Topper
Member
- Reaction score
- 0
Hi
I'm a 23 year old male who's been balding for, well, I don't know. I would say "forever" but that's a little misleading. You see, I was born with a massive amount of dark brown hair- everywhere (on my head). When I came out of the shower and had my hair dry, it looked like it had exploded! The hairs didn't even need to be very long (they never were), they were just massive! It was the thickest mane I have ever seen, I kid you not.
Anyway, all through puberty (I suppose), I had lost a ton of hair. Never noticeable, since there was so much to begin with, but running my hand through my hair would probably catch 5 or 6 hairs... every time. There was a ton of hair in my hat, etc.. I didn't think much of it since I had so much hair- I thought it was normal to lose that much. And maybe it was. But man, I lost a LOT- it must have been a record-setting performance on my part! It was like my body realized that I had been born with waaay too much hair, so it started shedding it waaaayy tooo fast. However, when I say "way too much hair" I only mean on my head! I have no other hair on my body (save for the...you know...). With a bald head, I would look like an albino- and that puzzles me all the more. I've seen studies that suggest that "most" men with male pattern baldness are hairy all over- I am decidedly UNhairy all over. So strange.
Well, like I said, I'm 23 years old now and my hair loss has finally caught up to me. I was born with a receding hairline but it hasn't ever really "receded". It's just thinned out a little but you can't notice the loss there... at least not yet. I'm convinced I'll always have my current hairline (albeit thinner), "receding" as it may be. The problem is the crown area for me. It's really showing and I have to keep my hair relatively long to have any success at masking it. It's not fun.
I've been on minoxidil 2% for almost two years. I honestly don't know whether it's worked since my hair is so strange- it looks different every time I look at it. There are some thin blond hairs on my spot but I can't really see them that well in the mirror, and don't know whether they're old hairs planning to fall out forever or new ones just making their way in. Regardless, it's been 2 years and there hasn't been that much progress (the blond hairs are still the way they were, give or take slight variations) so I'm about to start on 5% minoxidil. Furthermore, I've been on nizoral for the last 3 months but it seems to me that my balding has accelerated at a crazy rate since then (it has)- I don't know whether it's the nizoral, the minoxidil or just natural. But I'll stick with it since it seems to make my hair look thicker after I use it. It's all about deception at this point...
The problem with me is that I don't think it's genetic. There is very little baldness in my family although my older brother (4 yrs older) also has my problem tenfold. However, he has a different hairline (it's straight across the front- mine has always been "receding") so I don't think we have the same genes. He also has a ton of hair all over his body- more of the "typical" balding man. He has as much body hair as I don't have body hair. We're just so very different physically. Is it possible that, in a family with little hair loss, two sons experienced very UNIQUE kinds of severe hair loss in their early twenties? It's one thing to get the same rare, bad genes. It's quite another to get unique AND rare genes but the same ridiculous bad luck. I don't know what to make of it.
Anyway, I suppose it doesn't matter. My problem will be with me regardless of what the familial explanation is. It's just hard for me to combat the problem since it's been progressing so fast- and has been so strange. I literally don't know of any people with "my kind" of hair- it's been weird my whole life and I don't really have any peer with whom I can exchange information. I had a TON of hair up to about 5 years ago, and now I may have a hairless crown within 2 years (with thinning everywhere else)! Hyperactive sensitivity on my scalp to say the least!
What's more, my bald spot is not quite a spot as it is an area of bald LINES. I've always seen guys with one spot that kind of grows over time. I have lines of baldness (for lack of a better term) on my crown. It's almost like an "X" up there. I don't know what to make of that, either.
I haven't tried propecia because... well... it seems to get some negative perception around here. Of course, that isn't enough to stop me on its own, but I would need to get a prescription where I live and I just am not going to waste my life's time seeing a doctor (and paying for the consultation) at this point. I really am too busy- not to mention too poor.
Plus, I've heard there is a shed involved with the product, anyway. I don't know whether I can afford one- I mean, any incrementally bigger shed on my CURRENT sheds would be MASSIVE. My hyperactive scalp would have a field day, I'm sure.
I'm currently contemplating shaving my head- but I have had no experience doing so in my life. Plus, I have a rather large head so I don't want to draw even more attention to it. I would change my hair colour to blonde, and I have been considering that too, but it would be a drastic change that people (even those who didn't know me) would quickly categorize as "trying to hide his bald spot". I'd rather shave my head than endure that. And I wouldn't look good blonde anyway- it's like Al Pacino with blonde hair. He's just too "dark" to pull it off.
Anyway, that's all for now. If anyone sees any similarities between their story and mine, I'd be happy to chat. Thanks for reading this far! If you have any suggestions for me, I'm all ears!
