Jack's Story (22)

[LosingTouch]

Hey Guys,

I've looked over this site once or twice in the last year but it only became apparent to me recently that I needed to join up. Commend everyone here on their persistence, knowledge and help - you truly do make it easier for the rest of us.

Around the start of last year my hairline slowly but surely started to reced and with it the thickness at the front - before then I had lush and flowing hair and this sudden shift was probably attributed to problematic life issues spawning at the time, though I'm happy to say as of the start of this year the problem was eventually worked out it sadly gave birth to a new one (ie my hair).. when will it end!? It concerned me for a while as it gradually got worse and worse. Around the start of this year however I started to accept it and became more comfortable with the situation. I had contemplated getting treatment, looked through this and other sites briefly, but was deterred by all the fancy words and lingo so decided to let it ride out naturally and hope for the best.

It wasn't till a week or two ago I started to notice a more substantial regression in the thickness of my hair and the area to which this lack of consistency covered, and it seemed increasingly difficult to hide it with stylizing. The acceptance and at ease point-of-view I was so proud of not long ago had left just as quick as it came and it's now starting to concern me more so than ever as a noticeable difference is starting to take shape.

After reading through the site I've pronounced my understanding of the big 3. I was however hoping I could get some advice on best steps of action and possible success and some thoughts and opinions on the current state of affairs.

I'd like to thank anyone in advance for their help and wish everyone the best of luck in not only their treatment but in their pursuit for fulfillment.

Warm Regards,
Jack

 

[Ian Curtis]

Re: Growing Concern of a 22 year old

Welcome aboard.
First off, you're not too young to have male pattern baldness it just happens to us this early because we are prone to have it (I have been receding for at least to years and I'm 20).
From the pics they show clearly that you have male pattern baldness, a receding hairline and some diffuse thinning behind the hairline. I think that your first step is to start taking finasteride asap to halt the thinning, but it is hard to regrow your hairline with just finasteride though it might happen if you are lucky enough and hopefully you won't get any side effects.( Are you aware of them?)
Anyway, another thing you can add to your hairloss preventing regimen is a growth stimulant, like minoxidil, you can browse other people's stories to see which growth stimulant they prefer or you can try various ones :woot: and you might find the ideal for you.
Other important part of your regimen is the shampoo for seborrheic dermatitis, though you might not have that condition it is good for your scalp because it keeps it clean and sebum free and also it mildly prevents androgen action, which is the main perpetrator of male pattern baldness. The most common is Nizoral, personally I use KPL which is not so agressive and nizoral, you might find at farmacies.
Good luck! and you can take a look at my story which is not so different from yours but I have a little more hair and obviously a different hair texture. And you can see that finasteride has been maintaining my hair attached to my skull :woot:

 

[LosingTouch]

Re: Jack - 22 years old

Thanks for your response Ian.

So above all Finasteride should be implemented asap? What about the shedding, isn't that going to make it so so so much more obvious and worse for a while?

Still hoping to hear from others regarding their opinion and thoughts on possible success and best treatment..

 

[amsch]

Re: Jack - 22 years old

OH MY GOD... My hair looks VERY similar to yours... recession in the front (not just temples), but thick, wavy and curly hair. But I have some crown thinning too. :thumbdown2:

 

[Ian Curtis]

Re: Jack's Story- (22 years old)

I don't think shedding is much noticeable when starting finasteride, at least it wasn't for me.

 

[LosingTouch]

Re: Jack - 22 years old

OH MY GOD... My hair looks VERY similar to yours... recession in the front (not just temples), but thick, wavy and curly hair. But I have some crown thinning too. :thumbdown2:

Advice?

I don't think shedding is much noticeable when starting finasteride, at least it wasn't for me.

Oh really? So above all, right away, I should be booking in a dermatologist appointment and getting my hands on some finasteride?

Sorry for the stagnate attitude, but I need some major encouragement/motivation/advice..

Pretty much I'm wondering if finasteride would be enough to see results or it would be advisable to look into minoxidil also. Say for instance I do this, would I be able to stop minoxidil after I see good results and simply continue with finasteride, or if you start either of them you can't stop? Are you able to use minoxidil only once a day or must it be used twice for it to work? Also for the people who experience side effects on finasteride, do these side effects persist for ever?

