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Hello folks,
I'm Mr. Norwood 2.
Maybe going on 3.
I'm also 27, going on 28 this month and I thought that perhaps I'd do well in recapping my hair-loss story as it continues to unfold, whilst taking a lighter, positive approach on the matter, just to shake things up a little.
Pay no mind to my chipper-ness.
The fact is, I am no receder... I'm more of a diffuser so I'm not sure about the lengths to which the Norwood scale is applicable in my case. I kind of begrudgingly wish I at least had been endowed with a receding hairline. Believe me, you receders can still sport a very elegant V cut.
There is no such hope for a diffuser. My hair-line is rotten from the core and before too long, foul things may begin to crawl out.
I've sort of made peace with the idea that one day the near-inevitable may happen and I'll go totally bald, maybe for the sole purpose of accommodating the famed comb-over. It's not a far cry from the infamous man bun and as current day hair-styling grows ever more egregious, you never know what's next...
...okok I'm really just messing around, the comb-over will never look as big an atrocity as certain man buns out there, but I digress...
I may come off as a bit carefree but that's not to say I wasn't a wretched soul when I started noticing the early signs of diffuse thinning. It first came to my attention when I was admiring my scrawny figure in my then girlfriends brightly lit bathroom. I remember the chill I felt down my spine when I very nearly peered into my frontal lobe, clearly visible under my thinning upper scalp. Oh the horror, it still haunts me to this day.
This gal and I would go on to break up a few months later and boy, was working through it pretty damn heart-wrenching. To top it off, this was preceded by being laid off a few months earlier and failing at multiple attempts at employment over the months that followed.
I was promptly being pushed to the edge psychologically, which left me in a teetering, wretched state of being. That was also when I made headway into full denial mode, holding on to everything excusing me from the curse of genetic male pattern baldness.
First, I blamed stress and my crappy diet, which now I can say wasn't really the cause at all, though it may have made it worse.
Next, I went on to blame an abnormal shedding cycle, but as the months turned into a year with little signs of improvement, I soon crossed that off the list of probable excuses.
As I approached the end of the denial stage, I still used up my final last-ditch excuse, which was shifting the blame on to my existence, my bald grandfather, his miserable lineage and unfortunate gene pool.
Only after I had run out of the excuses...only then did the crushing reality hit me like a truck.
It was inconceivable, why me of all people? I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of losing the single thing that held my self-esteem together.
I had to snap out of it when I realized was losing my head along with the hair so I sucked it up and booked a visit at a dermatologist. He had a quick look and was pretty unimpressed.
"Not bad, could be worse" he ho-hummed before outlining the best course of action and writing me a minoxidil prescription.
The pills and the topical solution did pause the shedding for a while, but the moment I stopped taking them, it resumed with a vengeance. I'd be obsessing about the amount of hair lost in the shower and on that was the basis I utilized to measure the formula's effectiveness.
I'm still pretty much halfway through that stage and despite feeling a little more self-assured, I can't say I'm completely over it, otherwise, this entire write up would've probably been handily avoided.
At the very least, I can say that I'm slowly but surely learning to cope and I'm just looking at what lies in store. Norwood 3? 4? Maybe 5 is the sweet spot.
To wrap this up nicely, I did mention I was not a receder at the start. That means no backing down.
I like to think every predicament can be turned to our advantage if faced like a challenge.
What happens, happens but I'm not going down without a good hustle...
...so here's my game plan:
First of all, no more counting lost hair threads in the shower.
Keeping a healthy diet, incl. lots of greens and protein along with pumping iron three to four days a week.
I took the plunge into what might be uncharted territory and decided to give the iRestore LLLT a go.
To double the effect of the aforementioned, I'm also going on a rogaine regimen.
I'm including a few mug shots from last year for good measure /s.
I'll try to keep this thread up to date with results or lack thereof when I get on the new regimen.
Bless y'all ;^)
I'm Mr. Norwood 2.
Maybe going on 3.
I'm also 27, going on 28 this month and I thought that perhaps I'd do well in recapping my hair-loss story as it continues to unfold, whilst taking a lighter, positive approach on the matter, just to shake things up a little.
Pay no mind to my chipper-ness.
The fact is, I am no receder... I'm more of a diffuser so I'm not sure about the lengths to which the Norwood scale is applicable in my case. I kind of begrudgingly wish I at least had been endowed with a receding hairline. Believe me, you receders can still sport a very elegant V cut.
There is no such hope for a diffuser. My hair-line is rotten from the core and before too long, foul things may begin to crawl out.
I've sort of made peace with the idea that one day the near-inevitable may happen and I'll go totally bald, maybe for the sole purpose of accommodating the famed comb-over. It's not a far cry from the infamous man bun and as current day hair-styling grows ever more egregious, you never know what's next...
...okok I'm really just messing around, the comb-over will never look as big an atrocity as certain man buns out there, but I digress...
I may come off as a bit carefree but that's not to say I wasn't a wretched soul when I started noticing the early signs of diffuse thinning. It first came to my attention when I was admiring my scrawny figure in my then girlfriends brightly lit bathroom. I remember the chill I felt down my spine when I very nearly peered into my frontal lobe, clearly visible under my thinning upper scalp. Oh the horror, it still haunts me to this day.
This gal and I would go on to break up a few months later and boy, was working through it pretty damn heart-wrenching. To top it off, this was preceded by being laid off a few months earlier and failing at multiple attempts at employment over the months that followed.
I was promptly being pushed to the edge psychologically, which left me in a teetering, wretched state of being. That was also when I made headway into full denial mode, holding on to everything excusing me from the curse of genetic male pattern baldness.
First, I blamed stress and my crappy diet, which now I can say wasn't really the cause at all, though it may have made it worse.
Next, I went on to blame an abnormal shedding cycle, but as the months turned into a year with little signs of improvement, I soon crossed that off the list of probable excuses.
As I approached the end of the denial stage, I still used up my final last-ditch excuse, which was shifting the blame on to my existence, my bald grandfather, his miserable lineage and unfortunate gene pool.
Only after I had run out of the excuses...only then did the crushing reality hit me like a truck.
It was inconceivable, why me of all people? I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of losing the single thing that held my self-esteem together.
I had to snap out of it when I realized was losing my head along with the hair so I sucked it up and booked a visit at a dermatologist. He had a quick look and was pretty unimpressed.
"Not bad, could be worse" he ho-hummed before outlining the best course of action and writing me a minoxidil prescription.
The pills and the topical solution did pause the shedding for a while, but the moment I stopped taking them, it resumed with a vengeance. I'd be obsessing about the amount of hair lost in the shower and on that was the basis I utilized to measure the formula's effectiveness.
I'm still pretty much halfway through that stage and despite feeling a little more self-assured, I can't say I'm completely over it, otherwise, this entire write up would've probably been handily avoided.
At the very least, I can say that I'm slowly but surely learning to cope and I'm just looking at what lies in store. Norwood 3? 4? Maybe 5 is the sweet spot.
To wrap this up nicely, I did mention I was not a receder at the start. That means no backing down.
I like to think every predicament can be turned to our advantage if faced like a challenge.
What happens, happens but I'm not going down without a good hustle...
...so here's my game plan:
First of all, no more counting lost hair threads in the shower.
Keeping a healthy diet, incl. lots of greens and protein along with pumping iron three to four days a week.
I took the plunge into what might be uncharted territory and decided to give the iRestore LLLT a go.
To double the effect of the aforementioned, I'm also going on a rogaine regimen.
I'm including a few mug shots from last year for good measure /s.
I'll try to keep this thread up to date with results or lack thereof when I get on the new regimen.
Bless y'all ;^)
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