Hey everyone! I'm actually 20 at the moment but will be 21 in March, so I just put 21.
I'm somewhere between a NW2 and NW3, it depends on who you ask.
Looking at pictures, I know my recession began at around 18 years old. I didn't know what was happening at the time, but I do remember a vague sense of feeling dissatisfied with my hair. I probably just thought I wasn't combing it right or I wasn't using enough shampoo or something like that. I have always had a higher hairline, so when I was maybe almost 20 years old and some girl on the Internet told me it looked like I was going bald, I just attributed it to my naturally high hairline. I finally realized something bad was happening in the spring of 2013, and started posting on these forums more actively in the fall. At first I was freaking out. I was depressed! I'm considered an attractive guy (although it's hard to tell in these bad pictures; I've gained some weight recently, need to shave, and have zits) and that had always been one of the things that helped to boost my confidence. I finally got on finasteride on December 11, 2013.
I know many of you will think it's too early for me to see results, but I have definitely gotten some regrowth in the hairline. It feels thicker, and small hairs have sprouted up in both of my temples. I can only hope it gets even better there.
I cut my hair short recently, and that's when I realized I ALSO had diffuse thinning! That really depressed me. But all I can hope is that finasteride helps that, or nizoral or minoxodil.
Age: 21
male pattern baldness started: ~ 18
Current Norwood pattern: Norwood 2.5 with diffuse thinning
Current Regimen:
Propecia 1 mg
Nizoral 1 % 5x a week
Maybe I'll get on minoxidil in the future, if I need it to help with the diffuse thinning, but for now I'm just going to stay on finasteride and use nizoral. I'm trying to get 2 % nizoral...not sure if there's a massive difference in effectiveness there.
Anyway, pictures:
Me at age 17: https://imageshack.com/i/mzgncij
Hair pulled back at age 17: https://imageshack.com/i/nes8mvj
Current hairline: https://imageshack.com/i/0dr3uaj
Diffuse thinning on scalp!: https://imageshack.com/i/n94cnpj
Right side of head: https://imageshack.com/i/0cb99yj
Left side of head: https://imageshack.com/i/mhtpe9j
I guess this is pretty advanced balding for age 21...but what can I do besides take the treatments? I have A LOT of chronic anxiety, and have for years, and I wonder if that could have accelerated it. It's possible...a few studies seem to confirm that stress can accelerate male pattern baldness in those who have the genes for it. I just hope that, if it did, it wasn't a massive difference. What I mean is...I hope I didn't start at 18 instead of 25 because of my anxiety. Ah well. We'll see what happens.
I'm somewhere between a NW2 and NW3, it depends on who you ask.
Looking at pictures, I know my recession began at around 18 years old. I didn't know what was happening at the time, but I do remember a vague sense of feeling dissatisfied with my hair. I probably just thought I wasn't combing it right or I wasn't using enough shampoo or something like that. I have always had a higher hairline, so when I was maybe almost 20 years old and some girl on the Internet told me it looked like I was going bald, I just attributed it to my naturally high hairline. I finally realized something bad was happening in the spring of 2013, and started posting on these forums more actively in the fall. At first I was freaking out. I was depressed! I'm considered an attractive guy (although it's hard to tell in these bad pictures; I've gained some weight recently, need to shave, and have zits) and that had always been one of the things that helped to boost my confidence. I finally got on finasteride on December 11, 2013.
I know many of you will think it's too early for me to see results, but I have definitely gotten some regrowth in the hairline. It feels thicker, and small hairs have sprouted up in both of my temples. I can only hope it gets even better there.
I cut my hair short recently, and that's when I realized I ALSO had diffuse thinning! That really depressed me. But all I can hope is that finasteride helps that, or nizoral or minoxodil.
Age: 21
male pattern baldness started: ~ 18
Current Norwood pattern: Norwood 2.5 with diffuse thinning
Current Regimen:
Propecia 1 mg
Nizoral 1 % 5x a week
Maybe I'll get on minoxidil in the future, if I need it to help with the diffuse thinning, but for now I'm just going to stay on finasteride and use nizoral. I'm trying to get 2 % nizoral...not sure if there's a massive difference in effectiveness there.
Anyway, pictures:
Me at age 17: https://imageshack.com/i/mzgncij
Hair pulled back at age 17: https://imageshack.com/i/nes8mvj
Current hairline: https://imageshack.com/i/0dr3uaj
Diffuse thinning on scalp!: https://imageshack.com/i/n94cnpj
Right side of head: https://imageshack.com/i/0cb99yj
Left side of head: https://imageshack.com/i/mhtpe9j
I guess this is pretty advanced balding for age 21...but what can I do besides take the treatments? I have A LOT of chronic anxiety, and have for years, and I wonder if that could have accelerated it. It's possible...a few studies seem to confirm that stress can accelerate male pattern baldness in those who have the genes for it. I just hope that, if it did, it wasn't a massive difference. What I mean is...I hope I didn't start at 18 instead of 25 because of my anxiety. Ah well. We'll see what happens.