Eroders of the hairline

[circusrat]

Since I'm relatively new to the male pattern baldness scene. I'm wondering if other people who had a similar starting experience as mine could post in and tell me how things progressed. Since this beast affects us all differently.

I didn't notice anything until about 4 months ago. I looked in the mirror and suddenly noticed that my left temple was whispy and 'see-through'.

I've always had really thick nice hair, its what girls like about me. So it was a bit of a shock.

Anyway - I pulled back my hair and examined the hairline. I have a natural widow's peak and high forehead (which sucks now that I have male pattern baldness) and noticed that, starting at the widow's peak, as the hairline went back it was jaggy, inconsistent, and that my temples at the edges were eroding as well.

The temples haven't really moved back all that far, and the right side hairline seems to be holding ok. The left side hairline, though, looks like someone took a bite out of it. There is a patch of thinning hair, holding their ground. But you can see where the line of healthy hair is running straight from the peak all the way to the temple. Noone has really said anything to me about it, but suddenly i went from strangers guessing i was 20 or so... to people guessing 23-26 in the span of a 5 months or so.

I immediately pulled out a mirror and checked the crown, vertex areas for signs of balding. The only thing I could detect was that, when wet, i could see scalp on the top of my head... Nothing drastic at all... and it has probably always been like that, i just never looked.

Could other people who started male pattern baldness like this give me their input. I have asymmetric thinning of the hairline only. Started when I was 23, and seemed to move fast on the left side. What should I be expecting as far as rate of loss from here out?

btw, I immediately jumped on the big 3. Probably been 4 months on minoxidil, 3 on finasteride and nizoral. No sides that I can detect. minoxidil seems to be the key player thus far. At about 2.5 months I noticed new, dark hairs growing in where I was applying it.

They are continuing to grow, but the process is slow and none of these new hairs are at a cosmetically beneficial length yet. It actually seems like many of them are growing to a cm, falling out, then starting over again. Perhaps each cycle of minoxidil hair will grow thicker and longer? What ya think?

 

[stevieb]

hey circusrat...in regards to the minoxidil shedding those hairs that are about a centimeter.

I have been using rogaine 5% since october of 2004 and i did experience my initial shed which was straight up nasty!!!

after that shed, i was good up until february of this year, in the past 3 weeks, i started to shed what seemed to be the hairs that were grown from the minoxidil, and yes, they appear to be all about a centimeter in length!!!! whew!!! i thought i was the only one that was going through this.

my current shed seems to be stabilizing and hopefully this shed will make way for more improved hairs!!!

i am also considering using either propecia or proscar to fight the battle of the bald!!!!

good luck with your fight!!!

 

[Guest]

Circusrat,

I too am suffering from an almost identical thinning pattern to you. But its a mirror of yours, with my right temple being eroded inwards and the left holding up fine.

This basically happened in the space of 2 months just after i first started using minoxidil. I'm hoping it may be a minoxidil shed but its very weird pattern. I've also thinned in the front centre of my hairline as well in the last months or so. It can just about be hidden if i use a concealer but i'm shitting my pants that its an early sign of me losing the whole frontal part of my hair.

It looks like i'm going to be norwood 3 on the right temple and norwood 1 on the left.

It pisses me off but i'm praying minoxidil and finasteride will sort it out over the next few months.

I hate this sh*t.

 

[circusrat]

Yea... assuming all the hairs that I initially saw growing 2.5 months ago continued, by now some of them should have been pretty damn long. Don't get me wrong... many of the minoxidil hairs are now almost 2 cm long and don't look to be stopping, but, for sure some of them have fallen out and started over again.

I wonder if its due to inconsistent application of minoxidil at the root? I've definitely missed applications... especially on the weekends when i'm partying. But, even barring that, when we do apply it, its not scientifically perfect coverage everytime. And, even if we do get minoxidil on that area of scalp, who's to say it absorbs the same amount everytime due to a number of enviornmental factors. Makes you wonder just HOW dependent those grown hairs are on this chemcial?? If they don't get a good dose of minoxidil for a few days... maybe they just fall out?

It's been a struggle so far. I'll know in about 3 months time if I'm going to get this chemical to grow out hair which matches the length of my cut. Input would be great from anyone that has successfully done this with minoxidil.

 

[circusrat]

Circusrat,

I too am suffering from an almost identical thinning pattern to you. But its a mirror of yours, with my right temple being eroded inwards and the left holding up fine.

