almost 21, what should i do??

[golfingguru]

Basically since i graduated from high school i have noticed that i have been loosing my hair. I really noticed it when i first turned 19 (around November 2004). At this date i took a normal shower and dried off with a black towel. I rubbed my head pretty hard to dry if off and i counted an adnormal amount of hair that fell out of my head. (i have blond hair and it shows up very well in dark towels). Ever since that day about two years ago, i have looked at the towel after drying off my hair and stared into disbelief.

 

I come from a pretty large family. My father has three brothers and one sister and my mother has two brothers and five sisters. My mothers side that i am related to through blood has had no signs yet of any hair loss (including my grandpa and any of his brothers). My fathers side on the other hand... my grandpa is fully bald, bald to the point that he needs to wear a fitted hat to cover himself completly. My dad and his three other brothers have a full head of hair although, and my cousins and my brother have no signs of any hair loss. Roughly i am the one out of 14 on my fathers side excluding my grandpa and females that is having hair loss issues.

 

FOr the past two years i have been able to style my hair to the point where you would need proper lighting to see that i am loosing hair, but now it is becoming more visible. (like some type of exponential formula, where the first couple of years are really slow than it all of the sudden increases like an explosion). I look around in college here, and i think or hypothesize that i must be around the 1% of my class that has hair loss problems.

 

I started taking PROPECIA well over a half of a year ago, and i think that it is a big placebo effect (quit using 2/3 the way through). I also have tried and just stopped using NIOXIN and have found no results there too.

 

Being almost 21, and finding it hard to believe that this is happening so early has made it hard to talk to my parents. Finally last week, i talked to my dad and told him the whole story about the failing propecia and the boosting shampoo. He is willing to help me (financially) with some help.

 

So here is where all of you guys come in... I am loosing hair basically all over my head, front, temples, top, back, and somehow even on the sides. The area around my temples is where it is the most visible. I am going to try to post a couple of pics on here to give you a better idea.

 

I feel that if i wait too long, my chances of a good result in whatever route i take to try to get my hair back will worsen.

 

I am thinking about hair restoration (some type of procedure). Don't know if laser surgery or the basic hair restoration is my best route. And who to go through this procedure with (i.e bosley, or ???) Any reccomondation as to what type of procedure and who to possibly go through would be great.

 

Any type of comment or advice will be greatly appreciated, thanks again your balding 21 year old!!

[golfingguru]

Basically since i graduated from high school i have noticed that i have been loosing my hair. I really noticed it when i first turned 19 (around November 2004). At this date i took a normal shower and dried off with a black towel. I rubbed my head pretty hard to dry if off and i counted an adnormal amount of hair that fell out of my head. (i have blond hair and it shows up very well in dark towels). Ever since that day about two years ago, i have looked at the towel after drying off my hair and stared into disbelief.

 

I come from a pretty large family. My father has three brothers and one sister and my mother has two brothers and five sisters. My mothers side that i am related to through blood has had no signs yet of any hair loss (including my grandpa and any of his brothers). My fathers side on the other hand... my grandpa is fully bald, bald to the point that he needs to wear a fitted hat to cover himself completly. My dad and his three other brothers have a full head of hair although, and my cousins and my brother have no signs of any hair loss. Roughly i am the one out of 14 on my fathers side excluding my grandpa and females that is having hair loss issues.

 

FOr the past two years i have been able to style my hair to the point where you would need proper lighting to see that i am loosing hair, but now it is becoming more visible. (like some type of exponential formula, where the first couple of years are really slow than it all of the sudden increases like an explosion). I look around in college here, and i think or hypothesize that i must be around the 1% of my class that has hair loss problems.

 

I started taking PROPECIA well over a half of a year ago, and i think that it is a big placebo effect (quit using 2/3 the way through). I also have tried and just stopped using NIOXIN and have found no results there too.

 

Being almost 21, and finding it hard to believe that this is happening so early has made it hard to talk to my parents. Finally last week, i talked to my dad and told him the whole story about the failing propecia and the boosting shampoo. He is willing to help me (financially) with some help.

 

So here is where all of you guys come in... I am loosing hair basically all over my head, front, temples, top, back, and somehow even on the sides. The area around my temples is where it is the most visible. I am going to try to post a couple of pics on here to give you a better idea.

