taking my first step

[jhart]

As my first post I initiate my quest into admitting my hair loss and taking steps to do something about it.

I am 22 and my hair loss was sudden, it looked normal till the end of last year when i noticed thinning in my hairline. Over the next few weeks the thinning spread rapidly. My right temple very thin, my left temple moderately thin and my entire scalp had thinned slightly.

A few months prior from that time i was extremely stressed during the last three weeks of exams. This may be the cause or may have just accelerated my hair loss. my extreme cleanliness of my room in which plates are immediately washed as soon as they start growing leaves may have also added to the problem. For many years prior to this i have neglected my hair washing it once a month, entertained by the black water running from my head to the drain. since that time i don't think i have been losing much hair.

My hair loss isn't noticeable if i comb my hair across the bad corner and cover the less recessed side with a lock. I look at my hair in the mirror about 300 times a day. It doesn't seem to be getting any worse, but i could be delusional.

I haven't worn a cap for 10 years, but now i wear it when i have to go to school or do something which could potentially reveal my unsightly hair. I purchased a bottle of 2% nizoral an hour ago. in a few weeks i will adopt the big 3 regime. I hope users are sympathetic to my plight as i have to theirs. i do have a few questions if someone could please answer.

when using nizoral does your hair get a "Thicker look" immediately, cosmetically disguising my thin scalp?

is it normal to find 10-20 hairs in the shower whilst washing your hair every day?

any tips encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Hoppi]

Hey man

Ok, first of all most people on here yes will solely focus on the "big 3", and that is because yes they do work, but I also fall into the category of wanting to establish if any underlying things could be causing it or making it worse.

The ones I know of so far are particularly poor diet or particular food sensitivities/allergies, stress, thyroid problems, excessive sexual activity, POSSIBLY excessive use of chemical-ridden shampoos, erm.. that's probably it. Basically, anything that effects sex hormone levels or would cause inflammation.

You mentioned stress. As I understand it, stress can lower testosterone through the increase in cortisol, and can throw the thyroid slightly off balance, increase insulin resistance and cause neurogenic inflammation. I'm attempting to tackle all these things in myself by dramatically curbing my cortisol levels, and trying to undo damage by correcting my thyroid.

It's early days for me, but I have reason to think I had been bombarding my body with insulin and cortisol which was probably throwing my entire testosterone/estrogen balance off and bombarding my scalp with DHT. Also, bad foods = inflammation.

As I say my views are, at least on this forum, quite controversial, so I'll get bombarded with disagreements in a minute lol

But the point is, I side with the guys who say that you want to correct any obvious problems in your body first, and start pummelling it with DHT-lowering drugs later!! heh

Let me know if there are things in that list that grab you as a possible reason anyway (I tick most boxes lol), then yeah maybe you are best ensuring inflammation doesn't get out of hand, but otherwise yes you are usually left just lowering DHT levels.

Finasteride (natural equivalent beta-sitosterol) and Nizoral both work fairly well from what I've heard. I'm fairly cautious of minoxidil but many people swear by it. It's your call really, and I know losing hair sucks so I totally feel for you man ._.


Hoppi

 

[jhart]

thanks for your reply hoppi I feel allot better opening myself up to others who can relate.

regarding the list. I can pretty much tick everything except for allergies, i have allot of symptoms of hyperthyroidism. i have been to a GP and with a brief inspection told me the cause was male pattern baldness. My doctor however is particularly blunt and unsympathetic. i am certain that my lifestyle is the cause of my hair loss, but the dilemma I'm facing is that it could be something that may naturally recover or just an early onset of male pattern baldness.

I think you're enthusiasm with regaining your lost hair will undoubtedly yield you will a full head of hair again. But with my limited spare time and funds it makes it difficult to research and sample different remedies. i will most likely end up with the big 3 but I'm willing to seek alternative options and further consultations.

one thing i have to add however about my hair profile is that i don't even think I'm a NW2 my temple hairline doesn't recede as bad and the only effected area is my scalp and marginally the crown. my hairline never really receded at all it went from naught to a kinda NW2 in one month. as i said in the original post my left side is allot denser than the right. i still have miniaturized hairs of a NW1 hairline. and gotten to know that patch of hair very well and none of them have shed since the outbreak.

one last weird thing this will probably sound stupid but before any of this. before sleep one night in bed i felt a strong tingling feeling like tiny explosions going off only in the spot where the bad hairline is.

