Maystor's story

[Jockson]

First off, hi everyone. I'm 30 and recently I accidentally discovered that I've started losing hair. Never really thought about hair loss before as my hair has always looked good but I used to have a silly habit of touching my hair, playing with it and slightly pulling it every now and then when it gets longer etc. So one day out of nowhere it came to me "wait, what if this bad for my hair". I proceeded to check my hair in the mirror and noticed my hairline looks a bit different. And really, comparing it to pictures when I was 20-22, I can notice my temples have receded a bit. I've always had that V shaped hairline but it is more pronounced now. Nothing too bad, I would say I'm a solid NW2 but it's there.

I've looked at hairlines of people around the same age as me and it made me feel a bit better when I realized many of them have a similar or worse hairline than I do. But then I tried to take a photo of my hairline and it made me notice one more thing: overall my hair seems to be thinner, as in less dense than it used to be I think. I don't notice anything from normal distance but when I get close to the mirror, I can see quite a bit of scalp through the hair at front. Or when I try to make a parting, the line ends up being a bit wider than it was. When I pull my hair back to take a photo of the hairline, my hair appears pretty good density wise, aside from the first 1cm or so that looks thinner. But if I wet it and spike it, it looks a bit scary from some angles. I'm sure the contrast from dark hair + camera flash make it look worse than it really is but I'm absolutely positive there must be some thinning going on there.

I just got on finasteride (cutting Proscar 5mg into quarters) and my question is, if I'm happy with my current hair, should I be looking into other treatments like minoxidil as well? My goal is to slow down the hair loss as much as possible in the long run and I'm unsure whether I would benefit from starting with minoxidil right now. Would I be better off waiting to see what finasteride does and only start taking minoxidil when my hair gets visibly thinner? OR, would starting with the "big 3" asap work better as a preventive measure? Cost and the hassle of application etc is not an issue for me if it means a better chance of maintaining what I've got. Like I said, although less dense, my hair still looks good in person and while I could do with some overall increase in density and regrowth on the temples, I hear minoxidil is no good for that or could possibly make it even worse :shock:

I'll post some pictures if necessary. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Jockson]

Re: Hair loss caught (somewhat) early, what now?

I couldn't really capture with the camera what it looks like in person so I just took a bunch of pictures.

Completely wet hair:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/19543462.jpg
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/571/11232142.jpg/

Temples:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/508/86049857.jpg/

Parted:

One from the back:

Dry hair:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/17/48794082.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/98/27848035.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/718/31158942.jpg/

Now, this is probably the most representative pic as in what my hair looks like to me in the mirror and why I never really noticed I was losing hair:

Pulling it up and sideways a bit, at some angles it looks normal, at some it doesn't look great. This is what I'm seeing in person too, just not this obvious:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/171/36961148.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/684/58202055.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/810/88784281.jpg/

Wet and spiked up:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/200/12223929.jpg/

Could someone please take a look at these and give me some feedback? After taking these pics I feel a lot worse about my hair than I did before that. Doesn't look that bad in person but it is what it is I guess From what I can see, temple recession is there but isn't too bad. The front and top on the other hand range from bad to terrible compared to what I'm seeing in the mirror. Camera flash really reveals a lot. Even my side hair appears thin on some photos. I didn't exactly catch this as early as I thought at first, did I?

 

[Jockson]

Re: Hair loss caught (somewhat) early, what now?

Thanks for your reply Captain Combover. To be honest, I'm not sure how my hair was 5 years ago. I only noticed the thinning when it showed up when I tried to take a photo of my receding hairline. I was just looking at pics when I was 22 and I definitely wasn't a NW2 back then although it does look like there was some recession there too, or that's just the way my hairline was shaped.

Do you think Rogaine would help with the thinning all over thing? Either way, I'll start with it and see what happens because in pics I can see thinning on my crown too and minoxidil is supposed to work there. If it could improve overall density of my hair and/or regrow a bit at the temples, great. If not, I've got nothing to lose, right?

You're right about the majority of the people not seeing my hair loss problem. My mom kept insisting she sees nothing wrong with it until I went outside and leaned over so she could take a good look of the top of my head under sunlight. Then she realized my crown and parting line look somewhat thin but doesn't think I'm going bald. Not that she knows anything about that though.

