Everyone ragging on meetjoe, he does have a point. I've kind of had the same experience Joe and his success is motivation to me.
He is right that it is about relaxation and embracement of self. I go to a very liberal school and was raised conservative catholic and I can't help but notice that Hippy hair is a true thing. The people that don't give a **** have great hair. Those that stress and can't embrace life and handle the things out of their control are stress cases and that shows in one way or another and in our case its our hair.
I had bad acne too and went to derms and docs and antibiotics and topicals didn't do ****. I had the same acne pattern ever since puberty. I live a very active lifestyle and eat a very clean diet as well, but it would just upset me seeing these hippies or overweight people eating pizza and whatever they wanted while maintaining clear fine skin and lush hair. I couldn't figure it out but I think it is all mindset. I got into yoga and meditation and all that too and I do think it helps. You however are very lucky joe as it looks like your hairline wasn't hit too bad. Me, I was NW3 at 18 and when male pattern baldness hit hard at 21 it thinned tremendously and receded to about a 3.5 which sucks.
I finally got on finasteride after it hit hard to stop the loss but it only worsened my acne. I saw a thread on a guy who had great results with spironolactone so tried that for my hair and also saw it was an acne remedy so a Doctor prescribed it to me. Cleared up my acne within weeks. Hair started to thicken too. The kid that took it said it really chilled him out as well, and I have to say the same thing. It really calmed me down and lowered my anxiety whether it was due to my hairloss or just my mental state. I really tried to embrace that mindset, but it can be tough to do. That is why I think hair is such a big topic of men and does not have a cure because personality shows through hair and those that don't have it don't have hair.
I got such good results with spironolactone I had to slow down because I noticed people really started looking at me differently because I was regrowing so fast and that is something they don't see everyday. Now like I said I've kind of lost that don't give a F attitude and trying to get it back. Also lost some of my hair which sucks and don't know if its that that is increasing my anxiety or my mindset. I have finals this week but really trying to get fit and back to relaxation mode and working on getting some hair back. It did bother me that people looked at me differently, but hey would you rather be talked about for regrowing your hair naturally or come back with a thick 'do out of nowhere due to $7000 hair transplants? So ya F it i'm gonna get after my hair again.
I'm also taking zinc and other hair supps which do seem to help. I really think I was biotin or vitamin D deficient because a hair, skin, and nail supp really helps the quality of my hair and nails. I added some dutasteride or finasteride in combo with spironolactone and think it did more harm than good as the elevated T hurt my hairline. Think i'm gonna try the natural way with my workout program and spironolactone and suppress DHT slightly with the supp you suggested and see how that goes.
Oh and one more thing about the self love. All of us b**ch about our hair, well everyone has their problems too. I did what many hairloss sufferers do and avoided mirrors as much as possible because with my hairloss and cystic acne it was just easier to deal that way. Well you aren't going to look any better to other people by not being able to accept your own look in the mirror. Once the acne cleared up and hair got a little better I was able to REALLY look at myself in the mirror and I liked my look. It definitely showed as people are more friendly and I get a lot more attention from women now and I'm going to a barber regularly now too Joe instead of buzzing it myself. Thanks for the motivation.
P.S. How old are you and when did you start accutane?
