ongoing miniaturization. 

He should take action NOW otherwise he will certainly regret it in a few years. 

IF the presence of miniaturization is confirmed, then ideally he should start  lowdose of finasteride to minimize any potential sides. 

Or if he doesn't want to use it then topical finasteride & topical minoxidil + tretinoin or a topical AA. 

That's it. 

[SimpleLife]

13 minutes ago, THE TRUTH said:

That is simply not true. Please stop spreading unecessary fear mongering. 

We all agree that OP should consult an experienced hair transplant surgeon or trichologist and check under microscope whether there is ongoing miniaturization. 

He should take action NOW otherwise he will certainly regret it in a few years. 

IF the presence of miniaturization is confirmed, then ideally he should start  lowdose of finasteride to minimize any potential sides. 

Or if he doesn't want to use it then topical finasteride & topical minoxidil + tretinoin or a topical AA. 

That's it. 

You literally changed your advice from ''OP I think you shouldn't wait and get on oral Finasteride/Dutasteride IMMEDIATELY.'' 

to ''IF the presence of miniaturization is confirmed''

Which one is it? There is a big difference

2 hours ago, THE TRUTH said:

 If you have doubts then I would consult a very experienced endocrinologist + a hair transplant surgeon. 

Ofcourse he is going to have doubts, the kid is 15. He should talk to a specialist first regardless of what he thinks is best based on our advice 

If he starts to use minoxidil for example and stops with it 6 months later, his hair will be much worse than what he has now. In order for him to be consistent he needs to know what he is doing, which is impossible as a young guy reading a zillion conflicting things online. Someone talking with him in real life hits different than reading a bunch of things here and there. 

[THE TRUTH]

10 minutes ago, SimpleLife said:

You literally changed your advice from ''OP I think you shouldn't wait and get on oral Finasteride/Dutasteride IMMEDIATELY.'' 

to ''IF the presence of miniaturization is confirmed''

Which one is it? There is a big difference

Ofcourse he is going to have doubts, the kid is 15. He should talk to a specialist first regardless of what he thinks is best based on our advice 

If he starts to use minoxidil for example and stops with it 6 months later, his hair will be much worse than what he has now. In order for him to be consistent he needs to know what he is doing, which is impossible as a young guy reading a zillion conflicting things online. Someone talking with him in real life hits different than reading a bunch of things here and there. 

 

I never changed my advice. You didn't take enough time to read my first post carefully and you are making assumptions. 

Everything you said until now is absolutely pointless and irrelevant. 

What is your point ? What are you trying to say specifically ? What are you trying to demonstrate ? 

I feel like you are just trying to argue with me without bringing any construstive argument at this point. 

Let me tell you. 

This forum has been created precisely and exactly for guys to share their experience and share advice. 

Of course he is going to visit a legit medical professionnal regardless of your advice, or my advice or any information he may have come across online. 

The point is any honest, competent and experienced  medical hair specialist will give him the exact same advice. 

It is important for him to understand that early action is key and long term commitment to medication is going to be necessary because this is the only viable option to avoid going bald (which he is obviously concerned about). 

That's it. Period. Say something constructive if you have or let's just leave it there.