i finally checked

[Trent]

i was worried for sometime that i might be losing some hair in the back, or at least due to diffuse thinning have it be thinner back there. so today i braved a check with two mirrors. There was a very small spot on the back of my head and it totally devastated me. I always just had a small spot back there since i have a collack (spelling) but this looks a little bit more pronounced than just a collack. It made me really sad because you kinda notice that often times front hair loss can stabilize for long periods but rarely does the thinning crown ever stabilize. I'm really down about this, i really don't have anything to say other than the front seems to be improving with propecia, but apparently not the back. NOw i have to be self conscious about those in front of me and behind me. dammit hairloss sucks, one of my worse days in a while.

should i start rogaine on the back??

 

[Brasileirao]

Trent,

Be patient, my crown had a spot similar to yours where the hair got a little thinner while on the beginning days of Propecia. However, at the 9 month mark things back there are just beautiful! Stick with Propecia, take it regularly and give it time. Things will come around...

Tony

 

[marsbtchsx]

im diffuse but my worst two areas are in the front left side and the back....the front wouldnt be so bad its pretty bad especially when wet but if i could keep it the way it is now and get thickening in the back id be more than happy...so like u the back part did it for me....how long have u been on propecia?

 

[marksb11]

When I started Propecia 8 months ago, I was losing hair diffusely, but it didn't seem to be affecting the back or crown area very much. About a week or two ago, I pulled the two mirror trick and saw that my hair was still pretty thick back there. However, the next day it started to feel extremely thin. Now it really feels pretty bare back there. When I ask my friends to look at it, they say its just the natural spiral thing, but i can tell that its VERY thin and I can feel more scalp than they are willing to admit to me. Its weird how that the balding of my crown only STARTED 8 months into Propecia.

 

[smudge]

if you really want to see your hair look like a sh*t, take a hand mirror into the bathroom. Stand with you back facing the bathroom mirror, and use the hand mirror to look at your head.

 

[viperfish]

if you really want to see your hair look like a sh*t, take a hand mirror into the bathroom. Stand with you back facing the bathroom mirror, and use the hand mirror to look at your head.

Could not agree more!!! :wink:

 

[Brasileirao]

When I started Propecia 8 months ago, I was losing hair diffusely, but it didn't seem to be affecting the back or crown area very much. About a week or two ago, I pulled the two mirror trick and saw that my hair was still pretty thick back there. However, the next day it started to feel extremely thin. Now it really feels pretty bare back there. When I ask my friends to look at it, they say its just the natural spiral thing, but i can tell that its VERY thin and I can feel more scalp than they are willing to admit to me. Its weird how that the balding of my crown only STARTED 8 months into Propecia.

I just dont see how you can go from "having thick hair one day" to a few days later "having thin hair." 8 months into Propecia and now you are 'balding' at the crown area. Hair loss is progressive, it doesnt happen overnight, although to many of us it may feel like that. Relax man....

 

[Petchsky]

Same thing happend to me, thought it was just a receeding hairline, then remembering someones comment about the back of my head i checked it out in the mirror, Bam! thinning there too, deep depression. Even around 8 months in to my regime with things improving the back looked sh*t, and sometimes even worse, but over time it improved.

I have the cowlick thing too plus a double crown which leaves me with two small holes anyway. But, apparentley propecia works better on the crown then anywhere else, so if its working for you the back will be fine.

 

[KevinW]

Trent8- I wouldn't worry too much. If it's small now, and you seem to be a good responder to finasteride, then it probably wont get any worse, and might get alot better. A small spot in the back is pretty natural, I doubt anyone will give it a second thought even if they do see it. I know that you are overly self-conscious like I am, but keep looking to the future. Maybe that area took a little hit on that last shed you had?

 

[Jaygee]

And remember, there is just no keeping up with how your hair feels like behaving on a given day. A few weeks ago, I did the double mirror thing and to my amazement there was a small transparant spot on the left side of the vertex/crown border area. I couldn't believe it because I check every day and I had never seen that. At intervals for the rest of the evening, I tried to push my hair around to cover it, but nothing worked. The area remained transparant, even from profile!! I went to bed depressed as hell, convinced that somehow, virtually overnight, a visibly balding spot had snuck up on me. It just refused to be covered.
But when I woke up, the spot was gone, and after a shower, it was like it had never been there. It went back to being like the rest of my thinnish-but-still-fully-covered top. Now while it's true (from feeling it) that the left side IS a little thinner than the right, it was now completely covered once again. It has behaved itself since. I have no idea why it insisted on showing itself that one day, but there you go. Maybe this spot is just some kind of fluke. (Whatever that implies. I know this is completely unscientific.) Or else it could be your mind's eye. Sometimes it's our worst enemy.

