Am I Losing My Hair At 20 Years Of Age?

[VilasIL]

Hello everyone. I am new to this forum.

I am 20 years old and for the past 2 months I am constantly worried about my hair. So here is my story and i hope that you can guys tell me if I started losing my hair or not.

Since I was 14 I always kept my hair short and always styled them with styling was as soon as i stepped out of the shower. I was wearing this styling wax 24/7. I had never noticed a single hair falling out of my head. I knew some of them were falling out but never cared to notice or count how many.

Last winter (November 2016 - May 2017) I let my hair grow a lot. My haircut then was long on the top and buzzcut on the sides. In that time i stopped using the styling was i was using in the past and held my hair in a man bun all the time. So one time after i hadn t had a shower for a few days, I removed the hair band which held my hair and bout 25 hair were on it. I believe now that, that was normal because all the hair i shed the days i did not shower were trapped there. But I didnt think of that when i fisrt saw this. I was in shock. My thought was "I am losing my hair!!". So thats how my obsession about hair loss became the biggest part of my day up untill now. Also the fact that my brother lost all his hair at my age exactly contributed to my fear.

After that I started pulling my hair, rubbing my head etc, and counted the hair that fell out. I was doing this all the time and i would gather about 50 hair or more. So after a week I decided to have a hair cut like the one i used to have (shorter hair) so I could stop being so obsesed. The thing is after the hair cut my obsession got worse.

I went to three doctors about this and none of them said i had a problem. One told me to start minoxidil , but he didnt see a problem. I didn't start any treatment because i wasn' t sure If i was actually losing my hair.

So today has been a month from my hair cut and i am still crazy about my hair. Yesterday I kept rubbing my head for couple of minutes and i collected 120 hair from my desk. I believe i shed like crazy but my hair is the same like it was a year ago (i think). My hairline hasn't recieded and no visible thinning. Shouldn't my hair loss be visible after 2 months of constant shedding?

To conclude my story, according to my doctors (and family members) opinions my shedding is due to my stress about my hair and because i constantly think about it. They tell me to forget about it and that everything is normal but i cant help myshelf thinking about it. I think one of these is happening to me:

1) My hair shed is normal and only I think its too much because I am worried
2) I damaged my hair by pulling them into a man bun so now they are shedding
3) Stress about hair loss make my hair fall
4) I started balding

What do you guys think? (I can post photos too if you think that will help you help me LOL)

Thanks for your time, cheers!

 

[Hippocrates21]

Photos pls

 

[VilasIL]

My hair when it was long and noticed the shedding

 

[VilasIL]

My hair right after the haircut (a month ago)

 

[VilasIL]

Photos pls

My hair now

 

[VilasIL]

My hair 2 years ago

 

[Hippocrates21]

There seems to be some thinning. Your hair looks really good tho bro. Maybe start on Finasteride as a preventative measure and minoxidil if you want. Wouldn't hurt to get on Nizoral Shampoo as well. Maintaining your current hair would leave u in a great position and u might b lucky enough to get some thickening too. Also, that's a pretty impressive beard for 20!

 

[VilasIL]

There seems to be some thinning. Your hair looks really good tho bro. Maybe start on Finasteride as a preventative measure and minoxidil if you want. Wouldn't hurt to get on Nizoral Shampoo as well. Maintaining your current hair would leave u in a great position and u might b lucky enough to get some thickening too. Also, that's a pretty impressive beard for 20!

Thanks for your reply man. I am not sure yet i am thinning. Where exactly do you see it? crown?

 

[Hippocrates21]

I had an almost identical, slightly less thin crown before i started finasteride at 18. By 19 that spot was thick and the thinning was invisible. You also seem to have slight hairline and temples recession and slight thinning behind the hairline. Minoxidil could really help with thickening the hair up too.

 

[VilasIL]

I had an almost identical, slightly less thin crown before i started finasteride at 18. By 19 that spot was thick and the thinning was invisible. You also seem to have slight hairline and temples recession and slight thinning behind the hairline. Minoxidil could really help with thickening the hair up too.

I might be in denial right now but here's my thought. Isn't it weird that my thinning started when i let my hair grow? I mean I was wearing a man bun all the time and putting pressure to the hair around my hairline by pulling them. Maybe i damaged my hair follicles there so thats the reason of shedding. Do you think its just a coincidence that this happened around this time?

 

[Hippocrates21]

I'm gonna tell it to you straight bro, if u think ur losing hair, ur losing hair. Parents, doctors, friends, they'll all tell u that u have nothing to worry about. But the truth is that most people don't even recognise balding till it's really bad. When i started losing it i blamed everything from hair straightening to combing my hair to one side to friction from tossing and turning on my pillow. It just cost me precious time and hair thinking these things because if i knew what i knew now it was the start of male pattern baldness for sure. You've hit the jackpot that you've noticed it so early and can do something about it to stop it from getting worse, and potentially also thickening the current hair. Give the meds a try and don't look back, you'll never have to worry about your hair again.

 

[VilasIL]

I'm gonna tell it to you straight bro, if u think ur losing hair, ur losing hair. Parents, doctors, friends, they'll all tell u that u have nothing to worry about. But the truth is that most people don't even recognise balding till it's really bad. When i started losing it i blamed everything from hair straightening to combing my hair to one side to friction from tossing and turning on my pillow. It just cost me precious time and hair thinking these things because if i knew what i knew now it was the start of male pattern baldness for sure. You've hit the jackpot that you've noticed it so early and can do something about it to stop it from getting worse, and potentially also thickening the current hair. Give the meds a try and don't look back, you'll never have to worry about your hair again.

