Well I've finally decided to stop being the outsider looking in on everything going on here and tell my own little story.
I'm 25 now but can clearly remember from a young age thinking about going bald-perhaps because of my grandfather, anyway it certainly wasn't something I obsessed over but it was certainly a slight anxiety I had-the one thing I prayed would never happen to me. Its almost as if I always knew this curse was lurking round the corner, or rather just below the surface.
Come the summer of 99 I'd just finished school and had 4 months summer holiday to look forward to before university and more importantly a full head of hair-this I know from the end of year school photo's. Fast forward but 2 months to Portugal and the 'boys holiday' and the first comment came- incidentally from a girl who was crazy for me. I was sat down on the beach she was above me and she said " Your going to go bald" to which I replied "No I'm not"- end of. I was mortified in that my biggest fear had been exposed, when my hair actually looked preety good. Needless to say I checked my hair thoroughly when I got back to the villa however I really couldn't find anything wrong other than a typical crown like all my friends have, which obviously exposes a bit of the scalp. Though for some reason I knew that the foundations where beginning to shake.
Fast forward 2 months later to my first day of university and the comment that really killed me when one of my flatmates asked me if I got discount at the gym for a receeding hairline-I was mortified. Because trust me, it really wasn't that bad (and I analysed my hair from an early age more than most ).What a twat!-these people think its something that we'll laugh at and say" yeah its great isn't it, i'm just hitting my peak and my hairs beginning to pack in, god I'm a lucky guy". I would never expose or mock someone for something thaey have no control over. Whats worse is that this triggered the first blow, for the next 2-6 weeks my hair became so crap that I felt sick- particularly given that this was my number one fear, I really felt numb for want of a better term and you actually feel like your in a dream world. Every time I ran my fingers through my hair loads would come out, some days I counted-the usual typical behaviour, some days I didn't, I even bought a hat just as much for me not to see my hair as to conceal what was going on. But at no time did it look too bad, but I certainly knew a process had begun which I needed to do something about.
Both sides of my family had typical male pattern baldness other than my Stepdad-bad luck huh. So I guess thats why I always had the balding fear, but beacuse I had so many years thinking about it I also knew that I was never ever ever ever going to accept it or allow nature to take its course "to hell with that". This is one thing we mustn't accept, to us guys our hair is everything, it controls our day, it determines our confidence when we go out , it means so much to us and we all look with jealousy at these guys with great hairlines and analyse every guy who's receeding and wonder what he's thinking and whether it affects him. Well maybe it doesn't bother him and thats great but it sure bothers me and thats why you have to do something about it.
To get back to my story- I knew I had to do something but really had no idea what to do and literally for 3 years whilst at university I did nothing-bad mistake but not too bad-my hair had receeded to a nw1 to 1.5 but I could easily style it over, and positive thought with a sheer determination not to go bald seemed to stop the shedding after that initial first term tremor-PLEASE NOTE THAT SHEER DETERMINATION IS NOT A CURE, I SHOULD HAVE STARTED ON PROPECIA AND minoxidil, AND THEN I WOULD HAVE PROBABLY LOST ALMOST NOTHING, I just didn't research properly. Fortunately for me the will not to lose the battle held off the dht demons for 3 years, because they knew I was pissed at them.
Come the summer of 2002 I began some proper research and straight away ordered propecia which has literally been a godsend, since I started this stuff my hair has not only got thicker but has stopped the inevitable in its tracks- Why oh why did I not start it sooner. Instead of sex education at school they need to give guys hair education because without it your not going to get any sex- Obviously that isn't true but for us guys thats pretty much how we feel. However it still prayed on my mind that my temples had receeded slightly, but my battle to fully restore my temples is where my next story will begin, because there is plenty to tell from 2002 to october 2005. However I'll leave it at that for now, and post some more soon. :wink:
I'm 25 now but can clearly remember from a young age thinking about going bald-perhaps because of my grandfather, anyway it certainly wasn't something I obsessed over but it was certainly a slight anxiety I had-the one thing I prayed would never happen to me. Its almost as if I always knew this curse was lurking round the corner, or rather just below the surface.
Come the summer of 99 I'd just finished school and had 4 months summer holiday to look forward to before university and more importantly a full head of hair-this I know from the end of year school photo's. Fast forward but 2 months to Portugal and the 'boys holiday' and the first comment came- incidentally from a girl who was crazy for me. I was sat down on the beach she was above me and she said " Your going to go bald" to which I replied "No I'm not"- end of. I was mortified in that my biggest fear had been exposed, when my hair actually looked preety good. Needless to say I checked my hair thoroughly when I got back to the villa however I really couldn't find anything wrong other than a typical crown like all my friends have, which obviously exposes a bit of the scalp. Though for some reason I knew that the foundations where beginning to shake.
Fast forward 2 months later to my first day of university and the comment that really killed me when one of my flatmates asked me if I got discount at the gym for a receeding hairline-I was mortified. Because trust me, it really wasn't that bad (and I analysed my hair from an early age more than most ).What a twat!-these people think its something that we'll laugh at and say" yeah its great isn't it, i'm just hitting my peak and my hairs beginning to pack in, god I'm a lucky guy". I would never expose or mock someone for something thaey have no control over. Whats worse is that this triggered the first blow, for the next 2-6 weeks my hair became so crap that I felt sick- particularly given that this was my number one fear, I really felt numb for want of a better term and you actually feel like your in a dream world. Every time I ran my fingers through my hair loads would come out, some days I counted-the usual typical behaviour, some days I didn't, I even bought a hat just as much for me not to see my hair as to conceal what was going on. But at no time did it look too bad, but I certainly knew a process had begun which I needed to do something about.
Both sides of my family had typical male pattern baldness other than my Stepdad-bad luck huh. So I guess thats why I always had the balding fear, but beacuse I had so many years thinking about it I also knew that I was never ever ever ever going to accept it or allow nature to take its course "to hell with that". This is one thing we mustn't accept, to us guys our hair is everything, it controls our day, it determines our confidence when we go out , it means so much to us and we all look with jealousy at these guys with great hairlines and analyse every guy who's receeding and wonder what he's thinking and whether it affects him. Well maybe it doesn't bother him and thats great but it sure bothers me and thats why you have to do something about it.
To get back to my story- I knew I had to do something but really had no idea what to do and literally for 3 years whilst at university I did nothing-bad mistake but not too bad-my hair had receeded to a nw1 to 1.5 but I could easily style it over, and positive thought with a sheer determination not to go bald seemed to stop the shedding after that initial first term tremor-PLEASE NOTE THAT SHEER DETERMINATION IS NOT A CURE, I SHOULD HAVE STARTED ON PROPECIA AND minoxidil, AND THEN I WOULD HAVE PROBABLY LOST ALMOST NOTHING, I just didn't research properly. Fortunately for me the will not to lose the battle held off the dht demons for 3 years, because they knew I was pissed at them.
Come the summer of 2002 I began some proper research and straight away ordered propecia which has literally been a godsend, since I started this stuff my hair has not only got thicker but has stopped the inevitable in its tracks- Why oh why did I not start it sooner. Instead of sex education at school they need to give guys hair education because without it your not going to get any sex- Obviously that isn't true but for us guys thats pretty much how we feel. However it still prayed on my mind that my temples had receeded slightly, but my battle to fully restore my temples is where my next story will begin, because there is plenty to tell from 2002 to october 2005. However I'll leave it at that for now, and post some more soon. :wink: