FTank's story - (26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included)

[FTank]

I guess I started losing my hair at least a couple of years ago but I remained in denial about it and I was also uneducated regarding male pattern baldness. I thought it was true it came from your mothers side and that my hair would follow the path of her brother. He thined over the years and had a receding hairline but basically still had a pretty good head of hair at 65. So when my hairline receded and the hair thinned a didn't jump on treatment like I should have because it comes from your mother's side after all?

My fathers side has horrible male pattern baldness on the other hand. My dad lost a ton of hair in his 20's and is a norwood 6. His brother started losing his hair when he was 17 and is the worst norwood 7 I have ever seen. I mean he barley has any horseshoe left. Two cousins from my fathers side are norwood 6/7s but one is in his mid thirties and last time I saw him he didn't have any sign of male pattern baldness.

A little more than a year ago my hair was pretty thick and my only problem was a receding hairline but I lost a ton of hair in 2007. I have posted pics below to display my current situation. I started propecia/nizoral 1% 4 months ago. In the first two months I started it I lost the most hair ever. This could have been shedding or just aggressive male pattern baldness progressing or a combination.

So my basic question is this. If I am destined to become a norwood 6/7 is it more likely my male pattern baldness will only consider propecia a small bump in the road putting me in the small percentage of non responders? Maybe I should just shave my head and spend the money on a good psychologist instead? (joking but not really Or is it still a possible in theory that a could turn out to be good responder to the treatment?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[RaginDemon]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

Nobody will know how much Propecia can help, you will have to give it a yr to find out.

 

[30_going_on_60]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

For the most part, what Ragin says is true. That's some agressive loss for only a one year period though. I have NW6 gramps, a NW6 pops, and another Norwood 4 ish gramps, so I'm pretty sure I'm headed in that direction. The meds worked very well for me, they might for you, or they might not. At this point, you may as well give them a trt if you're up for it. What do you have to lose? Good luck.

 

[FTank]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

I guess I will be patient with the propecia/nizoral and wait one year and look at the results. Depending on what it looks like then I may add rogaine foam.

 

[ghg]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

I had a lot more hair than you 1.5 years ago (that's when I started finasteride)... only 6 months after starting finasteride I had only little more than you do now... last summer I had about the same amount, and now I don't really know since I won't grow my hair out again. So it's not totally unheard of to lose hair that fast. All you can do is use the treatments and hope for the best. And I'm a diffuse thinner aswell...

It's funny 'cause I always thought that the baldness comes straight from your father (how f*****g stupid and naive was that?). My father had a very good head of hair up until he was 55. Now he's 60 and getting pretty damn thin on top (almost bald). What I didn't take into the equation was that my hair type is exactly like my mothers, and she's thinning. Her father was NW3 when he was around 30 (the only picture I have seen of him when he was young). I also look a bit like my mother's father so it comes as no surprise that I'm losing hair young.

 

[FTank]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

Hmmm I just got done doing something that wasn't the best idea. I googled propecia and side effects and came up with all sorts of stuff. I'm sure I'm not the first to do this. It would be pretty bad if I went bald because propecia didn't work for me then grew a set of man boobs.

I would have to be really unlucky for that to happen I'm sure...

 

[RaginDemon]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

there are definitely potential sides, but its worth a try to see the result.

 

[FTank]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

As far as I can tell so far I have not experienced any of the listed side effects.

One thing I have noticed is I am getting muscle twitchs at different parts of my body. It's pretty weird. My calve muscles have been twitching the worst. I don't know if the propecia has anything to do with my muscles twitching or if it is totally unrelated. It could possibly be stress from the whole balding ordeal. I guess the only way to find out would be stop the drug.

Other than that though no sides so I would hate to quit propecia if it is going to work because of imagined sides. I searched the forum and no one else seemed to have any problems with muscle twitches.

 

[RaginDemon]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

As far as I can tell so far I have not experienced any of the listed side effects.

One thing I have noticed is I am getting muscle twitchs at different parts of my body. It's pretty weird. My calve muscles have been twitching the worst. I don't know if the propecia has anything to do with my muscles twitching or if it is totally unrelated. It could possibly be stress from the whole balding ordeal. I guess the only way to find out would be stop the drug.

Other than that though no sides so I would hate to quit propecia if it is going to work because of imagined sides. I searched the forum and no one else seemed to have any problems with muscle twitches.

never heard about that bro, sorry.

 

[klink]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

Foam does more than Propecia. If I started from the beginning I would do foam and nizoral. I am doing the big3.

 

[FTank]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

There seems to be a lot of debate on the foam. I was under the impression that propecia was the biggest gun available aside from maybe dutasteride. It seems everywhere I look I hear half of the people say rogaine foam is super wonderful and half claim it ate their hairline.

