The Impact Of Hair Loss And Bdd - Thoughts From A Low Norwood Sufferer

[alekgn]

It's become quite clear to me that anyone who is spending time on a hairloss forum probably suffers from BDD, of varying degree. For those of you not familiar with BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder), it's basically a condition where a person obsesses over percieved supposedly minor defects in their appearance; sometimes these defects are real but less significant than the individual thinks and other times the defects are completely imagined. There are many forum members who will become annoyed at neurotic NW0-NW2s who claim they're completely crazy and should just go live their life wiithout worrying. That is still very sound advice, but I would like to address these forums as someone who's in that camp, as a NW1.5, who has been stable for well over a year, maybe more, extremely high in neuroticism (99th percentile according to the Big 5 Test) and BDD who spends way too much time on these forums, all from a less rational perspective and more from the inner feelings of those people.

To my knowledge, if you have anything beyond a NW1 or a NW0, you have the genes that will make you prone to further balding. This includes people with "mature" hairlines (temples recede during late teens and early tweneties, but don't further recede and no loss in hair density). Those with mature hairlines may never recede again, but they definitely have the potential to. I am one of those individuals. As such, I've developed heavy hairline and crown thinning OCD daily.

Every reflective surface I see, I have to check my hairline shape to see if it has deviated. I refuse to turn on the bathroom lights in fear that my hairline has begun to thin to oblivion. Everyday I wake up, I fear looking at the mirror to see that my hairline has thinned to oblivion.

Every time I'm in a public space, I fear some stranger is walking by and thinking "look at that shitty crown/hairline he has. Man, it looks really bad. Loser."

Every time I get even normal and casual eye contact, I think I'm getting scorned at for what my hair looks like; "what a f*****g creep."

Every time I'm out in public, all I can think of is "f*** me, he still has a NW0; oh god, that guy's diffusing to NW7. Thank god that's not me. I don't want that f*****g horseshoe. Jesus, does he know how bad his balding is. Awful combover. Why do girls get immunity from this sh*t. Another NW0. Dammit. Why did I get assymetrical hairline genetics." It's more or less one of those lines. I fear getting a haircut only to reveal that "oh sh*t, I'm diffuse thinning. f*** my hair is starting to go."

Every time a bald dude comes up in media, all I'm thinking is "great, of course he's the horrible villain, or the joke of the movie, or he's going to get lampooned for his alien skull or everyone's gonna comment on how bald as sh*t he is."

So why did I bring up all this sh*t? To make a point that even if you rationally know that all you have is a mature hairline or you've only experienced minor/slow hair loss, you still fear more of your slick scalp showing and looking like the next cancer patient no one wants to be around.

In a nutshell, "I don't want to become a baldcel dude."

BDD is an extremely controlling illness. Hair is one of the top flaws in it, among skin, nose shape, height, weight, jawline, chin, and among others. All of those of which I still suffer from, albeit in slightly less capacity.

In any case, hair loss doesn't have to be severe to start mentally f*****g you up beyond all reason. Even if you're nothing close to bald, according to society.

P.S.: My profile picture is what I really look like, just to frame this whole post.

 

[DoctorHouse]

It's become quite clear to me that anyone who is spending on a hairloss forum probably suffers from BDD, of varying degree. For those of you not familiar with BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder), it's basically a condition where a person obsesses over percieved supposedly minor defects in their appearance; sometimes these defects are real but less significant than the individual thinks and other times the defects are completely imagined. There are many forum members who will become annoyed at neurotic NW0-NW2s who claim they're completely crazy and should just go live their life wiithout worrying. That is still very sound advice, but I would like to address these forums as someone who's in that camp, as a NW1.5, who has been stable for well over a year, maybe more, extremely high in neuroticism (99th percentile according to the Big 5 Test) and BDD who spends way too much time on these forums, all from a less rational perspective and more from the inner feelings of those people.

To my knowledge, if you have anything beyond a NW1 or a NW0, you have the genes that will make you prone to further balding. This includes people with "mature" hairlines (temples recede during late teens and early tweneties, but don't further recede and no loss in hair density). Those with mature hairlines may never recede again, but they definitely have the potential to. I am one of those individuals. As such, I've developed heavy hairline and crown thinning OCD daily.

