Depressing Hair Loss Over The Last Few Years. Doctor Said Not To Worry.

[AWOL495]

Hi there,

I am new to the forums here and thought I would reach out, because I'm getting really depressed and anxious about my hair. I first started noticing recession a few years ago. I am 22 years old, and at this age it really affects me, as I already have low social confidence. My dad is bald, but he is in his 60s. All of my brothers are rocking solid hairlines and they range from 25-30.

It's really getting to me, as I was always the guy who styled his hair. Perhaps that was the cause of it. I don't perm. I blow dry with hot air (have stopped this over the last few weeks and now use cold) and customarily style it with various products such as gel, wax, volumizing powder, and set it with hair spray. My hair has always been floppy and lacking in volume, which is why I turned to styling it in the first place. It has also always been quite high and wide.

I took up weightlifting a few years back, and at that time I took creatine for a few months, but haven't taken it for a few years now.

It's honestly been a concern of mine for a long time, and I've shifted from being depressed over it to denying it, then being depressed or thinking I'm okay. I have not noticed undue amounts of hair falling out in the shower, being left on my pillow, or shedding, although if I run my hands through my hair I may find one strand on my hand afterwards.

I don't want to take up propecia, as I've heard so many bad things about the side effects. I also can't afford anything like surgery or supplements which cost lots every month. Nevertheless, it's highly distressing.

Recently, I bit the bullet and went to my doctor to show them, but to my confusion they said I was fine, did not need anything special, did not show signs of male pattern baldness and merely had a prominent forehead. Nothing changes the feeling, and now I find myself comparing myself to everyone else's hairlines, worrying about meeting new people, reluctant to post photos of myself on social media etc.

I know that sounds pathetic, but I have real concerns about my appearance and socializing anyway, so this feels like a massive knock to me and is becoming a daily obsession.

Pics have been included and time marked to show the rate of change/advance.

2015

Much seems to do with the way I style my hair, as the below pics are also from 2015

Then 2016, and I could still style it to make it look fuller.

About a month ago this year I could style it and position it to look okay-ish.

But the reality of my problem is like this. Unstyled, just pulled back.

As you can see, there are lots of loose hairs, short ones at the hairline and the whole appearance is choppy, wide and causing me much concern. I don't know exactly how much it looks like it's changed over the years and what this might indicate about my rate of change, but I am so worried and distressed by it. I hate the look, but I would not look good shaving it off either.

I'm confused by my doctor saying I have nothing to worry about. To me, I look like a Norwood 3. I have no thinness around the crown, and this was inspected under a magnifier by the doctor.

 

[biddybomb]

Norwood 2 by the looks of it. You have good density all over so I don't think you will end up bald any time soon but there is certainly miniturization going on there. If you are not willing to take finasteride you should consider taking minoxidil at least although that will likely not do much to stop the underlying process in the long term. It is impossible to know where you will end up unfortunately, just one reason why male pattern baldness is a b**ch even for people with mild recession like yours.

 

[resu]

Keep some facial hair like in this pic, for treatments it's the same thing since the 90's, finasteride and minoxidil but since you don't want to try finasteride then try minoxidil to hold the fort for better treatments in the future.

 

[AWOL495]

Thanks for your help everyone. I really appreciate it.

So perhaps a Norwood 2 rather than 3? Is NW2 particularly bad for someone of 22? I know it's impossible to say, as it's so unpredictable, I'm just very worried that I will be losing more and will have lost most of it by 25 or so. I don't know if I'm over analyzing the rate of change or not. Does it look aggressive? I generally find keeping my hair short makes it looker better, and I seem to be able to get away with it in those circumstances. When it grows out, it looks pretty bad and choppy like this.

I'm also a little confused about how to tell the difference between damaged hair/split ends around my hairline, and receding hair which won't grow back if I cut it. I don't know if hanging onto those hairs is something I have to do, or if trimming it might make it better in the long run.

It might be paranoia on my part, because my regular barber said there was no change over the last year, and my doctor said I was fine after inspection. Regardless, I just can't shake the worry, and it always looks terrible to me.

I'm going to clean up my diet and go back to nutritious eating, as well as adding some good multivitamins etc. Is there something else I should not be doing? I'm keeping off the hot drying now, but is cold blow drying a bad choice too? And how about styling products?

Thanks and once again, I really do appreciate the advice. I find that sometimes people who see you daily just think you're being obsessive or vain, when it's a legit worry.

 

[dralex]

Thanks for your help everyone. I really appreciate it.

So perhaps a Norwood 2 rather than 3? Is NW2 particularly bad for someone of 22? I know it's impossible to say, as it's so unpredictable, I'm just very worried that I will be losing more and will have lost most of it by 25 or so. I don't know if I'm over analyzing the rate of change or not. Does it look aggressive? I generally find keeping my hair short makes it looker better, and I seem to be able to get away with it in those circumstances. When it grows out, it looks pretty bad and choppy like this.

Definitely not a NW3, NW2 for sure. Its not necessarily bad for someone at 22, but there is miniaturization on your hairline so it could accelerate. Impossible to say though. Doesn't look aggressive, but could become aggressive, impossible to say. Safest bet is to go on finasteride, but if you don't want to do that you could try some topicals like minoxidil or topical spironolactone, or just ride it out and see how it progresses. Don't look at your brothers hair to judge how your hair loss will be. That was my mistake. Both my older brothers (2 and 4 years older) have no hair loss whatsoever, but somehow mine started when I was 19. Thought it wouldn't progress because it didn't run in my family until 40s, but I guess I inherited the gene from somewhere down the line. It is much harder to grow back hair then preventing further hair loss. So if you are concerned I would take action now.