 

[Brains Expel Hair]

First step: get a new doctor. If you can even possibly consider that your doctor "might" be unsympathetic to any concerns of yours then you shouldn't put up with a doctor that is too busy on quick diagnoses to listen to what's really the problem.

Second: start the nizoral right away. Even if it does turn out that your baldness is related to stress or w/e the nizoral will help get things under control topically and has no where near the side effects as the other two of the "big 3".

Once you've done that make sure you see your new doctor to discuss any and all different small medium and large problems/symptoms/concerns or w/e that you have ever noticed about your body. Get anything you have noticed even in the slightest checked out as real medicine is about prevention and if you've let some things slide for a while now they could be getting more and more worse.

After you've got a clean bill of health from your new doctor (which you should renew every few years regardless of what your hairline looks like) then go ahead and bring up your hair concerns to the Doctor and talk to him about possible meds. Try to add them in one at a time and give each med a phase to work and for you to observe the efficacy of before adding the next one. You'll probably want to give each one about 3 months before adding the next one. That means if you start on Nizoral today/tomorrow (which you should no matter what) then 2-3 months from now you'll add in either minoxidil or finasteride.

The phasing in of each of the meds makes it so that you don't inaccurately attribute the gains of one medicine to another. Some of these meds take about 6 months however to start reaching their maximum initial effect.

The strong tingling you referred to is inflammation, that's just something that goes along with hair loss. The nizoral should help that a little bit but if it's really bothering you one night, go ahead and rub some aloe vera up on it. The aloe vera won't halt your hair loss, but it will sooth the discomfort somewhat.

 

[Brains Expel Hair]

MOST IMPORTANTLY: If you're at a Norwood 1 or Norwood 2 then don't fret about the mirror so much. The only people who can actually notice it are other people who are losing their hair and are obsessing over it. Norwood 1s and 2s look perfectly natural on men, you'll just have to update your hair cut to match your new hair status.

 

[jhart]

i don't know if i can wait another three months i just want this nightmare to be over . I went to an event this weekend without wearing my hat, after a while i forget about the insecurities and had the first good time in months. I will upload some pictures of my hair soon.

Do you think I should start a new thread for posting those pictures?

I can count on one hand the amount of times i have seen a doctor in my life. I'm one of those people to afraid to be confronted with a diagnoses. that and money i guess or getting a finger in the butt. I have allot of work to do to start getting a full bill of health.

 

[Hoppi]

I know exactly what you mean about wanting the nightmare to be over - I hate seeing hairs come out and have been quite upset about it in the past.

One of the reasons I have been so keen to examine myself inside and out to determine "root causes" is because I really don't want to be wrestling with my own body to get it to grow hair again, you know?

I think that once things are all correct, it will just grow hair anyway I won't need to force it with drugs or with topicals, it will just do it! This is something I have observed in others

I would thoroughly recommend correcting all the obvious problems you can think of. Thyroid issues should be checked out, stress, bad diet, excessive "sexual activity", ANYTHING that might throw sex hormones out of balance or cause inflammation, particularly things that have been worse recently or you have noticed recently, for example in my case my skin changed about 9 months ago and is now dry, thin and pale, which suggests an underactive thyroid.

finasteride and all that are fair enough and I too am considering them but it really is amazing how many things seem to be able to cause hair loss in a guy!

It is true what people say that it's genetic, of course, but unless your follicles are mega sensitive, I am fairly confident that most hair loss problems can be solved by smoothing over health problems!

And post your pictures here if you want, that's cool

 

[jhart]

well here are my pictures don't be to apprehensive on telling me how bad it is

 

[Hoppi]

I actually think your main picture looks pretty wicked lol

It might be the way the hair is up - it looks like horns! Seriously gel it like that and I don't think you'll have much problem hehe ^_^

Overall though like, yeah it's just fairly reasonable, but not terrible, hairline recession and crown thinning.

DHT and stuff man ._.

I actually just a moment ago came up with a new little theory/approach about tackling hair loss and making regimens, I'll link you to it! Sorry, a bit overwhelming I know because you are new, you have to bear in mind that I just like to research things and in this case treat them as best I can!

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=58200


I know it's a little different to Brains Expel Hair's idea of one treatment at a time but.. hey I'm an impatient man! lol

Let me know what you think of it, and I know your hair may feel bad but I have seen worse, it's just a matter of acting fast and trying to do whatever you can to kill off the shedding and regrow as much as you can!

Hoppi