Every reflective surface I see, I have to check my hairline shape to see if it has deviated. I refuse to turn on the bathroom lights in fear that my hairline has begun to thin to oblivion. Everyday I wake up, I fear looking at the mirror to see that my hairline has thinned to oblivion.

Every time I'm in a public space, I fear some stranger is walking by and thinking "look at that shitty crown/hairline he has. Man, it looks really bad. Loser."

Every time I get even normal and casual eye contact, I think I'm getting scorned at for what my hair looks like; "what a f*****g creep."

Every time I'm out in public, all I can think of is "f*** me, he still has a NW0; oh god, that guy's diffusing to NW7. Thank god that's not me. I don't want that f*****g horseshoe. Jesus, does he know how bad his balding is. Awful combover. Why do girls get immunity from this sh*t. Another NW0. Dammit. Why did I get assymetrical hairline genetics." It's more or less one of those lines. I fear getting a haircut only to reveal that "oh sh*t, I'm diffuse thinning. f*** my hair is starting to go."

Every time a bald dude comes up in media, all I'm thinking is "great, of course he's the horrible villain, or the joke of the movie, or he's going to get lampooned for his alien skull or everyone's gonna comment on how bald as sh*t he is."

So why did I bring up all this sh*t? To make a point that even if you rationally know that all you have is a mature hairline or you've only experienced minor/slow hair loss, you still fear more of your slick scalp showing and looking like the next cancer patient no one wants to be around.

In a nutshell, "I don't want to become a baldcel dude."

BDD is an extremely controlling illness. Hair is one of the top flaws in it, among skin, nose shape, height, weight, jawline, chin, and among others. All of those of which I still suffer from, albeit in slightly less capacity.

In any case, hair loss doesn't have to be severe to start mentally f*****g you up beyond all reason. Even if you're nothing close to bald, according to society.

P.S.: My profile picture is what I really look like, just to frame this whole post.

If I had to guess, your first issue was your skin/complexion then it became your hair? Or was it something else before hair? BDD is on the rise so this forum will grow exponentially. In the past, I don't remember people as young as 14 showing up on this forum but now its becoming an epidemic. Psychology might not be a bad profession to get into if you can deal with crazy every day. Validation is something that people with BDD hunger for. This forum is a place were people will come to fill that hunger. Unfortunately, the obsession will lower their quality of life and for some destroy some of the best years of your life you will never get back.

 

[alekgn]

If I had to guess, your first issue was your skin/complexion then it became your hair? Or was it something else before hair? BDD is on the rise so this forum will grow exponentially. In the past, I don't remember people as young as 14 showing up on this forum but now its becoming an epidemic. Psychology might not be bad profession to get into if you can deal with crazy every day. Validation is something that people with BDD hunger for. This forum is a place were people will come to fill that hunger. Unfortunately, the obsession will lower their quality of life and for some destroy some of the best years of your life you will never get back.

That's actually correct, with skin complexion then hair, lol. Still have pretty bad bdd about skin complexion. I've worn light corrective makeup before to cover up impurities. Still do. I have no shame in that, lol. In terms of forums like this just making BDD worse, I'd hate to say you're probably right. My post should be a perfect example of how damaging BDD is, even for very minor/nonexistent problems. I think most people with BDD, on an intellectual level, know BDD is stupid and irrational. However, in terms of pure inner feelings, they can't control their prescence and dominance.

 

[DoctorHouse]

That's actually correct, with skin complexion then hair, lol. Still have pretty bad bdd about skin complexion. I've worn light corrective makeup before to cover up impurities. In terms of forums like this just making BDD worse, I'd hate to say you're probably right.

Mine was my skin too. Hair came alot later in life. I really don't think you have to worry about your hair too much. You probably have one of the best heads of hair on this forum and it's not surprising you have BDD too. Most of the guys who have BDD are actually very educated and very intelligent. You definitely fit the profile.

 

[alekgn]

Mine was my skin too. Hair came alot later in life. I really don't think you have to worry about your hair too much. You probably have one of the best heads of hair on this forum and it's not surprising you have BDD too. Most of the guys who have BDD are actually very educated and very intelligent. You definitely fit the profile.

