Should This Be Interpreted As Early Signs Of Male Pattern Baldness? Where Do I Go From Here?

[looking for hair advice]

Here are three sets of albums with recent pictures of my hairline

https://imgur.com/a/Nc5EwlH (mainly photos from the front, hard to make out anything really)
https://imgur.com/a/igWpmoA (two photos from above)
https://imgur.com/a/oydVUzk (hairline from different angles, with descriptions. probably the best album of the three)

My hair is still pretty thick and I see no visible signs of thinning besides other than those detailed in the pictures. I'm 24 years old and I just took notice of my hairline not being straight recently. I'm unsure for how long this has been going on, when I look at pictures from a few months ago it looks similar, but I usually don't wear my hair in a way that exposes my hairline a lot, so it's hard to compare. Does this look like male pattern baldness? If so, what stage am I in and where do I go from here?

On my dad's side, a lot of the men have male pattern baldness and I believe a few of them started losing their hair before they turned 30, but it's less common on my mom's side, though still present to a smaller degree.

I've heard about finasteride, but there seems to be conflicting descriptions of the side effects. How common and severe are they?

Also, I've read about nizoral but it seems like all of the retailers are in the states and the cost of shipping to europe can be quite costly. Any advice on alternatives or where to find EU retailers?

Any replies and advice would be very appreciated.

Edit: It should be added that I didn't notice any gradual changes. I just recently started thinking that maybe the hairline at my temples is receding, and I was really unsure what to make of it until I took photos from above, which I think shows an "M-shape", often cited as a sign of male pattern baldness. But I don't have any older pictures from above to compare with.

Edit 2: I'll add two photos comparing my hairline from 2014 (black and white) and today, 2019 (in colour). I'll see if I can find a clearer picture from 2014 later today.

 

[looking for hair advice]

Thanks to anyone replying to the poll, but I'd love to get more feedback/advice.

 

[ScaredOfBalding]

Could be early receding going on, monitor it. And finasteride sides are not common, about 2-5% get them and they almost always go away with continued treatment or after discontinueing the drug.

 

[BaldBearded]

Lots of young men will see a "maturation" of their hairline, as time goes on. If it goes beyond an NW1 classification

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton–Norwood_scale

If it does, then you are probably in the early stages of male pattern baldness, which is not unheard of for someone your age.

I would not go on drugs, for now, as there potential side effects, one of them being shedding of hair.

Come back in three months with another photo to compare.

Keep track of hair fall of more than 100-150 hairs a day, in the shower, on your pillow or hairbrush/comb.

 

[looking for hair advice]

Lots of young men will see a "maturation" of their hairline, as time goes on. If it goes beyond an NW1 classification

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton–Norwood_scale

If it does, then you are probably in the early stages of male pattern baldness, which is not unheard of for someone your age.

I would not go on drugs, for now, as there potential side effects, one of them being shedding of hair.

Come back in three months with another photo to compare.

Keep track of hair fall of more than 100-150 hairs a day, in the shower, on your pillow or hairbrush/comb.

I've heard conflicting reports on "mature hairlines" - some people seem to claim that they're a myth, more or less, or that it's not a mature hairline but male pattern baldness if the hairline is receding by the temple, akin to NW1, which is what seems to be going on in my case. But that's not the case then?

Thank you a lot for your advice.

 

[looking for hair advice]

Could be early receding going on, monitor it. And finasteride sides are not common, about 2-5% get them and they almost always go away with continued treatment or after discontinueing the drug.

Thanks for the reply. So you would agree with the other comment that it's too early to go on meds? Is my best move at the moment to just wait and monitor my hairline for a few months?

 

[BaldBearded]

Thanks for the reply. So you would agree with the other comment that it's too early to go on meds? Is my best move at the moment to just wait and monitor my hairline for a few months?

I would certainly agree that it is too early to go on meds...

Just monitor.

 

[Mushu]

Mature hairlines. My opinion is it does exist, but it's still hairloss. Opinions differ, but I wouldn't classify it as balding, or at least it's non aggressive. My reasoning behind this is, when you start producing more testosterone and turning into a man, changes occur. I would say losing your baby hairs is part of maturing. The reason why some seem worse than others is the starting point of your hair texture,hairline,temple,temple points.

That's very important(your starting point). As you said you don't have older pictures to compare with, I'd say you're beyond a maturing hairline. IMO it appears as if your hair is thinning and miniaturizing. Not super aggressive, but if it was me I'd definitely look into treatment. That's my assessment.

 

[looking for hair advice]

Mature hairlines. My opinion is it does exist, but it's still hairloss. Opinions differ, but I wouldn't classify it as balding, or at least it's non aggressive. My reasoning behind this is, when you start producing more testosterone and turning into a man, changes occur. I would say losing your baby hairs is part of maturing. The reason why some seem worse than others is the starting point of your hair texture,hairline,temple,temple points.

That's very important(your starting point). As you said you don't have older pictures to compare with, I'd say you're beyond a maturing hairline. IMO it appears as if your hair is thinning and miniaturizing. Not super aggressive, but if it was me I'd definitely look into treatment. That's my assessment.