Assuming my thinning isn't particularly aggressive, do you think I stand a chance of not getting visibly bald in the next say 5 years if I start with the "big 3" treatment right now? Not really sure what should be my realistic expectations. On the one hand, I'm happy I noticed it relatively early and I'm doing something about it and giving it a shot before it's too late. On the other, I've started looking at my hair in the mirror all the time and keep feeling worse and worse about it even though it obviously look the same as it did yesterday.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

Re: Hair loss caught (somewhat) early, what now?

It looks like there may be some slight crown thinning. I would say get on finasteride and you're golden. I don't think you are destined to go bald anyway. I would recommend steering clear of minoxidil for now though. Also be thankful that you have a normal-low hairline to start with. I have corner recession like you but my hairline was about an inch or so higher to start with. That makes a huge difference. At least you could afford to lose a little--I had no room Jerry, no room!

 

[Jockson]

Re: Hair loss caught (somewhat) early, what now?

Haha. Yeah that's true. My hairline was low-ish to begin with so the recessed corners are not as noticeable. Why wouldn't you recommend minoxidil though? Do you think I would be better off waiting to see what finasteride does for me first? Because although my hair is still good enough for me, it WOULD be nice if I could gain some overall density.

 

[Jockson]

Not much of an update, but anyway...

I was taking finasteride for about 3 weeks after the opening post. Had to stop because of side effects that after some tests turned out to be completely unrelated to finasteride. Had to wait for an MRI so it took some time and I've been back on finasteride for the last 6 weeks. No side effects so far. I've also added a 2% Ketoconazole shampoo to my regimen. Not using minoxidil yet but I'm really considering it and here's why: standing in front of a mirror in the bathroom, my hair looks pretty decent. However, standing under a harsh light, such as a 100W light bulb and holding a mirror in my hands, it looks THIN. I realize that even people with no male pattern baldness will show some scalp in these conditions but if this is how my hair appears outside in sunlight, then it's bad. It doesn't look bald yet but it's quite easy to see I lack density.

Subjectively, my hair looks worse than it was when I joined these forums but looking at the pics I posted,it likely hasn't changed much, I'm probably just more aware of it. This pic that I've already posted for example:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/200/12223929.jpg/

already shows how see-through my hair is. Playing with angles when holding a mirror, and it's even worse, especially the harsher the light is. The hair is longer now though so maybe that's disguising further loss too. I'm thinking of getting on minoxidil to maybe get some regrowth and increase overall density. Would this be a good idea? Is there such a thing as getting on minoxidil too early?

Another thing. I think my hair is naturally fine. Using double mirrors, I can see the scalp is revealed pretty easily everywhere, even at the back and sides. Similar to this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JubVwLvu-Zw
but without the psoriasis stuff of course. My crown looks like that as well, probably slightly worse. I definitely do have male pattern baldness but this certainly isn't helping nor does that fact that I have pale skin and very dark hair. I guess it makes me a poor future hair transplant candidate.

So yeah, should I jump on minoxidil yet or not? I'd really like to hear some opinions. It's obviously too early to say if finasteride is doing anything for me. I haven't noticed any increased shedding or something like that yet. I lose about the same amount of hair when showering compared to what I did before. Some of those hairs are long, of normal thickness and healthy, and some are short and seem thin. Mostly the former but I'm not sure what that means.

 

[abovedagame]

you caught it just in time

most people will have no idea that you are losing your hair

 

[Jockson]

you caught it just in time

most people will have no idea that you are losing your hair

Yeah, I can still style it in such a way that 99% of "normal" people wouldn't notice. I could probably even fool some people on here that I'm not losing my hair but harsh lighting tells a different story. It's interesting how when harsh light is coming right from the FRONT, the lack of density on top is quite noticeable when holding a mirror. But if it's coming from an angle or the sides, I appear to have a decently thick hair, even at the front. I suspect the location of the window in my bathroom is the main reason why my hair appears so much better to me than it really is. So in a way, I'm lucky to have spotted it early enough.

I've decided to start with minoxidil as well and see where it gets me. I figured when the day comes that I need regrowth to have my hair look half decent, I'm the type of person that would go ahead and shave it all off anyway. I do dread that day though, mainly because of my head shape. I have a long-ish face with smaller forehead which on the one hand is great because I look better with NW2 than with NW1 and will probably still look OK and not too bald with NW3. On the other hand I fear I could look quite terrible completely bald.

 

[deadlocks]

You are 30, and caught it quite early. I think you can easily maintain what you have with strict application of the Big 3 for quite long. Don't know how you will respond to it though... Some shed hairs (I do) some don't. Educate yourself if you want it or not, and by all means keep it as simple as possible for yourself (meaning, don't go in on a big heavy regime right away, but at least give the Big 3 a chance).