Well, I've been trying to manage my BDD. I don't know if it's something you ever really "get over." I think you just learn to live with it, and use it to your benefit (I think dudes with BDD can probably preserve their hair longer than those without BDD and only then get on treatments when they're NW3V, rather than NW2ish). My skin's never been super awful; the worst I got was some moderate acne in my mid-teens that left minor scars few people will notice unless they carefully analyze my face. Even if they do notice them, they're not that disfiguring. I've been on a fairly intense skincare regimen just so I don't get worse bdd about facial aging later in my life. I still get an occasional pimple, but nothing amounting to a full-on breakout. I still use light makeup to cover up impurities and discoloration that has remained from my previous breakouts. I've been monitoring my hair every so often too (as my post clearly indicates, lol), along with taking biotin among other things (I know Biotin doesn't reverse hair loss lol; just a good vitamin to fortify hair).

 

[DoctorHouse]

Well, I've been trying to manage my BDD. I don't know if it's something you ever really "get over." I think you just learn to live with it, and use it to your benefit (I think dudes with BDD can probably preserve their hair longer than those without BDD and only then get on treatments when they're NW3V, rather than NW2ish). My skin's never been super awful; the worst I got was some moderate acne in my mid-teens that left minor scars few people will notice unless they carefully analyze my face. Even if they do notice them, they're not that disfiguring. I've been on a fairly intense skincare regimen just so I don't get worse bdd about facial aging later in my life. I still get an occasional pimple, but nothing amounting to a full-on breakout. I still use light makeup to cover up impurities and discoloration that has remained from my previous breakouts. I've been monitoring my hair every so often too (as my post clearly indicates, lol), along with taking biotin among other things (I know Biotin doesn't reverse hair loss lol; just a good vitamin to fortify hair).

I don't think BDD is curable but you just learn to change your perspective about everything and try to suppress those crazy limiting beliefs. You don't seem to have a severe case of BDD as you are able to go to college. I just learned Mark Cuban's brother has BDD and I am probably going to read his book. Alot of a famous people have it but most won't be open to discuss it.

 

[alekgn]

I don't think BDD is curable but you just learn to change your perspective about everything and try to suppress those crazy limiting beliefs. You don't seem to have a severe case of BDD as you are able to go to college. I just learned Mark Cuban's brother has BDD and I am probably going to read his book. Alot of a famous people have it but most won't be open to discuss it.

I don't even want to know the incidence of BDD in the modeling and film industries, lmao. It wouldn't surprise me if it was 100%.

 

[Saurabhaj]

 

[Cowboys fan]

It's become quite clear to me that anyone who is spending time on a hairloss forum probably suffers from BDD, of varying degree. For those of you not familiar with BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder), it's basically a condition where a person obsesses over percieved supposedly minor defects in their appearance; sometimes these defects are real but less significant than the individual thinks and other times the defects are completely imagined. There are many forum members who will become annoyed at neurotic NW0-NW2s who claim they're completely crazy and should just go live their life wiithout worrying. That is still very sound advice, but I would like to address these forums as someone who's in that camp, as a NW1.5, who has been stable for well over a year, maybe more, extremely high in neuroticism (99th percentile according to the Big 5 Test) and BDD who spends way too much time on these forums, all from a less rational perspective and more from the inner feelings of those people.

To my knowledge, if you have anything beyond a NW1 or a NW0, you have the genes that will make you prone to further balding. This includes people with "mature" hairlines (temples recede during late teens and early tweneties, but don't further recede and no loss in hair density). Those with mature hairlines may never recede again, but they definitely have the potential to. I am one of those individuals. As such, I've developed heavy hairline and crown thinning OCD daily.

Every reflective surface I see, I have to check my hairline shape to see if it has deviated. I refuse to turn on the bathroom lights in fear that my hairline has begun to thin to oblivion. Everyday I wake up, I fear looking at the mirror to see that my hairline has thinned to oblivion.

Every time I'm in a public space, I fear some stranger is walking by and thinking "look at that shitty crown/hairline he has. Man, it looks really bad. Loser."

