Hey everyone!
Well heres a brief 'story so far' if you like. Don't feel obliged to read it, just skip down to the 'TL
R version' if you prefer.
I am 19 years old and I first noticed that you could see through my hair when I was pretty young - I used to have shaved hair between the ages of 10 and 15 - and that whole time I noticed that I could see through my hair in the light, but I never thought anything of it. I had a brief patch when I was about 13 when I grew my hair a bit longer and went through an experimental phase of putting gel on it to make it look wet. This is when I noticed that when it was wet it was pretty see-through, but I was only a kid and I never though for one second I might be losing my hair. Even looking back on it now I'm not sure if shaving your hair that short would just make it see through even if you had nothing wrong with your hair, I just don't know.
So when I was about 15 I stopped getting it shaved and just started getting it cut short, then I'd grow it to a decent length. I do remember being able to see through my hair (different parts depending on which way I combed it) but I never really started to monitor it because, again, hair loss never crossed my mind. People used to say things to me about it as well, which would get me thinking about it for a day or so, but I never bothered with it.
Okay so from the age of about 17 is when I really got thinking about it, it all started after a photo was taken of me in the light where there were streaks in my hair where you could see the scalp, that photo haunted me for a while but its what really triggered this whole thing for me. I started looking into the whole hair loss thing, just pretty much lurking forums like these and reading up as much as I could.
My own evaluation of my hair is that its not too bad, really, my hair line seems to be perfectly normal, I have my hair relatively long (long enough to be curly, which I tend not to like, I'm thinking of getting it cut or shaved again) and I think it looks okay... the only problem is when I get close to a light... surprisingly photos taken with a flash tend to not look so bad, and sometimes when they're taken with a normal camera my hair looks completely fine, while other times there are 2 or 3 'streaks' or bits you can see through. I've checked my hair out using 2 mirrors before to try and see as much as I can, and the conclusion I've come to is that it depends entirely on the light.
For example I can sit totally still and just turn my head away from the light, and suddenly it looks like I have a full head of hair... and then if I turn toward the light there are generally bits you can see through. I suspect that my crown area is slightly worse, and all I really have to go on for that is photo evidence.
TLR version:
So, long story short, I don't KNOW if I'm losing my hair or not, since I don't know if it has gotten worse, since I only ever stopped to have a really good look at it when I was almost 18, and since then I wouldn't say its getting worse. My brother has gone bald at the age of 35, but I do not know of any other male relatives who lost their hair, and my father kept his hair all his life.
Now I feel I'm stuck with two options: 1) assume I'm losing my hair and try to do something, 2) assume I'm not losing my hair and do nothing. I feel like I still have a lot of hair and its not too noticeable but I'd like to act early if something is wrong rather than losing the hair without a fight. So I think that option one is the safest and I've already started washing my hair with a 2% ketokonazole shampoo every 3 days. I've been looking at what I could do for a regimen and I've come up with the following:
Topical spironolactone, Revivogen, Minoxidil and the keto ive already mentioned. That is what I would like to do eventually. The spironolactone and the revivogen are purely because, for me, taking finasteride is totally out of the question. Taking a look at the requirements for a regimen of all these medications really makes me wonder how on earth I could cope with all that, especially since I'm at university and it means that my schedule changes a lot. I'm looking particularly at the minoxidil and the spironolactone because I've read that you need to apply them twice a day, and I just don't think I can do that easily since I'm likely to be busy 9-5 on any given day and you have to leave 12 hours between minoxidil applications...
That means that if I apply it at 7:30 in the morning I'd have to shower and dry at like before 7, and then I'd have to not miss it in the evening at exactly 7:30 every night othwerwise I'd not be able to apply it the same time the next morning... it just doesnt look like an easy job especially for a student cos I just don't feel I can be that strict on it.
I'm looking for advice on how to handle such a strict regimen... could I just use it once a day instead of twice a day? Also I'm thinking of building it up slowly, so that probably means starting with keto and minoxidil for a few months, then adding in the rest as I go. Would shaving my hair help with drying times etc because I'd feel bad going out with wet hair because I know its pretty see-through.
Okay, I'm really sorry for the massive post and any advice would be great.
Just two quick edits: I think it is a possibility that my hair could be naturally thin, because my mum has that same problem but she just has a hell of a lot of hair. Also, I only started on keto like a week ago.
