Bash
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Have you ever wondered why there are such a small number of success stories? I mean, given that this place has over 10.000 members, there should be at least like 5 people a day posting some good news, right?
Well, let me start with what you're probably looking for, MY success story. After a lot of painful patience and experience I've come to the conclusion that the big three do work.
YES, there it is folks, THE BIG THREE DO WORK AGAINST HAIRLOSS.
And now that you're not distracted by searching for that tidbit of information (because that's all I care about when reading these stories) how about I mention some of the second details that may be of interest. I'm 24 and started noticing hairloss at 21. The onslaught was rapid and my psyche destroyed. I tried to conceal it and deny at first, but that quickly became a habit that took over and I became generally known for my selection of hats and obscurity from formal gatherings. I tried to keep my spirit high as I sometimes nearly wept at the thought of being bald so young and so soon, a wasted youth I thought and just kept on pushing, looking for a solution anywhere, and I mean anywhere.
That's when I came across this site and realized that there are so many in my position, that seeked relief in discussion and poured their anguish over this forum, hoping that some one has an answer. And my favourite was of course the success stories forum.
This is the reason I'm here today writing this, but let me tell you, IT WAS NOT EASY to force myself to sit down and write this. And I'm here to tell you why people with success don't come back to write. But first a little more of my story.
I've had success with the big three, I realize that now. I just came out of the shower where I ran my hand through my wet hair like 20 times and only got a single strand of hair, and for me that's f*****g amazing. It's been like this for the past month and my hair is much fuller than 6 months ago. I've had regrowth along the hairline and my bald spot is shrinking. And it has made a big difference in the way I look and feel. But...
...but it's not perfect, hell it's close to perfect but still not there. In fact, despite that I still have new regrowth and no reason to believe that my success will decline, I am still not willing to sit down and write about it.
Why?
Because coming back to this forum after a success is like a wounded soldier going back to the battlefield after regaining partial use of his limbs.
It's not easy to admit to oneself that you are still liable to be wounded again, that is lose what little hair you have gained. You'd rather stay away from the battlefield and run as fast you can in some place far away until the day you are forced to return. This might sound SELFISH, but all you want to do is to FORGET that this awful episode ever existed, or at least believe that you are now independent enough to not need the assurance of strangers.
You might wonder why I'm writing this. Well, honestly, it's out of guilt. If it wasn't for the success stories in this forum, I would have never persued treatment and would probably be off in a much worse state. And because once, I argued that the lack of success stories is simply because of the lack of success, which was reasonable for me at that frustrated time. I guess I was kinda wrong. Kinda wrong because you know what...there is NO SUCH THING AS COMPLETE SUCCESS STORY. YOu either have achieved partial success (some regrowth), just waiting for the rest to happen before reporting in OR you've regained all what you lost (a very rare occurrance) but are afraid that it might go to hell any minute if you stop treatment and then feel like you've deceived those who read the post and yourself. Point is..you're just not sure if you have succeeded or not.
Again, some of my story...I started on propecia around 14 months ago. I was patient and tried to hold out that first year, but noticed that my hair was just getting worse and worse....some of my posts from that period might prove to be some interesting reading like in the following links and I'm sure that many of you will relate:
http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... sc&start=0
http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... hair transplant=#168989
http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... hp?t=23820
So I decided to go all the way and throw in Minoxidil and Nizoral to complete the trinity at month 10 of only finasteride. Not an easy decision given I was already a dermmatch addict. It worked, I'm sure that it was the minoxidil that did it, and the nizoral took care of the itching and made my head feel nice. Like I read somewhere once around here: "The finasteride keeps hairloss down while minoxidil throws the kicks and punches". After 4 months of the complete trinity, I went from obvious thinning in the whole NW3 pattern to a Norwood 1.5 hairline and slight thinning in a NW2 pattern and I still see room for improvement. Hell, with the dermmatch in, it's just a slightly receeded hairline, that sorta looks like a mature hairline.
But I'm really not sure if it's the minds eye that messing with me, also one of the reasons it so hard to write a success story if you haven't taken pictures. And lord oh mighty am I afraid to jinx it and I'm not even superstitious.
Anyways, writing this is my way of saying thank you to all you previous success story posters, but also to ENCOURAGE more people to write their sucess story in it's present form, no matter how reluctant they are.
Because like it or not, even as a soldier on leave from your troubles...you may be called to return to the battlefield anyday. And you owe it to help the next hairloss sufferer with your story because once you were also in need of assurance and found it here.
