i was very uninformed. I was a NW2 at age 15 and a NW3 at age 20, and now am 26. My 8th grade history teacher said I would be bald by age 20, but I told him my family just has high foreheads, which is what my parents always told me. Not only did I not know Propecia from snake oil, at age 23 I wondered if I had already lost all the hair I was going to lose. I had always accepted it as something out of my power, and halfheartedly believed everyone else's statements that looks don't matter. When my two year older brother went from NW2 to 5 in 6 months, I started doing some research in 2002. Even when I finally researched finasteride and realized I should ask for proscar, I asked the Doctor what the odds where that the hair in front that I had lost was all I was going to lose, and that I could just save my money. The Doctor told me "you most certainly will lose the rest of your hair if you don't get on finasteride now." I just wondered because I saw many older men with just the crown gone or just the front gone. I did not realize that balding 20 year olds had an accelerated male pattern baldness.
I also did not realize just how high my hair line was compared to where it should be. Before I got my second hair transplants, I asked my female friend where I should put the hair line. She could not give much input. I then drew a line, and she told me I'd have a LOT more filling in to do than that, and that I'd have to bring it down a lot lower. At the time I was not sure if a slight V or if a flat hair line would be best, assuming I had enough donor hair. That is when I started looking at many men and making mental measurements of angles and ratios and figuring out what made a hair line look good. It took a year of research before I finally decided what would look best on me. So many possibilities. Amazing how complicated something so seemingly simple could be. Not having the money for a while helped give me time to plan it, and saved me from some horrible procedures I had contemplated but did not have money for.
Hair transplant doctors tell patients that "teenage hair lines" look bad only to give the patients more self confidence and make them think the procedure is not so limited. The fact is that a NW1 is probably the ideal hair line. Ideally, the hair line should be 70-85% as high above the top of the eyebrows as the top of the eye brows are above the bottom of the nose, and nose size and head size usually determine where in this range is best. The sides are just as critical, and there are many other factors.
The myspace link has pics of me at my worst in front (though the top has thinned since then) and after 1 transplant and two transplants. My most recent transplant has not grown in yet, and I'll get a 4th one in front (yes, they are all just in the front, 4000 grafts so far, because normall hair is so thick) once I know I can save my top hair. My brother says he is not bothered by his hairloss at all, and thinks he has a rugged look. But when I told him what I thought topical Avodart could do, he get extremely excited. We all cope in our own ways, I guess.
I joined this site about 3 weeks ago and spent 15 hours per day researching stuff. I was very skeptical of everything except finasteride and minoxidil when I first came here, but have seen enough studies to change my opinions since then.
I've always been a very healthy eater, aside from not drinking enough water. I don't smoke, and drink maybe 3 times a year. I don't drink soda or coffee or energy drinks, and avoid trans fat and hydrogenated fat and most non-raw foods. I've been omega-3 conscious for years and follow FDA, not Adkins.
I currently take:
---since 1/03:
*a finasteride oral suspension that I now question what any active ingredient
---since 7/04:
*1.25mg proscar per day
---since 4/05:
*Equate minoxidil 5% 2mL 2x per day
*eat 4 tbsp ground flax seeds per day
*eat 1 tbsp orgainic unrefined safflowerseed oil (for linoleic acid)
*hat and long clothes to keep sun off my head and face and body
*green tea just for general health
*glucosamine, MSN, and chondroitin for my joints
---since 7/18/06
*added in my minoxidil 6 Avodart capsules per bottle, 3 saw palmetto capsules, and 2 1000mg borage seed oil capsules in each bottle.
*nizoral 1% every other day
*tea tree oil in baby shampoo every day
*prox-N once per day after my shower
*soy protein powder, for arginine, until i get a better source
*grape seed extract capsules
I ordered 3 months of Fluridil but have not recieved it yet.
I am currently looking into
*vehicles for topical 5ar inhibitors and dht blockers
*apple extracts
*topical spironolactone or low dose topical flutamide
*applying retinol in small doses to my scalp
*possibly taking 0.5mg Avodart orally once every 5 days instead of finasteride 1.25mg every day