Also it seems like my hair is thinning pretty evenly in the horseshoe area. The crown is a little thinner but I believe I am what you call a diffuse thinner. So if I used foam would it be best to put it all over the thinning area or pick 1 or 2 target locations?

I am a little interested in starting rogaine because my dad used the 2% like 17 years ago and he and my mom both said he experienced noticeable regrowth from it and maintained during the years he took it. Thing is he was pretty bald by that point but he wanted to see what would happen. Since I believe my hair loss pattern is just like my dad's I wonder if that means I would get a great response to rogaine foam stacked on the other big two? I know the only way to know is to try. I guess I thought I might get lucky with propecia and turn out to be an excellent responder. I am starting month 5 of propecia so I thought I might know in a couple of months if I'm lucky.

Thankyou for all the input. My mom always talked about how my dad changed when he lost his hair. I always thought he overeacted. I can see now that when the shoe is on the other foot things feel a little different. I guess hair loss isn't something you understand unless you go through it yourself.

 

[RaginDemon]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

Foam does more than Propecia. If I started from the beginning I would do foam and nizoral. I am doing the big3.

I disagree. It's different from person to person.

For me, foam never did much, finasteride thickened up my hair a great deal.

 

[FTank]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

I added a tea tree oil shampoo to switch off with my nizoral. It has only been about 4 days now but my scalp feels way better and the redness and itchness has almost gone away completely. If this holds up my guess is this could help the propecia bring back some of the hair I lost in the past six months which was a lot.

I still a little scared about the safety of the propecia but I decided to go for it for at least a year and see if I can catch a miracle.

 

[RaginDemon]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

I added a tea tree oil shampoo to switch off with my nizoral. It has only been about 4 days now but my scalp feels way better and the redness and itchness has almost gone away completely. If this holds up my guess is this could help the propecia bring back some of the hair I lost in the past six months which was a lot.

I still a little scared about the safety of the propecia but I decided to go for it for at least a year and see if I can catch a miracle.

Don't expect a miracle from finasteride, its good for maintainese.

 

[FTank]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

Would getting me back to baseline to the day I started taking it be considered maintaining? I really lost a considerable amount of hair since taking it. I don't blame the finasteride. I just think I was getting hit with a lot a once and waited a little too long to pull the trigger. But if it gets me back to where I was the day I started taking it I would have to be pretty happy about that. I know there is no way for you to answer that but I feel it's okay to be optimistic here. I already shaved my head bald and proved that I can live with it if I have to. Granted I really want hair but I think a look alright as far as slick bald white guys go but then again maybe the ladies won't agree with me on that.

 

[RaginDemon]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

Would getting me back to baseline to the day I started taking it be considered maintaining? I really lost a considerable amount of hair since taking it. I don't blame the finasteride. I just think I was getting hit with a lot a once and waited a little too long to pull the trigger. But if it gets me back to where I was the day I started taking it I would have to be pretty happy about that. I know there is no way for you to answer that but I feel it's okay to be optimistic here. I already shaved my head bald and proved that I can live with it if I have to. Granted I really want hair but I think a look alright as far as slick bald white guys go but then again maybe the ladies won't agree with me on that.

Getting back to baseline should be considered maintaining. GL bro!

 

[scorched earth]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

You have to go with the foam. IMO, it is the mvp of the big three.

minoxidil foam:big three::Kevin Garnett:Celtic's Big three.

There's an SAT problem for ya.

 

[RaginDemon]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

You can expect some major thickening in 6 months or so, its realistic since you still have most of your hair, but it has been thinned out majorly, big 3 will tend to reverse the progress.

 

[FTank]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

I keep going back and forth in my head about useing the foam. I am on month 5 of the finasteride so I figured I should get an idea pretty soon whether or not it's gonna help me out. Everyone seems to say wait a year before adding a treatment that way you know what is working. If I start the foam now and I do get pretty decent thickening I have to be prepared to use it forever. Then again I lost a ton of hair in the past 24 months with a large percentage of that lost taking place less than 12 months ago so I guess the earlier I pull the trigger on the foam the best shot I got. I did read an article where Dr. Bernstein said a dramatice result was possible for a diffuse thinner if rogaine/finasteride was started soon enough.

I posted a picture below of where I am thinking of applying the foam (once a day maybe?) I figured that is the area finasteride is supposed to be the least effective so maybe finasteride could be my rear gunner in the fight against male pattern baldness and foam could become the gait keeper of the hairline.

I also posted a picture of me with really crappy hair trying to hide my baldness and a picture of me bald.

Thankyou for all the feedback you have given me. I feel like I have taken a huge crash course on male pattern baldness these past couple months. One year ago I just thought my hair would be like my mother's brother or her father. I didn't think father's side played a role at all.

 

[optimus prime]

Re: 26 Losing it Fast. Pics Included.

All i can say is you look 100 times better with a shaved head. That really suits you. Awesome look!!!!