Your 'Oh my word' moment - When did you realise balding?

[kejan]

I know it's been a slow and long process for most of us. Especially the receders who slowly see their forehead getting larger, larGER and LARGER.

When was the exact moment, you thought to yourself that you were bald and it was in a bad way? Or, it really hit you that you were losing your hair and well on the way to becoming a bald man? (or woman, if there are any on the sidelines).

I am diffuse and receding. NW3/3.5 (one side is better than the other) and I noticed my hairline receding for about 7/8 years now so I did notice it going back but it was still manageable at that time and I could style it by combing it forward or using gel/wax etc.
Then about 4 years ago, my friend said to me outside a nightclub with bright lights ''You have a bald spot''. I didn't really care about it as such.

Then about 6 months later I was in an airport and in the bathroom with the bright lights and such and notice all over diffuse thinning (which I wasn't aware of until then) I dunno if it was me subconsciously looking at my mirror in certain ways or with just the side lamp on in the bedroom when doing my hair, but it was a 'HOLY sh*t' moment, I am really bare on top.

Before that, I just seen myself as a receder who had a small baldspot at the back.

Anyhoos that's a ramble and a half, but it would be interesting to read your replies.

 

[bigentries]

Always had a big whorl, so kids used to tease me about it. Of course I knew it was not a problem. If I trim it very close the whorl disappears

I had long hair for a couple years, and people (specially family) started to claim I was starting to go bald thanks to the whorl. I bought some snake oil for a while, but it didn't bother me, probably because I knew it was just a hair whorl

The WTF moment started the day I had to drop my mane to look respectable.
I just asked for the same hair cut I used years before. I spent a lot of time in the mirror that day trying to style my fringe the way it used to look.

It took my a while to realize my hairline receded after all those years wearing my hair long. I was ignorant about receding hairlines because my father had crown balding.

 

[Ori83]

Im now 28, was 19 or 20, i remember sitting at a cafe with a girl i knew (we were just friends but i was into her back than, and still am to this very day) i remember looking at my reflection at glass window or door and could see that my hair got really thin my head got bigger, i said to her "damn, my forehead is getting huge, i really m going bald! "
i knew was losing my hair before that, yet at that very moment it really hit me. i grieved the lose of hair and cried deeply over it that night when i took a shower... yup maybe pathetic but... true story!

 

[Jeremy K]

I'm 29 now, and have had long hair for many years. When I was 18, I went to the prom and styled my hair by slicking it back and loading it with hair gel, and tying it back. I rarely tied my hair back in those days and had really thick hair, but I remember looking at the pictures and wondering why my temples went back a bit. I didn't think too much of it, and was told it's just a "mature hairline"

By the time I was 21, I noticed that I could see through my bangs when they got in my eyes, my hair was mid back length by this time and still thick, but obviously the bangs were thinning. Around that time I experimented with a straightening iron, and started blow drying my hair. By the time I hit 22, my ends were starting to look somewhat ravaged but I still had good coverage, so I attributed it to the abuse that I put my hair through. I also noticed that there were a lot of scraggly hairs that would only grow several inches long on the top of my head, I also attributed this to damage, or "broken hairs". It became my mission to restore the volume by stopping those practices, and beginning to take proper care of it, this was in '04.

By '06 I was starting to wonder why the volume was not coming back by now, and I was noticing that in some pictures, my hair would part a certain way where you could see some scalp in the temple region. I was in denial at this point so I didn't pay it much thought.

My real moment where I could no longer live in denial was in August '06, I had just quit a job where I only had 3 days off in a 6 month span, and I decided to celebrate by going to the bar with some friends. After a few beers I had to break the seal and went into the bathroom, and when I went to wash my hands I looked up into the mirror and noticed 2 things that were startling. 1 - my left eye was swollen half shut and it made it look as though I had a stroke and 2 - that weird part was evident in my hair and no amount of repositioning it could make it completely go away, because this was a section of hair that was so much thinner than the hair behind it that it formed a natural part. Fortunately, the eye was only swollen because of a bug bite, but I wasn't so fortunate with the hair issue. At this point I just accepted that my hair was thinning, and figured it'd be a really slow process. I was distraught that I no longer had thick and desirable hair, but I didn't think I was in much danger.

By mid '07 I was starting to worry again and began to experiment with different snake oils and supplements. For a bit, I even thought they were working, but my second moment came in June '08 when i woke up and got ready to go to a baseball game, and noticed that while I still had mostly a full head of hair, there was hardly anything up there, the volume was completely gone and then I noticed my frontal hair line was receding on the right side. This is when the obsessing over my hair and hair loss began.

