17 and receding hair! need help

[chrisp]

Hey guys!

This has taken me a while to do as I've always been putting it off but now is the time for action! I've noticed my hair has begun to recede quite drastically over the past year...(see photos) and now is the time to take action in my opinion, i've heard it's best to catch it while it's early.

I've posted this became I'm so unsure about where to begin!? My hair itself is very fluffy and light and this makes it easy to fall out i'm guessing?!

I tend to style my hair using wax either to put it into a quiff sort of thing and hiding the receding bit (which is becoming more and more hard to do!) or just messy sort of thing

My dad is completely bald, but from what i've heard it only began to be noticable in his early 20s...which would be alright-ish for me but I go to Uni next year, and having a receding hairline does get my confidence down, especially with girls!

Please don't say 'shave it all off' etc because I still believe I have a chance of slowing/reversing what I have! plus I really wouldn't suit being bald...

I've heard about various treatments such as propecia...but i've heard about it's side effects too! so it would be good to hear first hand from those who are on that sort of stuff rather than what I see in the media!

So thanks guys in advance!

 

[Digidako]

Welcome to the forum buddy, it's always nice to talk to people who know what you're going through so I understand why you posted. With regards to your question, because you noticed the issue early, you're a better candidate for treatment and hopefully gaining ground back. I'm 19 and just over half way through my first year of uni so I know exactly what you're going through. First thing I recommend is talking to a physician, just to rule out any underlying issues (Thyroid problems, and/or any other endocrine malfunctions). If the verdict is infact male pattern baldness then Finasteride should be your first course of action. I've been on it for four months, and aside from a few days of minor testicular pain I haven't noticed any sides. While the finasteride is at work with DHT levels, Minoxidil should be your second line of defense as it has the potential to stimulat regrowth. I've been on 5% since I noticed minor temple thinning and it seems to be doing something. Third product I recommend is Nizoral shampoo, 1% or 2% 2-3 times a week. It helps with the inflammation/dandruff your scalp will inevitably fall prey to, and a reduction of inflammation will enable a more balanced state for your hair follicles to reside. Keep in mind while on treatment, time plays a large factor, and as inpatient as you will get just ride it out and stay consistent. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[chrisp]

thanks man! hope uni is going well for you? yeah im away next week but i'll definitely book an appointment when i'm home afterwards, it's good to see someone else at a young age on treatment! what's your opinions on the long term effects of finasteride though? i've heard talks of a loss of sex drive etc...which isn't ideal as a student!! cheers, chris

 

[jsmith123]

Im in the same position as you man, Im 16 and my hair is about the same as yours maybe not as receeded but VERY thin on top. You *can* get on finasteride at this age only if your doctor/ dermatologist deem it safe and go under their supervision, thats what I have done. My dermatologist said if your hairloss is happening your pretty much developed enough hormonally and chemically to be taking finasteride. Your hair is like mine, my derm prescribed me proscar of which i quarter into tablets, he said at this point thats all i need , not rogaine or anything else which might be the same case for you. Either way definitely see your doctor and derm, if you do get prescribed finasteride do NOT trawling through the internet on all the 'side effects' and horror stories, what works for you works for you, dont pysch yourself up and trick yourself into thinking it will happen to you. Once i start taking finasteride in 2 days I plan to leave all internet research and forum prowling for a good 6 months only to come back to give an update. I suggest you do the same
Good luck and all the best

 

[eix]

Loss of sex drive is really rare statistically speaking, it's just you see a lot of these said experience of losing sex drives and horrible side effects from the very rare cases that do. How many people do you think are on a regimen? Now how many threads do you see? I also think some threads posted by older men are attributing their loss of sex drive that is being affected by their age and causes other than finasteride. I'm not denying the possibility that some genuinely do experience those sides, I think it's rare. It's really a case by case kind of thing so until you try it out, you really wouldn't know. Permanent ED is VERY rare, whereas temporary loss of sex drive is also rare but do go away from what I regularly read. I mean, that's just my opinion.

 

[chrisp]

okay thanks for the advice guys! it's good to be back on here after a week in russia haha! hope you're all good. i think im going to book an appointment with my local GP and go from there, but finasteride seems to be the best place to start, is it prescribed or do i need to buy it from a store or something? also what are your thoughts on rogaine too?

 

[hellouser]

okay thanks for the advice guys! it's good to be back on here after a week in russia haha! hope you're all good. i think im going to book an appointment with my local GP and go from there, but finasteride seems to be the best place to start, is it prescribed or do i need to buy it from a store or something? also what are your thoughts on rogaine too?

Truthfully, your GP or even a Dermatologist aren't going to give you any kind of solid advice in regards to hair loss. Realistically, anyone who's spend a couple years or more will be better informed on baldness than a GP or Dermatologist.

These are the facts:

Your options are almost ZERO.

