keeping your mind off hair loss

[doublebatman]

I'm curious.

What do you guys do to keep your mind off hair loss?

I work full time as a physiotherapist as well as doing some private work in gyms, that keeps me busy for about 50 hours a week. I work out five times a week and usually play video games. I play final fantasy a realm reborn, bit of an mmo geek. I like the immersion, and to pretend I'm someone with long flowing locks. lol.
My girlfriend usually sucks up the rest of my time.

I find now that I'm busy I've got less time to worry about hair loss. When I had loads of time in Uni I was terrible. I would spend 8 hours + a day on forums and be checking my hair in the mirror every 30 minutes without fail. Now I like skimming the forums and generally review my hair every few days, but its not as consuming as it was.

 

[Exodus2011]

first of all, what does your girlfriend say about your hair loss?

and doesnt having a girlfriend in the first place help a lot in not worrying about it as much?

 

[doublebatman]

I met my girlfriend as I was losing my hair. Her sister and best friend are both dating total baldies. She says she isn't bothered about my hair loss, but she freaked out when I first shaved my head. She says it looks good and she likes the feel of it but I can't help but think she'd prefer it if I had a bit more hair.

Then again, I'd prefer her with a bit less weight and a bit shorter. Any person you ever date you are always going to compromise on something I guess.

I think having a gf definitely helps although I'd be lying if I was to say that I get as much female attention as I did before. I get much less attention from young girls although oddly probably more from women in their 30s.

At this stage I think treating hair loss is more about my confidence and identity more than what other people think of me.

 

[swingline747]

I'm curious.

What do you guys do to keep your mind off hair loss?

Lots of stuff
Work out
work on my houses
work on my music
write (wish I did this more still)
ride my motorcycle (miss doing this with hair)
work on my motorcycle (did a total refurb like a year ago)
run
work

then there is always going to be that moment you look in the mirror, see scalp and everything you are currently working on disappears and goes to ****.

 

[Fena2000]

Lots of stuff
Work out
work on my houses
work on my music
write (wish I did this more still)
ride my motorcycle (miss doing this with hair)
work on my motorcycle (did a total refurb like a year ago)
run
work

then there is always going to be that moment you look in the mirror, see scalp and everything you are currently working on disappears and goes to ****.

My kids keep my mind of things. They make me laugh, cry.... They're my everything.
But like you say swingline, no matter what I do, I try to convince myself it's not that bad, but that one second in the mirror and bang all the convincing was useless and I'm back at square 1.

 

[swingline747]

My kids keep my mind of things. They make me laugh, cry.... They're my everything.
But like you say swingline, no matter what I do, I try to convince myself it's not that bad, but that one second in the mirror and bang all the convincing was useless and I'm back at square 1.

Ill say when I shaved I was never worried but I never felt "good looking".
I wonder what the trade off is really worth

 

[bilboswaggins]

then there is always going to be that moment you look in the mirror, see scalp and everything you are currently working on disappears and goes to ****.

hate that feeling

 

[Wolf Pack]

Not really consuming my mind that much. Only prior to starting finasteride. I work, work out, sport, gf, visit rural places which is calming. My gf not attracted to guys without hair and most of her friends are similar.

 

[shookwun]

Almost impossible to do so.

Mirrors are a constant reminder of our path, and where it's headed.

 

[winnyblues]

Almost impossible to do so.

Mirrors are a constant reminder of our path, and where it's headed.

Hence why I hate looking in the mirror

 

[Agustin Araujo]

I find it hard to keep my mind away from hair loss when everyday is a bad hair day.

 

[Notcoolanymore]

and doesnt having a girlfriend in the first place help a lot in not worrying about it as much?

Doesn't help me one bit, but if I was single I could see myself worrying about it even more.

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At this stage I think treating hair loss is more about my confidence and identity more than what other people think of me.

This is why I treat my hair loss, but is really is the beginning of a chain reaction. More hair ==> better looking ==> more confidence ==> and on and on and on...

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But like many have said, it is pretty hard to keep your mind off of hair loss when you can see your reflection pretty much everywhere.

 

[shookwun]

The funny thing about early hair suffering is the general public sees it as a 'bad hair day'. It isn't until you hit NW3 that they label it balding.