Fortunately, I can say that I have more hair as of December '11 than I did on that fateful day, but it took a year and a half of struggling, obsessing, and feeling as though my spirit had been destroyed before finally finding something that worked.

Sorry for the novel, but that's my story, and as you can see, I had several moments that gradually lead to realizing that I was losing my hair.

I'm a Norwood 2-2.5 btw but was diffusing.

 

[ghg]

The moment I realized I was balding was when I went to barber to cut my long hair short. This was in May 2006. I had been losing a lot of hair for years then but I didn't think much of it since I still had a "full head of hair". I was just watching my temples and they didn't seem to go back, but behind the hairline I was thinning like f***.

Anyway, the barber said that I'm thinning in the middle of the head. I was like wtf, can't be true. I started worrying like sh*t and got on finasteride and then the real mayhem started; the balding sped up a lot. My hair got really thin in about 3-4 months. I've been forced to buzz my hair ever since... and it's getting thinner and thinner on top. Having an alien shaped conehead doesn't help one bit.

 

[uncomfortable man]

I was twenty three. My dad showed me a picture he took of me with my two other brothers. The thinning was painfully obvious, yet that was the first time I realized I was going bald. My dad thought it was funny. Till this day whenever I try to discuss the pain being bald causes me, he doesn't understand and shows no sympathy. I don't think it is possible for full heads to put themselves in a bald mans shoes. Also evidenced by the many posts from nw2s and such on this site.

 

[Hairforever]

I was 16, nearly 17 when I knew inside something wasn't right. I'd examine my hairline and side part it. The signs were negligible then but a year later a guy at school commented I was going bald. He was more perceptive than most. I had it officially confirmed by a trichologist when I was 18. My dad shed a tear with me when I returned home from the consultation. He knew how hard it would hit me. I wasn't the most confident or outgoing of teenagers in any case but I was quite cute-looking. I was just about to go to university. Great timing. I didn't socialise much for the three years I was there. Wasted opportunities. I was seriously depressed and thought about suicide. What should have been the best time of my life was the worst time of my life. This was 1980-1983. There were no meds to slow the process or regrow hair and no online community network like this site. So I was pretty much on my own.

 

[s.a.f]

I'd always known it was coming since every man in my family is a NW6. My hairline was never lower than a NW2 at any age and my hair was very fine like a babys. I could never have any good hairstyles and I remember that my hair always showed the effects of wind/rain whilst other kids did'nt.
I was always being told that I'd be bald by the time I was 25.
However I'd always hoped that I could have lasted until at least my late 30's.
But at the age of 19 it started to look even worse, I just thought this was a strange phase and things would soon return to normal. It took several months before before I realiised that 'it' had started.

I'd always had a widows peak then one day I looked in the mirror and it had gone!

 

[sylent]

I'm currently 20. I had pretty long hair in school, and when I was 16 I decided to shave it. When I did, I had these really thin spots on the corners. I would get made fun of by my friends all the time for it. I can shrug jokes off pretty easily, but it definietly made me take notice of my hairloss. I also had everyone in my biology class stare at my forehead when we disscussed male patter baldness. Really didnt make me feel good. I was going through a lot of anxiety and depression at the time, and I really obsessed over my hair.

However, I'm starting to think that I may just have a mature hairline. My hair thinned out in those corners, and since then hasnt gone back at all. Its been about 2 years with no recession, but I still have the arched hairline. Either way, I'm starting to feel like I can move on from worrying about hairloss. I'm not writing it off, but I'm only going to do checkups and not stress out about it. I have a full head of hair, most people wouldnt know the difference. If I do detect hairloss in the near future, I have a lot of faith that the big 3 can save me after seeing so many success stories. Here is my thread anyways:

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=70511

I'm not trying to brag about having hair, I don't have enough experience to understand what you guys go through on a daily basis. I'm just hoping my hair is here to stay.

 

[dinosaur_sr]

All the men on my mothers side of my family are NW6+ at 25. So i knew from an early age i would lose mine.
I remember sitting in the bath when i was 14, and looking in the bath water after i had washed my hair and seeing 200+ hairs. I knew what was to come, but was not expecting it at 14.
By the time i was 16 my family started to make jokes about my hair. As my hairstyles(combover) would try and cover it up as much as possible.
I had receded temples probably NW2.5 and thinning at my crown area at this age.
Fortunately for me, i have maintained a reasonable hairline to this day (im 34) just that it is a little bit thin at the crown still. Treatments have helped.

Bloody hell, 14? That must have hurt, 14's a difficult enough time on it's own. Would you say it helped having a bald family? For me, having no family history is a pain, but the grass is always greener I suppose.

