Hi folks,
Around seven years ago, at the age of 20, I came face to face with a sad reality that I am balding. Roughly around the same time, I also became a member of this wonderful forum. Although I barely post here, I do keep my eyes occasionally on the updates. This means that a small part of me still hopes to have a thick mop on my head, just as I did when I was 15.
A lot of new things seem to be going on, while many things seem to be unchanged. On one hand, people's hopes are being raised by new developments in Europe, America and Japan. On the other hand, newcomers are still recommended the old "big 3" and everyone makes bittersweet jokes about a new cure that will be released in five years from now. In a nutshell, a lot of promising treatments and a lot of bursted bubbles.
A little update about my life. In the past seven years, I have put aside all the denial and attempts to find a cure in zinc, saw palmetto or other unproven treatments. I have used the big three, but eventually clung on to finasteride. Nizoral dried my skin, while minoxidil, besides being an annoyance, wrinkled my forehead. Finasteride (0.5mg daily) seems to have helped me quite a bit, seeing as I started balding already around the age of 18-19. My NW2 has slowly creeped into a NW2.5, but the top, which was initially thinning in a diffuse pattern, thickened quite a bit after using the pill.
Besides balding, I have found peace. My initial reaction to losing hair was strong and led me to a period of paranoia and depression. Wind became my biggest enemy and hat became my best friend. The username that I selected seven years ago might give some indication to my misery. However, fortunately things changed for me. For the past four years, I have experienced the happiest time of my life. I did casual jobs and backpacked for a period of two years, lived on three different continents and eventually established a healthy international career. I feel emotionally stable.
I have realised that some men care little about their falling hair, while others are completely devasted. However, whichever case you happen to be, the solutions to tackle balding are currently limited. Might sound cheesy, but all we can do is choose how we look at it. I am not particularly handsome and my headshape reminds that of a neanderthal. I am tall, lanky and most of my body is so hairy that it provides a constant irony to my thinning head... but I keep living. People treat me well, because I treat them good and do not expect them to judge my hair. I have a wonderful girlfriend, way out of my league, who keeps reminding me that be as bald as I may be, she will still love me.
Anyhow, these are my little musings, without any deep meaning. Just wanted to remind you to stay strong folks and try to not let this hair thing drag you down too much. This wonderful life needs to be lived and there will be a right time for new hair. Meanwhile, let's stick together
Around seven years ago, at the age of 20, I came face to face with a sad reality that I am balding. Roughly around the same time, I also became a member of this wonderful forum. Although I barely post here, I do keep my eyes occasionally on the updates. This means that a small part of me still hopes to have a thick mop on my head, just as I did when I was 15.
A lot of new things seem to be going on, while many things seem to be unchanged. On one hand, people's hopes are being raised by new developments in Europe, America and Japan. On the other hand, newcomers are still recommended the old "big 3" and everyone makes bittersweet jokes about a new cure that will be released in five years from now. In a nutshell, a lot of promising treatments and a lot of bursted bubbles.
A little update about my life. In the past seven years, I have put aside all the denial and attempts to find a cure in zinc, saw palmetto or other unproven treatments. I have used the big three, but eventually clung on to finasteride. Nizoral dried my skin, while minoxidil, besides being an annoyance, wrinkled my forehead. Finasteride (0.5mg daily) seems to have helped me quite a bit, seeing as I started balding already around the age of 18-19. My NW2 has slowly creeped into a NW2.5, but the top, which was initially thinning in a diffuse pattern, thickened quite a bit after using the pill.
Besides balding, I have found peace. My initial reaction to losing hair was strong and led me to a period of paranoia and depression. Wind became my biggest enemy and hat became my best friend. The username that I selected seven years ago might give some indication to my misery. However, fortunately things changed for me. For the past four years, I have experienced the happiest time of my life. I did casual jobs and backpacked for a period of two years, lived on three different continents and eventually established a healthy international career. I feel emotionally stable.
I have realised that some men care little about their falling hair, while others are completely devasted. However, whichever case you happen to be, the solutions to tackle balding are currently limited. Might sound cheesy, but all we can do is choose how we look at it. I am not particularly handsome and my headshape reminds that of a neanderthal. I am tall, lanky and most of my body is so hairy that it provides a constant irony to my thinning head... but I keep living. People treat me well, because I treat them good and do not expect them to judge my hair. I have a wonderful girlfriend, way out of my league, who keeps reminding me that be as bald as I may be, she will still love me.
Anyhow, these are my little musings, without any deep meaning. Just wanted to remind you to stay strong folks and try to not let this hair thing drag you down too much. This wonderful life needs to be lived and there will be a right time for new hair. Meanwhile, let's stick together
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