This basically happened in the space of 2 months just after i first started using minoxidil. I'm hoping it may be a minoxidil shed but its very weird pattern. I've also thinned in the front centre of my hairline as well in the last months or so. It can just about be hidden if i use a concealer but i'm shitting my pants that its an early sign of me losing the whole frontal part of my hair.

It looks like i'm going to be norwood 3 on the right temple and norwood 1 on the left.

It pisses me off but i'm praying minoxidil and finasteride will sort it out over the next few months.

I hate this sh*t.

yea man, I feel ya. I did notice the thinning go back further into the temple after I started using minoxidil. We can't really blame the minoxidil for that though, that probably would have happened anyway.

I read somewhere that Dr. Lee said balding in the temple region can happen very quickly. It's like a genetic trigger was pulled and shot off the hair on our temples within a few short months. If this regimine doesn't grow out those hairs that have started growing, i'm pretty much fucked and i'll have to change my hair style. As it sits now, I spike up the hair in the front and from the left side you can see right into my scalp and literally see the M shape forming. How precise the line of healthy hair is is pretty weird too. If I lose that patch of hair on my left temple, I'll pretty much have to buzz my head or completely stop spiking it.

 

[Guest]

sh*t! i wear my hiar the same by the sounds of it but from right to left.

Toppik does the trick at the moment but i have had too slightly modify the style, but no-one can tell yet.

When have just washed my hair and i look in the brightly-lit bathroom mirror i want to throw-up as it looks like i have no temple left at all on the right side.

I am quite vain and i cant handle showing any balding/thinning areas, so i will be shaving it off and sobbing at the same time.

Although my haieloss is not too bad compared to others i find it difficult to get on with things at the moment because i just keep thinnking my hair will only get worse.

 

[circusrat]

sh*t! i wear my hiar the same by the sounds of it but from right to left.

Toppik does the trick at the moment but i have had too slightly modify the style, but no-one can tell yet.

When have just washed my hair and i look in the brightly-lit bathroom mirror i want to throw-up as it looks like i have no temple left at all on the right side.

I am quite vain and i cant handle showing any balding/thinning areas, so i will be shaving it off and sobbing at the same time.

Although my haieloss is not too bad compared to others i find it difficult to get on with things at the moment because i just keep thinnking my hair will only get worse.

Yea, same here... not near the point of me buzzing it yet though. And your right, the loss isn't really bad at all when you put it into perspective, and the only person that would even notice you are balding is you. But it does have an overall effect on your appearance that other people will notice. I don't think anyone would call me out and say "hey, I see your balding on your hairline there" but I would get comments like "yea you look alot older." They can tell something is different, just not really what.

edit: I can't bear to buy any kind of concealer yet either. The amount of time/money that I spend on my hair already pisses me off. To actually resort to spraying on hair to trick the world, well that doesn't sit right with me at the moment. I guess if it gets worse i'll start considering anything though.

 

[Guest]

in terms of concealers - toppik and dermatch are really good, i bet if you used them you would make your hair look almost 'back to normal' again.

They only problem is they can become a crutch and can have a bad psychological affect on you when you wash them out.

If you dont want to shave it off quite yet i would recommended both of them9and neither of them are 'spray-on hair'. Toppik you shake in your hair like pepper and it statically sticks to your hair, dermtach is messier and you paint your hair with it and then brush it through. Sounds awful but is actually the best concealer on the market if used correctly.

Bollocks to it all, f*****g male pattern baldness does my tits in. I wish I had a life so fulfilling that male pattern baldness didnt matter to me.

Unfortunately it controls it at the moment. How sad.

 

[circusrat]

in terms of concealers - toppik and dermatch are really good, i bet if you used them you would make your hair look almost 'back to normal' again.

They only problem is they can become a crutch and can have a bad psychological affect on you when you wash them out.

If you dont want to shave it off quite yet i would recommended both of them9and neither of them are 'spray-on hair'. Toppik you shake in your hair like pepper and it statically sticks to your hair, dermtach is messier and you paint your hair with it and then brush it through. Sounds awful but is actually the best concealer on the market if used correctly.

Bollocks to it all, f*****g male pattern baldness does my tits in. I wish I had a life so fulfilling that male pattern baldness didnt matter to me.

Unfortunately it controls it at the moment. How sad.

Well, I know if I was in a serious relationship right now I doubt I would care nearly as much. I'm supposed to be looking for a wife right now... this receding and falling out lowers my attractiveness and confidence. I want to score a good looking girlfriend, not settle for something because I am thinning. Therein lies the problem for me.