 

[Jockson]

To tell you the truth, I've read many of the stories posted here, including yours, and find it quite disheartening how many people are not even able to maintan their hair for any decent amount of time but I'll be certainly giving the Big 3 a chance. When I first started educating myself on the hair loss subject I thought keeping what I have for 4-5 years was basically a sure thing but as it turns out only a small percentage of lucky ones manage it.

I guess it depends on the genes. My father is 65 and is a Norwood 4A I believe, with the whole front gone and some balding of the crown, and he's been gradually losing his hair since he was pretty much my age. His brothers have a full head of hair at 70. My mother's father also had a good hair in his 60s. I am kind of hoping my balding pattern is similar to that of my father because his hair loss wasn't very quick/aggressive and he would have been a decent hair transplant candidate. I think mine is different though because I'm both receding and diffuse thinning all over the top.

 

[Jockson]

Sooo, I've finally added minoxidil to my regime as well. That makes it 4 months on finasteride in total so far, 3 months of continuous usage. Results aren't good at the moment. I'm noticeably below baseline photos. Just took a few new ones to use as minoxidil baseline pics. The whole front has gotten thinner. When the hair is dry it looks alright but even slightly wet, it is very see through which shows I've lost and I'm still losing density.

It's strange really, I haven't noticed any increased shedding. If anything, there are less hairs falling out after shower or when running fingers through hair. Also, nearly all hairs that do fall out are long, dark and "healthy" looking ones, with very few shorter miniaturised hairs. If this was just the common initial finasteride shed, wouldn't it be the less healthy hairs that were falling out instead??

Here are some photos. The hair is dry except for the last two photos where only the front is very slightly wet. It's basically impossible to style the hair now without the see through look. Also made a comparison before/after photo. It's not perfect because my hair is longer now but it does show I'm not imagining things. Either I'm on a finasteride shed or the meds aren't working and I'm losing ground fairly quickly. Here's hoping minoxidil can help with the lack of frontal thickness. Crown is looking thinner as well but not too bothered about it now.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

I strongly advise against starting with minoxidil. Start with 1.25 mg of finasteride. minoxidil will not stop or slow your balding but merely offset it. It's a lousy stimulant that will just mask the real damage. finasteride will slow, stop, or reverse your balding for real. I made the mistake of starting with minoxidil and, after a year I stopped and went on finasteride. I'm off that now too but my hair loss isn't progressing. it just wouldn't improve so I'll wait until it starts to get worse to start back on anything.

 

[Jockson]

Well, after only a week of usage it seems I'm getting some minoxidil sides so I will indeed quit and keep just finasteride. I'm seeing some wrinkles on my forehead that I'm pretty sure weren't there before and some bags under my eyes as well. My eyes look more tired as if I didn't have enough sleep. Reading plenty of stories like these on the internet too. Didn't think it was possible to experience sides so quickly but there you go.

The thing is, I am at the stage where a difference of 10% in density means visually normal vs thinning hair. So even a small regrowth would have helped a lot but taking into account the sides, the pain of applying this stuff twice every day and the fact that like you said it just offsets balding, it doesn't seem to be worth it.

It's a bit discouraging that finasteride isn't doing anything for me so far and I'm below baseline but 4 months probably isn't enough to see any real results...

 

[Jockson]

I seem to be going through a first major shed since starting the treatment. No pics but the front looks as if I had a hair transplant with density on the low side :woot: It's crazy, just over a week ago it looked much better and there were very few hairs falling out throughout a day. Now I lose a bunch of hair after shower or when running fingers through the hair. If I hadn't quit minoxidil immediately, I would have thought it was actually working. At this point it's a bit too late to consider this a possible "finasteride shed", isn't it?

 

[Jockson]

Aaand, that would be the end of my hair loss battle. After around 8 months on finasteride I've started experiencing the infamous side effects. A bit surprising considering the first 7 months it was absolutely normal. The shed I talked about in previous post stopped after a couple of weeks and my hair has thickened up a little since then but still, overall I'm below baseline and wasn't that great of a responder anyway it would seem.

To recap:

- Started finasteride 8 months ago, felt 100% fine until last month
- Started minoxidil in January and immediately quit because of sides
- Still on Nizoral but I'm going to ditch it, pretty useless IMO going by everything I've read and experienced

I'm shaving my head and joining the sly bald guys forum. OK, maybe not but I guess this thread could be moved to 'unsuccessful stories' section if there was one