Hairloss And Body Dysmorphic Disorder

[LastSamurai]

Hi fellow balding brothers,

I had a few thoughts recently about our obsession about our hair and how the symptoms of BDD are closely related.

Typical symptoms overlap a lot with what we talk about:

• worry a lot about a specific area of your body (particularly your face)
• spend a lot of time comparing your looks with other people's
• look at yourself in mirrors a lot or avoid mirrors altogether
• go to a lot of effort to conceal flaws – for example, by spending a long time combing your hair, applying make-up or choosing clothes

I wonder how many of us are suffering from an extreme version of BDD. It's not that our hair can cause depression or negative thoughts directly or physically, but more our attachment and thought process that causes the suffering.

Which leads me to question, perhaps if we were to seek help for BDD, and get treated for BDD, then our worry and obsession would be lessened.

In other words, we perhaps have an opportunity to embrace our own pain as a type of mental disorder, a negative obsession that is causing us to be unhappy. And at least by viewing it this way, we put ourselves back in control. We're taking action on the things we can change, i.e our thought process, versus the things we can't (naturally or permanently) change, our hairloss.

Personally I'm getting to a point where I feel closer to shaving, which I have mentioned before. I just can't seem to get a 'good' haircut anymore. There were days when the hairdresser/barber would give me a cut good enough to conceal the loss, by buzzing short enough and blending it in etc. But now my sides are receeding so much, I'm getting to the 'island' of hair stage at the front of my head, which looks bulbous and quite ugly.

I'm closer to shaving now then ever before.

Depending on my bald look, I may seriously opt for micro pigmentation, hair transplants are a no for me right now.

 

[Baldingat188]

Actually hairloss is one of the main causes of BDD. So not only is it like BDD- it is ( if you are showing lots of obsession )

I think the thing that always makes it hard for me to treat it is the fact that hair loss is really happening and it’s measurable . Most of the BDD cases you hear about in the media are delusional models who think they are “ugly”. In this case of course treatment should be very effective. Hair loss is a bit harder imo because it’s a real issue + BDD obsession.

 

[Cue Bald]

BDD is when a NW1 comes on here posting about how their life is over and how everyone is treating them differently, when they barely even have a mature hairline. we do have a few of those here.

a NW6 being unhappy is not BDD as the flaw is actually physically there.
same with if a woman had her tits shrink over 5 years until eventually she was as flat chested as a teenage boy, you wouldn't call that BDD if she is unhappy.

I never felt bad about my appearance before my hair went (i knew i wasn't a model but i wasn't ugly either), if I woke up with a NW1 tomorrow I'd be much more confident (i'd like to get my nose fixed as it is a bit crooked but that is nothing compared to a NW5)