Afrik123's Story - (Plz help me classify my norwood. *PICS)

[afrik123]

Hey guys, I have been browsing these forums for a while now. They have been a great help to me. So I've decided to do my first post.

I am 23 years old and I would really appreciate some opinions to the extent of my hair loss. I would classify myself as a norwood 3 on the hair loss scale. I know that's really high for my young age. I have always had higher than average temples so my hairline has never been straight even at a young age but ever since I hit my early 20's my temples have receded quite a bit. Although i have not suffered much/any loss to my crown area.

My father is 55 and has a receded hairline much like myself but claims all the men in his family develop high temples (norwood 3) in their early 20's then stay that way for life. Is that even possible lol.

So all the men on my dads side have really high temples like myself but do not develop any baldness aside from temple loss. My mothers father has most of his hair aside from temple loss but my mothers 2 brothers are completely bald (aggressive premature baldness). So I suppose I could go either way lol. Any help/opinions would be much appreciated.

I do not take any hair loss medications aside from using Nizoral 2% 3 times a week.

Thanks a lot!

 

[MrBastard]

Re: PICS included. Plz help me classify my norwood rating.Thanks

You can see that the whole isle between your temples is see through and thin. Looks like your going to be a NW4 very soon.... If you want to keep your hair you got to go on the big 3 asap. Or nizoral/minoxidil and other topials instead of finasteride if you dont want to mess with hormones

 

[GeminiX]

Re: PICS included. Plz help me classify my norwood rating.Thanks

Excellent light in those photos and no flash (nice to be able to see the subject clearly).

As MB above has said, your hair appears to be thinning quite significantly at the front and possibly diffuse on the crown too (no flash and can still see scalp), though that is possibly just due to your hair being quite short.

Only you can decide whether you want to go with a more powerful regimen, but as a rule, the sooner the better if you want to hang onto your hair.

Hope this helps.

 

[LooseItAll]

Re: PICS included. Plz help me classify my norwood rating.Thanks

I think You're balding just like me. Like the other said you're gonna be a NW4 in notime. I doubt that big 3 will get Your temples back, but You can still fight for the NW3 area.

 

[afrik123]

Re: PICS included. Plz help me classify my norwood rating.Thanks

I agree with you guys that i am definitely a norwood 3 with irreparable temple loss. I accept that, but I do not believe i will progress to a NW4. Perhaps i am just fooling myself. The norwood 3 hair is still strong and have not thinned in years. Also, many of my male relatives follow this pattern. Like I said perhaps I am fooling myself, blinded by my own vanity. I am a big enough man to admit this. Losing your hair is never fun like I'm sure many of you guys can attest to. I suppose only time will tell. Here is an other pic of my frontal hairline.

 

[FSHGLD]

Re: PICS included. Plz help me classify my norwood rating.Thanks

Your hairloss isn't that bad and with a bit of finasteride and nizoral it'd prob be a bit better in a year's time. This forum seems to be full of people who make people's hairloss out to be much more severe than it is. You won't be a 'NW4 in no time'. Look at how a NW4 looks on the scale - it's nothing like your hair.
I doubt any girls would see you as 'bald'. If you grew your hair slightly longer and styled it in a certain way, the loss would be barely noticeable

 

[flamingpie]

Re: PICS included. Plz help me classify my norwood rating.Thanks

Id say you are a nw3 now. One way you can kind of scale how quickly your hairline might progress is by checking to see how long it took you to go from a nw2 to a nw3. If this hairloss happened overnight id say your screwed, but if it has been progressively thinning over say 4 years, I wouldnt let others scare you into thinking you are too far gone.

 

[afrik123]

Re: PICS included. Plz help me classify my norwood rating.Thanks

Hey guys I really appreciate all your responses. Yah, I don't think I'm anywhere near a norwood 4 lol. I think I may look into some hair-loss treatments besides my nizoral. I took procerin for a year many years ago when I was 18 but I didn't really see any difference but I might start that again now that I'm a bit older.

To answer your question, my hair loss was very gradual and I never noticed any abnormal hair fall. I only really realized the extent of my receding hairline when I shaved my head just over a month ago. That's why my hair is so
short.

The strange thing is that looking back on photos where I was 12-13 I still had somewhat of a receding hairline albeit not as severe. maybe a norwood 2-2.5.

 

[Primo]

Re: PICS included. Plz help me classify my norwood rating.Thanks

It's hard to diagnose this as progressive male pattern baldness until I see younger pics of your hairline.

You could be one of these V-shaped hairline guys who experience a little recession in their late teens/ early twenties, but then remain stable for many years after.

 

[afrik123]

Thanks everyone for their responses. I managed to get a picture of my hairline @ age 19 (1st pic). I don't think that much has changed since then. Any input/opinions are welcome. The last two pictures is what my hair looks like when I grow it a bit longer (2 months ago)

Thanks guys!