 

[doublebatman]

I'm okay with mirrors, it's when you're out in a pub/club and some bellend takes loads of photos and uploads them onto Facebook. Being in a sweaty club + drunk + balding + bad lighting doesn't do wonders for your confidence.

 

[zdm632]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktGnSBw9688
This guy actually can talk even about his STRIP scar, with a sense of humour.

 

[swingline747]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktGnSBw9688
This guy actually can talk even about his STRIP scar, with a sense of humour.

Joe Rogan is a lunatic though. I would say he is so dispatched from reality that he cares about nothing but shrooms and MMA.
If thats his thing then so be it but he admits that hair loss did bother and you can tell it still does. He has just finally been beaten into acceptance.

 

[Wolf Pack]

I'm okay with mirrors, it's when you're out in a pub/club and some bellend takes loads of photos and uploads them onto Facebook. Being in a sweaty club + drunk + balding + bad lighting doesn't do wonders for your confidence.

That must suck. I know about the picture thing with my old hairstyle. You're not on Minoxidil? If you're a diffuser, it might be worth a shot. Also keeping your hair high and tight, try and lower scalp/hair colour contrast by dying your hair if it helps.

 

[bilboswaggins]

If thats his thing then so be it but he admits that hair loss did bother and you can tell it still does. He has just finally been beaten into acceptance.

Exactly he mentions he got 3 failed hair transplants. After that there is little you can do except either "accept" it or jump off a cliff

 

[zdm632]

that hair loss did bother and you can tell it still does.

Of course it bothered him, he did 3 transplants(first at 25, now he's almost 50). And i don't know if they failed, he didn't say that, he did them ages ago, it may be just that his hairloss progressed much after them.
And it's something everybody chosing the hair transplant journey at young age should have in mind, especially if they do STRIP!!!!
It doesn't seem that hairloss still bothers him. The dude clearly says that now he realises he should just have shaved his (then scarless) head from the beginning. Only the scar bothers him now.
And i don;t know, about the lunatic ,maybe he's he's lunatic, for shaving head and moving on and actually be able to laugh about it, or ,maybe some part of us others who still obsess about our hair and think about it all the time are also.

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Indeed! I will never accept it, because I still have options. Even if it gets really bad behind my transplant, I'll get another one, and another one. Then beard hair. Then SMP.

All until I completely run out of options (you know a wig isn't an option in my opinion). But just do nothing and accept it "like a man" as they say. Screw that, I'll fight it until death.

Yes Fred, but you're, after all, a lucky case: you did FUE, you have light hair which looks ten times better at partial density than dark hair, practically your front is solved for life.
For someone who has a STRIP, the moment of "running out of options" may be nasty: hair kept long looks like ****, buzz/shave out of option 'cause of scar.
OF course, there are (partial) solutions for the scar, also, such one is SMP.

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I find it hard to keep my mind away from hair loss when everyday is a bad hair day.

True. For me, only buzzing the hair put my mind at ease. Keeping it long is just consuming, that's a constant worry on how it looks, how much scalp shows, how to comb it to cover thinner spots, etc. When it's short, even if the overall image may be not particularly that flattering, the worry is over, what you see is what is there and that's it .
Yes, i admit, my hair looked better when longer and carefully styled, but i simply got sick of constantly analizing it, to the point that i now prefer it buzzed it very short, for the ease of my mind . After years, i came to the conclusion that all the effort put in making your hair appear better than it really is is not worth it. Every morning, immediately after getting up i would run to the mirror and then arrange it 5-10 minutes, screw that. Now 10 seconds of looking in the mirror is enough.
And another point: the more you analyze your hair, the mor you'll obsess on all the imperfect areas, and it will drive you mad at a point. This is a good tip: reduce the number of daily times you look in the mirror and analyze the hair.
Of course, i'm not very bald, otherwise buzzing would not look good at all, i actually have a hairline and a moderate density, but there are many thin spots here and there(kind of a diffused pattern, but not very bad). When grew longer, all the thin areas stand out, when buzzed they almost "dissapear".

 

[massa]

Off topic here, but what are the reasons for a failed hair transplant like you said Joe Rogan had? Ive heard stories of people getting them done and the hair shedding afterwards as it should do and then just nothing growing back within the year. I cant begin to imagine how painful that must be. What are the reasons for this? I remember reading a thread of someone who went to ******** one of the best in the business and this happened. Is this from poor surgical procedure, poor donor quality or something else?