But doesn't the products have side effects? My brother used them and he still lost his hair and got a lot of side effectsby using them. And i know once you start them, you are commited to them for life. Besides shedding i havent noticed anything else. So wouldnt be better to start the treatment after i am 100% i am going bald?

 

[Hippocrates21]

I've been on all of those medications since i was 18. Absolutely no side effects at all for me. The risk is low, lower than most drugs on the market. You can still lose hair on them for sure if ur unlucky but they will still significantly slow down the rate of loss. It's up to you how to proceed. Once people can visibly see they are "going bald" they have already lost 50% density. Do u want to wait till then? These drugs are really good at preventing and maintaining. Once ur bald they are almost as good as useless.

 

[biddybomb]

In my opinion you have zero thinning on the crown. You are a norwood 1 that maybe just maybe has some miniaturisation on the hairline. It is hard to tell because the picture you posted 2 years ago doesn't actually show your hairline so its impossible to know if your hairline has always had a bit of a wonky shape to it. I am sure your hair as of right now would look the same as it did two years ago if you styled it that way.

However if your brother went bald at this age that means you are at huge risk to start balding too. There is every chance you didn't get the balding gene like him (surprisingly common) so don't think its a death sentence but you should be wary. My advice to you is to take pictures every 6 months. Forget about it in the meantime, and then refocus on it every 6 months because there is absolutely no use stressing over something that can only be confirmed in time. If you happen to see a change down the line, then yeah time to start thinking about treatments if its even severe enough. As of right now your hair looks f*****g epic to me, crazy density and good quality, I just don't see you going bald anytime soon but then again looks can be deceiving I suppose.

 

[Hippocrates21]

@biddybomb Did u compare the photos in post #3 to the ones in post #4 and #5?

 

[VilasIL]

In my opinion you have zero thinning on the crown. You are a norwood 1 that maybe just maybe has some miniaturisation on the hairline. It is hard to tell because the picture you posted 2 years ago doesn't actually show your hairline so its impossible to know if your hairline has always had a bit of a wonky shape to it. I am sure your hair as of right now would look the same as it did two years ago if you styled it that way.

However if your brother went bald at this age that means you are at huge risk to start balding too. There is every chance you didn't get the balding gene like him (surprisingly common) so don't think its a death sentence but you should be wary. My advice to you is to take pictures every 6 months. Forget about it in the meantime, and then refocus on it every 6 months because there is absolutely no use stressing over something that can only be confirmed in time. If you happen to see a change down the line, then yeah time to start thinking about treatments if its even severe enough. As of right now your hair looks f*****g epic to me, crazy density and good quality, I just don't see you going bald anytime soon but then again looks can be deceiving I suppose.

thanks for replying. I know my hair hasn't changed but i can get my head out of it. I dont know if shedding make me worry or I am shedding because I am worried. One doctor said that my hair is shedding because i think about it too much. But still I am pretty sure I lose 200 hair a day. I dont know what to do lol.

PS: My father has zero hair loss and he is 60

 

[davesmith420]

You don't have any noticeable hair loss. But since your brother has hair loss and you have been shedding a lot, I would just monitor it every 6 months with pictures and see if anything changes.

 

[VilasIL]

You don't have any noticeable hair loss. But since your brother has hair loss and you have been shedding a lot, I would just monitor it every 6 months with pictures and see if anything changes.

Thanks for your reply. So THAT MUCH excessive shedding maybe wont lead to hair loss? I thought massive shedding = male pattern balness

 

[biddybomb]

Thanks for your reply. So THAT MUCH excessive shedding maybe wont lead to hair loss? I thought massive shedding = male pattern balness

nah man, when I first noticed my slight recession at 19 I got paranoid about shedding. I could sit there everyday and rub my scalp and have near a 100 hairs on the table in front of me everytime. Fast forward nearly 10 years and its the same. Hair is still as thick as ever despite a receding hairline. From what I have gathered on this forum, when you are thinning all over the scalp there is no denying it. Waking up to hair on your pillow, seeing it clump in the shower drain etc etc. The fact you can rub 100 hair off your head is perfectly normal IMO. Roughly 15% of the hair on anyone's head is in its resting phase, simply sitting in the scalp waiting to be pushed out by the next follicle to grow through. That is why its easy to accumulate over 100 hairs just rubbing your scalp in a single session, you are just taking out hair that is meant to be shed.

 

[VilasIL]

Hello guys. UPDATE:
So after one month of constant stress and nightmares, I finally went to a hair loss clinic to get my hair full examined. As I already told you I went to 2 dermatologists last month and they both didnt give a f*** and just prescribed some meds. The doctor in the clinic performed a pull test and checked my hair with the camera thingy and said i didnt have any thinning except some recession probably because my hairline is maturing. He said I shouldnt start any regimen. Even though he assured me i was ok I am still nervous about my shedding. The thing is I don't even know if I am actually shedding or I am just paranoid. If you are looking for hair falling out you ll find some. I don't know what to think. Do you think my shedding is legit and the doctor didnt see anything worrisome because its still too early to tell?