 

[Nene]

It's hard to tell from the picture but you're hair doesn't look much worse than at 19. Also, you can hide the loss very well when the hair is longer. However, I think you are kidding yourself if you think you won't progress to a norwood 4. Maybe it won't happen soon as your loss seems to be progressing slowly, however, there is miniaturization at the front of the hairline which means that the even if slowly, surely that hair will go eventually. To me it looks as though norwood 4A or worse is in your future before you hit 30 if you don't get on medication. If I hadn't seen your picture at 19 or known of your family history, I would say your headed for complete baldness and pretty soon, as your loss is pretty extensive for 23. However, it is always possible that you inherited that gene your father spoke of, so maybe you want to just keep a close watch on it and if it worsens get on the meds.

 

[mann02]

Norwood69?(joke) your hair looks fine u might bee 1.5 I guess

 

[cuebald]

I'd say NW2.5 - NW3 at the moment. You have miniaturisation of the temples (although slight), and in the 3rd picture it looks like the "frontal island" has diffused slightly too. This is all evidence of male pattern baldness in action - it might be relatively slow, but it is still happening.

When I was at that stage I grew my hair longer, so it was about 3 inches or so long, and let it fall forwards over my forehead (a "messy" look). Nobody could tell what my condition is - but again, as the hair continues to thin, there comes a point where that look just stops working.

I'd say without treatment - NW4A in 2-3 years?

 

[afrik123]

Thanks everyone for their replies. I appreciate all the insight. I think I will continue using nizoral shampoo and look into getting some regaine. Do you guys think rogaine/regaine will be beneficial to me as I have no thinning at the crown but only in the front as I heard rogaine doesn't work for the frontal area? is rogaine then a waste of money for me?

Also, if I do progress do a Nw4 as many of you think I may would it be wise to restore my hairline to its current state (nw2.5-3) or NW1-2? Also, since I have no memory of ever having a straight hairline can I even restore my hairline to a Norwood 1-2 as I believe I have never had follicles in that area?

last question I promise lol...What is the point of going on finasteride when in the long run it costs more than a hair transplant. Would it not be wise to wait and see the extent of your baldness at 30+ and then use the money you would have spent on finasteride to permanently fix the problem. It just seems smarter and you dont have to be slave to a drug for the rest of your life and risk negative side effects.

Thanks guys!

 

[GeminiX]

last question I promise lol...What is the point of going on finasteride when in the long run it costs more than a hair transplant. Would it not be wise to wait and see the extent of your baldness at 30+ and then use the money you would have spent on finasteride to permanently fix the problem. It just seems smarter and you dont have to be slave to a drug for the rest of your life and risk negative side effects.

Obtaining the appearance of a full head of hair with only a transplant or two is by no means guaranteed. If you wait until your hair loss is severe before doing anything about it, then even with a mega-session you're probably going to end up with hair which is visibly thinning at best.

 

[malo]

Thanks everyone for their replies. I appreciate all the insight. I think I will continue using nizoral shampoo and look into getting some regaine. Do you guys think rogaine/regaine will be beneficial to me as I have no thinning at the crown but only in the front as I heard rogaine doesn't work for the frontal area? is rogaine then a waste of money for me?

Also, if I do progress do a Nw4 as many of you think I may would it be wise to restore my hairline to its current state (nw2.5-3) or NW1-2? Also, since I have no memory of ever having a straight hairline can I even restore my hairline to a Norwood 1-2 as I believe I have never had follicles in that area?

last question I promise lol...What is the point of going on finasteride when in the long run it costs more than a hair transplant. Would it not be wise to wait and see the extent of your baldness at 30+ and then use the money you would have spent on finasteride to permanently fix the problem. It just seems smarter and you dont have to be slave to a drug for the rest of your life and risk negative side effects.

Thanks guys!

Every hair restoration doctor will recommend that you use finasteride after a hair transplant. Even if it does not stop it dead in its tracks it slows the loss down.
Plus you may be lucky and see regrowth.

 

[afrik123]

Ok cool guys, thanks for all the replies....as for the first part of my last post...Do you guys think that using rogaine would be beneficial to me or just a waste of money as I suffer only frontal hair-loss and no crown loss..thanks guys!

Here is a pic of my hairline just as a recap

 

[afrik123]

Been on finasteride 1 month
on minoxidil 3 motnths
and nizoral 6 months

Do u guys see an improvement?

 

[SYSTEM-J]

Hard to tell because your hair is longer and styled differently. It certainly doesn't look any worse. I think it's best when taking comparison photos of your hairline to slick your hair back as much as possible and expose the raw hairline. I'd also say it's probably far too early to expect visible results anyway.

 

[afrik123]

yah, Ican see a lot of hair sprouting up in my hair line particulaily my right temple. Look closely @ my right temple and U'll see that the hair has definitely thickedned and Ive been on minoxidil 5% 5ml a day for 3 months and Ive definitely grown hair in the front no doubt I can see them.

Just look closely @ my right temple I swear there is a differance

Thanks