Max's Story - (21 / rather overwhelmed/upset.)

[maximiliani]

I'm not a very confident guy, sorta shy and have been trying for a long time to loose weight/tone up from being rather skinny to getting rather fat at age 8, and was rather big+tall by fifth, sixth grade. My confidence has never been great through the teen years...and I'm still adjusting, even as things keep changing.

One constant is that I've always had great hair, it's been one of my most liked and most commented on features and I've always taken pride it it. Which is why I am here, because I'm worried and upset and hoping I can get some ideas or guidance on what to do if there indeed is a problem.

I've had all sorts of hairstyles and have grown it out super long if you can see that tiny pic. Big time mop.

Last Oct:

Lately it seems like the hair on my crown I think may not be as thick as it used to be, I haven't noticed hair falling out but the hair seems finer? I'm not sure. My hair often has some curl to it so sometimes it becomes more noticeable?

Current photos and crown concern :

My mom recently commented on it and ever since I've gotten really self conscious. I read up on hair loss and that starting at the crown isn't uncommon.... I have pretty mediocre self esteem when it comes to my appearance as it is, so the thought of loosing my hair at this age right now is kind of really upsetting and it's really stressing me out since most short haircuts don't look good on me/emphasizes my baby face/makes me look heavier in the face. At least that was my opinion, people like it when I grow my hair out.

My grandfather, my mother's father did loose his hair younger, but I don't think until until his thirties.

My other grandfather, my dad's dad has a FULL head full of thick hair as well as his father did when he died at 90 yo+ in a car crash. I know my great-uncles on my mom's side are bald but they're 80+ years old, I'm not sure when they lost their hair. One of her cousins is bald and is younger in his 40's-50's, but I'm not sure when he lost his hair either. My dad while he's lost some, still has a pretty good head of hair for 54 yo.

Do you guys think I might be in for a big life adjustment here? Is it perhaps the length? I'm really starting to worry and am hoping I can get some advice on what to do. I'm going to get a haircut soon for a play and will ask the person that does my hair, since you'd think they'd notice a difference.

Any input would be great guys. I don't think bald would look good on me, I have a pretty big head lol.

 

[maximiliani]

Additionally my scalp has been pretty pink as well. Do you think it might be more of an irritation kind of thing? I do get psoriasis patches on my temples.

Really any comments would be helpful, I can add more pictures too.

 

[slurms mackenzie]

It looks pretty sore dude! If it is then i'd suggest looking into what you can do to sooth it.

If it itches a lot of people recommend Nizoral, personally it doesn't sooth my scalp but a lot of people on here swear by it, it's also been proven in studies to block DHT and aid hair growth.

Its part of what people call the big 3 get used to that term because you'll be reading a lot about it.

I'll leave it for other people to advise you on what to do next because as a noob i feel a bit out of my depth making recommendations about meds to strangers, but i will say this, with a bit of research you can keep that hair you have for a long long time.

So I know it's easy to say, but don't panic and don't get down about your situation.

 

[maximiliani]

Thanks for the tip. I bought some Nizoral and then some tar shampoo similar to T/GEL.

I also haven't been on a vitamin in a few months, so I also picked up some daily men's vitamin and then a biotin hair,skin & nails formula for myself to take every day in addition to the fish oil that I have been taking.

I also got some white vinegar and did a vinegar+tea tree oil rinse than shampooed. It feels nice. Maybe my scalps been irritated to the point of loosing hair? I would think I would have noticed a loss of volume or more hair in the shower.

I used to have bad allergies for a while as a teen so I used to take more antihistamine. I'll be taking it again now that perhaps my scalp's inflammation and possible hair loss is caused by some allergic reaction? I'm assuming redness normally doesn't mean male pattern baldness....

I'm really really freaking out though, I just got a haircut to see if maybe it just needed to be cut and now it isn't any better. I'm hoping maybe this is stress related.

Should I make an appointment with the dermatologist? Should I be buying Rogaine yet?

