What did you think of baldness before you started losing it

[sylent]

For the most part is seems like most people thought "it will never be me" when it comes to male pattern baldness. I was actually a bit smarter than that. I looked around, saw bald family members and thought "Ya, its possible I will be bald some day". However, the real kick in the nuts is that never in a million years would I have thought I would be losing hair in my early 20s. I thought it was something reserved for "old" people. Now at 19 I am a NW2 and I'm almost 100% positive I'm losing my hair to male pattern baldness. I know at this point I have it easier than guys like UC man who have fully lost it.

However, I used to be one of those "get over it, its just baldness" kind of guys and for that I'm sorry. Theres a guy in my math class who is completley NW6 bald. I can tell from his facial features hes only a young guy in his 20s at most, but to other classmates that are unaware, he looks like one of those "old" students that nobody wants to associate with; especially in a class of mostly 18-20 yr olds. I see the sorrow in his eyes and the lack of confidence and I just feel so bad for him. No girls his own age would ever take him seriously in a romantic way and its just sad. It really hits home to me that I never want to become that guy. So I'm really sorry UC man, even though you are 35 I'm sure the baldness in your 20s is really what effected you.

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

I never thought it would hit so early. I figured it was a thing that wouldn't really happen til 30 or more. I have a cousin I talk to a lot that was 5 years older than me and he told me he was losing hair, but it never hit me how much he lost until after I started losing hair myself.

 

[ghg]

I wasn't really even thinking about it to be honest. My dad still has hair at 64, his father died as a 78 yr old with a full head of hair etc. So baldness hadn't really even been present. But yeah, after I started losing it I realized that I don't have black hair like them... my hair is brown like my mothers and she had been thinning for a while. Then I noticed from old pics that her father went bald pretty early (he died before I was born so I never met him), and one of my uncles from mothers side is completely bald. That's when I knew I was fcuked.

 

[uncomfortable man]

I honestly can't recall having a particular aversion to bald guys as a kid or even a teenager. I might have unconsciously cringed when I saw one, but I was too preoccupied with my own insecurities ala BDD. Although I do remember being quite a smart *** to people so maybe this is karma or some cosmic lesson I have not yet learned. I suppose the moral of the story is complaining is only asking for life to give you something to complain about. And yet I keep complaining... oh boy I'm gonna get it.

 

[Michael84]

I didn't pay attention to baldness of people around me. My grandfather was completely bald but I thought it was normal. At the same time my father was the luckiest person on the planet and skipped this gene somehow. He is 56 and about nw2.

I had a friend in the university who was like 19-20 years old and nw6, he had hair only on sides and back. At that time it I thought that he suffered from some serious illness or something. But now I understand the reason... But that guy was very social and had many friends in spite he was rather ugly overall...

I often wish that hair never existed when all people were bald from birth. Because I don't know how but hair has the power to devastate the whole life.

 

[Hairforever]

I used to joke with a friend of mine that I didn't want to go bald and wear glasses (especially the John Lennon ones). Well I ended up with both and started losing hair from 16 onwards. But I've fought it all the way and am still fighting.But unless hair multiplication happens anytime soon, it's a battle I know I'll never win. My message to guys in the teens and early twenties who are only just starting to lose hair is don't obsess about it, get a social life and date lots of women. The latter gets increasingly harder with continued hair loss throughout the years.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

I was always afraid of going bald as a child. I remember making fun of my dad for his thinning crown. I thought that, in the worst case scenario, I would take after my father and his father and start thinning a bit in my late 30s. I was petrified that this was going to happen to me. Ha! Like I have said many times, my mom told me I would get her father's hair. Obviously that is not the case. Below is a picture of him in his 60s (his crown was just as thick as what you see up front).

 

[LooseItAll]

Never really payed attention to baldness. I just thoguht it is a hairstyle by choice. Until maybe late teens. Still I did not know that I was the unlucky one. When I first noticed my NW3 I thought that it is just a type hairline and that it will not progress any further... It still bothered me and I was jealous of my peers hairlines.

It was not until the age 22 when a friend explained to me the nature of male pattern baldness. He is not balding but was afraid of it oh the irony...

 

[Ori83]

never really thought of it, maybe because i would never imagine it could hit you so early :S

 

[superfrankie]

I never reflected on it, they were humans too. Its the same with other flaws. You only focus on them when have them yourself.

