20 year old - time to stop deluding myself

davespade

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Hello everyone. I have always had a pretty high forehead, but was pretty proud of my hair - it was thick and strong and so I convinced myself I'd never go bald. It is difficult to chart when I developed my widows peak because I always wore my hair down over my forehead, but the earliest photos where it can be seen were about 3 months after I turned 18. I wasn't sure whether this was a good or bad thing: Either I had been receding since then, or it was just my 'mature hairline' setting in. It doesn't seem to have changed much since, but after discovering what looked suspiciously like thinning at my crown and front hairline (not visible in pics due to low camera quality, will update soon) I thought it was time to take action. I'm not 100% sure about the thinning, but I will be visiting a dermatologist soon to make sure one way or the other. My parents think I'm crazy, but they'd probably say I looked handsome if I turned into the elephant man because they know I can be pretty obsessive about my appearance.

It's really got me down recently, especially as it's developed at such a young age and early-onset male pattern baldness doesn't really run in the family. (Father is NW4 in his late 50s, both grandfathers were NW6 in their 60s, but held onto most of it into their 40s, and I can't think of a single relative who went bald in their 20s or early 30s.) I've found myself scrutinising my hairline endlessly, and it's all I ever think about, so I'm going to do everything in my power to hold onto most of it until I'm 30 or a cure comes along.

I'm already using 1% Nizoral every 3 days, but I will be buying some Minoxidil very soon and will do my best to get hold of a Proscar/Propecia prescription. I will be updating this thread regularly to keep track of my progress.

Hair.jpg

A lot of pictures people post are at pretty bad angles or misleading, so I've slicked my hair back with Brylcreem to make it as clear as possible. The red lines are where i shave my hair to lessen the appearance of my widows peak.

Thanks for reading and feel free to ask any questions.
 

dreamermerlin

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Are you serious? your hair is fine!
Very fine right now, but you may consider Propecia. Because if both your grandfathers went NW6, this is not good news on long term. If you inherit balding genes from both of them, let's say, your hair could get worse at younger ages than them, i think...
 

LBerg12

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Your hair is fine. Don't stress (it makes your hair fall out). Try and exercise and eat healthily and your hair should become healthier.
 

davespade

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You really think so? I would have said it was a pretty solid NW2, which is worrying for someone my age. Maybe I'll postpone the propecia/minoxidil for now and stick with the Nizoral. My diet is good but I've lived a pretty sedentary lifestyle for the past 6 months or so, so I'll definitely get back into sport soon.

Thanks for the responses, will update if I notice any change.
 

der29

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You really think so? I would have said it was a pretty solid NW2, which is worrying for someone my age. Maybe I'll postpone the propecia/minoxidil for now and stick with the Nizoral. My diet is good but I've lived a pretty sedentary lifestyle for the past 6 months or so, so I'll definitely get back into sport soon.

Thanks for the responses, will update if I notice any change.

dont listen to them. bald guys take comfort in a Norwood 1-2 guy advancing into a Norwood 7 cancer patient. truth is if you don't get on some kind of anti androgen along with nizoral you will continue to recede. i can already a see a faint thinning line about to separate the frontal hair from the rest of your hair forming a forelock. the frontal density is lacking to the hair behind the midline. finasteride and nizoral...asap.
 

temp600

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Get on finasteride. I was a nw2 just a few months ago, also at 20yo. Got on finasteride for 2 weeks but scared myself of the sides and quit. 3 months after quitting i lost so much of my hairline its depressing. I jumped back on finasteride over a month ago and got no sides at all. I'm shedding quite a lot now, but i can see my hairline improving already. Moral of the story - get on finasteride asap. Start out with a lower dose. Maybe even a lower dose every other day to ease into it. But take action or you will regret not doing so once you see your hairloss progress.
 

Mr White

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That's absurd, your hair looks perfect. If you really do notice some thinning, go see a dermatologist and ask him about Rogaine. finasteride is probably not a good idea in your case.
 
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