andragonous
Member
- Reaction score
- 4
I'm a 19 year old male. Four months ago, I went to the UK's leading hair loss clinic. Many of you would have heard of them. Belgravia. My reasons for going in the first place were complicated. I had been taking a drug known to induce hair loss. When I found out that the drug could do this, I began to look for abnormalities in my hair line as well as an increase in shedding. It is hard to tell if there has been a change in either my hairline or shedding rate, but my paranoia told me that there had been. No one had made a comment to me about changes to my hair. Anyway, I went to Belgravia for a free consultation, hoping to put my fears to bed. But Belgravia did not do this. A small and rather unfriendly doctor told me that I had lost hair. Not only this, she said that it had nothing to do with drugs, and that I was damned to go bald because of my genes. Male Pattern Baldness. Contrasting this, a very friendly lady then told me that all was not lost, as Propecia was on the way to save me from the evils of hair loss... she'd just need pretty much all of my student loan in order to offer me this salvation.
If I could have physically afforded the treatment, I would have gone for it I think. Since I couldn't, I went away sulking. I didn't touch my hair for weeks, and was terrified to go and get it cut. I was just dreading the "hey, you're going a bit thin buddy" remark from the barber. However, after three months it got ridiculous. MY hair needed cutting. So I went to the barber, which leads me to the point of me writing this.
I quietly explained to the barber that I was "thinning on top a little" (very quietly, as I'd just noticed a classmate sat next to me having his haircut!) and asked for advice on a good hair cut for this problem. However, before I got this advice, the barber looked at me as if I was insane. "You have ****loads of hair mate", he exclaimed. I cringed as my classmate looked over. But even after flicking through my hair, he insisted that he could see no evidence that would suggest I'm balding. And when I said to him that the oh-so-noble Belgravia clinic had diagnosed me, he was quick to point out that they could make a lot of money out of me by selling drugs. I couldn't argue.
Now, my fears about hair loss have not gone away. The people at Belgravia could still be very, very right that I am balding, even if they are an exploitative industry cashing in on the insecurities of men and the most superficial traits of society. However, I don't think that the opinions of a barber on the subject should be completely discounted. So I guess my message to all you guys is that, when you go to get advice from these hair loss clinics, remember that some of them are scientists. However, ultimately they are a business, looking to maximize their profits. Obviously you hope that some ethical standards will be applied by these companies. However, we all know that not all businesses adhere to any such standard. To suggest that Hair Loss Clinics are any different is, in my opinion, very naive.
If I could have physically afforded the treatment, I would have gone for it I think. Since I couldn't, I went away sulking. I didn't touch my hair for weeks, and was terrified to go and get it cut. I was just dreading the "hey, you're going a bit thin buddy" remark from the barber. However, after three months it got ridiculous. MY hair needed cutting. So I went to the barber, which leads me to the point of me writing this.
I quietly explained to the barber that I was "thinning on top a little" (very quietly, as I'd just noticed a classmate sat next to me having his haircut!) and asked for advice on a good hair cut for this problem. However, before I got this advice, the barber looked at me as if I was insane. "You have ****loads of hair mate", he exclaimed. I cringed as my classmate looked over. But even after flicking through my hair, he insisted that he could see no evidence that would suggest I'm balding. And when I said to him that the oh-so-noble Belgravia clinic had diagnosed me, he was quick to point out that they could make a lot of money out of me by selling drugs. I couldn't argue.
Now, my fears about hair loss have not gone away. The people at Belgravia could still be very, very right that I am balding, even if they are an exploitative industry cashing in on the insecurities of men and the most superficial traits of society. However, I don't think that the opinions of a barber on the subject should be completely discounted. So I guess my message to all you guys is that, when you go to get advice from these hair loss clinics, remember that some of them are scientists. However, ultimately they are a business, looking to maximize their profits. Obviously you hope that some ethical standards will be applied by these companies. However, we all know that not all businesses adhere to any such standard. To suggest that Hair Loss Clinics are any different is, in my opinion, very naive.
