Hey all.... long time reader, literally years, but this is the first time I've ever bothered to post. I guess I just haven't in the past because there have been hundreds of people going through the same **** as me and all the rest of us.
I noticed my hair began falling out about 10 years ago, when I was 20. It was pretty devastating, but was happening very gradually and was very manageable. The men on my mother's side of the family are bald, but I'm the only child in my family who has picked up this inferior gene. My father has a full head of hair and he's 65. Unfortunately, I drew the short straw. It's really horrible that this one tiny little piece of genetic information is enough to ruin lives and change everything for people.
A couple of years ago I noticed that it was slowly getting worse, and I started wearing hats EVERYWHERE. Like, people began not recognising me unless I was wearing a hat. I'm a good looking guy...have never had trouble meeting women (there are a lot who are interested in me) and at times, because of this, I'm full of confidence. This has all recently changed, and quite suddenly.
Last year, I decided it was time to do something about my hairloss. I never really seemed to go through phases like other people...my hair had just been in a continuous shed for years. I went to a few doctors, 2 of which laughed at me, those unprofessional pricks, and prescribed me Propecia. I never picked up the prescription though, because of the horror stories I've read - impotence, infertility, depression...
I guess it must've been in August when I bought myself some Regaine 5% and started applying it 2x daily. I felt good that I was finally doing something, something proven. I think it must have been October that I started going through the initial shed. I didn't actually think I could shed any more than I actually was, but boy was I wrong. It came fast and was aggressive, and I lost a lot of ground, but I decided to stick with it for a bit longer. Around the middle of October I had some pretty unpleasant stabbing pains coming from deep inside my heart. At first I didn't know what was causing it but then remembered reading about it as a possible side effect of Minoxidil...a very VERY unlikely side effect (0.2% of users or something). I immediately went to a doctor and she took an ECG and said things looked fine and said she was SURE it wasn't from the Minoxidil. But I don't know...how much do doctors actually know about certain drugs? I got a second opinion who told me to stop using it for a few weeks, and she sent me to a cardiologist. He took an ultrasound and said there was a slight abnormality but it didn't explain the sensations I was experiencing and he also said that I could keep using the Minoxidil without fear.
By this time I was down to using it only once daily, and missed a couple of days here and there, and around the middle of November I added Nizoral 2%, which made my hair and my scalp feel much much better. I think I'd stopped the Minoxidil altogether by the start of December... I hadn't been using it regularly anyway so it couldn't have been doing much.
The shedding stopped. Miraculously. Basically around the same time that I'd made the decision to stop the Regaine. It happened just in the nick of time as well. I still had good coverage, even though it was only a thin layer on top and my crown had expanded a bit, but with a bit of Toppik you could hardly notice it. I attributed this sudden and drastic improvement to the Nizoral. I know it isn't meant to treat hairloss, but we've all heard the stories and read the studies. I counted myself lucky...very lucky. I kept using it 3 times a week and completely forgot about my hairloss. I could finally live my life as a normal person again, think about things that mattered. Not wear a hat every day of my life. I could run my hands through my hair, even tug on it, and where there were once 10+ hairs there was not one. This went on for about 2 months. The happiest 2 months I've had in a long long time.
Anyway...I guess it wasn't the Nizoral, it must have been the Minoxidil. The hair started to fall again, and devastation slowly crept back in. I still had 1 bottle of Regaine 5% left, and in March, about 1 month ago, decided to get back on it, only applying it once a day before bed. It worked once, so it should again...right?
But OH MY GOD how things have gotten worse. I guess I'm going through another initial shed, plus losing whatever I'd made in those couple of months towards the end of last year. It started about a week after, and I've lost so much ground. 10+ hairs turned into 70+ hairs (yes I counted them) about 4 times a day. And that's just the hair that was visibly falling. That's literally hundreds of hairs per day. I can now see the entire top of my scalp. I was diffuse thinning for years...but now...I don't want to go outside anymore. It's basically a f*ing combover. I don't want to go to work. I don't want to see my friends. People who know me are going to think "omgwtf happened to you???" And I'm a prominent member in the scene here, and women love me. It's bad. Real bad. No amount of Toppik can fix this mess, I tried. It just falls onto my scalp and a couple of hours later it looks as if I've been rubbing my head in the dirt. No hair cut is going to fix this problem and I am SERIOUSLY considering shaving it all off which will make things very obvious but maybe I'll leave this city and begin a new life as an ugly member of society. I'm going to look like a freak though. I hate bald heads. Horse shoes are even worse, and mine is pretty f*ing obvious now. I'm skinny, have a long neck and big eyes. I'm not ready to look into the mirror every day and see something I despise. I used to love how I looked. How can I expect to be happy if I can't look the way I want to look, EVER.
Anyway. I joined this forum because I'm hoping for a bit of support from people who are going through the same **** I am. A bit of positivity.