Every time I get even normal and casual eye contact, I think I'm getting scorned at for what my hair looks like; "what a f*****g creep."

Every time I'm out in public, all I can think of is "f*** me, he still has a NW0; oh god, that guy's diffusing to NW7. Thank god that's not me. I don't want that f*****g horseshoe. Jesus, does he know how bad his balding is. Awful combover. Why do girls get immunity from this sh*t. Another NW0. Dammit. Why did I get assymetrical hairline genetics." It's more or less one of those lines. I fear getting a haircut only to reveal that "oh sh*t, I'm diffuse thinning. f*** my hair is starting to go."

Every time a bald dude comes up in media, all I'm thinking is "great, of course he's the horrible villain, or the joke of the movie, or he's going to get lampooned for his alien skull or everyone's gonna comment on how bald as sh*t he is."

So why did I bring up all this sh*t? To make a point that even if you rationally know that all you have is a mature hairline or you've only experienced minor/slow hair loss, you still fear more of your slick scalp showing and looking like the next cancer patient no one wants to be around.

In a nutshell, "I don't want to become a baldcel dude."

BDD is an extremely controlling illness. Hair is one of the top flaws in it, among skin, nose shape, height, weight, jawline, chin, and among others. All of those of which I still suffer from, albeit in slightly less capacity.

In any case, hair loss doesn't have to be severe to start mentally f*****g you up beyond all reason. Even if you're nothing close to bald, according to society.

P.S.: My profile picture is what I really look like, just to frame this whole post.

I think once.u notice.balding. It's the constant worry about your future that gets u. Your old.enough . How come your not on finasteride

 

[alekgn]

I think once.u notice.balding. It's the constant worry about your future that gets u. Your old.enough . How come your not on finasteride

Because I don't have any apparent active balding. I've had the same hairline and density for probably well over a year, maybe longer. I'd only get on finasteride if I had definitive balding/thinning. Finasteride for "preventative" purposes is unnecessary and probably dangerous, considering it seriously mucks up your body chemistry.

 

[Yakitori]

Because I don't have any apparent active balding. I've had the same hairline and density for probably well over a year, maybe longer. I'd only get on finasteride if I had definitive balding/thinning. Finasteride for "preventative" purposes is unnecessary and probably dangerous, considering it seriously mucks up your body chemistry.

Why are you writing actively on this board then?

 

[Cue Bald]

never had any problems with my looks until my hair fell out.
when my hair fell out i looked much, much worse and i was treated by women drastically differently.
(guys and my job didn't really change too much)

so how is it BDD if it is real?

but yes there are many people here with BDD. basically those NW1 / NW2 people who cry and b**ch that their life is over when they have a normal hairline and normal hair. these people are a bit sad really and they do have BDD. i didn't even notice when i hit NW2, i first really started paying attention to it when somebody pointed it out to me .

the NW1's on these boards are basically this guy

 

[alekgn]

never had any problems with my looks until my hair fell out.
when my hair fell out i looked much, much worse and i was treated by women drastically differently.
(guys and my job didn't really change too much)

so how is it BDD if it is real?

but yes there are many people here with BDD. basically those NW1 / NW2 people who cry and b**ch that their life is over when they have a normal hairline and normal hair. these people are a bit sad really and they do have BDD. i didn't even notice when i hit NW2, i first really started paying attention to it when somebody pointed it out to me .

the NW1's on these boards are basically this guy

I would say higher up on the Norwood Scale (past NW3) it might actually have a more real and pronounced effect, and thus it may be less qualified to be considered BDD. Before I started getting massive hair OCD, I would say NW3s and NW2s didn't even qualify as bald/balding to me. In case you're wondering, my BDD isn't Elliot Rodger level to the point where I would blame any and all potential rejection to my hair(I've been an intentional and voluntary celibate throughout my short life since I'm more concerned with setting up my future in order and less about shitty short-term relationships that will have no long term value other than regret about time wasted that could've been put into making sure my future will be in order).

My BDD in terms of my hair is less about the actual current status and more about it becoming worse when I'm not on guard and then losing it at that point for regret for not treating the hair when it truly began to recede.

I think the really deep fear though is ending up as a high norwood "baldcel" by not being constantly on guard and then feeling regret for not taking action and allowing myself to decay.

