Hi 22 year old here with receding hairline

[Lloyd Braun]

Hi everyone, I am 22 years old and have a receding hairline--probably about a NW2. I noticed in late 2009 that I was balding and since then it has been an emotional roller coaster. I never in my wildest imagination thought I would have to deal with this at this age because balding is not very prominent in the last three generations at least (from the pictures of great-great grandfathers that I have seen it appears I am good going back four generations but I don't know what most of them looked like so I can't say for sure). I was always told that I would keep a nice full head of hair because of my maternal grandfather who had a Norwood 0 at my age and from age 30-70 progressed slowly from a Norwood 0 to a Norwood 1 to a Norwood 2.

I can post pics of my hair if people want to see it. I am on 1.25 mg of finasteride since April 20 of this year and I plan to go on oral spironolactone very soon. I think I have a high T problem and I am going to ask my derm to order tests at my next appointment. I have persistent acne, very masculine facial features, thick hair, I get angry a lot, etc. all of which point to high T being a problem. Hopefully I get some hairline regrowth if that is the case.

 

[Rawtashk]

Stay on finasteride, stay away from spironolactone. People take oral spironolactone to help make the transition from a man to a woman (true story). It's a seriously powerful drug. You have to give finasteride a chance to work, and 4 months isn't enough time.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

Stay on finasteride, stay away from spironolactone. People take oral spironolactone to help make the transition from a man to a woman (true story). It's a seriously powerful drug. You have to give finasteride a chance to work, and 4 months isn't enough time.

I know what I'm getting into but I I think it will help me a lot. I will only take it if my Testosterone levels are indeed high. I would be taking it to finally put a stop to my persistent forehead acne that I have had for years. Next to nobody my age has acne like I do. I can find receding hairline in my age group but not the acne. I am also hoping it will thin out my facial hair. I am going to take it primarily for acne and my receding hairline though.

I want to post pics nut it says uploading for like five minutes and it never happens so I'm doing something wrong I guess.

 

[Rawtashk]

Upload pictures to imgur.com, then embed them here. Make it much much easier for every to see them.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

Okay, here are five pics from within the last five weeks. The first is a shot that shows how bad it truly is. I have always had a high hairline and the center part is pretty much where it has always been. It used to curve the other way though and you can still kind of see that in the historic remains of this once great hairline. The center used to be the highest part, now it is the lowest.

 

[skyghost]

Hair looks good in my opinion man, just stay the course with finasteride and you should be good for a while. I wouldnt change a thing if i were you.

 

[Pyro]

hey man the main thing is, your overall density looks unaffected! BE THANKFULL YOUR NOT A DIFUSE THINNER LIKE ME. FML. oh and i have a baddass receding hairline on top of that. Oh and i'm younger than you! Yeah so seriously, you've got good hair man! if i had your hair, i'd be getting alot more pussy My hairloss started in 09 too btw, and i went from amazing hair to sh*t thin diffuse. So if this is all you've lost since then, be thanful man.

 

[DoctorHouse]

The receding hairline is one of the most difficult things to fight. I have been fighting for the past 6 years and it still slowly thinned out. The only thing that can thicken it up the best is a hair transplant but you will have to wait another 5 years to see if your hairline can hold itself with what you are using. I know that is going to be hard since you obsess about your hair everyday. You just have a high hairline( does that name sound familiar) so you have the illusion that things are worse than they are. If your forehead was smaller you would be alot happier because your receding hairline would look less noticeable.

Look at Fred the Belgian, he has a case similar to yours. He has a large long face and a high forehead so it looks like things are worse than they really are. I have the same shape head as Fred and I really don't care for it but I notice alot of superheroes and models tend to have a similar shaped head. Most guys 6 feet and taller tend to have a longer shaped head. I notice short guys tend to have rounder smaller heads which I see with alot of hispanics and mexicans. They tend to have a smaller forehead too.

I understand you wanting to take oral spironolactone because you are so desperate to change the appearance of your current hairline but once you start developing gyno, you are going to obsess about that too. Honestly, the best thing you can do is just use the big 3 and see if your hair will stay stable for the next few years. During this time save for a hair transplant with Rahal. He can lower your hairline slightly to make your forehead look smaller and thicken it up better than any medication you use now or plan to take.

Trust me if the procedure for a forehead reduction was so simple and not so invasive I would do that without any hesitation. I understand how you feel but honestly just grow your hair out a little and style differently and give your self some more bangs. You hairline won't look as high and your forehead will look smaller.

