Hello,
This board is a rather comforting place, as hair has been on my mind dramatically for several weeks now. I'm 20 years old, and I'm afraid that I'm losing my hair, starting at the crown. I do have incredibly thin hair, but it has been this way for a few years.
I'll tell my story, and it spans a few years, but every detail is important to understand my state. I thank, in advance, the members who will respond to me.
When I was in middle school and high school, I was obese. For most of these years, I was about 5'5" and 240 pounds. This led to very late puberty, no friends, involuntary isolation and repression, massive depression, throwing up...really, you name it. I was a legitamately sad person during the years where I should've been having fun.
But I did something about it. Late sixteen, I became a vegetarian, which steadily progressed into a very, very healthy lifestyle. It took a few years, but I managed to find the attractive person on my outside that I thought didn't exist.
Now I'm 20, 5'10", and 165 pounds, and I consider myself an attractive person (and have been told that I am, too). I'm at the gym at least 6 days a week for an hour a day, I'm out a lot, I eat insanely healthy (vegan), take vitamins, etc...
...and it looks like I'm probably starting to lose my hair (more on this next paragraph). As anybody here can imagine, I'm still trying to cope with this irony that I'm faced with. I lived most of my life believing that I looked horrible, lived most of it hiding from people...now that I'm confident and have vanity (something I never thought I would have) I want to keep it, but this hair loss isn't going to make things easy.
Here are a few facts: My mother's side of the family all have completely full heads of hair, absolutely no history of hair loss. My father's side, however, has dramatic hairloss...my Dad had a bald spot by the age of 22. With that said, I look nothing like my father, I have my mother's eyes, nose, etc. I don't think I have either of their hairs. It's a toss up, it seems, but I think my father's genes are kicking in.
As for the details on my hair loss, there is no concrete bald spot on my head yet.
A little more history: ever since I was a little boy, hair has been pretty faint in that area, and it has always grown like that. I made a short film (and appeared in it) when I was 17, three years ago, and there are above angle and over the head shots where you can see the back of my head...and the crown was faint then too (and I wasn't even fully developed then, but I was starting to get there). Another photograph, from a year ago, still has that hairspot there...it does appear to have gotten worse though.
But even so, I was only sporadically worried about it until I saw my dermatologist a couple weeks ago and asked him what he thought, and indeed, he told me what I didn't want to hear...that it appeared I had lost 50% of hair in the area. Now, I didn't have time to tell him my history as I told all of you just now, but nevertheless, he recommended Propecia.
For a week now I've been on the generic Propecia (the fours "1.25 style"), and have experienced no side effects. This morning I thought I had noticed a little difference, though I'm not sure if it's real or if I was imagining it.
I have no digital camera, and no picture of my crown, and I can't find a picture online of a similar crown (can you direct me to any sites with examples?). It's a crown with hair still growing out of it...no bald spots...but it does look very faint, as if it's the starting signs.
So, Propecia will hopefully take care of those awful DHTs. And I'm washing my hair with Pantene Pro-V, which seems good, and its credentials are certainly impressive (should I use another shampoo though?).
I'm just waiting it out...I look forward to the day (if it comes) wherein I'll look in the mirror and see a full crown. Maybe that day will come in a few months...until then, this site will help when I start worrying. I'm only 20, and there is a good chance to preserve what i have, and maybe a good chance to grow back what isn't there.
Do you recommend I take anything else other than what I'm doing? Any other comments? Anything I should know?
Best.
This board is a rather comforting place, as hair has been on my mind dramatically for several weeks now. I'm 20 years old, and I'm afraid that I'm losing my hair, starting at the crown. I do have incredibly thin hair, but it has been this way for a few years.
I'll tell my story, and it spans a few years, but every detail is important to understand my state. I thank, in advance, the members who will respond to me.
When I was in middle school and high school, I was obese. For most of these years, I was about 5'5" and 240 pounds. This led to very late puberty, no friends, involuntary isolation and repression, massive depression, throwing up...really, you name it. I was a legitamately sad person during the years where I should've been having fun.
But I did something about it. Late sixteen, I became a vegetarian, which steadily progressed into a very, very healthy lifestyle. It took a few years, but I managed to find the attractive person on my outside that I thought didn't exist.
Now I'm 20, 5'10", and 165 pounds, and I consider myself an attractive person (and have been told that I am, too). I'm at the gym at least 6 days a week for an hour a day, I'm out a lot, I eat insanely healthy (vegan), take vitamins, etc...
...and it looks like I'm probably starting to lose my hair (more on this next paragraph). As anybody here can imagine, I'm still trying to cope with this irony that I'm faced with. I lived most of my life believing that I looked horrible, lived most of it hiding from people...now that I'm confident and have vanity (something I never thought I would have) I want to keep it, but this hair loss isn't going to make things easy.
Here are a few facts: My mother's side of the family all have completely full heads of hair, absolutely no history of hair loss. My father's side, however, has dramatic hairloss...my Dad had a bald spot by the age of 22. With that said, I look nothing like my father, I have my mother's eyes, nose, etc. I don't think I have either of their hairs. It's a toss up, it seems, but I think my father's genes are kicking in.
As for the details on my hair loss, there is no concrete bald spot on my head yet.
A little more history: ever since I was a little boy, hair has been pretty faint in that area, and it has always grown like that. I made a short film (and appeared in it) when I was 17, three years ago, and there are above angle and over the head shots where you can see the back of my head...and the crown was faint then too (and I wasn't even fully developed then, but I was starting to get there). Another photograph, from a year ago, still has that hairspot there...it does appear to have gotten worse though.
But even so, I was only sporadically worried about it until I saw my dermatologist a couple weeks ago and asked him what he thought, and indeed, he told me what I didn't want to hear...that it appeared I had lost 50% of hair in the area. Now, I didn't have time to tell him my history as I told all of you just now, but nevertheless, he recommended Propecia.
For a week now I've been on the generic Propecia (the fours "1.25 style"), and have experienced no side effects. This morning I thought I had noticed a little difference, though I'm not sure if it's real or if I was imagining it.
I have no digital camera, and no picture of my crown, and I can't find a picture online of a similar crown (can you direct me to any sites with examples?). It's a crown with hair still growing out of it...no bald spots...but it does look very faint, as if it's the starting signs.
So, Propecia will hopefully take care of those awful DHTs. And I'm washing my hair with Pantene Pro-V, which seems good, and its credentials are certainly impressive (should I use another shampoo though?).
I'm just waiting it out...I look forward to the day (if it comes) wherein I'll look in the mirror and see a full crown. Maybe that day will come in a few months...until then, this site will help when I start worrying. I'm only 20, and there is a good chance to preserve what i have, and maybe a good chance to grow back what isn't there.
Do you recommend I take anything else other than what I'm doing? Any other comments? Anything I should know?
Best.