 

I feel that if i wait too long, my chances of a good result in whatever route i take to try to get my hair back will worsen.

 

I am thinking about hair restoration (some type of procedure). Don't know if laser surgery or the basic hair restoration is my best route. And who to go through this procedure with (i.e bosley, or ???) Any reccomondation as to what type of procedure and who to possibly go through would be great.

 

Any type of comment or advice will be greatly appreciated, thanks again your balding 21 year old!!

[NiCiaS]

Hiyas gg, well im new here to, and looking into HT ... im not bald but hair is thining to. I am little older than you, but i'll say this DONT jump into anything Read & Research. I've learned so much from these forumns.I've gone to 1 consult so far, was kinda impressed but plan to see AT LEAST 3 Drs before I decide(read my other 2 threads). The HT clinics are not highly recommended due to the 'crapshoot' as wether or not you'll get a good Doc.

 

Genetic Male Pattern Baldness (although it can skip members of the family) if you got it WILL happen its just a matter of how soon. I truly believe you can slow it down, 'minimize' the hair loss in different ways, some choose drugs/medicines ... others a more natural approach. My brother who is apprx 15 years younger than me is almost totally bald which i attribute greatly his lifestlye of some drug use, lotsa alchohol, smoking, etc ... just not a very wholesome - healthful way of life to 'Fast Forwarding' his Genetic MPB. I on the other hand try to live healthfully, plenty of excercise, Natural Vitamins 2 -3 times a week, drink/eat wholesome healthy foods - drinks. Once in a while I splurge and will eat out - fast food, the key to this is 'MODERATION'. My cosmetics are ALL natural - soaps, shampoos, deoderant, etc.... as i believe that unnatural chemicals dyes, coloring, fragerance, aluminums, sulfates, etc are Not Good. Health starts from the inside, and your body, skin, hair need to be taken care of! This helps as I can attest personally.

 

At my 1st Consultation it was recommended trying Rogaine, Minoxidal, Propecia, and I said no thats not an option for me, as I dont like drugs/medicines except for extreme case or emergency. They said I am a developing Norwood 3V - 4 and that between 1500 and 2000 grafts would be good for me. I am still researching Drs tho. You are Very Young, and I would suggest being Very careful, your piC does'nt look bad at all, remember some hair loss (even every day) is normal, hair grows back tho! especially at your age ... don't get duped!!!. If the loss exceeds the re-growth over a lenth of time, and you do decide to go through with an HT choose a GOOD Doc, read these forumns and others. Any Doc that tells you you need a LARGE transplant right off the bat I would shy away from and get 2nd, 3rd opinions. This decision WILL be a very Important Life Decision, thats the way I am treating it and the way you should! Be smart Be patient ... Good Fortune, Take Care ! 8]

[davisbug]

Dear golfingguru,

 

First of all, I am a non-english speaking man, so please forgive my English writting if there is any grammatical error or mis-spelled word lurks:-)

 

I think we were on the same boat as to hair loss. I am 25 now and started developing a receding hairline when I turned to 20. It was very bad to believe hair loss could happen to me at such an early stage, so I feel your pain and concerns. As far as how to deal with this, I can tell you the Propecia pill does work to some extent in terms of slowing down the hair loss (some claimed they even found their hair loss stopped, but that is not my case), so stay on that pill.

 

I agree with you to take some action early based on my own experience: I have received 1800 grafts at Bosley in SF and hoping it will come out as I expected. I am sitting at 3 weeks post-op and found some people here don't recommend Bosley at all. Well, I can't say whether they are right or not since it is too early for me to see some results (I will post some pics here later on). But as a suggestion, I recommend you to review the cases that each Doc has done here before you choose a Doc for yourself, which I kinda regret that I haven't done so.

 

Good Luck bro

 

Long life to our follicles!

[nikkop23]

i think you're making a big mistake getting off Propecia. what do you mean you quit "2/3" of the way through? you have to give it a least 8 months to a year to see if it has helped reverse the miniaturization of your hairs or helped you regrow any. but it's not known for regrowing a lot of hair in even the best cases. you need to keep taking it to halt or stop your loss; that's what it's best at. which means you can only tell if it's been working by going off of it and losing LOTS more hair. get back on it and plan to keep taking it indefinitely. stay away from bosley and keep educating yourself.