 

[s.a.f]

I know this seems ridiculous but as a kid the only bald people I ever saw were totally uncool people - old farts and nerds/geeky middle aged men who had generally let themselves go completley (lookswise), so I think that I had a subconcious theory that stay cool = keep hair.
Therefore I never imagined it happening to me despite NW6 running in the family, I certainly never thought it would happen in my 20's the idea of that was just ridiculous to me.

 

[Hairforever]

I thought it was biologically impossible to start going bald in one's teens or early twenties. I had very little contact with my extended family and didn't see my paternal grandfather which is where I got my balding genes from. As for being aware of bald people, as a kid I remember footballers like Bobby Charlton and Ralph Coates with the combovers. I swear Ralph Coates used to always run with the wind to keep his combover in place, even if it meant running towards his own goal. Of course there were the boring politicians with bald heads and the occasional newsreader. Some of them wore obvious toupees - squirrels on their heads. There weren't any bald musicians apart from Brian Eno and Errol Brown of Hot Chocolate. Even Phil Collins had some hair in early Genesis.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

My dad's best friend started balding at age 16 and they would by beer under age because, when asked for ID, he would just show his crown. That's what my dad tells me at least. He was a Norwood 6 well before he was 30 and now he is a Norwood 7 with very thin side hair. He has many brothers though and none that I know of are bald. I learned about all of this when I asked to see what he looked like with hair and my dad showed me a hunting pic when he was like 20. He had hair but he was clearly balding badly. I'm better off than he is.

 

[Belmondo]

For [...] However, I used to be one of those "get over it, its just baldness" kind of guys [...]

I was never a "get over it, its just baldness" kind of guy.

When I started to lose my hair at the early age of 17 baldness was a HUGE problem. It became an obsession and, in a way, I'm glad it did or I would never have found out about finasteride. I was probably one of the first men in my country to use Proscar to treat male pattern baldness (I believe the brand Propecia didn't even exist back then)

Today I'm 35 and still a proud Norwood 2. And I deserve it! I deserve my hair, I worked hard for it.

 

[CCS]

When I was a kid? I never noticed it. But I did think it only affected the old, and that people I saw who were bald were older than they were. I never thought of it as something that would bother anyone, but then I'm not a woman.

 

[DoctorHouse]

My father and his father were NW6/7 at very young ages so I was always worried about it but never focused on it. I always used shampoos for thinning hair just in case. I figured if I made it to 35 years old with a full head of hair, I would never go bald or lose any hair. I never thought it could all of sudden happen later than that. I was wrong. :sobbing: When I was younger I had acne so I paid more attention to people's skin than hair. I was jealous of all the guys who had flawless skin and who did not have to wake up every day worried when a new zit would pop up.


Just like the guys on here have rituals for their hair, I had it for my skin. Unfortunately, I now have the ritual for my hair because my skin very seldom breaks out. Now I get jealous of all the people that have thick perfect hairlines and super thick hair with no sign of scalp. They never have to worry about the ritual I go thru everyday. On a side note, I am starting to believe that there is a connection between melanin( melanocytes) and hair loss. I notice dark skin people like hispanics, italians, blacks and indians have great hair. Alot of pale skinned brits, irish and americans seem to be bald or balding. I think the more melanin (melanocytes) you have , the more of chance you won't bald. Just a theory.

 

[twenty.five]

Racism, sexism...what a delightful bunch! I sure am sad that anything bad has ever happened to any of you.

 

[fodandahalf]

On my father's side, there is a bald uncle, yet my actual dad has a full thick norwood 2 at 48. On my mum's side, I have one uncle with a big bald spot, but remains of a hairline and another who completely shaves his head, who to me appears to be hiding alopecia areata, because I remember him having brilliant hair and the shaved job looks patchy and odd up close. Other than this my mum's father had a great head of hair before he died, and I have another uncle with a full head of hair. Before I started worrying about male pattern baldness, I always thought of it as nothing more than a characteristic, some men were bald, some weren't. I never even considered that I might end up bald.

 

[Heinrich]

A few times I was told by people I had thick hair and hence thought I would never go bald. I was proud of it, at least one thing that keept me above others. You can imagine how it feelt, when I realized I was losing it....

 

[sonero9]

Mental adjustment is prudent.