So I have been meaning to do this for a while and today I have 5 minutes to spare so i thought why not. I want to tell you my story and where I am as of now. I must first say i appreciate all the knowledge and advice on the forum, I have been a long time lurker and thought it was time to contribute something back.
I am a 21 year old male and it all started around a year ago. My hairline seems to have been receding since I was a kid so I was never worried about that, it was the thinning on the crown which really got to me. What started out as a penny sized patch quickly grew and spread across the back of my head/crown area. By spring last year I had developed a serious patch of thinning hair which was made worse by the shade of my hair (brown/black).
I made a bittersweet discovery when I come across hair concealers, to start with they were fantastic at what they did, however I do not think they are healthy for the mind. I got caught in the every day trap and before I knew it, I couldn't leave the house without my concealer on. What was originally a source of comfort and confidence eventually turned in to paranoia. I couldn't stand having people behind me in case "they knew". Every day I would count down the hours until I could come back home to my bedroom, wash this dust out of my hair, and relax without worrying about what others thought about me and my hair.
By autumn last year it was the worst it had ever been, although I must say that i began to use nizoral 3 times a week from summer onwards and It had quite impressive results. It bought my hair loss to a slight halt with the tiniest amount of regrowth in the center of the crown but it was too little too late. I would say at this stage I was a NW3/NW4 with severe thinning on the vertex. I was in a bad place, I dont think anyone can relate to hair loss, especially at such a young age. People find it hard to emphasize unless they have experienced it. Its something nobody under the age of 35 should even have to worry about, and to think I had a middle aged mans head of hair at 21!!! It was a horrible situation to be in.
So in october of last year i though f*** this, if im going out im going out with a battle. I went to see my doctor and explained my situation. I explained that i wanted a prescription for propecia. Im lucky to have a good understanding doctor who never trivializes your problems, no matter how big or small. He explained that I was better off buying the generic version (finasteride) for a fraction of the price. Costs me about £12 for 3 months worth.
I have had no side effects whatsoever, I seriously think people need to chill the f*** out when it comes to side effects and horror stories. I spoke to my doctor about side effects and he said in his years of experience never had one of his patients reported so called side effects. He explained the finasteride would halt my hair loss, and, due to my young age, he was 60% confident i would grow it back.
About two months ago I also started rogaine foam (5%). Tend to apply it once a day on weekdays and twice a day on weekends.
So where are we now... I will post pictures later but let me tell you I am shocked with the results. I think the best piece of advice I can give would be to STICK IT OUT. Nothing happened for about 6 weeks and then I started to shed. (would imagine this was down to the rogaine rather than finasteride.) I was relieved to see this shed as I have done extensive research on all the forums and it seems there is a high correlation between shedding and success. The shed wasn't noticeable to others, only to myself. When I would apply the rogaine I would have lots of hairs on my hands. Not to sure if this means anything but the hairs which come out started longer and got shorter as time went on. I would say the shed lasted about 4-6 weeks.
I noticed regrowth (very light hairs which provided transparent coverage) towards the middle of the shed but thought nothing of it. The shed finished a few weeks ago, I thought I would go get my hair cut short to make it easier to check my progress. WOW..... I checked my hair last week and out of nowhere I see thick dark hairs growing where my bald spot used to be and there's no mistaking it this time. The treatments are definitely working... I think that in 3 months time I genuinely would have grown everything that I lost back. From now on I have decided to ramp up my rogaine use to twice a day every day. Also important to note that I seem to have been experiencing regrowth since I started applying rogaine on a completely dry head (as advised on the bottle), previously I have been applying to damp (towel dry) head.
I will post my pictures when I get a minute.
I think to summarize I would say that firstly, I feel your pain. I am so relieved to nearly be over this nightmare than words can not describe it... I am nearly at the point where concealer will no longer be necessary. I can not wait to be able to walk in the rain or jump in to a swimming pool without having to worry about the concealer in my hair. If you are losing hair I would advice against using concealer, its too easy to become a slave to it and fall in a trap.
Secondly DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT BECAUSE ITS NOT GOING TO GET BETTER BY ITSELF AND READING THE DEPRESSING POSTS ON THESE FORUMS DEFINITELY WILL NOT HELP... Take finasteride, use rogaine, do whatever it takes but please understand that the longer you leave it the worse its going to get. I think that all those you hear badmouthing these treatments are those who have been unsuccessful. The reason there are more negative than positive posts on this site is because all those who experienced success have moved on and are enjoying their lives.