Well heres a brief 'story so far' if you like. Don't feel obliged to read it, just skip down to the 'TL
R version' if you prefer.I am 19 years old and I first noticed that you could see through my hair when I was pretty young - I used to have shaved hair between the ages of 10 and 15 - and that whole time I noticed that I could see through my hair in the light, but I never thought anything of it. I had a brief patch when I was about 13 when I grew my hair a bit longer and went through an experimental phase of putting gel on it to make it look wet. This is when I noticed that when it was wet it was pretty see-through, but I was only a kid and I never though for one second I might be losing my hair. Even looking back on it now I'm not sure if shaving your hair that short would just make it see through even if you had nothing wrong with your hair, I just don't know.
So when I was about 15 I stopped getting it shaved and just started getting it cut short, then I'd grow it to a decent length. I do remember being able to see through my hair (different parts depending on which way I combed it) but I never really started to monitor it because, again, hair loss never crossed my mind. People used to say things to me about it as well, which would get me thinking about it for a day or so, but I never bothered with it.
Okay so from the age of about 17 is when I really got thinking about it, it all started after a photo was taken of me in the light where there were streaks in my hair where you could see the scalp, that photo haunted me for a while but its what really triggered this whole thing for me. I started looking into the whole hair loss thing, just pretty much lurking forums like these and reading up as much as I could.
My own evaluation of my hair is that its not too bad, really, my hair line seems to be perfectly normal, I have my hair relatively long (long enough to be curly, which I tend not to like, I'm thinking of getting it cut or shaved again) and I think it looks okay... the only problem is when I get close to a light... surprisingly photos taken with a flash tend to not look so bad, and sometimes when they're taken with a normal camera my hair looks completely fine, while other times there are 2 or 3 'streaks' or bits you can see through. I've checked my hair out using 2 mirrors before to try and see as much as I can, and the conclusion I've come to is that it depends entirely on the light.
For example I can sit totally still and just turn my head away from the light, and suddenly it looks like I have a full head of hair... and then if I turn toward the light there are generally bits you can see through. I suspect that my crown area is slightly worse, and all I really have to go on for that is photo evidence.
TL
R version: So, long story short, I don't KNOW if I'm losing my hair or not, since I don't know if it has gotten worse, since I only ever stopped to have a really good look at it when I was almost 18, and since then I wouldn't say its getting worse. My brother has gone bald at the age of 35, but I do not know of any other male relatives who lost their hair, and my father kept his hair all his life.
Now I feel I'm stuck with two options: 1) assume I'm losing my hair and try to do something, 2) assume I'm not losing my hair and do nothing. I feel like I still have a lot of hair and its not too noticeable but I'd like to act early if something is wrong rather than losing the hair without a fight. So I think that option one is the safest and I've already started washing my hair with a 2% ketokonazole shampoo every 3 days. I've been looking at what I could do for a regimen and I've come up with the following:
Topical spironolactone, Revivogen, Minoxidil and the keto ive already mentioned. That is what I would like to do eventually. The spironolactone and the revivogen are purely because, for me, taking finasteride is totally out of the question. Taking a look at the requirements for a regimen of all these medications really makes me wonder how on earth I could cope with all that, especially since I'm at university and it means that my schedule changes a lot. I'm looking particularly at the minoxidil and the spironolactone because I've read that you need to apply them twice a day, and I just don't think I can do that easily since I'm likely to be busy 9-5 on any given day and you have to leave 12 hours between minoxidil applications...
That means that if I apply it at 7:30 in the morning I'd have to shower and dry at like before 7, and then I'd have to not miss it in the evening at exactly 7:30 every night othwerwise I'd not be able to apply it the same time the next morning... it just doesnt look like an easy job especially for a student cos I just don't feel I can be that strict on it.
I'm looking for advice on how to handle such a strict regimen... could I just use it once a day instead of twice a day? Also I'm thinking of building it up slowly, so that probably means starting with keto and minoxidil for a few months, then adding in the rest as I go. Would shaving my hair help with drying times etc because I'd feel bad going out with wet hair because I know its pretty see-through.
Okay, I'm really sorry for the massive post and any advice would be great.
Just two quick edits: I think it is a possibility that my hair could be naturally thin, because my mum has that same problem but she just has a hell of a lot of hair. Also, I only started on keto like a week ago.