Advice... Shave it all off or Keep growing it out?

[tykouu]

Just hoping I can get a few objective opinions on how I should keep my hair... go for the shaved look? or keep it short... or grow it out.

If I had to guess, I'd say my hairline is NW1...but my crown is super thin and I don't know if it will ever return to full coverage.

I attribute my hair loss to chemotherapy treatment I had about 3 years ago. I had chemo from Jul '11 thru Jan '12. Before the chemo - I was a norwood 1 with no signs of hair loss whatsoever. Ever since however, the hair at my crown has been stubborn and thinner than its ever been. Perhaps its genetic, I don't know. There's no sign of hairloss in any of my 3 brothers and my dad is 61 with a full head of hair, are most of my uncles on both parents' sides.

I just feel that if I shave my head i'll stop obsessing and maybe feel better or more confident. hairloss has definitely made me very self-conscious and given me stress/anxiety that is affecting my life in a negative way

here's pics of my crown's current state...

Thanks for your time

 

[zzzzz]

that is not super thin, and I bet the average person wouldn't even notice it. And you are thinking you should shave it? My crown was bad before treatment, not yours. Yours is quite good and could easily be recovered to it's original state with a good response to treatment. Also that is male pattern baldness, not something caused by chemo that will be reversed on its own over time

 

[doublebatman]

That looks fine. To the average Joe they wouldn't recognise you were balding at all. With some treatment I'd imagine you could get back some thickness anyway.

You definitely don't need to shave your head yet

 

[Exodus2011]

yea man. you are at the beginning stages of male pattern baldness. 3 years is probably too long ago for the chemo to have affected you this way. not to mention you are having a textbook case of diffusion.

this is a process in which your individual hairs are getting thinner, which is called hair diffusion. this is opposed to hair recession which is the hairline moving back on each side

get on the two best treatments that we have nowadays, which are propecia and minoxidil (aka rogaine). studies show nizoral might help some too.

your hair doesnt look bad now but my baldness started this way as well. i have hair diffusion as well and it often leads to complete baldness cuz of the way it progress (where all your hair gets thinner other than the permanent sides and back).

so basically you should get on treatments quick if you want to keep your hair. i'm not saying you will be bald in a few months time but its definitely possible to get a lot thinner over the next 6 months or so. thats how my baldness progressed