- Reaction score
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No other way to start this off besides saying this is truly UNFAIR. I get it. In comparison to the whole world, I've been very blessed in my life. I'm conscious of that and truly grateful. But everything is relative, and relative to my direct peers I am currently massively f*****g disadvantaged. I'm 18 alright, almost 19. Little over a year ago I was graduating high school, rocking a fresh cut with thick hair, hardly paying any mind to it. Today, I'm a NW1.5 hairline or something with a diffuse NW6 pattern. I honestly can't believe how quickly this disease can take over of you. No one even begins to think about balding at this age. First, it was a couple hair's on my test paper. Then it was all over my hands in the shower. Ok. No big deal. I just got off some medication, it has to be Telogen Effluvium that I was just noticing now. I mean who balds at 18? Then came the temples. I looked over some sites and convinced myself it was just a maturing hairline. I've known for a long time that I most likely had the balding gene(s). Both my grandfathers are bald, and so are both my uncles. Hell, even one of my grandmothers has really bad female pattern baldness. But still, who balds at 18? They all didn’t, not until their 30s at the earliest. I convinced myself that I couldn't be in that 1%. How could I be that inferior? A side note, I believe this is one of the main problems with discussing this disease with people who don't have it (or aren't yet affected by it) and one of the holdups on finding a cure: solipsism. If you aren't affected it's because you actively participated in not developing it, you have superior genes because of your own conscious choices, or you're God's gift to the Earth, so there's no way that will ever happen to you (especially if you have nice hair to begin with). Although now I can no longer see how other men can attack others on hair loss when for all they know they could start balding tomorrow, I thought this way for 9 months until reality caught up with me as I looked in the mirror.
So, for the past 3 1/2 months I've been on finasteride (and Nizoral every 3 days). Watery semen in the first couple of weeks, but besides that no side effects. Nice. Too bad my hair is a complete sh*t show. With how much I've been losing I'm honestly shocked I have any left. I know there's a debate here and elsewhere as to whether finasteride causes a shed but it honestly seems like it leans towards no, it does not, in which I honestly wouldn't be surprised. If I'm balding at 18 my hair loss is already super aggressive, right? Maybe it just ramped up even further around the same time I got on finasteride? My only option is to continue this for the 1 year everyone states. I want to add minoxidil, but that really does have a shed and it might literally make me go bald (an exaggeration, I know, but the shed is still a legitimate fear).
Now let’s talk social issues. I’ll preface this and say that if I was the only person left on Earth, I would still care about balding. I’m a pretty boy. I love hair. I love how you can grow it out, cut it short, change it up and express your personality with it. Really it is quite a fitting aesthetic feature for humans. Anyways. Obviously attracting girls is a big f*****g issue for all of us, but even more so I want to be attracted to myself because that can affect so much more. I remember in junior high seeing some posts on Facebook where girls would say “we don’t do our makeup for boys, we do it for ourselves”. At the time I thought it was complete bullshit. It still sort of is. Girls do in fact put on makeup for boys. Guys do care about their hair to impress girls. But even more so I truly believe we all care about our appearance primarily for ourselves. Self-image is so important for mental health. It’s actually crazy when you think about it, we’re all just brains operating a sack of meat we had no control in producing. The attractiveness of these bodies is honestly one of (if not the) most important thing in life. People can deny that all they want, but really deep down we all know it’s true.
Being bald isn’t a complete death sentence, I understand that. I actively search out and see bald guys with at least decent looking girls. But for virtually everyone, it will knock you down at least a couple numbers, and without the proper facial genetics already in place, it will even more (it also doesn’t help that most young, bald men I see seem to have entirely given up on having any other form of style). It can really be a traumatizing experience for men and society has to accept that. I can’t imagine the pressure on celebrities. Look at Bieber, in the past little while his hair has started to go and now he grew it out and wears hats everywhere. I’m sure he’ll be fine with transplants and finasteride/dutasteride but can you imagine the social media shitstorm if news of his hair loss became mainstream?
Anyways I’m 18 and this is my reality. And I’m all alone. There is no one I can actually discuss this with besides those online. I tried talking to my Mom early on, but she denied any change. Since then I guess I’ve paid more attention to the word “bald” in conversations and often hear her and my sister discuss how they “just don’t like bald men”. I talked to my Dad about it and at least he could admit it was an issue. His solution? “Well not much you can do about that bud, just gotta accept it”. Easy to say when you’re almost 60 with basically a full head of hair. One of my best friends has probably the thickest hair I’ve ever seen for his type (white guy with blonde/brownish hair). It truly is his best aesthetic feature and he sure knows it. So, I can’t discuss it with him. Aside from him, all my other male friends have perfectly fine hair, as they should at this age. If I tried, all I would get is a “damn that sucks bro” and open myself up to everyone knowing I’m balding and all the “jokes” that will come with it. I can’t talk to my girl friends about it. They can relate even less, plus I always hear them say (about other, older guys) “yeah he was cute until he started balding haha”. Honestly I can’t blame them. That Prince William comparison photo was f*****g ruthless but it was the truth. At least girls seem to be bad at noticing it until it’s at least a NW3 lol. I want to have an honest talk with a dermatologist about if Accutane could have accelerated it for me (I took it for 2 months) but they seem disrespected that I insulted the one drug that lets them keep their job and shoo me out the door with a finasteride prescription, without even attempting to discuss the possible side effects, mind you (besides one who also tried to sell me viviscal ffs lol). At the end of the day I can’t speak to anyone about how this affects me, although I’m ashamed of it and honestly wouldn’t even want to.