What should I do?
I'll upload some pics in a couple of months to track my progress.
Cheers.
I noticed my hair began falling out about 10 years ago, when I was 20. It was pretty devastating, but was happening very gradually and was very manageable. The men on my mother's side of the family are bald, but I'm the only child in my family who has picked up this inferior gene. My father has a full head of hair and he's 65. Unfortunately, I drew the short straw. It's really horrible that this one tiny little piece of genetic information is enough to ruin lives and change everything for people.
A couple of years ago I noticed that it was slowly getting worse, and I started wearing hats EVERYWHERE. Like, people began not recognising me unless I was wearing a hat. I'm a good looking guy...have never had trouble meeting women (there are a lot who are interested in me) and at times, because of this, I'm full of confidence. This has all recently changed, and quite suddenly.
Last year, I decided it was time to do something about my hairloss. I never really seemed to go through phases like other people...my hair had just been in a continuous shed for years. I went to a few doctors, 2 of which laughed at me, those unprofessional pricks, and prescribed me Propecia. I never picked up the prescription though, because of the horror stories I've read - impotence, infertility, depression...
I guess it must've been in August when I bought myself some Regaine 5% and started applying it 2x daily. I felt good that I was finally doing something, something proven. I think it must have been October that I started going through the initial shed. I didn't actually think I could shed any more than I actually was, but boy was I wrong. It came fast and was aggressive, and I lost a lot of ground, but I decided to stick with it for a bit longer. Around the middle of October I had some pretty unpleasant stabbing pains coming from deep inside my heart. At first I didn't know what was causing it but then remembered reading about it as a possible side effect of Minoxidil...a very VERY unlikely side effect (0.2% of users or something). I immediately went to a doctor and she took an ECG and said things looked fine and said she was SURE it wasn't from the Minoxidil. But I don't know...how much do doctors actually know about certain drugs? I got a second opinion who told me to stop using it for a few weeks, and she sent me to a cardiologist. He took an ultrasound and said there was a slight abnormality but it didn't explain the sensations I was experiencing and he also said that I could keep using the Minoxidil without fear.
By this time I was down to using it only once daily, and missed a couple of days here and there, and around the middle of November I added Nizoral 2%, which made my hair and my scalp feel much much better. I think I'd stopped the Minoxidil altogether by the start of December... I hadn't been using it regularly anyway so it couldn't have been doing much.
The shedding stopped. Miraculously. Basically around the same time that I'd made the decision to stop the Regaine. It happened just in the nick of time as well. I still had good coverage, even though it was only a thin layer on top and my crown had expanded a bit, but with a bit of Toppik you could hardly notice it. I attributed this sudden and drastic improvement to the Nizoral. I know it isn't meant to treat hairloss, but we've all heard the stories and read the studies. I counted myself lucky...very lucky. I kept using it 3 times a week and completely forgot about my hairloss. I could finally live my life as a normal person again, think about things that mattered. Not wear a hat every day of my life. I could run my hands through my hair, even tug on it, and where there were once 10+ hairs there was not one. This went on for about 2 months. The happiest 2 months I've had in a long long time.
Anyway...I guess it wasn't the Nizoral, it must have been the Minoxidil. The hair started to fall again, and devastation slowly crept back in. I still had 1 bottle of Regaine 5% left, and in March, about 1 month ago, decided to get back on it, only applying it once a day before bed. It worked once, so it should again...right?
But OH MY GOD how things have gotten worse. I guess I'm going through another initial shed, plus losing whatever I'd made in those couple of months towards the end of last year. It started about a week after, and I've lost so much ground. 10+ hairs turned into 70+ hairs (yes I counted them) about 4 times a day. And that's just the hair that was visibly falling. That's literally hundreds of hairs per day. I can now see the entire top of my scalp. I was diffuse thinning for years...but now...I don't want to go outside anymore. It's basically a f*ing combover. I don't want to go to work. I don't want to see my friends. People who know me are going to think "omgwtf happened to you???" And I'm a prominent member in the scene here, and women love me. It's bad. Real bad. No amount of Toppik can fix this mess, I tried. It just falls onto my scalp and a couple of hours later it looks as if I've been rubbing my head in the dirt. No hair cut is going to fix this problem and I am SERIOUSLY considering shaving it all off which will make things very obvious but maybe I'll leave this city and begin a new life as an ugly member of society. I'm going to look like a freak though. I hate bald heads. Horse shoes are even worse, and mine is pretty f*ing obvious now. I'm skinny, have a long neck and big eyes. I'm not ready to look into the mirror every day and see something I despise. I used to love how I looked. How can I expect to be happy if I can't look the way I want to look, EVER.
Anyway. I joined this forum because I'm hoping for a bit of support from people who are going through the same **** I am. A bit of positivity.
What should I do?
I'll upload some pics in a couple of months to track my progress.
Cheers.
Yeah man.