Hey man, I know I don't have any prior posts listed to this name, but I used to have another account which I can't remember the name or the password. So I'm not a newbie to this by any stretch of the imagination. Anyways, I'm not trying to get your hopes up or anything, but I think I have some things to add that others are being a bit remiss about that may help you cope with your situation.
First off, just because you notice the thinning now, doesn't mean you'll be bald necessarily. Look around you. Men have hairloss in so many varying degrees and many of them can pass for having full heads of hair even if they have thinned. The balding process can (though there is no guarantee) take years and can seem as slow as continental drift comestically. Seriously. It can even go into periods where it stops completely. Your hair still looks great, btw (and may stay that way longer than you think even if you have some male pattern baldness). You notice waaay before anyone else, trust me.
When I first noticed my thinning, it was not because of a thin spot but an insanely gross amount of hair that I was combing from my scalp. I'm talking over a hundred hairs a day. I could tug on my hair all day and constantly get hand fulls. And this hair was coming out from everywhere, not just one spot. The most diffuse loss imaginable, which kinda helped hide the thinness I had. But to make things worse, like you, I also had long hair. This was all happening to me at 19. I had the thickest blonde hair, the kind that barbers enjoyed cutting. Like you and 99.9% of young males that experience this sh*t, I felt really sick about it for a long time. I knew I wouldn't be a cube ball before the end of college, but I figured I'd be noticably thinning.
So I got on the propecia (or generic version of it) band wagon and hoped for the best. Fourteen months go by and nothing had really changed--the intense shedding or my overall look. I say "f*** it" b/c it just didn't work for me and get off it cold turkey (which some would say isn't a good idea). But whatever. At least I stop blowing my money. By now, I was just so fed up with caring about hair. I should point out, by this time I was just now turning your age.
So anyways, I start thinking about other things besides my hair b/c I simply lost interest in my hair (not totally) out of frustration, which is the best thing that could have happened to me. I used my time to read books, watch movies, and follow music (I played alot of guitar also) instead of examining each strand of hair in the mirror. I stopped coming to these boards so often until they faded from my memory totally for a period of 1 year.
Trying to cut to the chase here. I'm almost 23 years old, done with college, have taken no treatments in almost two years and have what every person I know of would consider to be the same thick crazy hair I had in high school. No one really noticed what I was going through--just me. One person I met up with again for the first since high school said I looked exactly the same, basically (and my hair was my most standout feature in high school). My intense shedding also dissipated in the last year. I lose maybe 5-10 hairs in the shower (though sometimes more), but they seem to be replaced as quickly as they are lost. I even had friend (the only one I confessed my hairloss to) say, "hey, didn't your hair use to be thinner?" When I got my hair cut at a barbershop (for the first time in 3 years) before graduation, the barber commented on how "lucky" I was to have as nice of hair as I have. He was type who would have told me I he thought I was balding. Why am I on this site? I guess boredom and the fact that I still recognize that I do still do have thinning hair, even if that process has shown me mercy. I can empathize with your feelings to some extent, and I would like nothing more than to share my experience and reiterate that you never know.
I know this post is getting long, don't give up on life because of something like this (I know it sounds cliche to say other things are more important but they really are). Seriously, don't let yourself be taken hostage by genetics or in your case as of this point--genetic speculation. It would be dumb to worry about this so much that you give up everything only to find you still have good hair 30 years down the road even if you suffered MINOR male pattern baldness. It would be equally as dumb to give up on everything and have a bald head as sovenigner or reminder for why you did give up on everything. You'd also be more miserable. Don't dig your own grave at 21. You have your whole life ahead of you. Again, I know I'm not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination. I will probably experience baldness, but I have no idea when or how long it will take to get there. Mother nature is crazy that way. In the mean time, I'm still trying my best to not let the world pass me by. I know that learning to accept my situation (which seems next to impossible for you right now, I understand) a year and a half ago actually reversed my situation and I regrew tons of hair. Again, I'm not saying this is a guarantee, either. But, I'll say it again, you never know this will play out.
My advice is to at least give a treatment a try if you think you are truly thinning. It just might work. And if it doesn't, you never know how slow (or fast) the balding process will take, so hang in there anyways. I've heard of plenty of people who noticed thinning earlier than your age and made it well into old age before even showing any kind of noticable signs. I should point out I had a roommate like me, also. Would shed like a cat and still has the same amount of hair on his head 3 years later. He's the lead singer of a band, too. And girls love him (though I think they would even if he was bald). Keep that chin up.