Managed to dig up a pic from 2014 (age 20) for comparison. Maybe this is helpful? My hairline has always been high and perhaps not completely straight, but I think there's a difference.

 

[looking for hair advice]

Just for the record: a mature hairline would be a form of hairloss that doesn't necessarily move on to the "next" stage, correct?

 

[Mushu]

That helps a bit, but is hard to tell due to color and angle. You really need to remember or dig up pictures when you were 10-11 if possible. It's possible to start receding during that age for very aggressive male pattern baldness but seeing as you're 24, I doubt you started that early. I'd wager your hairline was thicker in your teens on the hairline and temples.

Only you'd know at this point, but comparing your picture at 20 and now, I don't think it changed much, so it's up to you if you want to try Finasteride as it doesn't seem aggressive, but I do see signs of miniaturizing. I'm sure you starting doing research because you noticed a difference.

 

[looking for hair advice]

That helps a bit, but is hard to tell due to color and angle. You really need to remember or dig up pictures when you were 10-11 if possible. It's possible to start receding during that age for very aggressive male pattern baldness but seeing as you're 24, I doubt you started that early. I'd wager your hairline was thicker in your teens on the hairline and temples.

Only you'd know at this point, but comparing your picture at 20 and now, I don't think it changed much, so it's up to you if you want to try Finasteride as it doesn't seem aggressive, but I do see signs of miniaturizing. I'm sure you starting doing research because you noticed a difference.

Here's a direct comparison between 2014 and today. I'll look through some folders to see if I can find more pics from the 2014 era, before that I wore my hair in a way that obstructed my whole foreheard, so I doubt I can find anything earlier. But I'll look and see. Again, I'm very grateful for the replies.

Edit: it's true that I started doing research because I noticed a difference. At first, I was really unsure if there had been any changes, but I started reading a lot about male pattern baldness and found the advice to take a photo from the hairline from straight up, which was when I really started worrying (as you can see, the photos from straight up show an M shape while it's harder to make anything out from photos from straight ahead). But I don't have any older pictures from straight up at all, so it's very hard to compare with how it used to be. I don't think I've ever looked at my hairline from straight up before taking those pictures the other day.

 

[Mushu]

Just for the record: a mature hairline would be a form of hairloss that doesn't necessarily move on to the "next" stage, correct?

Yes, I'd classify it as that. Most recede a bit and don't change for decades. The reason why some look worse, like norwood 2.5, is their starting point. It's possible you're just matured hairline but because of your natural hairline and hair texture(your hair texture is thin), it can seem worse than someone with a better starting point. Without younger pics for comparison, only you know how bad it is compared to your starting point.

Unfortunately being a norwood spotter, I've started noticing hairlines of teens and yes some can start out with a hairline that looks like norwood 2(A) and any bit of receding they look like 2.5 to 3 (A).

 

[looking for hair advice]

Yes, I'd classify it as that. Most recede a bit and don't change for decades. The reason why some look worse, like norwood 2.5, is their starting point. It's possible you're just maturing but because of your natural hairline and hair texture(your hair texture is thin), it can seem worse than someone with a better starting point. Without younger pics for comparison, only you know how bad it is compared to your starting point.

Unfortunately being a norwood spotter, I've started noticing hairlines of teens and yes some can start out with a hairline that looks like norwood 2(A) and any bit of receding they look like 2.5 to 3 (A).

Yes, I've always had a very thick head of hair, but very thin individual hairs. Speaking of younger pics, did you see that I added a comparison between 2014 and 2019? Are you able to make some judgement based on those?

 

[Mushu]

Hard to tell how much of a difference from the pics, but I think your hair has started to miniaturize based on 2019 pics. I'd make an appointment with a dermatalogist that specializes in hairloss and have them check.

 

[recedingornot87]

Do you shed a lot of hairs during the day and in the showers? To my eyes, it does look like you have a diffused scalp. It can take a long time before the diffusion becomes noticeable to other people.

 

[looking for hair advice]

Do you shed a lot of hairs during the day and in the showers? To my eyes, it does look like you have a diffused scalp. It can take a long time before the diffusion becomes noticeable to other people.

Haven't noticed any shedding at all. So far, the only difference is at the temples.

 

[Naos]

Mature hairlines. My opinion is it does exist, but it's still hairloss. Opinions differ, but I wouldn't classify it as balding, or at least it's non aggressive. My reasoning behind this is, when you start producing more testosterone and turning into a man, changes occur. I would say losing your baby hairs is part of maturing. The reason why some seem worse than others is the starting point of your hair texture,hairline,temple,temple points.

Testosterone doesn't have much to do with balding, but rather how sensitive you are to it. Males who have low levels can still lose hair. The only males who wouldn't be affected because of their levels are castrated men, who would have almost no testosterone.

 

[DanielinDeniel]

When you have genetically sensitive hair to dht, you will go bald, if you have low dht level you will go bald slowly and if high dht levels you will got bald faster. You are possibly receding. From here if you are really concern about it, from here go straight to a dermatologist and start the meds.

 

[Mandar kumthekar]

Unfortunately the play has begins. If I were you I would try topical medications . if hairloss rapidly progress then you shall think of serious drugs like finasteride.