What type of hairloss am I experiencing?

[Sal Collaziano]

At the end of the 8th grade, I noticed my hair felt a little thin in the back. A couple of years later in high school when spiky hair was 'in', I noticed it was a little thin in the front. During probably all of my 20s, I've noticed that you could see my scalp in bright light.

As a kid, I had pretty thick hair. But ever since high school, it's been fairly thin. The picture below doesn't exactly represent my hair very well (although it actually IS me). In the right light, it's my entire scalp that's thin - not just mainly one side. The light at the moment of that photograph wasn't very bright. In any event, my hair is thin all over my head. Not just the back, front or by the temples. No receding at all.

I normally keep my hair a bit longer than this - and my thin hair is barely noticeable at all. Especially since I use minoxidil which seems to thicken my hair once dry...

Anyway. What type of hairloss is this? Or is it not hairloss? Is it just a gradual thinning of my individual hairs over the years? I'm 36 next month. If I could keep what I have through my 40s, I'd be very happy - and impressed.

But I just don't know for sure what I'm dealing with here. I've been using Minoxidil for years - mainly to help keep what I have as long as possible. I also use minoxidil.com's products - the shampoo mainly.. I have the 5% spironolactone creme but I don't use it religiously...

Any help, ideas or opinions would be appreciated...

Thanks in advance...

 

[Guest]

Looks like male pattern baldness to me. Can´t really see the hairline but it seems to be intact and you a diffuse thinner!


Btw. I think you HAVE TO use these products religously. Otherwise you are just wasting money. But I would stop the Topicals and go for Finasteride.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

I suppose my hair has been thinning very gradually over the past 23 years. I've been on Finasteride before, but I worry about the potential side effects with estrogen being involved.. I suppose I'll stick to my regimen of minoxidil with azeleic acid, shampoos with "keto", 5% spironolactone and lots of massage... I'm not sure what's worked best so far - for all these years...

 

[MacAttack]

Yea its diffuse. Welcome to our band. You're a Norwood 1/2 and Norwood 5/6/7 @ the same time lol.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Thanks. But, ahh.. What's Norwood 1/2 and Norwood 5/6/7?

 

[Sal Collaziano]

I read this somewhere about Diffuse hairloss...

Diffuse hair loss does not lead to complete baldness. The condition causes you to lose hair from the entire scalp region. This can cause your hair to thin, but you can never go bald because each hair is eventually replaced.

Since I've been like this for like two decades, I suppose this is true.. Then again, if I stay really consistent with minoxidil, I could probably see much improvement...

 

[MacAttack]

Meaning...that in some lights you'll look like a Norwood 1 or 2 (darker lights i guess) since the hairline is strong and represents something btwn that of a 1 and 2 (me for instance Im a Norwood 1 but my temples are naturally high so it kind of looks like Norwood 2...therefore I jus call myself a Norwood 1.5) But in bright overhead lights, even with a super short buzzcut, you can see how thin my hair looks on the top of my head and I look like a Norwood 5 or 6. Sometimes even the back of my head looks thin too so I'll even look like a Norwood 7.

 

[MacAttack]

.h

 

[MacAttack]

While you're right in saying you never go bald...your hair becomes so thin you might as well be bald. This is 98% what my hair looks like grown out (its not my hair though its some1 elses from this site)

http://img129.imagevenue.com/img.php?im ... _376lo.jpg

Then you'll have some people who lose it ALL OVER THEIR HEAD..like this unforunate fellow

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/4461/fullviewdj1.jpg

AND FINALLY

This is diffuse hairloss @ the extreme...even though as you say this guy isnt truly bald.. (look closely his hairline placement is a Nw1) his hair is so sparse and so thin, he may as well be bald)
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s250 ... 1487-1.jpg

N this is my story if ur interested:
http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... hp?t=37957

 

[Sal Collaziano]

I'm not as bad off as the guy in the first picture, but if I lose any more, I'd be really close.. I think my regimen has helped me keep enough of my hair. I massage my scalp throughout the day and even the shower gives a massage of sorts. That and maybe the complete lack of truly worrying and low stress is allowing me to retain what I have..

I never knew it was called "diffuse" hair loss. So I definitely learned something today..