If you want a good example watch the show Burn Notice. The main character played by Jefferey Donovan has a NW2 that becomes very obvious when he wears his hair combed back but recently he grew his hair out and is now wearing it with some "bangs" and he went "looking" from a NW2 to a NW1 in seconds. During the show, he tends to change his hairstyle alot because he pretends to be different characters but now when he acts as Michael Weston he sports a new longer hairstyle that hides all his signs of recession. I still think the actor may have had some work done as his hair this year is so thick all of sudden. I have been watching that show since the beginning and his hair was getting thinner and thinner each year and there were scenes sometimes where it looked like a "wig" or a partial "wig". Its a good one if it is a wig. This year his hair is super thick in the front and I know Propecia and rogaine can not do that on a guy's hairline in his 40's. His overall hair was always thick but his hairline was receding and thinner. This year it looks way better. His hair color too longs a bit odd too. I know he colors his grays but something just seems different so it could be a partial wig. Regardless it looks great.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

Most guys 6 feet and taller tend to have a longer shaped head. I notice short guys tend to have rounder smaller heads which I see with alot of hispanics and mexicans. They tend to have a smaller forehead too.

I agree. This is probably because taller guys are going to have a bit more T than shorter guys on average, I would think. I have a high T problem I think but I am just average height (5" 10").

I understand you wanting to take oral spironolactone because you are so desperate to change the appearance of your current hairline but once you start developing gyno, you are going to obsess about that too. Honestly, the best thing you can do is just use the big 3 and see if your hair will stay stable for the next few years. During this time save for a hair transplant with Rahal. He can lower your hairline slightly to make your forehead look smaller and thicken it up better than any medication you use now or plan to take.

It isn't for sure that I will develop gyno. I will only take it if my T levels are high and I will never go above 100mg. I won't be like some of the guys on this one thread I was reading that took it to like over 200 mg per day to get results. That is an invitation to a plethora of health problems, of which gyno is problem the least severe. I simply can't live my life without being miserable with my current hairline. Soemthing has to change and it has to change now. I am encoruaged by KWIH's results.

I understand how you feel but honestly just grow your hair out a little and style differently and give your self some more bangs. You hairline won't look as high and your forehead will look smaller.

I don't like this hairstyle. Ironically though, nearly every pic of me as a child is me with bangs since that is how I always got my hair cut since before I even made those chocies. I went through a period of doing that thing where you make your hair stick up in the front so I have pics from that era (early teens) that show my hairline. I have a pic of when I was like ten and I had just gotten out of the lake and my hair was slicked back. I will upload this one once I am home.

 

[Primo]

My hair looked just like yours at 22, stick with the big3 and you'll do great, don't mess around with oral spironolactone though, its heavy sexual side effects are well documented.

I too have a high forehead and find keeping a longer fringe or "bangs" as you call it in america works well to disguise the extent of receded temples. Just make sure you keep the horse shoe hair round the sides and back, shorter than the top and front.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

My hair looked just like yours at 22, stick with the big3 and you'll do great, don't mess around with oral spironolactone though, its heavy sexual side effects are well documented.

I too have a high forehead and find keeping a longer fringe or "bangs" as you call it in america works well to disguise the extent of receded temples. Just make sure you keep the horse shoe hair round the sides and back, shorter than the top and front.

Hey, thanks for your reply. How old are you know? What does your hair look like now? I do get the sides and back shorter when I get a buzz but this horsehsoe region is actually a little less dense than the top of my scalp, which is how it is supposed to be. As for the oral spironolactone, I am not concerned about most sexual side effects other than gyno. If I could trade my sex drive for a good hairline I wouldn't even need to think about it--it's a good deal. I can be happy without my sex drive but not without a good hairline.

 

[Primo]

I'm 25 and now and a NW2.5, a year ago before starting treatments I had developed into a NW3, if I had only started minoxidil at 21/22 things would have been a lot simpler.

The things is even with the use of oral spironolactone, minoxidil and others combined, you won't be able to get back a NW1 hairline, the best option would be to stick with the big 3 and consider a hair transplant in a few years if things are still stable.

How you cut your hair makes a huuuuuge difference to the appearance of your hairline and recession, imho, a longer cut would make things a lot better and most people wouldn't even realise you had any hairloss whatsoever.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

KWIH from HLH had awesome hairline regrowth with oral spironolactone. Again, I will only take it if, as I suspect, my testosterone is high. I have acne too that won't go away no matter what crap I put on it or what other pill I take--I'm thinking I have excess andrgoens. The two main things to be treated are the hairline and the acne. An added bonus would be if it thinned out my beard hair or made it grow less vigorously.

 

[iamme_]

What brand of spironolactone you planning on taking? I also gonna give spironolactone a shot. Also make sure to use finasteride + min with spironolactone... As I know people who fight back their hairloss with an aggressive regimen get great results