How do you cope on a day-to-day basis?

[sdellis66]

I have been deprerssed since I noticed what was happening, 7 years ago. It is also the major issue in my life, unfortunately, to the exclusion of others that I perhaps ought to attend to. I have also been on anti-depressants since Jan 2000. I can wake up in a perefctly good mood. If it is 'good hairline' day then fine. If not, it is like the end of the World.

What do you tell yourself in these situations?

 

[blue]

you know what i tell myself..that im lucky.i could be dieing of cancer or something worse.I could be starving or something worse.i could have no roof over my head or something worse.we care about our hair for one reason and thats because we are insecure about ourselves and are need to either fit in or to impress people.To be honest im about fed up with trying to keep my hair........i look around and there is so many people with hair loss that im almost to the point of just saying f*** it ill spend my money on having fun not minoxidil or spironolactone.

 

[Kramer3]

sdellis66: How old are you? If you noticed your hairloss 7 years ago, I'd assume your somewhere in your mid 20's.. I know it's difficult to cope with going bald man but eventually your going to have to come to terms with it. If your on this forum I assume you at least have some of your hair left..It's not that bad having a little hair left in your mid 20's. If I didnt start on treatments I'd be completely bald by the time I was 20. In fact, I know that without an hair transplant I probably will be completely bald by the time i'm your age. Knowing all of this, I still never get depressed. I may get upset sometimes but I always realize that hairloss only plays a very small part in my life. What is it about hairloss that really depresses you? I mean it's not like it's that abnormal at your age. I wonder what you'd do if you were me and dangerously close to being noticably thinning at age 18.

 

[Thinning Sucks]

Couvre!

 

[wastingpenguins]

Kramer: It's always nice to know that there are other 18 year-olds out there going through this. People always think it's pretty strange when I tell them I'm losing my hair at such a young age.

I've yet to experience any real 'depression', but get back to me once my hair starts getting worse. :lol:

 

[blueshard]

Yeah man I have been losing since 16-17, and I am 21 now. My life has been a living hell since. Call it vanity, selfishness, whatever, I don't care.. all I know is that it has ruined my f**king life. I take anti depressants for OCD and serious depression that I have had my whole life so they don't really help with suffering due to losing my hair. I smoke pot, I sleep, I go online everyday hoping that something has been discovered. The amount of mental and emotional pain is something that I never even knew existed. It has ruined everything. On another note you have to find a way to accept it and move on and focus on other things, hair is not everything.

 

[Kramer3]

Wastingpenguins: Yeah I don't think any of my friends would understand if I told them.. A few months ago, when it was getting really bad, one of them tenatively approached me about it. I didn't know what to say, I guess my expression revealed how much it hurt because she's never mentioned it again and probably never will. At least I have some comfort knowing that I'm doing everything I can.

There's this one kid in my grade, who shaves his head and is at least a Norwood 3a. I guess there is someone else who is always worse off then you; unfortunetly that serves little consolation.

 

[incognito]

I just try and stay positive about the whole situation. Keep the faith my brotha's.

 

[sdellis66]

Hello guys, thanks for replying.

I have just gone 27 ans suppose it could be worse. Like the poster above, I am also a sufferer of OCD, albeit in a weird form (yes, I have been professionally diagnosed). What happens is that I 'need' to keep thinking about things over and over again. The problem is that they are almost always related to my self-esteem. So, in effect, it is liike I am beating myself up time after time, each 'blow', i.e. thought, decreasing my self-esteem further until it is rock bottom.

I tell you what we ought to be thankful for as well - that the all-over shave is becoming more and more acceptable. I remember when I was a kid I saw a black guy with a completely shaved head. He looked SO odd because I had never seen a shaved head before. Then more and more black guys started doing the all over shave even if they had hair. Now, no-one even bats an eyelid or even suspects them of having suffered hair loss, thinking that they have made a fashion choice. It is becoming the same for white guys too. I know of a few people who shave it all off out of choice. Here in England, there is the soccer player David Beckham who got rid of all of his a few years ago.

The only problem for us in England is that it does seem to a certain type of bloke who opts for the all-over shave. You may well call them trailer trash. We call them Chavs. A lot of soccer hooligans also choose the shave.

Guys, decent people need to claim the shave back!!

 

[justasking]

I'm claiming the shave for the average, normal guy! It's SO much better than trying to do the toppik/combover every morning. I'm 23 and all of my friends have mops of hair. So...it sucks. I'd still rather look the world in the face and say, "Yep, I'm losing it, and I'm moving on. Deal with it." Check out this site: http://www.baldguyproject.com . This guy has it together. I don't think he's getting a lot of business. I bought the special issue shirt and I'm thinking about the one that says, "Hair is for pussies."

 

[sdellis66]

The four stages on that site are so true!! I reckon I am somewhere between delusion and rage! :lol: