18 Years Old Obsessing Over Hairline Help!

[Randy Buck]

Ok so for the last 3-4 months I have been freaking out over my hair loss. I am 18 years old and am very worried about my future. I feel like I have lost a lot of hair for my age and am almost positive what I have is not a mature hairline. I doubt this is normal and don't know how much worse it will get. The only bald person in my family is my mothers half brother and he's 70 years old. I also have a twin brother (not identical) and from what I can tell he has no miniaturizing hairs or recession. I also have anxiety pretty bad and stress often so maybe this could be a cause of that? To be honest the hair loss has made me very depressed lately and I would just like to know what you guys think about it, thank you. The first three pictures are of me fresh out of the shower after shampooing and conditioning my hair.

 

[Randy Buck]

Some extras pictures of my situation

 

[Randy Buck]

These pictures were taken in February, I feel like I have shed a lot of miniaturized hair since then?

 

[Randy Buck]

I also forgot to mention that my scalp itches pretty often and I do have a dandruff problem, I don't know if it comes from anxiety/stress or not. Please, if someone could give advice or tell me what kinda of hair loss I have that would be great!

 

[lemoncloak]

@Randy Buck definitely androgenetic alopecia man. Your hairline is also kinda jagged and with some thinning on top so it will get worse. How fast, I don't know. The spots that itch or burn are generally the ones affected first.
I'd suggest looking around the forum for existing and future treatments. Everything here has been discussed beyond the absolute max so all your questions should be covered already.
Things are not too bright rn treatment wise (mostly finasteride and minoxidil) but you're young and there's promising stuff in the pipeline https://www.hairlosstalk.com/pipeline/
Just to clarify it could take many years before you reach norwood 3/4 status. Everyone's different.
Don't let this get you down. You have your whole life ahead of you and no amount of hair loss will take that away from you. Don't be one of those guys that cancel out plans and stay at home because they're conscious of their receding hairline (btw your hairline looks totally normal right now to the average person). Grab life by the balls. Hair loss will only hinder you as much as you let it.

 

[Randy Buck]

Thank you very much for your response. Despite being pretty sure I had male pattern baldness before your response, it is still a pretty big lunch in the gut. I was hoping I was just being paranoid. I totally understand that I shouldn't let it control me, but that is something I have a lot of trouble doing. All I can do is keep trying. It's just disappointing especially since I look around and see all of my friends at high school with normal hairlines. No one has ever commented on it and I hide it easily, but it is still very hard for me to deal with. Ive have had pretty bad anxiety all my life do you think that has anything to do with it or is that nothing but a myth?

 

[Randy Buck]

It's even worse when I look at my father who has a thick head of hair (receded for sure but still great for his age) and my fraternal twin brother who has no signs of thinning. I don't know what his dad looked like for he died way before I was born but my mothers father had a full head of hair when he died and none of my uncles or cousins have lost much either (besides my mothers half brother). So that's why I'm also thinking it could be stress/anxiety? I don't know to be honest and I'm not sure I ever will

 

[lemoncloak]

It's even worse when I look at my father who has a thick head of hair (receded for sure but still great for his age) and my fraternal twin brother who has no signs of thinning. I don't know what his dad looked like for he died way before I was born but my mothers father had a full head of hair when he died and none of my uncles or cousins have lost much either (besides my mothers half brother). So that's why I'm also thinking it could be stress/anxiety? I don't know to be honest and I'm not sure I ever will

Reply to me next time so I can tell you answered. I know it's a tough pill to swallow.. Look, progression varies a lot from person to person. I'm 23 and have very similar hair to yours. I first noticed at 20 and a half and since then it has only receded 3-5 mm, mostly in the temples. It's steady but slow. You might still make it through all your 20s with enough hair to appear just receding/non bald.
Also, no, it's not the stress it's all genes. Don't worry about that. High metabolic activity can amplify bad genes I think (eating too much) but starving yourself or holding back from say eating for strength training won't save your hair.
Check out the treatments and their side effects, read the pipeline and the organ technologies interview and decide for yourself if a treatment is worth the risk.
Other than that, enjoy your hair and life in the next years and if you go past norwood 3 shave it or buzz it. If you own baldness and joke about it people and women will like that. Wallowing in shame and regrets gets you nowhere.
We're lucky in that the greatest news in hair loss history arrived last year.

https://www.hairlosstalk.com/news/new-research/hair-primordiums-tsuji-organ-interview-sept2016/

http://www.cdb.riken.jp/org/en/research/organ/hair.html
Good luck m8

 

[Jerrod]

I wish you all the luck dude, I have a similar hairline. All we can do is try to combat it and hope for the best

 

[baldboys]

this might take like 10 years or something to get bad. Chill out and give it a couple years, no need to jump into meds so quick. If it truly gets worse, propecia this motherfucker down.