 

[The Gardener]

Sometimes the ability to see to the roots of hair is affected by your haircut. I strongly suggest going to a quality hairstylist who knows how to cut hair to make the thickness of your hair growth LOOK uniform, even though it isn't.

 

[Trent]

yes i need a haircut, and i'm thinking that will help out a lot (maybe the reason the spot is noticeable). like i said, i always had a cowlick so i always had a spot (i remember my sister making fun of me when i was little for the "bald spot" so its nothing new), it just looks somehow worse than it used to. the thing is, if i just feel my hair back there, it feels really thick, but looks funny, it made me pretty upset. I'm hoping propecia does something there for me because the front in coming in very nicely, hell i don't even hardly worry about the front anymore and that was the way i realized my hairloss!!!
someone said something about the "two mirror test" that's exactly what i did, under a bright light. Ahhh! damn two mirrors doin't hide anything.


kevinW = i think you are right about the back taking a hit the last shed. because i remember checking the back before and it was just the usual cowlick i always had. damn shed better mean more regrowth!!!
i've been on propecia for almost four months now, so there is still time.

 

[MillerEvolution]

Trent - I recommend you get a concealer product ASAP. Depending on the extent of your hair loss of course, it can make a HUGE difference in the way you feel about yourself in addition to how you actually look. My recommendations:

-- Toppik (buy it with a bottle of fiberhold spray): If your hair loss is mainly diffusion with a little more so on the vertex and hair line like me, then this product is priceless. Takes no more than a few minutes to administer. http://www.toppik.com

--Dermatch (or Couvre, but I prefer Dermatch): if your hair loss is a little more severe, go with Dermatch. It takes a little longer to apply, but I've had wonderful success with it, and so has Social Drinker (check out his responses/pictures in the post "What is Toppik") http://www.dermatch.com

And also, get on Rogaine ASAP. I forget if you said you were on it already, but if not, then get on it. To the contrary, I hear Propecia's main strength is maintenance first of all, and works best in diffuse thinners. To get the regrowth, you need to be using Rogaine.

That's my two cents. Hope it helps!

 

[Trent]

thanks for the help, though i am not going to start rogaine just yet because propecia has been working very well for me so far and i want to try it for a year (rogaine is a lifelong committment that I dont know if i would be able to stick with and i don't want to be altering regimens). I have toppik actually but am always scared to use it. I don't need it on the front really, but in the back i can't really see what it looks like very easily and am always afriad that the difference in color will show or i will have sprayed some directly on my scalp and it will be noticeable. that is where my dilemma lies. someone seeing a little bit thin crown that might just be pulled off as a cowlick (which it is, but probably bigger than it should) or someone noticing a spray on thing. its tough.

 

[MillerEvolution]

From what you've described, our hair loss sounds similar. It is important that you use a hand mirror or just a small one that you can hold with one hand while you apply Toppik with the other, and also to do it under bright lights so you get an accurate "real-life" depiction. If you're talking about a spot at the crown that is slick bald and devoid of anything but vellus hairs then you're right, there's no point in using it. But if there is still some hair back there, then you can really make it undetectable. Just make sure to check out how it looks with the second mirror. I've used it for months now and my own g/f doesn't have any idea, and she picks up the tiniest details whenever I change anything about my appearance.

As far as Rogaine goes, I know it sounds like a big deal for a "life-long" commitment and all, but in actuality we're talking about two minutes in the morning, and two minutes at night. I thought it would be a real hassle too but it hasn't been. I get up at 7, shower, then apply it to the vertex for one minute, rub it in with the regrowth.com applicator for another minute, then let it dry til right before I leave for work at 8 and style. Then before I go to bed I repeat. It's not bad at all, and the sooner you use it the more likely it will be able to regrow your hair. If you're getting the results you want from just propecia then stick with it, I just think the minoxidil/finasteride combo is the combo most likely to grant success. Good luck!

 

[Axon]

if you really want to see your hair look like a sh*t, take a hand mirror into the bathroom. Stand with you back facing the bathroom mirror, and use the hand mirror to look at your head.

Could not agree more!!! :wink:

I call it the "harsh truth" angle.

When you can't see loss this way, no one else can either.

 

[KevinW]

About Rogain/minoxidil - I've never used it but consider this: women spend so much time with their luscious hair, drying it, curling it, straightening or whatever - so if we have to spend some time for the sake of our regimen I think that's highly doable. Sorry to make the feminine comparison, especially to those internet guys who take propecia which turns man into lady.