This is just my take:
1. Go see a dermatologist. Ask them to check form miniaturization incase you're still not sure if you have Male Pattern Baldness.
2. Now ask them for a prescription for Finasteride (Propecia/Proscar).
3. Take the Finasteride and never look back.
I'm 17 and losing hair too. It's devastating, look at it as a challenge; fight it, overcome and hold your head up no matter what the outcome is.
I've realized these days there's a lot you can do about it. Here's how I see it
1. Get on Finasteride and most likely stop hair loss, possibly regrow hair. Problem solved.
2. Hair keeps thinning while on finasteride, and becomes noticeable. Buy Dermmatch and cover it up while you wait for Finasteride to work.
3. You're one of the few unlucky guys who go bald even on finasteride (I've never even heard of this happening). Buy a hair system. Learn to maintain it, spend a couple hundred dollars a month, and girls will never notice. Seriously, have a look at Newroots or the Toplace forums. Some of those hair systems are ridiculously realistic.
4. Ditch the hair system when there's a cure, or shave it all off when you stop caring (for me this would be after putting a baby into an amazing chick).
I've outlined the worst case scenario here.
Notice I didn't mention Propecia side effects. Why?
If you're one of the 2% that get them, all the science claims that they will go away. And thinking about the sides, worrying about the sides and talking about the sides will not make you any less likely to get the sides, if anything you'll nocebo you're way into some psychologically induced sides. Woops.
Here are our chances:
90% chance we maintain or regrow hair on Finasteride for the next 10 years
100% chance that no matter what, our hair will look better on Finasteride in 10 years than without Finasteride (even if we still lose more hair)
2% chance we get side effects that go away once we drop Finasteride, or maybe go away even if we stay on it.
100% chance that we will keep losing hair and probably be bald in our 20s if we don't get on Finasteride
100% chance that the above will f***ing suck, and we will become almost invisible to the majority of attractive women
100% chance that the above will also f***ing suck
Just my advice, from a guy who's in pretty much the same situation as you. 3 weeks I got on Finasteride, 1mg a day. First week I thought I had side effects, but then I stopped thinking about it, hit the gym harder, ate more food, got more sleep and now I have absolutely no side effects.
I was depressed about my hair loss for the few months before going on Finasteride. Now, I'm still bothered by it, but I'm way more confident and feeling good now that I'm fighting it.
I don't know anything about Minoxidil (Rogaine) except that to me, it seems useless. It doesn't stop hair loss, at all, it only causes some hairs to regrow while the rest keep falling out.
Get on Finasteride, and work on every single other aspect of your life (education, career, fitness/bodybuilding, style, tan, socializing, personality) while your hair probably stays the same, maybe gets better, and worst case scenario, gets worse a lot slower than if you didn't get on Finasteride.
This is just my opinion. Some guys might disagree with me, but I stand by everything I said here.
Honestly, hair loss at our age is a huge genetic "f*** you". But it's made me realize that with hair, I can probably conquer the world. All my other insecurities have vanished now that I've realized how important hair is, so now that I still have it and am probably keeping it for a long time, I've been feeling ridiculously sexy. Srs.
Good luck man.
EDIT: The 90% chance of keeping or regrowing hair for 10 years is a scientifically proven fact, as well the 2% chance of getting side effects that go away after dropping finasteride.
