A Question About Diffuse Thinning, For Those Who've Experienced It

[alekgn]

For those of you who have experienced hair loss through diffuse thinning, how did you figure it out? What are the signs of early diffuse thinning and how can you figure them out, other than just fully shaving your head or going for a buzzcut? Will the top and back of the scalp feel noticeably less dense when the hair is wet, or what? I am not asking about progressed diffuse thinning, but rather for those who caught it early. Also, I cannot just take a picture of the top of my scalp in bright light. I have wild and inconsistent wavy/curly hair naturally that creates a lot of mini-parts in the hair that can be mistaken as "thinning lines." I won't post a picture specifically of my scalp because my camera can't accurately capture shadows in good quality.

 

[brahmabull117]

grow your hair out
run your hands through sides of your head and then run it through the top. If you notice a huge difference, you've lost a lot of hair


My situation is very sad. I have insanely thick, dense, wavy hair on the sides and when I run my hands through the top, i can tell that I have lost a ton. I have insanely thick, dense hair everywhere except the very top of my head. When I grow facial hair, it comes in with massive, perfectly even coverage. My chest hair, etc... everything is super thick and dense


I'm the typical Armenian dude. Donor blessed, genetically challenged.

 

[LosingHairIsNotFair]

For me, the earliest evidence of diffuse thinning (though I didn't know what diffuse thinning was at that point) was noticing that my hair basically already had a horseshoe pattern. I could see that it was thinning on the sides in that pattern.

If you're worried you're diffuse thinning, why not just get a buzz cut to check it out?

 

[alekgn]

grow your hair out
run your hands through sides of your head and then run it through the top. If you notice a huge difference, you've lost a lot of hair


My situation is very sad. I have insanely thick, dense, wavy hair on the sides and when I run my hands through the top, i can tell that I have lost a ton. I have insanely thick, dense hair everywhere except the very top of my head. When I grow facial hair, it comes in with massive, perfectly even coverage. My chest hair, etc... everything is super thick and dense


I'm the typical Armenian dude. Donor blessed, genetically challenged.

Lol, I wish I could run my hands through the top of my head, but it's a curly mess. Not really feasible, as the hair creases in a bunch of crazy ways forming curls.

 

[alekgn]

For me, the earliest evidence of diffuse thinning (though I didn't know what diffuse thinning was at that point) was noticing that my hair basically already had a horseshoe pattern. I could see that it was thinning on the sides in that pattern.

If you're worried you're diffuse thinning, why not just get a buzz cut to check it out?

Not particularly fond of buzzcuts personally. It's not that they don't look good, I just think they're boring.

 

[brahmabull117]

Lol, I wish I could run my hands through the top of my head, but it's a curly mess. Not really feasible, as the hair creases in a bunch of crazy ways forming curls.

if you can't run your hands through top of your head, I doubt you've lost much

I have extremely thick, curly/wavy, coarse hair texture but when I run my hands through the top, I can tell I've lost a lot

 

[alekgn]

if you can't run your hands through top of your head, I doubt you've lost much

I have extremely thick, curly/wavy, coarse hair texture but when I run my hands through the top, I can tell I've lost a lot

Can you tell a difference through feeling it when the hair's completely soaked wet after a shower?

 

[brahmabull117]

Can you tell a difference through feeling it when the hair's completely soaked wet after a shower?

yes

 

[recedingornot87]

I could tell only from seeing the hairs falling. It took months before there was a cosmetic or even feeling from running my hand through it. It was pretty sneaky until they started falling tbh especially because I was still NW1.

 

[alekgn]

I could tell only from seeing the hairs falling. It took months before there was a cosmetic or even feeling from running my hand through it. It was pretty sneaky until they started falling tbh especially because I was still NW1.

You're a fairly unique case, though. Even most balding guys don't lose 300+ hairs every 10 hours. By the way, what percentage of the hairs that are falling out have the yellow bulbs at the end of them?