 

[Guest]

Well, I know if I was in a serious relationship right now I doubt I would care nearly as much. I'm supposed to be looking for a wife right now... this receding and falling out lowers my attractiveness and confidence. I want to score a good looking girlfriend, not settle for something because I am thinning. Therein lies the problem for me.[/quote]

Once again I am in exactly the same position.

I have been with some really hot women in the past but was a bit of a 'player' for a few years until the male pattern baldness hit me. I had mor ethanone opprtunity to get in relationships but didnt want it. Now I'm fuckin gutted that I may end up with someone that i like but dont find very attarctive. I know that sounds shallow but it's true.

f*****g temples.

 

[stabone1979]

f*****g Temples is right

 

[finallyhair]

Whatever you do, keep it short even if you can't get a style. After I had my transplant and I finally had hair everyone was telling me about my stupid ways of trying to hide it. Especially that sort of caesar do that I think almost all of us tried. Well, I wasn't fooling anyone, only making a fool of myself.

 

[circusrat]

Once again I am in exactly the same position.

I have been with some really hot women in the past but was a bit of a 'player' for a few years until the male pattern baldness hit me. I had mor ethanone opprtunity to get in relationships but didnt want it. Now I'm fuckin gutted that I may end up with someone that i like but dont find very attarctive. I know that sounds shallow but it's true.

f*****g temples.

haha, fuckin guy.

yea... same way. I fucked around alot in college and banged some pretty hot sorority girls. Could have dated any number of them, there are at least 2 girls right now that I could pick up the phone and jump into a relationship if I wanted. They are cool chicks but just not what i'm looking for physically. I mean, if your not attracted to a girl, I think, no matter how cool she might be, it's not gonna work.

My problem is i'm 23 and don't usually find girls my age all that attractive, I love those 18-20 year old hollistered out hot *** girls whose metabolism hasn't slowed down yet so they have those amazing tight *** bodies. I could still go after them for a long time because I always looked a few years younger than I was. Now these receding temples and eroding hairline are making me look much much older and less attractive to those shallow b****s. heh.

I think sometimes we make our problem out worse than it actually is though. As long as you are physically fit, have decent facial features and skull structure, and *important* dress well... you can still pull hot ***.

I went out the other night and this 18 year old was all over me and telling my friends she wanted me and stuff. Good looking girl too, but kind of trashy and not really my style. But, nonetheless, it gave me a little confidence boost. Hell and last night I brought home this petite little 20 year old with a great body. But I digress, the point is - just because you notice it and it bothers you don't assume other people care. Now your artficially lowering your confidence.

The worst point for me is when I wake up in the morning and apply that minoxidil to my eroding left temple. The way that greasy sh*t makes your hair stick together and look absolutely horrible. I keep doing it though because I pull back my hair and see so much growth there that has the potential of fixing the problem completely if it would just keep going. Another 2-3 months and I might have a restored hairline.... but as you said...'f*****g temples'

 

[Guest]

Once again I am in exactly the same position.

I have been with some really hot women in the past but was a bit of a 'player' for a few years until the male pattern baldness hit me. I had mor ethanone opprtunity to get in relationships but didnt want it. Now I'm fuckin gutted that I may end up with someone that i like but dont find very attarctive. I know that sounds shallow but it's true.

f*****g temples.

haha, fuckin guy.

yea... same way. I fucked around alot in college and banged some pretty hot sorority girls. Could have dated any number of them, there are at least 2 girls right now that I could pick up the phone and jump into a relationship if I wanted. They are cool chicks but just not what i'm looking for physically. I mean, if your not attracted to a girl, I think, no matter how cool she might be, it's not gonna work.

My problem is i'm 23 and don't usually find girls my age all that attractive, I love those 18-20 year old hollistered out hot *** girls whose metabolism hasn't slowed down yet so they have those amazing tight *** bodies. I could still go after them for a long time because I always looked a few years younger than I was. Now these receding temples and eroding hairline are making me look much much older and less attractive to those shallow b****s. heh.

I think sometimes we make our problem out worse than it actually is though. As long as you are physically fit, have decent facial features and skull structure, and *important* dress well... you can still pull hot ***.

I went out the other night and this 18 year old was all over me and telling my friends she wanted me and stuff. Good looking girl too, but kind of trashy and not really my style. But, nonetheless, it gave me a little confidence boost. Hell and last night I brought home this petite little 20 year old with a great body. But I digress, the point is - just because you notice it and it bothers you don't assume other people care. Now your artficially lowering your confidence.

The worst point for me is when I wake up in the morning and apply that minoxidil to my eroding left temple. The way that greasy sh*t makes your hair stick together and look absolutely horrible. I keep doing it though because I pull back my hair and see so much growth there that has the potential of fixing the problem completely if it would just keep going. Another 2-3 months and I might have a restored hairline.... but as you said...'f*****g temples'

Yup!