There’s more that I thought about through the day that I’m forgetting, but I’m satisfied with getting this off my chest. Today was my worst day in a while. Props to any of you who actually read this, and good luck in your fight.
So, for the past 3 1/2 months I've been on finasteride (and Nizoral every 3 days). Watery semen in the first couple of weeks, but besides that no side effects. Nice. Too bad my hair is a complete sh*t show. With how much I've been losing I'm honestly shocked I have any left. I know there's a debate here and elsewhere as to whether finasteride causes a shed but it honestly seems like it leans towards no, it does not, in which I honestly wouldn't be surprised. If I'm balding at 18 my hair loss is already super aggressive, right? Maybe it just ramped up even further around the same time I got on finasteride? My only option is to continue this for the 1 year everyone states. I want to add minoxidil, but that really does have a shed and it might literally make me go bald (an exaggeration, I know, but the shed is still a legitimate fear).
Now let’s talk social issues. I’ll preface this and say that if I was the only person left on Earth, I would still care about balding. I’m a pretty boy. I love hair. I love how you can grow it out, cut it short, change it up and express your personality with it. Really it is quite a fitting aesthetic feature for humans. Anyways. Obviously attracting girls is a big f*****g issue for all of us, but even more so I want to be attracted to myself because that can affect so much more. I remember in junior high seeing some posts on Facebook where girls would say “we don’t do our makeup for boys, we do it for ourselves”. At the time I thought it was complete bullshit. It still sort of is. Girls do in fact put on makeup for boys. Guys do care about their hair to impress girls. But even more so I truly believe we all care about our appearance primarily for ourselves. Self-image is so important for mental health. It’s actually crazy when you think about it, we’re all just brains operating a sack of meat we had no control in producing. The attractiveness of these bodies is honestly one of (if not the) most important thing in life. People can deny that all they want, but really deep down we all know it’s true.
Being bald isn’t a complete death sentence, I understand that. I actively search out and see bald guys with at least decent looking girls. But for virtually everyone, it will knock you down at least a couple numbers, and without the proper facial genetics already in place, it will even more (it also doesn’t help that most young, bald men I see seem to have entirely given up on having any other form of style). It can really be a traumatizing experience for men and society has to accept that. I can’t imagine the pressure on celebrities. Look at Bieber, in the past little while his hair has started to go and now he grew it out and wears hats everywhere. I’m sure he’ll be fine with transplants and finasteride/dutasteride but can you imagine the social media shitstorm if news of his hair loss became mainstream?
Anyways I’m 18 and this is my reality. And I’m all alone. There is no one I can actually discuss this with besides those online. I tried talking to my Mom early on, but she denied any change. Since then I guess I’ve paid more attention to the word “bald” in conversations and often hear her and my sister discuss how they “just don’t like bald men”. I talked to my Dad about it and at least he could admit it was an issue. His solution? “Well not much you can do about that bud, just gotta accept it”. Easy to say when you’re almost 60 with basically a full head of hair. One of my best friends has probably the thickest hair I’ve ever seen for his type (white guy with blonde/brownish hair). It truly is his best aesthetic feature and he sure knows it. So, I can’t discuss it with him. Aside from him, all my other male friends have perfectly fine hair, as they should at this age. If I tried, all I would get is a “damn that sucks bro” and open myself up to everyone knowing I’m balding and all the “jokes” that will come with it. I can’t talk to my girl friends about it. They can relate even less, plus I always hear them say (about other, older guys) “yeah he was cute until he started balding haha”. Honestly I can’t blame them. That Prince William comparison photo was f*****g ruthless but it was the truth. At least girls seem to be bad at noticing it until it’s at least a NW3 lol. I want to have an honest talk with a dermatologist about if Accutane could have accelerated it for me (I took it for 2 months) but they seem disrespected that I insulted the one drug that lets them keep their job and shoo me out the door with a finasteride prescription, without even attempting to discuss the possible side effects, mind you (besides one who also tried to sell me viviscal ffs lol). At the end of the day I can’t speak to anyone about how this affects me, although I’m ashamed of it and honestly wouldn’t even want to.
There’s more that I thought about through the day that I’m forgetting, but I’m satisfied with getting this off my chest. Today was my worst day in a while. Props to any of you who actually read this, and good luck in your fight.