I've got always had blonde/fine hair, so I've heard the 'you might go bald' talk for a while, but it never bothered me as I still had loads, and figured it would happen in middle age, if it did (figured my good family history would factor in too). 19 my hairline receded to a NW2-2.5 (where it is now). Didn't notice til a friend made a joke about it. It made me slightly uneasy, but the loss was so minimal I figured I had loads of time.

6 months ago I noticed my hair looked worse, particularly when long, but couldn't figure out why. Found this site and the Norwood chart, and spent ages trying to discern whether I had a 'mature hairline' or was actually balding. After reading some more stories I realised my hairline hadn't moved and I was diffuse thinning. Decided to look into treatments (which I had previously dismissed as snake oils), and got on propecia four days ago.

 

[Islander]

September '10. I spent the whole august in Thailand, and a week after from my return I was standing in the bathroom with long hair in a ponytale, and my mother walked in and I still remember her exact words:"Oh my, you have a bald spot on top of your head. Soon enough you`re going to be completely bald". I honestly died a little inside. The same night I met up with a guy I haven't seen in 1.5 years and he said:"I think you have less hair than the last time I can remember". And from that day begins my journey into the grim world of hair loss.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

I got the first suspicion in November 2009 when I thought "oh my goodness, my hair doesn't seem thick." I thought to check this out because I noticed excessive shedding. I was always told that I have thick hair and the barber always thinned it because I always got scissor cuts as a child. I remember the comb giving a lot of resitance when I combed my hair. I don't know if I lost density or not but that led me to research hair loss and so it wasn't too long until I knew to look at my hairline and, sure enough, it had receded. So by early 2010 I knew what was up. The world never looked the same since then, if you know what I mean.

IRonically, I don't think what I intially noticed was Androgenetic Alopecia--it wa sprobably Telogen Effluvium. I had lost 65+ pounds in just a few months so I'm thinking Telogen Effluvium, espeically since I didn't lose the weight the healthy way and would eat just candy some days. I don't know if they kick started the Androgenetic Alopecia or was just coincidental to it but that's my story. I still have thick hair and very very little thinning in the hairline corners, fortunately. But my hairline is just screwed up and I can't even comb my hair normally so I just have to get a buzz, which I don't like.

 

[slipy]

back in early 2009 i was concerned my use of hair gel could cause me to lose hair. so i browsed internet looking for information and stumbled upon wikipedias article on male pattern baldness which i knew nothing about at the time. after learning that baldness is genetic i quickly realised that im screwed since my father is bald. but the article at the time said that balding is usually seen in those above the age of 25 so that made me think "im safe for now'' and ''i still have some time to enjoy full head of hair".

little did i know. only 2 months passed and one day after taking bath i noticed thinning behind my hair line. i stared in the mirror for about half an hour in disbelief.

 

[Captain Obvious]

I had a few moments when I realized I was going bald. I needed more than one revelation because I think I probably slipped into denial so easily the first couple times.

The first time was when I was at the Olive Garden having dinner with my family. My sister walked behind me while I was sitting down and touched the back of my head and said out loud "you're going bald". For some reason I wasn't offended that time because I was still doing OK. My mother scolded my sister and told her that is a rude thing to say and she added "he's not going bald, he has a swirl in his hair". And my father (NW6) who was sitting next to me (I'll never forget) looked at me with a sort of sympathetic smile and he said "you know you will go bald someday". Again, I wasn't bothered because he had told me that plenty of times in my life, and I remember I responded "Yeah but that wont be until I'm like 19 or 20 right?" (I was probably 16 at the time) and even though I know I secretly wished he could have told me otherwise, he said to me "yes, probably about that time".


A couple years later I was away at this place that had something I did not come across often - a three fold mirror. I was intrigued to see what I would look like from the different angles so I folded the mirror and tilted my head all around. That's when I saw it for the first time; I could see my scalp through thinning clumps of hair on the top of my scalp. My jaw dropped and I stared into the mirrow in amazement for some time. It had begun.


But denial set in for a little while until another occasion when I was getting my picture taken for a Costco Membership Card. I was handed the new card with my picture on it and my heart sank as I saw for the first time that my hairline had receeded up and over my head and only some thin, whispy hairs were visible against the strong camera flash.

That very same day I had moped around, extremely depressed about the bleak future of my hair. I resolved to get a haircut that very day and to cut it very short so that I may see the full scope of the problem. I went to Great Clips and told the lady to cut it short, very short. She told me that was a brave thing to do and I joked to her "It's just going to grow back anyway". Well, after I made that comment to her I saw her reflection in the mirror and she looked at my hair and she said with a hint of regret "that may not always be true".

And that's when I finally faced reality at 18 years of age.