Cheers
Brian
I'm a 23 year old male who's been balding for, well, I don't know. I would say "forever" but that's a little misleading. You see, I was born with a massive amount of dark brown hair- everywhere (on my head). When I came out of the shower and had my hair dry, it looked like it had exploded! The hairs didn't even need to be very long (they never were), they were just massive! It was the thickest mane I have ever seen, I kid you not.
Anyway, all through puberty (I suppose), I had lost a ton of hair. Never noticeable, since there was so much to begin with, but running my hand through my hair would probably catch 5 or 6 hairs... every time. There was a ton of hair in my hat, etc.. I didn't think much of it since I had so much hair- I thought it was normal to lose that much. And maybe it was. But man, I lost a LOT- it must have been a record-setting performance on my part! It was like my body realized that I had been born with waaay too much hair, so it started shedding it waaaayy tooo fast. However, when I say "way too much hair" I only mean on my head! I have no other hair on my body (save for the...you know...). With a bald head, I would look like an albino- and that puzzles me all the more. I've seen studies that suggest that "most" men with male pattern baldness are hairy all over- I am decidedly UNhairy all over. So strange.
Well, like I said, I'm 23 years old now and my hair loss has finally caught up to me. I was born with a receding hairline but it hasn't ever really "receded". It's just thinned out a little but you can't notice the loss there... at least not yet. I'm convinced I'll always have my current hairline (albeit thinner), "receding" as it may be. The problem is the crown area for me. It's really showing and I have to keep my hair relatively long to have any success at masking it. It's not fun.
I've been on minoxidil 2% for almost two years. I honestly don't know whether it's worked since my hair is so strange- it looks different every time I look at it. There are some thin blond hairs on my spot but I can't really see them that well in the mirror, and don't know whether they're old hairs planning to fall out forever or new ones just making their way in. Regardless, it's been 2 years and there hasn't been that much progress (the blond hairs are still the way they were, give or take slight variations) so I'm about to start on 5% minoxidil. Furthermore, I've been on nizoral for the last 3 months but it seems to me that my balding has accelerated at a crazy rate since then (it has)- I don't know whether it's the nizoral, the minoxidil or just natural. But I'll stick with it since it seems to make my hair look thicker after I use it. It's all about deception at this point...
The problem with me is that I don't think it's genetic. There is very little baldness in my family although my older brother (4 yrs older) also has my problem tenfold. However, he has a different hairline (it's straight across the front- mine has always been "receding") so I don't think we have the same genes. He also has a ton of hair all over his body- more of the "typical" balding man. He has as much body hair as I don't have body hair. We're just so very different physically. Is it possible that, in a family with little hair loss, two sons experienced very UNIQUE kinds of severe hair loss in their early twenties? It's one thing to get the same rare, bad genes. It's quite another to get unique AND rare genes but the same ridiculous bad luck. I don't know what to make of it.
Anyway, I suppose it doesn't matter. My problem will be with me regardless of what the familial explanation is
. It's just hard for me to combat the problem since it's been progressing so fast- and has been so strange. I literally don't know of any people with "my kind" of hair- it's been weird my whole life and I don't really have any peer with whom I can exchange information. I had a TON of hair up to about 5 years ago, and now I may have a hairless crown within 2 years (with thinning everywhere else)! Hyperactive sensitivity on my scalp to say the least!What's more, my bald spot is not quite a spot as it is an area of bald LINES. I've always seen guys with one spot that kind of grows over time. I have lines of baldness (for lack of a better term) on my crown. It's almost like an "X" up there. I don't know what to make of that, either.
I haven't tried propecia because... well... it seems to get some negative perception around here. Of course, that isn't enough to stop me on its own, but I would need to get a prescription where I live and I just am not going to waste my life's time seeing a doctor (and paying for the consultation) at this point. I really am too busy- not to mention too poor.
Plus, I've heard there is a shed involved with the product, anyway. I don't know whether I can afford one- I mean, any incrementally bigger shed on my CURRENT sheds would be MASSIVE. My hyperactive scalp would have a field day, I'm sure.
I'm currently contemplating shaving my head- but I have had no experience doing so in my life. Plus, I have a rather large head so I don't want to draw even more attention to it
. I would change my hair colour to blonde, and I have been considering that too, but it would be a drastic change that people (even those who didn't know me) would quickly categorize as "trying to hide his bald spot". I'd rather shave my head than endure that. And I wouldn't look good blonde anyway- it's like Al Pacino with blonde hair. He's just too "dark" to pull it off.Anyway, that's all for now. If anyone sees any similarities between their story and mine, I'd be happy to chat. Thanks for reading this far! If you have any suggestions for me, I'm all ears!
Cheers
Brian