My general mentality to life is that you will progress towards ugliness and decay unless you are on guard in every possible aspect. That goes for basically all aspects of your health and your physical appearance in particular. Once you let yourself go, basically, "game over bro. No second chances. You fucked yourself. You could've been at your peak, but you were a dumbass and let yourself fall. It's imperative you don't let yourself keep falling or you'll just get worse and worse. Don't be a fool and allow yourself to accept that." I suppose that's a very depressing and dark way to view reality, but it's probably the most brutally honest way to view it.

I suppose this stems from the Pareto principle and Pareto distributions, which basically means a certain asset will tend to strongly and disproportionately concentrate at the top of a hierarchy while the asset becomes less concentrated as you go down the hierarchy. I suppose a more concrete way to view this would be "the top 20% of men get 80% of the women and the bottom 80% of men get 20% of women." It doesn't have to apply to just the dating/sex market; it also applies to distribution of productivity, wealth, etc. I suppose another concrete application would be "as a business becomes more successful, more and more investors will want to invest in it, or as a business becomes less and less successful, fewer and fewer investors will want to invest and more and more investors will pull out." In other words, you don't want to fall down that hierarchy. And if you do absolutely nothing, you absolutely will fall down. Look up the Pareto principle and its applications if you're interested in that. I've basically lived and structured my life around it.

Like I said from my earlier post, I believe I have more of what an actual mature hairline is (a stable NW1.5-NW2ish hairline where no density has dropped anywhere with only very minor temporal recession), as I haven't observed any further recession or thinning since I first noticed it.

In any case, the point of my post was to demonstrate that I think even people who've in reality experienced minor or no hair loss and are aware that's the case can still start losing their mind about their hair becoming potentially worse and ending up as a "baldcel" because of how controlling BDD can be over the inner feelings of that individual.

 

[alekgn]

Why are you writing actively on this board then?

Because I like to help neurotic young men with low norwoods with their fears about their hair, and tell them they're fine or they actually have legitimate concerns and should begin courses of treatment.

 

[JRimmer27]

It's become quite clear to me that anyone who is spending time on a hairloss forum probably suffers from BDD, of varying degree. For those of you not familiar with BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder), it's basically a condition where a person obsesses over percieved supposedly minor defects in their appearance; sometimes these defects are real but less significant than the individual thinks and other times the defects are completely imagined. There are many forum members who will become annoyed at neurotic NW0-NW2s who claim they're completely crazy and should just go live their life wiithout worrying. That is still very sound advice, but I would like to address these forums as someone who's in that camp, as a NW1.5, who has been stable for well over a year, maybe more, extremely high in neuroticism (99th percentile according to the Big 5 Test) and BDD who spends way too much time on these forums, all from a less rational perspective and more from the inner feelings of those people.

To my knowledge, if you have anything beyond a NW1 or a NW0, you have the genes that will make you prone to further balding. This includes people with "mature" hairlines (temples recede during late teens and early tweneties, but don't further recede and no loss in hair density). Those with mature hairlines may never recede again, but they definitely have the potential to. I am one of those individuals. As such, I've developed heavy hairline and crown thinning OCD daily.

Every reflective surface I see, I have to check my hairline shape to see if it has deviated. I refuse to turn on the bathroom lights in fear that my hairline has begun to thin to oblivion. Everyday I wake up, I fear looking at the mirror to see that my hairline has thinned to oblivion.

Every time I'm in a public space, I fear some stranger is walking by and thinking "look at that shitty crown/hairline he has. Man, it looks really bad. Loser."

Every time I get even normal and casual eye contact, I think I'm getting scorned at for what my hair looks like; "what a f*****g creep."

Every time I'm out in public, all I can think of is "f*** me, he still has a NW0; oh god, that guy's diffusing to NW7. Thank god that's not me. I don't want that f*****g horseshoe. Jesus, does he know how bad his balding is. Awful combover. Why do girls get immunity from this sh*t. Another NW0. Dammit. Why did I get assymetrical hairline genetics." It's more or less one of those lines. I fear getting a haircut only to reveal that "oh sh*t, I'm diffuse thinning. f*** my hair is starting to go."

