First time poster her, but I've been a long time reader from the outside. I've gathered most of my information from this website, and I definitely believe that it's helped me keep my hair with little to no recession up to this point.
Info on me and my family history with baldness.
My mom's side of the family all has a solid amount of hair. Both of her brothers are well into their 50's and still have a full head of hair, but slightly thin. I take after my mother's side of the genetics. 6'0" but stocky, thick body build, and her brothers are hairier guys. I have a thick beard, chest hair, and body hair like they do. But their hair color is a dark brown almost black, while mine is brown, but lighter. I never met my Granddad on my mother's side of the family.
My dad is completely bald, and my mom told he lost a lot of his hair from 29-32. He told me his hairline was pretty bad when he was 23. My granddad on my dad's side was about a norwood 3 with vertex hairloss when he past away, better than my father's hair but it was fairly thin. My brother and dad are not very hairy ( I have a thicker beard than my dad does now), and they are both tall and leaner built guys. My brother is 6'2" my dad is 6'3". My brother is 29, and said he noticed thinning in his hair when he was 27. He has blonde hair, I have brown hair thats closer to my dad's color. My hair was very blonde until I turned 9 or 10, and it began to turn into a dirty blonde brown color. Now it's a darker brown.
I first notice that I was shedding hair my freshman year of college when I was 19 (6 years ago, I'm 25 now), but I did not think much of it. It wasn't until I was 21 that I really noticed that my hair wasn't as thick as it used to be. I was told this was normal, but I would rather be safe than sorry. I've always been the type of person to take things head on as soon as something isn't up to par. I started out with Rogaine foam, Nizoral 1% and Nioxin ( recommended by my hairstylist ). I never had the initial "shed" everyone talks about from the Rogaine. My shedding did stay constant though. I was shedding a large amount of hair, but as I studied my hairline for months I never noticed any change, just hair all over my kitchen sink and tub. I stayed on this regimen for nearly three years without it getting worse or better, but I continued to shed at a high rate (40-100) hairs a day.
My next step was purchasing Nizoral 2%, and adding lipogaine at night before bed. Flash forward another year, and again not much has changed, I still shed 40-100 hairs a day but my hair is still all there. Sometimes I think that maybe I am crazy, but looking at pictures from when I was 21 to now there has been slight recession and overall thinning, so I continue my treatments. For the past year, I've switched from Lipogaine to Perfect Hair Minoxidil (I feel like it's a better product, and it also dries quicker. Also when the lipogaine would finally dry, it made my hair appear to be a grayish brown when the light was on it.).
After almost 4 years of treatments, I can see baby hairs on my hairline that have turned from blonde to small dark hairs. I don't know if they'll ever mature, but it gives me hope that what I have been doing has been helping. This month I have added s5 cream to the hairline before I go to bed. Is my hairline worse than it was when I started, I would say Yes, but barely. I know for a fact that if I had done nothing, It would be worse. I don't think that I would be completely bald, but I think I would be Norwood 2 maybe 2.5 if I had done nothing. My girlfriend thinks that it's insane that I think that my hair is thinning, because It is almost a normal hairline. I would agree with her if I didn't shed so much hair. That is why I have to consider this a success story.
My question for you guys is, why am I shedding so much hair? Some days its 40 or less but always more than 15. Some days it's 100, and If I don't shower at night, when I wake up and shower It is easily 100+. My hairline and thickness has pretty much stayed the same the past 2 years (since I started Nizoral 2%).
My Brother has been on propecia for 6 months with no side effects. I'm thinking that I might need to add it, but until then I have aded s5 cream on my hairline the past month at night before I go to bed.
What do you guys think? I know that some of you will read this post, and probably think I'm not even suffering from male pattern baldness. But with my dad and brother losing a lot of their hair at the same age in their lives (late 20s) has got me thinking that I might need to add propecia now before it gets any worse.
Are there any treatments out there that I have missed that could also help?
Thanks for the help guys,
Shep
Info on me and my family history with baldness.
My mom's side of the family all has a solid amount of hair. Both of her brothers are well into their 50's and still have a full head of hair, but slightly thin. I take after my mother's side of the genetics. 6'0" but stocky, thick body build, and her brothers are hairier guys. I have a thick beard, chest hair, and body hair like they do. But their hair color is a dark brown almost black, while mine is brown, but lighter. I never met my Granddad on my mother's side of the family.
My dad is completely bald, and my mom told he lost a lot of his hair from 29-32. He told me his hairline was pretty bad when he was 23. My granddad on my dad's side was about a norwood 3 with vertex hairloss when he past away, better than my father's hair but it was fairly thin. My brother and dad are not very hairy ( I have a thicker beard than my dad does now), and they are both tall and leaner built guys. My brother is 6'2" my dad is 6'3". My brother is 29, and said he noticed thinning in his hair when he was 27. He has blonde hair, I have brown hair thats closer to my dad's color. My hair was very blonde until I turned 9 or 10, and it began to turn into a dirty blonde brown color. Now it's a darker brown.
I first notice that I was shedding hair my freshman year of college when I was 19 (6 years ago, I'm 25 now), but I did not think much of it. It wasn't until I was 21 that I really noticed that my hair wasn't as thick as it used to be. I was told this was normal, but I would rather be safe than sorry. I've always been the type of person to take things head on as soon as something isn't up to par. I started out with Rogaine foam, Nizoral 1% and Nioxin ( recommended by my hairstylist ). I never had the initial "shed" everyone talks about from the Rogaine. My shedding did stay constant though. I was shedding a large amount of hair, but as I studied my hairline for months I never noticed any change, just hair all over my kitchen sink and tub. I stayed on this regimen for nearly three years without it getting worse or better, but I continued to shed at a high rate (40-100) hairs a day.
My next step was purchasing Nizoral 2%, and adding lipogaine at night before bed. Flash forward another year, and again not much has changed, I still shed 40-100 hairs a day but my hair is still all there. Sometimes I think that maybe I am crazy, but looking at pictures from when I was 21 to now there has been slight recession and overall thinning, so I continue my treatments. For the past year, I've switched from Lipogaine to Perfect Hair Minoxidil (I feel like it's a better product, and it also dries quicker. Also when the lipogaine would finally dry, it made my hair appear to be a grayish brown when the light was on it.).
After almost 4 years of treatments, I can see baby hairs on my hairline that have turned from blonde to small dark hairs. I don't know if they'll ever mature, but it gives me hope that what I have been doing has been helping. This month I have added s5 cream to the hairline before I go to bed. Is my hairline worse than it was when I started, I would say Yes, but barely. I know for a fact that if I had done nothing, It would be worse. I don't think that I would be completely bald, but I think I would be Norwood 2 maybe 2.5 if I had done nothing. My girlfriend thinks that it's insane that I think that my hair is thinning, because It is almost a normal hairline. I would agree with her if I didn't shed so much hair. That is why I have to consider this a success story.
My question for you guys is, why am I shedding so much hair? Some days its 40 or less but always more than 15. Some days it's 100, and If I don't shower at night, when I wake up and shower It is easily 100+. My hairline and thickness has pretty much stayed the same the past 2 years (since I started Nizoral 2%).
My Brother has been on propecia for 6 months with no side effects. I'm thinking that I might need to add it, but until then I have aded s5 cream on my hairline the past month at night before I go to bed.
What do you guys think? I know that some of you will read this post, and probably think I'm not even suffering from male pattern baldness. But with my dad and brother losing a lot of their hair at the same age in their lives (late 20s) has got me thinking that I might need to add propecia now before it gets any worse.
Are there any treatments out there that I have missed that could also help?
Thanks for the help guys,
Shep