Is it brutal? Yes. But I believe during our teenage years, we should be looking at our family history of balding closely and preventing it whilst we still have a full head of hair. One of my biggest regrets is listening to my doctor tell me I am losing hair due a deficiency on iron (which was false, as I checked my blood test results from that year and I have never been deficient on iron).
Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world. You have to be willing to take risks to get what you want, whether if that is gynecomastia or infertility. There are a lot of men who are risking female-characteristic development and infertility, by using medications such as estradiol and cyproterone acetate, because they prioritise their aesthetic.
It's honestly irritating when men who take finasteride complain about stupid sh*t such as a 0.1% decrease in libido, when other men are risking much more to have beautiful hair. The men who complain about the smallest side effects of finasteride are pussies...