I was apparently going bald before I turned 18.
I was looking at some old videos of myself on Youtube, which are from January 2011, about two months before my 18th birthday. I know that's it's possible for guys to be receding this early and all, but it just seems too early. I have had chronic anxiety for years. In my mind that must have contributed at least somewhat, if not because of the earliness of the receding then at least because of the severity of my chronic anxiety. Now that I know stress can affect hair loss, how could my very chronic high levels of anxiety not have affected it? I am literally always anxious. Anyway, I plan to post a thread later with progression of my hair loss throughout my life. I also have miniaturized hairs in the recession areas and I'm wondering if it's possible to reinvigorate them with the right products.
Anyway, here's me at 17:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/28/ymhe.png/ (in the front, you can see those hairs that look like they are shriveling up. They're miniaturizing, of course)
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/543/8ovz.png/ (again, miniaturizing hairs, plus you can better see the recession area in the upper left corner)
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/12/8ei5.png/ (in this one I manage to look pretty much fine)
I feel like I did kind of notice this in the past few years, at least on a subconscious level. Did I block it out because I was already stressed enough? I feel like I had a less than satisfactory view of my hair, but I didn't know why. I feel like I remember noticing it wasn't as full, but I wouldn't have chalked it up to baldness because my dad always told me I wouldn't have to worry until late 20s and my cousin didn't shave his head until late 20s. If I had known stress can accelerate the male pattern baldness process, then I would have paid more attention. And for those of you who are skeptical about whether or not stress can indeed accelerate male pattern baldness, I'm going to research it myself and then write a thread here about it with the evidence.
- - - Updated - - -
Here's a photo from about a month before that, in case you're interested:
http://pmelol.deviantart.com/art/Nice-Lighting-190687057