My parents don't believe me

[erry_sauce]

I've never posted on a forum before but I would love some advice for my current situation.
I am 19 years old and in the past few months I have noticed a large number of hairs on my pillow and at my computer desk. Also, when I shampoo, a large amount of hair comes off my head. My hair is thinning on top and I have noticed recession on either side of my forehead. Upon this realization, I did extensive research into how to stop my hair from falling out. I still have the majority of my hair at the moment but I feel that if it continues to fall out at this rate, I will be having to shave my head within a year or two.
With all that in mind, I decided that the best medication for me was minoxidil as I didn't want to jump into any medication that could have side effects that are potentially more detrimental to my happiness than my hair falling out. (impotence, prostate cancer)
So just a few hours ago, I plucked the courage to tell my parents that my hair was thinning and that I wanted to try minoxidil as I understand that treating the hair loss early renders the best results. They essentially laughed at the absurdity of my proposal and went to a rant about how no one in our family has experienced major hair loss, especially at such a young age.
Now I am in a sad state knowing that my parents will not support me with minoxidil but at the same time I know that my hair is falling out and there is nothing I can do about it.

I attached some photos of my hair now


Also, as I side note, i to a course of roaccutane (acne treatment) around 3 years ago and did not notice any hair falling out at the time, but I have read that such treatments can promote hair loss.


What do I do?
How do I get them on board??

 

[doublebatman]

Looks like pretty aggressive male pattern baldness. You need to act fast. What's it got to do with your parents? Unless they are paying for it. Your best bet is to jump on an AA like finasteride, minoxidil won't do much but delay the inevitable.

 

[erry_sauce]

Ao you don't think minoxidil is able to stop a receding hairline? I see threads where people have had regrowth only using minoxidil

 

[bilboswaggins]

minoxidil you can buy without prescription at your pharmacy
even if you want to go on finasteride, you can do that without needing your parents or a doctor by buying online

 

[erry_sauce]

Yeah, I know that. But does it really matter? As long as all my hair is there does it really matter that the DHT is still attacking the follicles?

 

[erry_sauce]

I know it doesn't grow the hair line. But does it at least stop any further recession?

 

[Bad]

Thank you parents they didnt allow you to get minoxidil as a first treatment. Get on finasteride or finasteride+minoxidil. DONT GO minoxidil ALONE.

 

[benjt]

Just dropping in for two notes from my own experience:
a) minoxidil does have effect on the hair line, it regrew quite a bit on mine
b) minoxidil alone - in my case - wasn't sufficient to halt the process, so I've recently added finasteride, but I'm experiencing sexual side effects. Your decision.

 

[Walker11]

I don't get it. 2 Blogs from my country are reporting about good results with a regime that doesn't include finasteride. Why do you treat finasteride as the only option?

If you ask me, i will recommend you to use finasteride, even that i'm suffering from sexual side effects, but most of the people does not and it's works great.
But it is not the only option for you, you can use a topical regime as well.

 

[erry_sauce]

Thanks guys. This thread has been heaps of help. I've booked in to my to the doctor for a few weeks from now. I assume they will refer me to a dermatologist who will prescribe me some finasteride. But that may take another 2 weeks. So i will have to wait a month or so before I actually start treatment. My hair is falling out too fast for me to wait around! ARGHH!
What can i do in the mean time?

I am on board with the finasteride but at the same time I am going to be extremely cautious.

 

[Notcoolanymore]

Your parents might not believe you, but I do.

 

[Notcoolanymore]

I don't get it. 2 Blogs from my country are reporting about good results with a regime that doesn't include finasteride. Why do you treat finasteride as the only option?

What is this regime you speak of?

 

[RoyD]

My parents don't either. I guess they're more in denial than I am.

 

[zzzzz]

I would take finasteride, not minoxidil. Min might buy you 2 years of mediocre results alone and you will have to take it forever. Bad decision imo

 

[zzzzz]

You have to take finasteride forever also. Why is only minoxidil penalized for that?

finasteride is as easy as taking a pill though. minoxidil is a mess, and you would have to jump on finasteride after only a year or two as well probably

 

[zzzzz]

Right, but jumping on finasteride after a year or two doesn't mean finasteride is the only thing contributing to improving your hair. That one graph that gets passed around is hardly solid evidence that minoxidil stops working after 2 years. I think male pattern baldness advancing and finally overpowering the medication is a more likely explanation. Doesn't mean it doesn't continue to do what it's supposed to and when used in tandem with finasteride could be a significant asset in maintaining hair. Perhaps I'm stubborn about this but as far as I'm concerned zeroheat's story is the blueprint that everybody should follow assuming you don't get side effects.

male pattern baldness doesn't overcome minoxidil. minoxidil never slows down male pattern baldness at all. That's why it doesn't work longterm. You get the max benefits after a year or two from minoxidil, but the male pattern baldness continues on as before, no differently