OK, I've been lurking on this forum for awhile, so I figured it was about time I did one of these threads. I'm 24, and my temples went several years ago, but then the recession sort of stopped, and I really didn't mind that much since it wasn't a horrible look for me.
Then a little over a year ago, someone jokingly mentioned that I had a bit of a bald spot. I checked later, and if you looked really closely in the right light, you could tell it was a little thin, but I didn't give it much thought, and I naively assumed it had just thinned up a bit at the same time my temples went, and probably wouldn't be a real problem for a long time still. By the following week I'd completely forgotten about it.
Fast forward a year - I didn't care enough about my hair style to ever bother to look at the top of my head with mirrors, and I always kept it longer so I had a sort of natural combover, and only very rarely went to a barber. Plus apparently no one is rude enough (or nice enough - can't decide which it is) to tell you when you're going bald. Long story short, without even realizing it I managed to develop a sizeable, proper bald spot in just under a year, and after a period of freaking out as I tried to understand just when I had managed to get so old, I've finally started doing something about it.
I'm afraid I don't have a good baseline picture - I knew if I took one I'd just be obsessing over it constantly for the first few weeks, and I really didn't need that. I do however have one from about a month ago - that's maybe 5-6 weeks into treatment - at which point I hadn't really noticed any change:
Obviously the lighting there is terrible, and my phone doesn't take a great picture, but the scalp is really visible under any lighting, and while there are some tufts of hair toward the center of the bald spot, around that is really just fuzz. I could nearly get away with it by applying copious amounts of nanogen, but it wouldn't have fooled anyone for more than a few seconds.
During the last month though since I took that, I've noticed some real progress. So here, with better lighting and a better camera:
It's difficult to judge the extent change here due to the image quality, but basically I've got a much more uniform spread of hair across the area now, and provided it's dry and I leave off a few of my bathroom lights, it actually doesn't look that bad at all. Neither is it great, mind you, and when it is wet it looks absolutely horrendous, but I would guess I've managed to at least double the density in last month. I'm very cautiously optimistic that if I can get what's there to grow out a bit more, then with the added length and a bit of not too unreasonable grooming I'll be able to do away with the concealer altogether, and it'll good enough to cradle my remaining self-esteem. Though considering that when I went into this, I was expecting to *maybe* see only the most minimal results after 6 months at the earliest, I won't complain too much if this is all I get.
Anyway, I suppose I'll keep this updated if I see further progress, or even if I don't. And maybe at some point I'll also add some pictures of my temples, even though that area really doesn't bother me too much. All I've really gotten there so far is a massive amount of shedding that's only just starting to come back in, but I'll be keeping an eye out for new growth.
Then a little over a year ago, someone jokingly mentioned that I had a bit of a bald spot. I checked later, and if you looked really closely in the right light, you could tell it was a little thin, but I didn't give it much thought, and I naively assumed it had just thinned up a bit at the same time my temples went, and probably wouldn't be a real problem for a long time still. By the following week I'd completely forgotten about it.
Fast forward a year - I didn't care enough about my hair style to ever bother to look at the top of my head with mirrors, and I always kept it longer so I had a sort of natural combover, and only very rarely went to a barber. Plus apparently no one is rude enough (or nice enough - can't decide which it is) to tell you when you're going bald. Long story short, without even realizing it I managed to develop a sizeable, proper bald spot in just under a year, and after a period of freaking out as I tried to understand just when I had managed to get so old, I've finally started doing something about it.
I'm afraid I don't have a good baseline picture - I knew if I took one I'd just be obsessing over it constantly for the first few weeks, and I really didn't need that. I do however have one from about a month ago - that's maybe 5-6 weeks into treatment - at which point I hadn't really noticed any change:
Obviously the lighting there is terrible, and my phone doesn't take a great picture, but the scalp is really visible under any lighting, and while there are some tufts of hair toward the center of the bald spot, around that is really just fuzz. I could nearly get away with it by applying copious amounts of nanogen, but it wouldn't have fooled anyone for more than a few seconds.
During the last month though since I took that, I've noticed some real progress. So here, with better lighting and a better camera:
It's difficult to judge the extent change here due to the image quality, but basically I've got a much more uniform spread of hair across the area now, and provided it's dry and I leave off a few of my bathroom lights, it actually doesn't look that bad at all. Neither is it great, mind you, and when it is wet it looks absolutely horrendous, but I would guess I've managed to at least double the density in last month. I'm very cautiously optimistic that if I can get what's there to grow out a bit more, then with the added length and a bit of not too unreasonable grooming I'll be able to do away with the concealer altogether, and it'll good enough to cradle my remaining self-esteem. Though considering that when I went into this, I was expecting to *maybe* see only the most minimal results after 6 months at the earliest, I won't complain too much if this is all I get.
Anyway, I suppose I'll keep this updated if I see further progress, or even if I don't. And maybe at some point I'll also add some pictures of my temples, even though that area really doesn't bother me too much. All I've really gotten there so far is a massive amount of shedding that's only just starting to come back in, but I'll be keeping an eye out for new growth.