[nobuzz4me]

Dear Golfingguru,

I was in your position at a young age and it is very traumatic I know but you are lucky to have resources here at this site to gain info. I did not have the advantage of this info and made a bad decision to get a HT old plug style. Today's technology is so good compared to two decades ago. In your case, I would wait and first see a dermatoligist to see the cause of your hair loss. It cannot hurt to stay on Propecia, it is not a miracle drup and if it slows down the progression or stops the hairloss that is good thing, any regrowth would be a bonus. I would avoid a HT at 21!!!! It is too young to predict where you will end up in the future and what areas will need to be addressed for graft placement. Your hairloss may decide to stop all together or continue, only time will tell. Be patient, gather all the info you can and but do not jump into a HT at this point. Also, your hair looks good to me. Don't hit the panic button yet! Good luck!

[Bill - Seemiller]

Hello Golfingguru,

 

Welcome to the forums. I am 29 years old and know what you are going through. I started losing my hair when I was about 21. It started from the crown and I thought I could combat it with Rogaine. It seemed to be doing the trick until I decided (stupidly) to come off of it, then only to start again later. It didn't work the second time around and it only made my scalp itchy. That being said, it's been a slow (but not as slow as I would have liked) progression watching my hair slowly fade away. After awhile my hairline started to get it too and soon after trying many gimics and products, being totally uneducated and trusting that nobody would falsely advertise about products like this, I was 27 and noticed that I had very thin hair all over with a completely bald crown.

 

That being said...let me take a step back to your situation. If I knew back then what I know today, I would have gotten on Propecia from the start and stuck with it.

 

My advice...

 

1. get back on Propecia and stay on it unless you experience any side effects. The best thing you can do is stabilize your hairloss, and Propecia is your best chance

 

2. WAIT IT OUT! I know you're upset...I know you are frustrated....we ALL are man....we are either where you are now or have been there. Do NOT get an HT at this point. I repeat....DO NOT GET AN HT. If that pic you posted is a picture of you, you have a thick head of hair still. An HT at this point will lead you to a disappointing future. If you fill in the balding areas now (of which I see none in your case from your picture), if your hairloss situation gets worse (which inevitably it will - see number one about Propecia....get back on it man...I'm serious), you will be left with tufts of transplanted hair and very little native hair.

 

The best thing you can do is get on Propecia and wait until your at least late 20s to early 30s. See what happens with your hair. Maybe you won't lose anymore and if that's the case, and you get an HT when you are about 30, you will have a net gain of hair. IF you get an HT now and don't get on Propecia, inevitably, you will lose more hair and only need to continually get transplants, not really knowing whether or not you will have enough donor hair to give you everything you need.

 

So you know, if your hairloss is starting this early at 21, most likely you are in for a lot more hair loss. I'm not trying to discourage or upset you...but it's very typical and most likely. As I said, the best thing you can do is get on Propecia. That's your best chance and preventing further loss. Even if you continue to lose hair...stay on Propecia....because at least with Propecia you could be slowing down the loss.

 

HAIR TRANSPLANT FACTS:

 

1. Each patient has a limited supply of donor hair. You do not want to start, at your age, being too agressive filling in areas to keep your high school hair appearance. You will surely be dissatisfied in the future.

 

2. Shockloss is a possibility when transplanting hairs into areas where there is existing native hairs. There is both temp and permanent shockloss. Temp shockloss could happen due to the trauma of surgery but the hair will grow back. However, if the hairs were predestined to fall out and are weaker withering hairs, they may never grow back, and an HT might leave you with a net loss at this point, only speeding up your current hair loss cycle.

 

3. HTs are expensive. At 21 years old, you do not want to spend $10K on surgery only to have to spend another $10K in 2 years when your hairloss situation worsens.

 

I may sound passionate about this, but I'm trying to save your life...at least, prevent you from making major mistakes. Any reputablle hair transplant clinic would not touch your head at this point, however, that doesn't mean there aren't many clinics that would...those clinice out there to make a buck.

 

Stay away from immediate gratification....that's the best warning I can give you. Think the long term. You get surgery, you think you look great for a year, and then you start losing more hair. By the time you are 30, you're going to really wish you hadn't had surgery so early. Don't make anyone here say "I told you so".

 

I hope you find this information useful.

 

Bill