2 years on the big three, update

[GoldenMane]

I can't find my original thread from 2013 so I thought I'd just post a new one.

Age 29 as of October 2015

These photos are pre treatment. The first is me at my hair peak, aged 22. The rest are aged 26 when I was at my lowest point the comparison shots are baseline and 4 months. Most improvement happened in the first 4 months. After that it leveled off/improved more slowly. It's kind of scary looking back at these shots and realising how bad it got, and I was in total denial... Wish I acted sooner... I was probably an NW3 at that stage with diffuse thinning all over. I had decent hair up until 25, I was slowly thinning but it looked pretty good still, at least good enough for girls to compliment my hair. But sometime around 26-27 things went south. Not sure if I just reached a thinning tipping point or my hair loss accelerated, but I started to look proper thin on top. Most people's hair has some arborescence, that is, the hair is strong enough to stand up a little before the weigh of the hair pulls it down, but with the weight of my very my long hair and thinning roots, my hair just couldn't stand up, it just lay flat on my head and looked pretty awful




Next post will have my 2 year hair pics.

 

[GoldenMane]

As you can see, my hairline has advanced a bit. Not quite to pre hair loss days, but considerably better. Back to an NW2 now, though my large and wide forehead may make it seem worse than it is. Hair is still a little thin, but coverage is good and it can be styled quite nicely most of the time. hair in these pictures look thicker/more voluminous because it's combed back to expose my hairline. My hair became darker in the first 4 months. I was told by a hair transplant surgeon that DHT causes not only miniturization, but also results in hairs losing their pigmentation and becoming lighter. Temple points are there, but extremely thin and wispy, almost invisible under bright light, somewhat visible in darker conditions.

I've been on finasteride for 2 years. I was using 5% minoxidil from September 2013 until mid June 2015 when I added 10% minoxidil to my hairline in addition to 5% minoxidil at night. I take multi vitamin tablets with iron. I've been using nizoral since my teens for psoriasis, something I believe a lot of male pattern baldness sufferers also experience.

No side effects to the best of my knowledge.

Considering a minor hair transplant in the temple region, not to fill out the whole temple, just the hairline edge for a more rounded appearance. Not sure if it would be wise considering future hair loss potential and conserving my grafts for later in life.

Family history: Maternal grandfather NW6 with high sides and back. he was nw6 by his early 30s. Paternal grandfather is NW1 at 88. Dad is currently NW3, no crown loss, almost has an isolated forelock now at 50. At 30 he was NW2, at 40 he was maybe 2.5. Unfortunately I don't take after him, lost my hair much younger and much more aggressively in a diffuse pattern as opposed to his more nordic pattern.

 

[growinglotsofhair]

Excellent post - great descriptions, pictures and explanations! Congrats and best wishes for continued success!

 

[GoldenMane]

Excellent post - great descriptions, pictures and explanations! Congrats and best wishes for continued success!

Thanks! Best of luck to you too!

 

[hairlifted]

Damn man that was some crazy loss you had, but great results!

 

[GoldenMane]

Yeah it was pretty bad. It had been gradually thinning/receding for a while, but then over the course of 6 months to one year it got pretty ****. I wasn't really following any particular pattern. Looked a bit like a diffuse NW3A though I don't think I'm an A pattern receeder. Difficult to categorize, I had almost full coverage on top but very thin and significant hairline recession.

Yeah, it really sucks for long haired guys. I mean it sucks for everyone, but it's especially tough for long haired guys to go bald. Glad I didn't. It's going to happen eventually though, I'll switch to dutasteride when I start losing hair again, then hopefully there will be better treatment options (replicell or folligen perhaps?). If not I'll see what my hair transplant options are possibly follow Fredthe Belgian's lead and go for the buzzcut look.

 

[Wolf Pack]

Good progress at the front

 

[GoldenMane]

Cheers WolfPack!

 

[cristianoronaldo7]

wow nice progress

 

[Wolf Pack]

Cheers WolfPack!