I'll check out your story...

Thank you!

 

[s.a.f]

http://img129.imagevenue.com/img.php?im ... _376lo.jpg

I would'nt mind that at all, much better than some shiney bald areas.

 

[kalbo]

It might just be the lighting, but I don't see anything wrong with your hair. At that length, many people's head would be showing scalp under those lighting conditions. At 35/36, that type of hair seems normal to me.

But more pictures under different lighting conditions would probably give us a better idea of the situation.

 

[hair today gone tomorrow]

While you're right in saying you never go bald...your hair becomes so thin you might as well be bald. This is 98% what my hair looks like grown out (its not my hair though its some1 elses from this site)

who told you this...i think its very well possible and probable a diffuse thinner could end up being a complete nw6/7

 

[MacAttack]

Like I said...take a look @ the 3rd guy...ive seen even worse..actually when i was @ a casino all the guy literally had was a hairline . If he tilted his scalp even slightly below eye level he was pretty much bald...for all intents and purposes diffuseness never leads to baldness but it can become so bad you're pretty much a Nw5...Nw6 or sometimes even 7...Hell im a Nw6 technically right now, it jus depends on the angle light hits my head @.

 

[MacAttack]

saf that type of hair does look passable when its buzzed n what not...but grown out...no...lol...look @ my story and my hair spiked up. even @ short lengths it kinna sucks u look diseased. Iuno w.e.

 

[hair today gone tomorrow]

Like I said...take a look @ the 3rd guy...ive seen even worse..actually when i was @ a casino all the guy literally had was a hairline . If he tilted his scalp even slightly below eye level he was pretty much bald...for all intents and purposes diffuseness never leads to baldness but it can become so bad you're pretty much a Nw5...Nw6 or sometimes even 7...Hell im a Nw6 technically right now, it jus depends on the angle light hits my head @.

where are you getting this info from? I am just curious.
From what i understand a diffuser without treatment will usually end up being a full blown nw6/7

 

[MacAttack]

Personally I believe diffuse thinners are a strange breed. I dont think the mechanism is the same as receders and I think treatments either do jack sh*t (90% of cases) or respond EXTREMELY well (the remaining 10%). I tried to explain this analogy before. In receders: The DHT army smashes into the front lines of your hairs. Your hairs mixed with treatments attempt to fight back Spartan style. In diffuse hair loss, the DHT army uses another strategy. They launch nuclear missles that strike random targets. Being fast moving random missles, they are hard to shoot down. I just think diffuseness will never wipe out the scalp hairs as much as a receder, but I also think its 100x more difficult to combat and that could be because of the difference in mechanisms that I suspect. A lot of people I notice think because they have an small area thin its diffuse thinning. It is not. Even crown thinning isn't diffuse thining (if you start to thin there first but keep your hairline.) It's a rare type of loss that affects ENTIRELY your top and sometimes your sides and back. Me, the 3 people I showed you and Jayman are the only ppl I've seen on this site who TRULY suffer diffuse thinning.

 

[MacAttack]

This of course is all my OWN opinion, but most people are quick to reject what I have to say and try telling me that diffuse thinning is common. No it is not, especially in males it is not. I've often petitioned for a seperate diffuse forum to no avail. I HOPE im wrong, because there is no seperate regimen for diffuse thinning. The only results i've had was my hairline improved slightly...i musta went from Norwood 1.6 to Norwood 1.5...there's jus nothing to improve almost in terms of my hairline. There is actually 1 product...most people use something called Spectral DNC..which contains active regrowth ingredients along with minoxdil. Well there supposedly a newer special product SPECIFICALLY FOR diffuse thinning called Spectral RS. I recall a member here was ganna purchase it and get back to us, but I haven't heard about that since. Im considering buying some for myself and using meself as a test dummy.

 

[Guest]

It's a rare type of loss that affects ENTIRELY your top and sometimes your sides and back. Me, the 3 people I showed you and Jayman are the only ppl I've seen on this site who TRULY suffer diffuse thinning.

Count me in, dude... :lol:

 

[MacAttack]

Yea you too but urs is by far the most moderate. Then again I dont think ive seen your hair wet and spiked up but from what I have seen you're @ the initial stages...lucky bastard