Dreamliner
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Hey everyone, I found this forum this afternoon and have been reading through it. Today was a holiday in Canada so I've had a chance to do lots of reading. It's very reassuring to see that there are quite a few members in my age group going through this battle. I'm not going into the battle against male pattern baldness alone! I've written a bit about myself below and my hair-loss.
Towards the end of college I began to notice (or should I say my family began to notice) I was beginning to lose hair on the top/front of my head. I never really gave it much thought until a few weeks ago when I really began to notice other people my age had fuller heads of hair and not as much if any scalp showing. For the last 10 years or so I have always gelled my hair up at the front and I still maintain this style today. About a year ago I began going to a new hair place that used a paste-type product instead of regular gel. The paste was less solid than gel which means I did not have as much clumping of hair meaning less scalp showed. Last week I took my first step of going to see a clinic in Toronto that caters to hair loss sufferers. This firm offers surgical, non-surgical, and hair-system solutions. At this point I am only interested in the non-surgical path however I'm starting to accept the fact (and my dad is reiterating it regularly LOL) that I will someday need a transplant. At the beginning of my consult the first thing I was informed was that I have really lost a lot of hair. Some high resolution photos of my scalp showed I had a lot of dormant follicles covered with sebum as well as some miniaturization in the areas on the front, top, and crown of my scalp. The consultant said that I have a good chance of regrowth if I was to begin a topical, vitamin, and low-level laser treatment. His company offers a starter kit (shown here) which includes the HairMax 9 or 12 beam comb, a kit that includes a shampoo, conditioner, scalp fortifying cleanser, a scalp treatment, vitamins, and 3.5% minoxidil (the maximum amount available over the counter in Canada). The price for this package is very reasonable and the individual products can be bought separately from the office once the first set is finished. Certain things like the conditioner and vitamins may not be critical to me but since they are included they can’t hurt to try. As the Minoxidil is only available as a lower dose (3%) in Canada, I may purchase it online or buy it in a pharmacy across the border if need be (Costco, Walgreens, etc).
Family hair-loss history
My father has absolutely no hair on the top of his head and is a textbook example of the horseshoe pattern. By my age he had significantly more hair loss and photos of him in his late twenties show him nearly bald on the top. His father had the same hair loss pattern based on my brief recollections (I was about 5 when he died) and photos I saw. His mother had less hair loss but still was quite thin. On my mother’s side, her father had hair however it was thin while her mother (my maternal grandmother) had good and thick hair during her later years based on my recollection. My mom’s hair is thinning on the top/front however her hairstyle covers it well enough.
Photos of crown/front of my hair:
http://i.imgur.com/epZrJ22.jpg
Towards the end of college I began to notice (or should I say my family began to notice) I was beginning to lose hair on the top/front of my head. I never really gave it much thought until a few weeks ago when I really began to notice other people my age had fuller heads of hair and not as much if any scalp showing. For the last 10 years or so I have always gelled my hair up at the front and I still maintain this style today. About a year ago I began going to a new hair place that used a paste-type product instead of regular gel. The paste was less solid than gel which means I did not have as much clumping of hair meaning less scalp showed. Last week I took my first step of going to see a clinic in Toronto that caters to hair loss sufferers. This firm offers surgical, non-surgical, and hair-system solutions. At this point I am only interested in the non-surgical path however I'm starting to accept the fact (and my dad is reiterating it regularly LOL) that I will someday need a transplant. At the beginning of my consult the first thing I was informed was that I have really lost a lot of hair. Some high resolution photos of my scalp showed I had a lot of dormant follicles covered with sebum as well as some miniaturization in the areas on the front, top, and crown of my scalp. The consultant said that I have a good chance of regrowth if I was to begin a topical, vitamin, and low-level laser treatment. His company offers a starter kit (shown here) which includes the HairMax 9 or 12 beam comb, a kit that includes a shampoo, conditioner, scalp fortifying cleanser, a scalp treatment, vitamins, and 3.5% minoxidil (the maximum amount available over the counter in Canada). The price for this package is very reasonable and the individual products can be bought separately from the office once the first set is finished. Certain things like the conditioner and vitamins may not be critical to me but since they are included they can’t hurt to try. As the Minoxidil is only available as a lower dose (3%) in Canada, I may purchase it online or buy it in a pharmacy across the border if need be (Costco, Walgreens, etc).
Family hair-loss history
My father has absolutely no hair on the top of his head and is a textbook example of the horseshoe pattern. By my age he had significantly more hair loss and photos of him in his late twenties show him nearly bald on the top. His father had the same hair loss pattern based on my brief recollections (I was about 5 when he died) and photos I saw. His mother had less hair loss but still was quite thin. On my mother’s side, her father had hair however it was thin while her mother (my maternal grandmother) had good and thick hair during her later years based on my recollection. My mom’s hair is thinning on the top/front however her hairstyle covers it well enough.
Photos of crown/front of my hair:
http://i.imgur.com/epZrJ22.jpg
At least save the money you're using on all that other stuff. I hear women are into rich, bald men.