The old morning application kills me. My hair will generally be looking like sh*t from the nightime one also.

I dont think chicks really notice that your temples are going - i thinklike you said they just think you are starting to look older.

f*** it, if can get away with another year without having to shave my f*****g hair i will be quite happy.

 

[circusrat]

Yup!

The old morning application kills me. My hair will generally be looking like sh*t from the nightime one also.

I dont think chicks really notice that your temples are going - i thinklike you said they just think you are starting to look older.

f*** it, if can get away with another year without having to shave my f*****g hair i will be quite happy.

Yea, a good side effect of all this is that I think subconsciously my brain is pushing me into the gym more. I'm getting pretty ripped and slightly bigger so I've been buying some tighter shirts. Unfortunately I've got that thin frame that will get cut up, but its really hard to gain mass. 5'11" 165lbs... but I can bench 195lbs. Not that amazing but I used to be pretty weak.

Look around you too, since I started losing hair I notice other people's hairlines alot more. Lots of guys are receding, way more than you realize until you start looking for it.

 

[itsjustaphase]

my take on the issue of receding temples is like you guys said, if you keep fit, are decent looking (which if you weren't then temple hair wasnt going to help you anyway) you will be fine as long as you have a decent amount of hair. your temples could be eroded but as long as you don't walk in and are remembered as "the bald guy" then you should be fine.

and yes i totally agree there are more people who are receding that we only now realize because we are hyper sensitive to the whole issue. i think we would all be surprised how little people who don't have male pattern baldness pay attention to minor changes in our hair. to us is a huge deal, and i seeing areas get thinner, but im starting to honestly believe that people arent paying that much attention unless its drastic.

best of luck with everything. seems like theres some great guys on this forum and if you keep your spirits up i think we should all be ok sooner or later.

peace

 

[circusrat]

my take on the issue of receding temples is like you guys said, if you keep fit, are decent looking (which if you weren't then temple hair wasnt going to help you anyway) you will be fine as long as you have a decent amount of hair. your temples could be eroded but as long as you don't walk in and are remembered as "the bald guy" then you should be fine.

and yes i totally agree there are more people who are receding that we only now realize because we are hyper sensitive to the whole issue. i think we would all be surprised how little people who don't have male pattern baldness pay attention to minor changes in our hair. to us is a huge deal, and i seeing areas get thinner, but im starting to honestly believe that people arent paying that much attention unless its drastic.

best of luck with everything. seems like theres some great guys on this forum and if you keep your spirits up i think we should all be ok sooner or later.

peace

Well thats the whole thing... noone notices unless its drastic. Before my own hair started going, i never noticed anyone balding at all unless they were pretty f*****g bald.

 

[Guest]

my take on the issue of receding temples is like you guys said, if you keep fit, are decent looking (which if you weren't then temple hair wasnt going to help you anyway) you will be fine as long as you have a decent amount of hair. your temples could be eroded but as long as you don't walk in and are remembered as "the bald guy" then you should be fine.

and yes i totally agree there are more people who are receding that we only now realize because we are hyper sensitive to the whole issue. i think we would all be surprised how little people who don't have male pattern baldness pay attention to minor changes in our hair. to us is a huge deal, and i seeing areas get thinner, but im starting to honestly believe that people arent paying that much attention unless its drastic.

best of luck with everything. seems like theres some great guys on this forum and if you keep your spirits up i think we should all be ok sooner or later.

peace

Well thats the whole thing... noone notices unless its drastic. Before my own hair started going, i never noticed anyone balding at all unless they were pretty f*****g bald.

Yeah my best mate is basically is probably a norwood 4/5 and i never even noticed the his receding until he suddenly started getting a bald spot on the crown. He eventually shaved it off and it looks pretty good but when i look back at photos of him and home movies he must of lost about a good f*****g inch of hairline over a few years and i didnt notice.

However, i'm thinning on one temple and a little on the hairline and i want to vomit when i look at it wet.

What silly f****r i am.

 

[finallyhair]

I keep pretty fit and before my hair transplant I got ripped, totally shredded and tan. I tried to over compensate. No matter what I did, my own opinion of myself never changed. That's what matters. If a person can carry himself well and is positive then he will still attract people but if he constantly feels like sh*t then he will repel people. I think it's so much easier now. Im a decent looking guy butt I find that I get many more dates than what I use to get and I'm not always self confident so I guess the new hair does help.
Jeff