Well, let me start with what you're probably looking for, MY success story. After a lot of painful patience and experience I've come to the conclusion that the big three do work.
YES, there it is folks, THE BIG THREE DO WORK AGAINST HAIRLOSS.
And now that you're not distracted by searching for that tidbit of information (because that's all I care about when reading these stories) how about I mention some of the second details that may be of interest. I'm 24 and started noticing hairloss at 21. The onslaught was rapid and my psyche destroyed. I tried to conceal it and deny at first, but that quickly became a habit that took over and I became generally known for my selection of hats and obscurity from formal gatherings. I tried to keep my spirit high as I sometimes nearly wept at the thought of being bald so young and so soon, a wasted youth I thought and just kept on pushing, looking for a solution anywhere, and I mean anywhere.
That's when I came across this site and realized that there are so many in my position, that seeked relief in discussion and poured their anguish over this forum, hoping that some one has an answer. And my favourite was of course the success stories forum.
This is the reason I'm here today writing this, but let me tell you, IT WAS NOT EASY to force myself to sit down and write this. And I'm here to tell you why people with success don't come back to write. But first a little more of my story.
I've had success with the big three, I realize that now. I just came out of the shower where I ran my hand through my wet hair like 20 times and only got a single strand of hair, and for me that's f*****g amazing. It's been like this for the past month and my hair is much fuller than 6 months ago. I've had regrowth along the hairline and my bald spot is shrinking. And it has made a big difference in the way I look and feel. But...
...but it's not perfect, hell it's close to perfect but still not there. In fact, despite that I still have new regrowth and no reason to believe that my success will decline, I am still not willing to sit down and write about it.
Why?
Because coming back to this forum after a success is like a wounded soldier going back to the battlefield after regaining partial use of his limbs.
It's not easy to admit to oneself that you are still liable to be wounded again, that is lose what little hair you have gained. You'd rather stay away from the battlefield and run as fast you can in some place far away until the day you are forced to return. This might sound SELFISH, but all you want to do is to FORGET that this awful episode ever existed, or at least believe that you are now independent enough to not need the assurance of strangers.
You might wonder why I'm writing this. Well, honestly, it's out of guilt. If it wasn't for the success stories in this forum, I would have never persued treatment and would probably be off in a much worse state. And because once, I argued that the lack of success stories is simply because of the lack of success, which was reasonable for me at that frustrated time. I guess I was kinda wrong. Kinda wrong because you know what...there is NO SUCH THING AS COMPLETE SUCCESS STORY. YOu either have achieved partial success (some regrowth), just waiting for the rest to happen before reporting in OR you've regained all what you lost (a very rare occurrance) but are afraid that it might go to hell any minute if you stop treatment and then feel like you've deceived those who read the post and yourself. Point is..you're just not sure if you have succeeded or not.
Again, some of my story...I started on propecia around 14 months ago. I was patient and tried to hold out that first year, but noticed that my hair was just getting worse and worse....some of my posts from that period might prove to be some interesting reading like in the following links and I'm sure that many of you will relate:
http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... sc&start=0
http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... hair transplant=#168989
http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... hp?t=23820
So I decided to go all the way and throw in Minoxidil and Nizoral to complete the trinity at month 10 of only finasteride. Not an easy decision given I was already a dermmatch addict. It worked, I'm sure that it was the minoxidil that did it, and the nizoral took care of the itching and made my head feel nice. Like I read somewhere once around here: "The finasteride keeps hairloss down while minoxidil throws the kicks and punches". After 4 months of the complete trinity, I went from obvious thinning in the whole NW3 pattern to a Norwood 1.5 hairline and slight thinning in a NW2 pattern and I still see room for improvement. Hell, with the dermmatch in, it's just a slightly receeded hairline, that sorta looks like a mature hairline.
But I'm really not sure if it's the minds eye that messing with me, also one of the reasons it so hard to write a success story if you haven't taken pictures. And lord oh mighty am I afraid to jinx it and I'm not even superstitious.
Anyways, writing this is my way of saying thank you to all you previous success story posters, but also to ENCOURAGE more people to write their sucess story in it's present form, no matter how reluctant they are.
Because like it or not, even as a soldier on leave from your troubles...you may be called to return to the battlefield anyday. And you owe it to help the next hairloss sufferer with your story because once you were also in need of assurance and found it here.