I'd really like to try to fix it/find out if it's conditional or truly male pattern baldness

PLEASE HELP

 

[maximiliani]

This is a nightmare. I set up a doctor's appointment to make sure it's not my medications or something else causing it. Then I will go to my dermatologist.

 

[slurms mackenzie]

Well i know your stressing about it but look at it this way, you've done the right thing seeking a doctors appointments and in a short time you'll have a crystal clear idea of whether or not you need to take action.

If it turns out you do have male pattern baldness and need to take action, there's a heap of stuff out there, and a heap of stuff in the pipeline, you'll be able to do something it and most probably have decent results.

 

[maximiliani]

I already started a 1% nizoral and because I haven't been on any vitamins other than some fish oil pills, I did buy myself some biotin skin, nails and hair vitamins and a daily men's vitamin. I contacted my psychiatrist to talk about if any of my regular medications that I take could cause hairloss. I made an appointment with my regular doctor to speak to him about it, see if it's possibly any sort of deficiency, bloodwork I assume.


I'm actually kind of angry that my barber didn't mention anything to me the past few months, they always emphasized how nice my hair was, you would think they would mention "Oh you're looking a little patchy, maybe you should contact a doctor,"? I mean that makes sense right?

 

[maximiliani]

Just got back from the dermatologist, defintely male pattern baldness.

THIS f*****g SUCKS. I don't even like my looks/have little confidence in my looks now, how the hell am I going to be able to like myself if I don't have any hair? I'll look like a creep...

f*** ME. ugh.

Will be buying rogaine...on a 2% keto shampoo now.

 

[maximiliani]

I posted a year ago and am hoping I can get a suggestion as what I should do now

I've been doing minoxidil and keto shampoo for a year now,and I think I see lots of velus hairs on my temples/hairline but my crown is still pretty diffuse and my sort-of widows peak has receded a little, basically my hairline looks a mess because of the abundance of this smaller blonde hair and then sorta thinned out hairline at the same time. Sloppy, harder to hide the loss in the temples too. Least that's how I'm seeing it. Overall, worse

I think I see a few new darker hair poking through at my hairline so I'm wondering if it's just taken a few hair cycle things to start getting hair back.

While I can hide my crown with some sorta piling up of the hair up towards the top of my head, I'm still very pained/stressed out about how thin it's become up top on my crown/ I guess vertex. It's a bald spot or almost. Feeling the back and sides of my head is painful because that's how the top of my head used to feel in texture and thickness.

Luckily I can hide the diffuseness by piliing up the bottom back of my hair towards the top so it's not too bad that it's terribly apparent at first (say like Prince William) but if I don't do that it's very noticeable.

minoxidil Rogaine foam has been water rention/bloating my face a bit and I've had the slight numbing side effect too. I bought Spectral DNC and have been using that instead the last few weeks.

I also picked up Biotin shampoo and Revita shampoo. Been using that too but not too much.

I also bought flax oil pills to combat the side effect of minoxidil on my face. Anything else I should take? I've been scrambling for help and no one has offered me any solutions on how to treat that side effect.

I was worried about finasteride and costs and side effects. Should I take it up? I don't want to screw myself over physically, or gain weight.

Any advice on what I should do one year in would be fantastic. My hair used to be my identifying trait (the only thing about myself I liked about myself during the teen years) and something everyone loved and fawned over and the slow process of divorcing my identity with that of my hair and having GOOD hair that just did whatever I wanted...lots of beautiful curls, has been pretty damn rough. I really miss it and I don't want to buzz my head.

If needed I can take pictures.

I'm guessing I should take finasteride now right? What's the cheapest, proscar and cut that into pieces?

Thanks.

Max

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

IMHO finasteride is the only way to stop male pattern baldness long-term (experimental stuff I don't know). minoxidil etc will NOT do the job alone.

cost: I will soon pay 8 cents per day or 2,50 per month for finasteride. Is that affordable?

split Proscar! good luck!