 

[recedingornot87]

You're a fairly unique case, though. Even most balding guys don't lose 300+ hairs every 10 hours. By the way, what percentage of the hairs that are falling out have the yellow bulbs at the end of them?

Right now since my hair is very short I cant really tell if theres bulbs or not. If there are bulbs then they are really small but I havent really looked for it. When my hair was longer almost all of the hairs had bulbs on them.

 

[alekgn]

Right now since my hair is very short I cant really tell if theres bulbs or not. If there are bulbs then they are really small but I havent really looked for it. When my hair was longer almost all of the hairs had bulbs on them.

You know, as much of a meme as it is, since a huge amount of the hairs have bulbs at the end of them, that means they're telogen hairs. A significant amount of ejection of those, I believe, is Telogen Effluvium by definition. Telogen Effluvium isn't permanent, though can go on for a long time. I'd still keep up my hopes that's what it is.

 

[recedingornot87]

You know, as much of a meme as it is, since a huge amount of the hairs have bulbs at the end of them, that means they're telogen hairs. A significant amount of ejection of those, I believe, is Telogen Effluvium by definition. Telogen Effluvium isn't permanent, though can go on for a long time. I'd still keep up my hopes that's what it is.

If it wasnt for the fact that I can name 10 NW7s before 30 in my family, I would think its Telogen Effluvium too. But I know better lol.

 

[alekgn]

If it wasnt for the fact that I can name 10 NW7s before 30 in my family, I would think its Telogen Effluvium too. But I know better lol.

That's f*****g harsh. My family is composed of half NW2s by death, with only some age-related thinning, and others who slowly progress to NW4 over the course of 20 years. No Norwood 6/7s I know of in my family.

 

[recedingornot87]

That's f*****g harsh. My family is composed of half NW2s by death, with only some age-related thinning, and others who slowly progress to NW4 over the course of 20 years. No Norwood 6/7s I know of in my family.

Yeah you should be good. You will probably be a 60 year old NW2 with age related thinning.

 

[alekgn]

Yeah you should be good. You will probably be a 60 year old NW2 with age related thinning.

Hopefully, lmao. Who knows, though. male pattern baldness is controlled by 200 something genes, on both the X and Y chromosomes. By the way, who's your avatar?

 

[recedingornot87]

Hopefully, lmao. Who knows, though. male pattern baldness is controlled by 200 something genes, on both the X and Y chromosomes. By the way, who's your avatar?

It is boxer floyd mayweather lol

 

[Iamzizou]

I have been a diffuse thinner I think.i have been losing hair for over a year now.every one in my father's family had large foreheads so did I since I was young.no one went bald.my mother's father went bald when he was really old.other than that,no one.it started with 100 hairs a day and my sides started thinning out.i buzz cut my sides and i sought treatment and went ahead with 10% minoxidil. And dutasteride and several vitamins.i got very depressed at over the last few months it only worsened and even reached to a level of 100 to 250 hairs lost in a day from all over my head.but since the last four months it's has stabilised I think to a maximum of 60 hairs per day.my vitamin iron and dht levels are normal.i use sulphate free shampoo everyday after I oil my hair with a mixture of jaborandi and coconut oil.my doctor had also started meso therapy.the meso therapy went from twice a month to once a month now.my hair used to be parted from right to left but now I part it from left to right as it seems more natural.all this being said,i lose about 50 hairs on an average every day.even when I wake up in the morning and run my fingers through my hair for about 15 mins,i lose about 30-40 hairs every day.during shower I lose about 5-6.over the day the total comes to around 50 to 60.i am posting a few pictures below.please let me know if I should be worried.

 

[Iamzizou]

The first image is without flash in a washroom with a bulb above me in front.
The second image is wet hair in a darker room with flash.in a dimlit darker washroom.
Third image is in the same condition as the first but with flash.
Fourth image is the same as second image but with flash.in a dimlit darker washroom.

 

[Alphalete]

I buzzed my hair, saw how the temples were more thin than the rest.

that's when i realized i had male pattern baldness