My Hair's been thinning...what's going on?

[macdaddy26]

Hey everyone,

23 year old here. This is probably going to be a long post. During this past winter, I had really bad dandruff on my scalp. I usually get dandruff every winter because my skin does not like the cold. But this time was different. Not only did I have bad dandruff, but my scalp became really greasy and oily (especially when I first woke up in the morning), and red like it was inflamed. It hurt to brush it or comb it. And every time I did, hair would fall out.

So I bought selsun blue, and nizoral (1% over the counter), and used them on my scalp for a few months. I would use selsun blue one day, nizoral the next day, and then regular shampoo. During this time my dandruff went away, my scalp hardly itched at all, and it wasn't oily at all in the morning. I could actually comb it without wincing in pain from my scalp hurting. My hair remained thin, and a few strands would fall out when I combed my hair, but that was it.

After two months I stopped using the OTC nizoral and selsun blue, and switched to regular shampoo. Well big mistake, because now my scalp is itchy (all the time), flaky, and greasy again. Primarily on the top (which is where my hair has thinned the most). It feels like someone is jabbing needles on my scalp. I can't comb my hair right after I get out of the shower because it feels like my scalp is on fire.

And it seems like I'm losing more hair every day. The other day after I got out of the shower, I let my hair dry and then combed it forward 3 times. All this hair fell onto my bathroom sink. I counted the number of hairs that fell out, but stopped at 200 because it was so depressing.

I'm back on the OTC nizoral again, but it's doing nothing for me now.

Anyone else experience anything similar? Is this what male pattern baldness is like? None of my friends are bald so they can't tell me, and male pattern baldness doesn't run in my family. I've included some pics if that helps.

Here's what my hair looks like wet:


And here's what my hair looks like dry:

 

[hairrific]

You should see a dermatologist fast and it seems to me you have the classic symptoms of male pattern baldness: The horseshoe area of your scalp seems to be thinning in the photos, redness, itching, excessive hair loss in the horseshoe area of the scalp, inflammation, oily hair, all the signs are there.

Finasteride will halt the hair loss and stop your scalp irritation too. Keep using the nizoral and alternate with head & shoulders or something that has Pyrithione Zinc (PTZ) and or piroctone olamine in the ingredients. I think the Selsun blue just has selenium??

By the way, in so many words, all that hair you lost might not ever grow back if you wait around and drag your feet much longer as hair that is under attack and sensitive to DHT eventually will permanently die unless you lower your DHT levels with finasteride fast fast fast.

 

[peter079]

Ahh man...this brings back memories. That's exactly what happened to me ten years ago. Greasy, oily, itchy especially in winter or after a shower. I was blaming the cold, my shampoo, dandruff, diet and everything else under the sun, but it's male pattern baldness.

My brush was full of lost hair when ever I combed it.

Now ten years later I am a NW5.

Like hairrific said the follicles are under attack and it looks/sounds to be aggressive like mine was.

You caught it early, so finasteride should slow the loss and may even regrow some of it.

 

[hairrific]

MY rant has always been to do finasteride way before you see any damage as it is my observation that by the time the hair is falling out, getting it to grow back is very very difficult if doable at all. Sad because many times one could have prevented hair loss in the first place with this method. At least finasteride can halt the hair loss.

Trying to tell someone he should do finasteride when he has a great head of hair is like impossible. Maybe that is why Propecia commercials are directed at guys who clearly show the start of hair loss and are ripe for listening.