Thinning Hair - Male Pattern Baldness Or Something Else?

[dogmatica]

Hi folks. 41 year old male here. As far as I know there is no male pattern baldness in my family - father has hair, his dad is in his 80's but still has some hair. I'm not sure about my maternal grandfather - never knew him as he was estranged from our family. A couple weeks ago, after getting a fairly short haircut, when it started to grow back, I noticed what looks like thinning on the sides - above ear and my part seemed to be wider, and there seems to be almost like a part showing on the other side (where I don't have a part). I don't think my hairline is receding, and I can't tell if I am thinning on the top, but it looks like it. When I style (comb) my hair it covers the bald spots, but when I wake up in the morning and the hair is mussed, it's like long thin bald streaks on the side/top side of my head. Is this the start of male pattern balding? Having major anxiety about this. Is this just thinning hair that comes with age? When I part my hair it seems like there's a lot of scalp as well.

Sorry for my naivete. I've always had somewhat fine hair, but over the last few weeks, a couple weeks after a really short haircut, it's like it grew in weird or all of a sudden I'm losing my hair. Any advice/feedback/analysis much appreciated. Thank you!

 

[dogmatica]

Hi folks - anyone have any feedback/opinions? How's this for embarrassing - I took these pix with my iPhone, and for some reason (I had this feature turned off) they synced to my son's phone as well. My ex wife checks his phone periodically to see what he's up to and I get this text "FYI the pictures of your hair showed up on his phone. You may want to look into that". Argh.

 

[jo123456789]

It looks like you have may some minor thinning on top. You do have a nice head of hair at 41 and no gray. I'm 39 and have a lot more gray. Go get an appt at a derm if it concerns you.

 

[MeMoZa313]

i was like you COMPLETELY before starting minoxidil . the worst mistake i have ever done .
now iam like 70% of you. good hairline but very bad density.
anyway you are better than, Being 41 . iam only 19!!

LIFE IS UNFAIR

 

[dogmatica]

It looks like you have may some minor thinning on top. You do have a nice head of hair at 41 and no gray. I'm 39 and have a lot more gray. Go get an appt at a derm if it concerns you.

Thank you. I did go to a derm yesterday and he said "it looks like you may have some minor male pattern thinning". Not was I was hoping to hear!

 

[dogmatica]

i was like you COMPLETELY before starting minoxidil . the worst mistake i have ever done .
now iam like 70% of you. good hairline but very bad density.
anyway you are better than, Being 41 . iam only 19!!

LIFE IS UNFAIR

So you think the Minoxidil caused your hair loss? Can that happen? How long did you use it?

 

[dogmatica]

Have you had any stressful events in the last several months? Have you experienced heavy shedding or more hair in the drain? It could be telogen effluvium based on the diffused loss at the top. I can't really tell from the side pic if that's scalp or grey hairs. If you answered no to my questions I would start to be a little concerned. Thyroid medication has been known to induce telogen effluvium as also, you might want to bring this up with your doctor.

Nothing extremely stressful (relatively speaking), but there have been a lot of layoffs over the past 2 years and my job security has been in question (as has everyone's - oil industry). Stress has definitely been high. But is that enough to cause thinning?

 

[dogmatica]

So what would you folks recommend? Rogaine and Nizoral?

 

[Pacey123]

Dude you are above 40 and have a very very short cut, it doesn't seem like it's going anywhere, however if you really wanna do something hop on Finasteride, but choose wisely because right now, I bet if you were to grow it out longer there would be no sign of thinning whatsoever, like the people here would say: you are f*****g blessed

 

[jo123456789]

Also, once you hit 40, your hair is not going to have the same density as when you were 25. Even the fullest of the full heads do not have the same hair as when they were younger.

I'm kinda in the same boat as you. I'm 39 and have minor thinning on top as well as minor temple recession. I'm just going to keep an eye on it, not going to rush and take meds.

I highly doubt your hair is going to just fall out overnight. I bet your hair has been thinning gradually over the last 10 years, you just haven't noticed.

 

[dogmatica]

Dude you are above 40 and have a very very short cut, it doesn't seem like it's going anywhere, however if you really wanna do something hop on Finasteride, but choose wisely because right now, I bet if you were to grow it out longer there would be no sign of thinning whatsoever, like the people here would say: you are f*****g blessed

Thank you, that gave me some much needed perspective.

 

[dogmatica]

Also, once you hit 40, your hair is not going to have the same density as when you were 25. Even the fullest of the full heads do not have the same hair as when they were younger.

I'm kinda in the same boat as you. I'm 39 and have minor thinning on top as well as minor temple recession. I'm just going to keep an eye on it, not going to rush and take meds.

I highly doubt your hair is going to just fall out overnight. I bet your hair has been thinning gradually over the last 10 years, you just haven't noticed.

Good call and I bet you're right. I never really looked at the top of my head before. Thank you.

 

[himynameisj]

This guy has more hair at 40 than me at 22. f*** my genes...

 

[MeMoZa313]

NO . Minoxidil dosn't cause hairloss.
but STOPPING MINOXIDIL caused it

 

[dogmatica]

NO . Minoxidil dosn't cause hairloss.
but STOPPING MINOXIDIL caused it

From what I understand, it doesn't cause hair loss, but when you stop it goes back to what it would have been had you never started. It's not a permanent solution - it only works for as long as you use it.