Every time a bald dude comes up in media, all I'm thinking is "great, of course he's the horrible villain, or the joke of the movie, or he's going to get lampooned for his alien skull or everyone's gonna comment on how bald as sh*t he is."

So why did I bring up all this sh*t? To make a point that even if you rationally know that all you have is a mature hairline or you've only experienced minor/slow hair loss, you still fear more of your slick scalp showing and looking like the next cancer patient no one wants to be around.

In a nutshell, "I don't want to become a baldcel dude."

BDD is an extremely controlling illness. Hair is one of the top flaws in it, among skin, nose shape, height, weight, jawline, chin, and among others. All of those of which I still suffer from, albeit in slightly less capacity.

In any case, hair loss doesn't have to be severe to start mentally f*****g you up beyond all reason. Even if you're nothing close to bald, according to society.

P.S.: My profile picture is what I really look like, just to frame this whole post.

This post describes me, as a 16 year old who has suffered with BDD since he was 9/10, I can safely say this is very true and quite upsetting.
My story goes like this, my weight was my problem when I was 9/10 and I went drastic, managed to lose a stone and a half, parents were worried but then it calmed slightly. Ever since then I've had body image issues. During 2014 I started getting ocd like symptoms about hygiene resulting in obsessive cleaning of myself, my room and I couldn't let anyone in my room; if any was disturbed I'd break down.
I became very independent and learnt to do many things myself which is a positive, luckily that has toned down.
Now next I suffered from pretty pretty bad acne which was passed down from my grandad. I've been on so many creams, gels and pills until now in which I am on isotretinoin (accutane).

In early May I noticed very slight recession in my hairline. I started obsessing over that but declared it as part of maturing. After my GCSE I felt happy in a sense, but then I noticed my hairline again and now have become obsessive over that.
I can't believe it tbh. If its not one thing its another. Like you, the first thing I'll think is oh his hair lines amazing.
It's taking over.
It's quite clear my medication is making me worst, and just recently I've been getting suicidal thoughts because of the issue. I am deeply petrified for the future. I just hoping I am stable.
I just wonder if all thoes years of worrying, wasting my life and having high levels of stress has accelerated my hair loss or induced it.
I regret everything.

 

[Roberto_72]

Because I like to help neurotic young men with low norwoods with their fears about their hair, and tell them they're fine or they actually have legitimate concerns and should begin courses of treatment.

I will tell you how this sounds in my mind.
Imagine you joined a forum dedicated to minorities to tell some of the members that they should not be worried because they are not actual minorities.

 

[DoctorHouse]

Because I like to help neurotic young men with low norwoods with their fears about their hair, and tell them they're fine or they actually have legitimate concerns and should begin courses of treatment.

I think you would have been better off using my reason why I joined this forum and unfortunately have not been able to find the escape hatch. I checked out the BDD forum and it was really inactive and not very stimulating for me so I looked elsewhere. This forum was close enough( people were obsessed with their hair) and I was new to hair loss treatments so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone.

 

[Oscar66]

Because I like to help neurotic young men with low norwoods with their fears about their hair, and tell them they're fine or they actually have legitimate concerns and should begin courses of treatment.

Yes because some of us are in their 50's and started thinning at 18 and if we can give that young kid some advice it is worth it. I never did go slick bald (yet) and all these folks here helped me through some bad times. And I endured the "I'm in my early 20's and my co-workers are pointing fingers at my bald spot and laughing"... And I'm an alcoholic now because of hair loss... Yet I will encourage anyone I can not to give up because YOU NEVER KNOW IF YOU ARE THE GUY who responds to the big 3...

 

[alekgn]

I think you would have been better off using my reason why I joined this forum and unfortunately have not been able to find the escape hatch. I checked out the BDD forum and it was really inactive and not very stimulating for me so I looked elsewhere. This forum was close enough( people were obsessed with their hair) and I was new to hair loss treatments so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone.

Lol. Just curious, why did you pic Doctor House, from House, as your avatar?

 

[DoctorHouse]

Lol. Just curious, why did you pic Doctor House, from House, as your avatar?

10 years go House was one of the most popular shows on TV and I was a fan.