Well I started losing my hair at the age of 18. posting.php?mode=edit&f=28&p=586310# It started VERY slow with a progressively receding hairline. Like most young balding guys I was in denial because I thought who goes bald this young?
I continued to tell myself my hairline "had a natural receding look to it" until the age of 23 when the crown decided it was a good time to join my hairline. This shot me past denial and I had that "sh*t, I AM balding!" moment that every guy has. Shortly after realizing this I started running around like a chicken with its head cut off for any type of solution that will "cure" me. I went crazy and quit my job at the time, canceled a date I had, emptied my bank account on any product that included words "regrows hair" and became anit-social, living like a hermit in my parents house.
I started searching my family tree wondering which mother f****r gave me this disease since my father had little to no hair loss.
In the rare event that I left my cave, ALL I saw were the Norwood 1's. God, how did they get so lucky and why couldn't I have such a lush full head of beautiful hair? Everyone else was "we'll, let me see, he's probably a Norwood... "
It wasn't until I discovered the underground community of my balding brothers that things changed. It was here I found people like me who could weed out all of the bullshit and understand my pain. I absorbed the information they provided like it was brought down from the heavens on stone tablets. Most intriguing were the guys I found who were able to regrow some hair and successfully rejoin society. Since I tend to be insecure and easily succumb to pear pressure I quickly jumped at the chance to join them and take "The big 3..."
I decided the best thing to do would be to test each one of them individually first so I could see what effect they had on me. I started with the biggest of the big three, propecia. It is a drug that brings up mixed emotions everytime it is brought up in the balding community. Hard to argue because while For some it shrivels their dicks and causes frequent man boobs, others turn into chia pets and start sprouting hair.
Originally I sided with the ant-propecia guys, however, since balding to me was equivalent to someone slowly cutting off my leg, I jumped at the chance to walk again.
The first week on the drug I experienced some mild headaches and a bit of sexual side effects (which scared the sh*t out of me) but thankfully this subsided shortly after. During this time I began closely monitoring my hair like it was on life support with my digital camera, taking photos daily. I also shaved my head to successfully monitor things better. I should mention here that no one EVER mentioned that I was balding UNTIL I shaved my head. I chuck this up to my master skills in the cover up process, but who knows.
A year later, I noticed my haircuts were getting shorter and shorter and that the balding gene was still kicking the *** out of my hair follicles so I counterattacked with the minoxidil. A chemical that still baffles scientists today, one drop can quickly turn you into a monkey if your not careful. For this reason I decided to use it only once per night.
During the next few months magic happened. I saw myself go from a Diffuse Norwood 3V to a full Norwood 2. While I beginning to accept my baldness at this point, this was obviously a pleasant surprise.
So there you have it. Since I sympathize so much with other balding guys (especially young ones) I hope my story will give hope to some of you out there.
Today I am on 1 mg propecia per day as well as rogain once a night. As noted in my story I never saw any results until I added rogain which in my opinion jump started all of my hair follicles that were being sustained with propecia. I feel very luck to be a good responder to these medications as well as be free of side effects.This was what most worried me at the start. Keep in mind that just because you think you are having sides doesn't mean you necessarily are. My advice is to test yourself regularly just to make sure (came 4 times in 45 minutes yesterday posting.php?mode=edit&f=28&p=586310#).
I continued to tell myself my hairline "had a natural receding look to it" until the age of 23 when the crown decided it was a good time to join my hairline. This shot me past denial and I had that "sh*t, I AM balding!" moment that every guy has. Shortly after realizing this I started running around like a chicken with its head cut off for any type of solution that will "cure" me. I went crazy and quit my job at the time, canceled a date I had, emptied my bank account on any product that included words "regrows hair" and became anit-social, living like a hermit in my parents house.
I started searching my family tree wondering which mother f****r gave me this disease since my father had little to no hair loss.
In the rare event that I left my cave, ALL I saw were the Norwood 1's. God, how did they get so lucky and why couldn't I have such a lush full head of beautiful hair? Everyone else was "we'll, let me see, he's probably a Norwood... "
It wasn't until I discovered the underground community of my balding brothers that things changed. It was here I found people like me who could weed out all of the bullshit and understand my pain. I absorbed the information they provided like it was brought down from the heavens on stone tablets. Most intriguing were the guys I found who were able to regrow some hair and successfully rejoin society. Since I tend to be insecure and easily succumb to pear pressure I quickly jumped at the chance to join them and take "The big 3..."
I decided the best thing to do would be to test each one of them individually first so I could see what effect they had on me. I started with the biggest of the big three, propecia. It is a drug that brings up mixed emotions everytime it is brought up in the balding community. Hard to argue because while For some it shrivels their dicks and causes frequent man boobs, others turn into chia pets and start sprouting hair.
Originally I sided with the ant-propecia guys, however, since balding to me was equivalent to someone slowly cutting off my leg, I jumped at the chance to walk again.
The first week on the drug I experienced some mild headaches and a bit of sexual side effects (which scared the sh*t out of me) but thankfully this subsided shortly after. During this time I began closely monitoring my hair like it was on life support with my digital camera, taking photos daily. I also shaved my head to successfully monitor things better. I should mention here that no one EVER mentioned that I was balding UNTIL I shaved my head. I chuck this up to my master skills in the cover up process, but who knows.
A year later, I noticed my haircuts were getting shorter and shorter and that the balding gene was still kicking the *** out of my hair follicles so I counterattacked with the minoxidil. A chemical that still baffles scientists today, one drop can quickly turn you into a monkey if your not careful. For this reason I decided to use it only once per night.
During the next few months magic happened. I saw myself go from a Diffuse Norwood 3V to a full Norwood 2. While I beginning to accept my baldness at this point, this was obviously a pleasant surprise.
So there you have it. Since I sympathize so much with other balding guys (especially young ones) I hope my story will give hope to some of you out there.
Today I am on 1 mg propecia per day as well as rogain once a night. As noted in my story I never saw any results until I added rogain which in my opinion jump started all of my hair follicles that were being sustained with propecia. I feel very luck to be a good responder to these medications as well as be free of side effects.This was what most worried me at the start. Keep in mind that just because you think you are having sides doesn't mean you necessarily are. My advice is to test yourself regularly just to make sure (came 4 times in 45 minutes yesterday posting.php?mode=edit&f=28&p=586310#).