[20M] Going back and forth between whether I think I'm balding or not...

[LongHaired]

I've posted on here before, some people said that I wasn't balding, other people said I was. I went to two hair loss specialists, one said I was, the other said I wasn't. My parents and my girlfriend of three years say that I'm crazy because I'm not balding, and that my hair has always looked like that. I wouldn't know because I wore my hair in a solid bowl cut all the way through high school (somehow still got chicks, for some reason. I looked like crap back then). However, I do remember that I always had a naturally high hairline, and my friends would joke saying that if I even receded a little, it would look like I was going bald. I got a haircut for a job interview (use to wear it really long before), and I wore a beanie to school a lot because the hair cut was terrible. One day, in class, I took my hat off and ruffled my hair, and my instructor went wide eyed for some reason. Maybe this is just me projecting my inner fear of hair loss, but I assumed it was because he saw my hairline for the first time and was going, "Oh ****. That kid's going bald." My friend, Dom, has never reacted to my hairline before until I pointed it out one day. I showed him my right temple, and he didn't react much, but when I showed him my left one, I could see that his face had a look of surprise on it. Again, maybe it's me projecting and imagining stuff that wasn't actually going on.

My hair is thick, there's no thinning anywhere around my head that I can tell. I pass the pull test in every location of my head, even in the corners of the temples. I can't pull out any hairs at all most of the time, and when I do, I only pull out one. I get the ones with the little white bulb at the end, which I read is good. The only place that I'm worried about is my left temple. My right temple is spot on. Honestly, if my left looked like my right, I probably wouldn't even be on this board right now. But anyways, here's some pictures. I know they're crappy; I had to use the camera on my mac.

Forehead with juvenile hairline marked: http://imgur.com/X8ogKsS

Left temple: http://imgur.com/OeA9NQD

Right temple: http://imgur.com/WzwzH68

How far back the right temple goes: http://imgur.com/4TSyNxi

How far back the left temple goes: http://imgur.com/kdyWjpZ

As a further note, from the lowest point of my hairline, my temples are exactly one inch above that.

 

[diehunnen123]

thats some deep recession for your age, you are obviousoy balding. sorry mate

 

[Tottenham]

You are balding

 

[LongHaired]

See, that's what I don't get. I had one specialist say yes, and I had another say no. I'm not shedding hair at all. I'm passing the pull test even in the temples, and I've read that it's normal for temples to recede as far back as one inch from the bottom most point of the hairline. I didn't think that my hairline was that far back since it lines up with my sideburns. I was more concerned about how rounded the left temples was compared to the right one. Even in my baby pictures, I had recessed temples, so could it possibly be a mature hairline that just looks worse because it was already recessed to begin with?

What norwood do you guys think I'm at right now? I was putting myself around a Norwood 2.

 

[abcdefg]

Usually if someone says your going bald you probably are. Most people dont make that up or invent it unless its partly true. From the pictures I would say yes its classic male pattern baldness, but any derm or professional should see it in person and diagnose it first.
Call it mature hairline or call it male pattern baldness its all the same. You are losing hair in the typical male pattern baldness pattern where you had hair before. Call it what you will, but I would not bet money that it stops by itself as you get older. Much more likely it continues to get worse

 

[LongHaired]

Okay. I was kind of hoping that I would follow they way that some of my relatives have on my mom's side or the way some celebrities have balded. The guys on my moms side bald in they're early 20s and then stay that way forever. Some celebrities have done it, too, like Ewan McGregor. But I get what you're saying. I guess the way I see it is this: it's either receded back like this, been that way for some time, and now, for whatever reason, I'm finally noticing it and freaking out about it (which could mean that it's a mature hairline since it hasn't gotten worse in years), or it hasn't been this way, I'm actually noticing it now, and I'm balding. If it's the latter, then it's a toss up: I could be bald by the time I'm 25 or 30, or I can keep it for a long time since balding is unpredictable.