18 Years Old, Losing hair crazy fast

[Rekel]

Hey, all -- I'm totally new, so it'd be pretty neato if you could excuse my ignorance with saying things that have been discussed a billion times before.

...Or not. You know, whatever floats your boat. :v

Anyhow, this isn't a skeptical "I'm worried I might be losing my hair, help" kind of post. I am losing my hair, and it's just gotten bad enough to get me googling forums at 6:30am (haven't slept yet -- also, please excuse any weird **** I might say because of that).

Let me summarize as best as I can: when I was, like, 15 or 16, my hairline receded over the course of a year, and then it stopped -- I never noticed hair in the shower, it wasn't coming out in my hands or my hairbrush, it wasn't thinning... The top and top corners of my forehead basically just got quite a bit bigger, and the back of my crown thinned a bit. After that year(ish), it basiclly stopped receding, and I was just left to cover it up as best as I could (which was SUPER easy compared to now).

Well, a couple months ago I decided to try Bosley shampoo and conditioner after reading about this DHT jazz, and I'm worried it may have been a critical mistake. You see, NOW my hair is thinning, and it's getting really bad -- and not just on the top. My hairline is still (somewhat) the same, but it has gotten so much thinner that my hairline looks further back, and I can see more of my scalp when I comb it back (my hair is ~4.5 inches long). When I shampoo my hair, I've seen up to or over 15 strands in each hand, and as soon as I rinse my hands off and run them through my hair again, there's more waiting to show up on my fingers. I also will see a few strands on my headphones when I take them off, my keyboard, my phone even, my pillow, my hands, my desk, the floor... This is something I've never experienced before.

My breaking point was about 20 minutes ago when I pulled my hair above my ear back and found that I could almost see more skin than hair. THAT was a letdown.

Clearly Bosley isn't right for you, so stop using it, dumbass.
Well, not necessarily. I called their offices and they said it's relatively normal for someone's hair to thin more when they start using the product and that I'd just have to power through it for a few months until the actual results start happening. But... Does this much hairloss sound right? I've barely used it for two months.

Another thing: I tried going back to my old shampoo, but after something like two weeks, I was still seeing hair in my hands when I took a shower. So I'm left with a decision like "either I maybe lose my hair with no chance of getting it back, or I definitely lose my hair with a maybe chance of getting it back." It's stressful, and at this point I wish I could just have the hair I used to complain about when I was 16.

I don't mean to whine or anything -- it's just that I'm only 18 and I've always had long hair (it's particularly short now), so when it thins I feel like Smeagol.

Anyway, the VERDICT: Have any of you used Bosley? Does it make sense that my hair would fall out as a result, or could this some weird coincidence? Is this damage permanent? Any suggestions? If there's a blank I need to fill in, I'd be HAPPY to do so -- anything towards fixing this issue... as you can see, it's pretty important to me. :v

EDIT: Also, I'm not sure if it means anything, but my hair is extremely fine and light. It always has been, but the individual strands may have become thinner if that's possible.

Sorry for this jumbled mess -- I'm super tired. Tomorrow I can probably be more eloquent or whatever, but I'm mad desperate right now. THANKS A TON FOR ANY HELP GUYS. c:

 

[saja2148]

Did you just use their shampoo or their minoxidil as well?
and post pictures of your hair so we can help you better...

 

[Theedge]

Dude stop the shampoo ! shedding and having hair fall out is NOT normal don't care what some moron who answers phones tells you.
You need to see a doctor bro NO BS. It sounds like you had a reaction to it or there is something else causing the hair loss maybe something totally different .
Really just nut up bro go to a doctor bring the shampoo tell them hay wtf is going on . They will give you a blood test and look and see whats what .
If your using rogaine you will shed some thats normal for the first time.

 

[Toms]

It is possible that the hair strands are finer, it happens because of hair miniaturization.

I think you should start finasteride(if you feel like you're fully through puberty) or if you're not, you can try RU58841, a topical androgen and maybe minoxidil, and NIZORAL shampoo. But about your current situation... I don't know why shampoo and contidioner would cause thinning... It might happen, if you use this kind of shampoo too often.

You should see a doctor about it.

You can also wait for some more experienced members' answers here.

 

[zzzzz]

The Bosley stuff has nothing to do with your shedding, and even if it did, it would be a good thing because it would mean its facilitating hair growth and new hairs are pushing out the old ones. However, it is likely that your hair loss is just coincidentally going through another miniaturization cycle around a similar time as starting this new shampoo. They have almost nothing to do with each other. Start the big 3, and most importantly finasteride, between half a milligram and 1.25mg daily

 

[Rekel]

Sorry for the late response. It's been a busy week for me.

Mostly what I'm seeing is that Bosley's stuff shouldn't be thinning my hair (without good reason, at least), and that's certainly a relief. I've also been taking Biotin everyday, but that doesn't seem to really do anything for me.

I read about finasteride -- Propecia or something? I get that's a long-term thing, but how much time would I have to take that to see results? Could hair grow back where it has receded?

When you say "fully gone through puberty," what exactly does that mean? I haven't noticed changes in myself for a while, but really basic things like the density of my facial hair are still developing.

What's different about this time, though, is that it's now thinning on my entire scalp. All of the concern I had before was pretty much just my forehead, but frequently I'll scratch, say, the area right above my ear, and I'll see two strands of hair on my fingers.

EDIT: I'm currently using only the shampoo and conditioner. And speaking of which, what exactly does the conditioner do? The label says nothing about removing DHT (the shampoo does), and it leaves a cold feeling on my scalp when it sits (the shampoo doesn't).

 

[californiaoceans911]

:worthless:

 

[zzzzz]

Finasteride will stop further loss from happening. You might get a little bit of regrowth fro finasteride alone. If you want max regrowth possible you would want to start the big 3 as I said.

It may take between 3 months - 1 and a half years to see results if you get regrowth. However regrowth isn't the only success. Just maintaining what you have (no change) over the longterm is a success, regrowth or not

 

[hellouser]

There's no cure or treatment. You're only hope is to get on Finasteride to push back the inevitable; total baldness. Minoxidil will not halt baldness (but it will help). Nizoral will help only slightly. The only other options are experimental treatments like RU58841, CB-03-01, Chlorine Dioxide and maybe Tofacitinib. None of these are cures (yet) either.

Welcome to the world of hair loss. Find a girlfriend and marry her ASAP, otherwise you'll soon find out how incredibly difficult/impossible it is to gain even respect from women, let alone their desire for you.

Good luck.