Good Luck... Stay positive!
I am a 21 year old male and it all started around a year ago. My hairline seems to have been receding since I was a kid so I was never worried about that, it was the thinning on the crown which really got to me. What started out as a penny sized patch quickly grew and spread across the back of my head/crown area. By spring last year I had developed a serious patch of thinning hair which was made worse by the shade of my hair (brown/black).
I made a bittersweet discovery when I come across hair concealers, to start with they were fantastic at what they did, however I do not think they are healthy for the mind. I got caught in the every day trap and before I knew it, I couldn't leave the house without my concealer on. What was originally a source of comfort and confidence eventually turned in to paranoia. I couldn't stand having people behind me in case "they knew". Every day I would count down the hours until I could come back home to my bedroom, wash this dust out of my hair, and relax without worrying about what others thought about me and my hair.
By autumn last year it was the worst it had ever been, although I must say that i began to use nizoral 3 times a week from summer onwards and It had quite impressive results. It bought my hair loss to a slight halt with the tiniest amount of regrowth in the center of the crown but it was too little too late. I would say at this stage I was a NW3/NW4 with severe thinning on the vertex. I was in a bad place, I dont think anyone can relate to hair loss, especially at such a young age. People find it hard to emphasize unless they have experienced it. Its something nobody under the age of 35 should even have to worry about, and to think I had a middle aged mans head of hair at 21!!! It was a horrible situation to be in.
So in october of last year i though f*** this, if im going out im going out with a battle. I went to see my doctor and explained my situation. I explained that i wanted a prescription for propecia. Im lucky to have a good understanding doctor who never trivializes your problems, no matter how big or small. He explained that I was better off buying the generic version (finasteride) for a fraction of the price. Costs me about £12 for 3 months worth.
I have had no side effects whatsoever, I seriously think people need to chill the f*** out when it comes to side effects and horror stories. I spoke to my doctor about side effects and he said in his years of experience never had one of his patients reported so called side effects. He explained the finasteride would halt my hair loss, and, due to my young age, he was 60% confident i would grow it back.
About two months ago I also started rogaine foam (5%). Tend to apply it once a day on weekdays and twice a day on weekends.
So where are we now... I will post pictures later but let me tell you I am shocked with the results. I think the best piece of advice I can give would be to STICK IT OUT. Nothing happened for about 6 weeks and then I started to shed. (would imagine this was down to the rogaine rather than finasteride.) I was relieved to see this shed as I have done extensive research on all the forums and it seems there is a high correlation between shedding and success. The shed wasn't noticeable to others, only to myself. When I would apply the rogaine I would have lots of hairs on my hands. Not to sure if this means anything but the hairs which come out started longer and got shorter as time went on. I would say the shed lasted about 4-6 weeks.
I noticed regrowth (very light hairs which provided transparent coverage) towards the middle of the shed but thought nothing of it. The shed finished a few weeks ago, I thought I would go get my hair cut short to make it easier to check my progress. WOW..... I checked my hair last week and out of nowhere I see thick dark hairs growing where my bald spot used to be and there's no mistaking it this time. The treatments are definitely working... I think that in 3 months time I genuinely would have grown everything that I lost back. From now on I have decided to ramp up my rogaine use to twice a day every day. Also important to note that I seem to have been experiencing regrowth since I started applying rogaine on a completely dry head (as advised on the bottle), previously I have been applying to damp (towel dry) head.
I will post my pictures when I get a minute.
I think to summarize I would say that firstly, I feel your pain. I am so relieved to nearly be over this nightmare than words can not describe it... I am nearly at the point where concealer will no longer be necessary. I can not wait to be able to walk in the rain or jump in to a swimming pool without having to worry about the concealer in my hair. If you are losing hair I would advice against using concealer, its too easy to become a slave to it and fall in a trap.
Secondly DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT BECAUSE ITS NOT GOING TO GET BETTER BY ITSELF AND READING THE DEPRESSING POSTS ON THESE FORUMS DEFINITELY WILL NOT HELP... Take finasteride, use rogaine, do whatever it takes but please understand that the longer you leave it the worse its going to get. I think that all those you hear badmouthing these treatments are those who have been unsuccessful. The reason there are more negative than positive posts on this site is because all those who experienced success have moved on and are enjoying their lives.
Good Luck... Stay positive!