Thanks, I'm battling here.. help much appreciated.

 

[Swanson]

Re: Jack's Story (22yo) (HELP)

cant say for sure if finasteride would be enough... enough as in stop your hairloss would be a success. but it sounds like you want more regrowth, so minoxidil would be your best bet there...tho many users get regrowth with finasteride alone.

although once you start both meds, you need to stay on them or the results will shed away...

people get better results with applying minoxidil twice per day.. although many users only use once at night to maintain what they have grown

 

[LosingTouch]

Re: Jack's Story (22yo) (HELP)

Thanks for your reply Swanson, I'm thinking I'll start with finasteride. I'll let it do what it does, once I get familiar with it and start to notice results after a couple of months etc I'll then reevaluate and see if I need to incorporate minoxidil - though if anyone has any other advice please let me know.. I'd do it straight away but having to apply something every morning and every night for the rest of forever is something I'd rather look to as a plan b.

I'm visiting the Dermatologist on Thursday so we'll see what he/she suggest..

 

[Ian Curtis]

Re: Jack's Story (22yo) (HELP)

Good luck with your treatments, but you are right, applying liquid minoxidil especially in the morning is a pain in the *** ( makes one's hair look like sh*t). You can either use the foam twice a day, or foam in the morning and liquid in the evening.

 

[LosingTouch]

Re: Jack's Story (22yo) (Need Advice)

I ended up seeing a proper hair Doctor as I thought a dermatologists knowledge would be too broad, good decision nice guy as well. He prescribed Proscar and told me to take a 1/4 a day and Nizoral 2 times a week, and said I should see him in 6 months. He said at that time we can reassess the situation and evaluate whether minoxidil or Datasteride is needed.

I had presented him with a few supplements and shampoos that I had found researching but he said there was no point wasting my money on them (stating Proscar was the only thing that could help me): Saw Palmetto, Anthogenol, Vitamin B, B9 Folic Acid, Tricomin, Revita, Nioxin, Topical spironolactone and Proxiphen.

 

[Lion Reborn]

Re: Jack's Story (22yo) (Need Advice)

I ended up seeing a proper hair Doctor as I thought a dermatologists knowledge would be too broad, good decision nice guy as well. He prescribed Proscar and told me to take a 1/4 a day and Nizoral 2 times a week, and said I should see him in 6 months. He said at that time we can reassess the situation and evaluate whether minoxidil or Datasteride is needed.

I had presented him with a few supplements and shampoos that I had found researching but he said there was no point wasting my money on them (stating Proscar was the only thing that could help me): Saw Palmetto, Anthogenol, Vitamin B, B9 Folic Acid, Tricomin, Revita, Nioxin, Topical spironolactone and Proxiphen.

Not to familiar with spironolactone, but yeah i think you would be wasting your time wiht those supplements. Best of luck buddy, and I hope you see decent results. unk:

 

[LosingTouch]

Re: Jack's Story (22yo)

Thanks for your support Lion, much appreciated.

 

[LosingTouch]

Re: Jack's Story (22yo)

Ok so I was hoping to get some opinions on whether Tricomin and/or NANO would be wise choices to source out..

Thanks a bunch!

 

[LosingTouch]

Re: Jack's Story (22yo)

Also, I'm beginning to become a little pessimistic. The deterioration of my hair has only taken a year and a bit to develop, much less of that time aggressive deterioration - with only the major thinning happening in the last month or so (something I don't think I clearly outlined to the Dr). At the moment my hairline at the front is nonexistent, this consistency of heavy diffuse thinning is regressed to a point of relatively normal density marking the makings of a NW2A, easily. If the finasteride takes months to take effect one would only assume by that time the thinning would be giving way to no hair at all in those areas if the latest losses are a guide of things to come. My worry is by the time I go see the Dr in 6 months for a checkup, the finasteride might be working, but it will be working on a much smaller amount of hair than started. So I'm starting to reconsidering whether or not waiting to start on the minoxidil is a wise decsion or not, cause afterall if the finasteride in a couple of months or a year only maintains and doesn't improve then I'll have to start minoxidil anyway and the idea in my case would be sooner rather than later.

Thoughts, opinions and beliefs much appreciated..