I was in a rush before eating out, I'll write a proper reply now which you will appreciate. You did the same for me What can I say? You're lucky you took action at that point, your situation looked quite serious tbh, to the trained eye. It seemed like you were balding front to back but with diffusion too.

Your hair now looks thicker and healthier for sure. It looked lifeless before. There is gain at the front too as you know. Is your hair a bit darker? Wondering if that's the Minoxidil, it can have that impact apparently.

Anyway, hope it all maintains alright for a long time and keep us all updated

This is a life long battle and Vikings must stick together :bravo:

 

[GoldenMane]

Absolutely, I left it a bit late, but what had been a slow recession thinning just hit a tipping point. Girls were still complimenting my hair all the time, especially the colour, so I didn't even think about hair loss. Funny to think, but lots of girls were crazy about my thinning golden hair! It just reached a tipping point, if I'd left it another year, no knowing how bad I would be right now. Lucky I started when I did, yeah...

minoxidil doesn't make hair darker, it just restores hair thickness. As hair thins, it loses it's pigmentation. When it regains thickness, it also regains pigmentation. I had AMAZING highlights when I was thinning! Always got complimented on it, asked if it was natural. Turn out the highlights were just loss of pigmentation due to thinning! If your hair is getting lighter in colour, i may well be a sign of male pattern baldness... Or greying. Starting to go a bit gray now so it will be harder to tell if thinning or greying.

Thanks again Wolf Pack!

 

[Wolf Pack]

Ah, thanks for that explanation. My hair is as dark as it comes really and still grows really fast and thick. A cut every 3 weeks is best.

I was just curious because some others mentioned Minoxidil made their hair actually change colour. So it's not a case of restoring pigmentation, they went to a darker shade they never had before. I think notcool said his hair colour changed a bit for example.

 

[GoldenMane]

Well that's what I was told my a hair transplant surgeon, seems it's not true in all cases. For me it was though, my hair just returned to the colour it was at 22 years old. From proper blond to a dirty/dark blond.

 

[g.i joey]

dude, the density you regained is crazy!

 

[GoldenMane]

Indeed. Bear in mind though, I combed my hair back to expose my hairline, so the hair combed back in on itself layering effect makes it look more thick. But my hair thickened up a lot. I didn't really have any bald spots, my hair just got super thin, and thin hair can be thickened up, vellus hairs can be restored to terminal hairs, as I did over most of my diffusing NW5 pattern scalp. The real challenge is restoring hair in areas that were bald, in my case my hairline and temples. It is possible to a certain degree. Some people get crazy hair regrowth in bald skin, other people get none. I got cosmetically significant hairline regrowth, but I'm not one of those freaky regrowth stories you occasionally see on here. but I'm currently experimenting with higher % minoxidil to see if I can regrow more temple/hairline hair. Noticed a little more with 10% minoxidil over 3+ months, just ordered 15% minoxidil to see if I can get a bit more. Also considering biotin.

Looking at these photos now, I actually seem to have regrown quite a lot of hairline hair/side hair, guess I did better than I thought

 

[mlen]

What time you went to the most significant hair growth?

 

[JDW]

Amazing results, congrats!

 

[GoldenMane]

Thanks JDW! Not the most impressive results on here, but a definite improvement. finasteride and minoxidil really did work!

@ mlen
Most of my regrowth occurred in the second and third month of treatment. First month not much happened. Second month shedding. Third month significant improvement. 4th month, big improvement. I started in September 2013 and by December 2013 I had a BIG improvement. I experienced some more regwroth after that, but at a much slower rate. Also experienced several sheds. Most recent was a scary shed in April 2015. I tend to shed a lot anyway.

 

[TransientHair]

I was just curious because some others mentioned Minoxidil made their hair actually change colour. So it's not a case of restoring pigmentation, they went to a darker shade they never had before.

Both are the case for me. My hair that was thinning at the front had started to lose its pigmentation, and some of that has been restored by Minoxidil. On the other hand some of my hair that hadn't noticeably been affected by male pattern baldness yet has also definitely gotten darker.

 

[username425]

This is a crazy result - I would be very happy if I followed your pattern. Right now I'm at that point where you were in terms of thinning hair.