- Finasteride, which actually isn't an option since youre WAY too young to screw around with hormones (erectile dysfunction, drop in libido, man boobs, etc)
- Minoxidil, which will more than likely cause a shed (could be incredibly drastic) which may take you forever to recover from.
- Hair Transplant, which costs thousands of dollars (10k or more for any real difference) but it will deplete donor hair and you only have about 4-6,000 grafts, if you go fully bald you'll need 10,000 grafts for MEDIOCRE density. Plus, you'd need to be on meds to keep your existing hair anyway. hair transplant's also leave disgusting scars that are easily noticeable if you shave it down completely.
- Experimentals; RU58841 (still can cause erectile dysfunction, man boobs, etc), CB (no known proper vehicle for it yet)

Everything else basically DOESN'T WORK. Vitamins, Saw Palmetto, spironolactone, etc... all give GARBAGE results if any.

The best thing for you to do is to pray that one of the incredibly slow snail paced researchers and biotechs stops dicking around and comes out with a treatment. These would include:

Dr. Roland Lauster (already grew artificial skin with follicles and hair), Tsuji Labs, Histogen, Replicel, Dr. Jahoda, Follica, Dr. Carlos Wesley's Pilofocus device for hair transplant's with donor regeneration using ACELL (though I wouldnt bet on regeneration) and Cosmo's CB-03-01.

There's NOTHING else in the pipeline. If anything does emerge in clinical trials, you can call the FDA and give them thanks for stagnating and prolonging any kind of progress to the point where a new product takes 10+ years to come out to the market. So, by the time any new product comes out, you'll potentially be 30 years old and fully bald if your baldness continues at this pace.

 

[dreamermerlin]

I don't think this negativity is good for anything.
He can use minoxidil now, and wait 1-2 years for finasteride.
minoxidil can keep the hair as now, if not improved, for 1-2 years for sure i think.
May i add that not anyone gets sheds, and they are only temporary?

 

[hellouser]

I don't think this negativity is good for anything.
He can use minoxidil now, and wait 1-2 years for finasteride.
minoxidil can keep the hair as now, if not improved, for 1-2 years for sure i think.
May i add that not anyone gets sheds, and they are only temporary?

What you deem as negativity is actually reality. If the current treatments didnt suck balls, we wouldnt be on these forums.

minoxidil doesn't inhibit DHT, so while he can use Rogaine, he's still going to gradually lose hair. Finasteride at 19 is still dangerous.

 

[Aeroes]

My advice don't take Propecia unless your over 25. I took it 2 years ago (23 now) and had a terrible experience, never want to go back to it.

 

[chrisp]

Hey guys, so it's almost a year on since I made my last post, and admittedly, I gave up with the treatment after abour 2 and a half months if I remember correctly. But I have decided I'm going to stick to a regime this time and hopefully make some gains. As expected, I have continued to lose hair over the past year (pics to follow) and my hair has started to thin at the front.

I recently saw zeroheat's page and that gave me the inspiration to tackle the issue of hairloss again.
The regime I will be going is:
2x a day Regaine foam (UK version of Rogain)
3x a week Nizoral for the first month, then 2x from then on

As an 18 year old, I am still apprehensive about trying Finasteride, and doubt I would be able to gain a prescription from my local GP either.

If anyone has any other tips/ products they use to supplement the above regime, I'm all ears

 

[zzzzz]

minoxidil is a bad decision because you have nothing to regrow. It does nothing to slow down male pattern baldness, it is mainly for regrowth. You have pretty much all your hair. If you start it remember once you do you have to take it for the rest of your life

 

[chrisp]

oh okay. Would finasteride be the only way forward for dealing with the hairloss on the temples and thinning at the front then?

 

[hellouser]

oh okay. Would finasteride be the only way forward for dealing with the hairloss on the temples and thinning at the front then?

There's RU58841 and CB-03-01.

 

[DENI3D]

My advice don't take Propecia unless your over 25. I took it 2 years ago (23 now) and had a terrible experience, never want to go back to it.

What happened to you? I'm more and more glad I've decided not to go on it but I'm curious what happened? I'm 23 now and was considering it, I took minoxidil for 6 months and all it did was make things exponentially worse. I'm just in the acceptance stage now, it is what it is, hopefully there will be a cure in less than 10 years.:sulkoff:

 

[MoHairMoBetta]

What happened to you? I'm more and more glad I've decided not to go on it but I'm curious what happened? I'm 23 now and was considering it, I took minoxidil for 6 months and all it did was make things exponentially worse. I'm just in the acceptance stage now, it is what it is, hopefully there will be a cure in less than 10 years.:sulkoff:

I'm 23 and I've been on finasteride for 3 months now with no sides. I've also been using min for 3 months and I have yet to see anything at all change in my hair.

 

[chrisp]

Most people who have started finasteride and min have said the first few months involve shedding, so yeah I doubt you'd see improvements during that period. Best thing to do is stick at it, give it at least a year and see if it's made any improvements?

 

[idunnolol]

I know this isn't helping but: Damn, if I didn't know I'd say you were like in your mid 30s judging from the pics you've posted in the OP. Just showcases how much of a toll hairloss takes on one's appearence.

 

[Mr Mayhem]

Lol what ? Cos he is a little receded u think he looks old?

 

[idunnolol]

Are you saying he doesn't? Because I think he does.