 

[Boondock]

Re: Jack's Story (22yo)

Hang in there, dude, the treatments always take a little while to work. If you've got the money and don't mind a bit of extra hassle, I'd jump on minoxidil as well.

 

[LosingTouch]

Re: Jack's Story (22yo)

Yea I'm cool hanging in there and letting it work, it's just that if my current rate of hair loss continues there won't be as much there when it starts working. So, I understand it takes months for finasteride to show improvement (if it does at all) but I'm wondering whether or not the same is true for maintaining what you have. Because I want to fill out the thinning I have, not lose it, and I'm starting to think just sitting on finasteride for the next 6 months might not be the right decision in light of the fact it's only taken 1 month for it to get really bad. I wanted to use minoxidil as a plan b if finasteride didn't improve my situation after 6months/1year, but as I've said I'm not sure if this is the right decision so I'm looking for some advice..

 

[monitoradiation]

Re: Jack's Lost Volume Story (22yo)

In my opinion you should wait for a year on finasteride. Otherwise when you have concurrent treatment you'd have no idea which one is helping or not.

However, there's been anecdotal evidence that finasteride+min is better in combination than either one alone. But still, I'm waiting for the 1 year mark on finasteride to try min again.

 

[LosingTouch]

Re: Jack's Lost Volume Story (22yo)

Yea that was the original idea, but in light of the fact all this regression has only been recent, I'm highly doubting that finasteride can fill in my front in that time - if anything I'll loose more before it starts maintaining.

This is bothering me and I'm not sure if I can keep doing it for a year, I mean every day I have to style my hair for like 20min so all the thin parts around the front are covered by the marginally thicker hair behind it and recently this has become increasingly difficult, boarding on impossible. I don't want to look like Peter Sampras now when I'm 22!

If there's a chance that finasteride could actually help me and spawn regrowth then I'll hang in there, but I don't want to be hanging around all this time only to start minoxidil in a year anyway if you know what I mean..

The pics might not do it justice but if you look at the one from the top you'll notice the thinning effects roughly a 2inch area all around my hairline. All I'm hoping for out of treatment is to fill in this thinning. The first pic was taken only 2 months ago in April and as you can see I had very good coverage all around the front - which is very different to now.

So thanks for your input monitoradiation but my question still stands for everyone else - do you think finasteride can fill in my thinning in which case I'll hang in there, or is starting minoxidil my only option? (keep in mind I only want to start minoxidil if I have to so advice like "no harm in starting minoxidil" doesn't help)

All help greatly appreciated..

 

[monitoradiation]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I have the same doubts too - that I'm going to eventually be on finasteride AND min anyway so why not start now, right? The only reason why I havent re-started min was because I had heart palpitations, itchiness, and dizziness on Rogaine... So I have yet the courage to try a different formulation.

If you're looking for regrowth in the temples, I'm not too sure that'll actually happen. Anecdotal evidence points to finasteride not able to do much for your temples... So I don't know what else you could do there.

 

[LosingTouch]

I'm still unsure. My situation doesn't seem to be getting worse which is good, though I've only been on it for 3 weeks. My only concern however is all this talk of minoxidil not working on slick bald, the areas I want to see (drastic) improvement still have faint coverage but coverage none the less, but if it further regresses this faint coverage may turn into slick bald in which case it will be too late for minoxidil.

But when you point out that evidence states finasteride is unsuccessful in improving coverage of temples this sort of just puts a big question mark on the situation following the phrase "so why aren't I on minoxidil". Hmm, come to think of it will proscar even be able to improve my density to the level I'm hoping for, is it even capable of that??

None the less however I think for the time been I'll stick to the plan and see how finasteride treats me in 6 months and a year, but if during this time I notice any further deterioration I think I'll book in another appointment asap and reevaluate the need to use minoxidil before it's too late..

On a side note what's everyone opinions on the pace at which my hair thinned out from the april pic to the current one, I get depressed every time I see that pic cause I reminds me how good my coverage was and how easy it was to hide the fact I was thinning. But now it's properly thinning and in such a short time period :thumbsdown: .. I mean, is that normal???

Also.. just found Jeff Goldblum's awesome hairline..... I can only dream.

Also also, f*****g hair.. garr