Savetheworld's Story (pics)

[savetheworld]

Heres my story.

I am 20 years old, and began to lose my hair when I was 18. It was slight thinning in the crown and hairline and like everybody else I was in denial. Then one day while getting a hair cut my barber pointed out that I had a bald spot and that started it all. I began spending hours on these forums in search of a cure but ofcourse couldn't find one.

I started using rogaine 2% on July/08 plus some multivitamins. Then a couple of months later I started using nizoral 2% and switched to generic 5% minoxidil. And finally on Feb/09 I started taking propecia.

After starting rogaine, I stopped visiting the forums thinking that I already learned everything that I could. Man was I wrong. During this whole time I have been thinking that my hairloss has been getting worse, I never understood that a shed was a good thing. Well yesterday after growing my hair out for months, I got a short and revealing haircut. At first I almost broke down into tears as I thought my hair looks far worse than what it was a year ago and decided to get back on these forums and see what I can do. Thats when I came across the pictures I took of my baseline and it completely changed my mood. The treatments are really working and I am really happy now. Here are the pics.


Here is my crown when I first realized my hairloss.

Here is my destroyed hairline. It used to be completely straight when i was a kid.

Here is the pics I took yesterday.

It looks like minoxidil and nizoral actually did something and I can't say propecia has done anything yet because I only started a month ago.

 

[Nuli]

Your hair line is awesome man, you're worrying too much.

 

[savetheworld]

your telling me the first pic of my hairline is good? come on.....
and I am not worrying. I stayed away from these forums for a long time, I only started to worry yesterday because of my revealing haircut but then realized wasnt that bad. just posted to show my progress and to show that you should take pics.

 

[The Rake]

Destroyed hairline? Come on dude, that hairline is perfect. You do realize if your hairline was any lower it'd be on your forehead, right?

 

[ClayShaw]

Did someone prescribe propecia for you? Did you get a miniaturization test done? Is there premature baldness in your family? 18 is young... It is also the time for your hairline to change, and the fact that it doesn't look the same as it did when you were 12 is completely normal and doesn't mean you're balding. Personally, the bald spot on your crown is something I see on lots of non-balding guys: a cowlick. I could be wrong. But I don't think you're balding, thats why I asked about the prescription and the miniaturization test.

 

[Thickandthin]

No balding here.

Sorry to disappoint.

 

[savetheworld]

wow are you guys serious?

the first two pics are from when i noticed the hairloss. the second two is right now and yea i admit that it doesnt look like i have hairloss anymore. the only reason that i say i was worried was because i went from having long shaggy hair to like really short hair and hair looked like sh*t.

i didnt start propecia at 18, i only started treatments when i was like 19.5.
and yes i did get a prescription for my propecia and my doctor was aware that i was balding. the thing is that the only bald people in my family is on my mother's side and my dad whos in his late 40s has the same hair as me or better. but my uncle went bald at 19.

 

[savetheworld]

the point of my post was not to complain about my hairloss but to show my improvement and the importance of taking pics.
sorry i didnt know you have to be nw7 to post here.

 

[ClayShaw]

wow are you guys serious?

the first two pics are from when i noticed the hairloss. the second two is right now and yea i admit that it doesnt look like i have hairloss anymore. the only reason that i say i was worried was because i went from having long shaggy hair to like really short hair and hair looked like sh*t.

i didnt start propecia at 18, i only started treatments when i was like 19.5.
and yes i did get a prescription for my propecia and my doctor was aware that i was balding. the thing is that the only bald people in my family is on my mother's side and my dad whos in his late 40s has the same hair as me or better. but my uncle went bald at 19.

So the doctor checked for miniaturization?
You don't have to be NW7 to post here, just search the boards for "kerzyguy".

 

[Quantum Cat]

it's NORMAL for hairlines to recede in late teens/20s - it doesn't mean you're going bald - it's the 'mature' hairline.

I can't see any definite male pattern baldness from those pics. a full thick crown with a cowlick (again, normal) and a strong hairline with little or no temple recession.

stop worrying and start enjoying life. the hairdresser was probably pulling your leg.

 

[GNUist (formerly FC)]

wow are you guys serious?

the first two pics are from when i noticed the hairloss. the second two is right now and yea i admit that it doesnt look like i have hairloss anymore. the only reason that i say i was worried was because i went from having long shaggy hair to like really short hair and hair looked like sh*t.

i didnt start propecia at 18, i only started treatments when i was like 19.5.
and yes i did get a prescription for my propecia and my doctor was aware that i was balding. the thing is that the only bald people in my family is on my mother's side and my dad whos in his late 40s has the same hair as me or better. but my uncle went bald at 19.

So the doctor checked for miniaturization?
You don't have to be NW7 to post here, just search the boards for "kerzyguy".

who is kerzyguy?

 

[Quantum Cat]

wow are you guys serious?

the first two pics are from when i noticed the hairloss. the second two is right now and yea i admit that it doesnt look like i have hairloss anymore. the only reason that i say i was worried was because i went from having long shaggy hair to like really short hair and hair looked like sh*t.

i didnt start propecia at 18, i only started treatments when i was like 19.5.
and yes i did get a prescription for my propecia and my doctor was aware that i was balding. the thing is that the only bald people in my family is on my mother's side and my dad whos in his late 40s has the same hair as me or better. but my uncle went bald at 19.

So the doctor checked for miniaturization?
You don't have to be NW7 to post here, just search the boards for "kerzyguy".

who is kerzyguy?

this joker

http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interact/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=52049

 

[savetheworld]

who is kerzyguy?[/quote]

this joker

http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interact/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=52049[/quote]



okay lol i'll admit that guy shows noo signs of balding.
but just to be clear, you guys don't see any signs of balding in this picture in the crown?

 

[Quantum Cat]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowlick

 

[ClayShaw]

who is kerzyguy?

this joker

http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interact/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=52049[/quote]



okay lol i'll admit that guy shows noo signs of balding.
but just to be clear, you guys don't see any signs of balding in this picture in the crown?

[/quote]

Yeah dude, thats a cowlick. If the Doctor that prescribed propecia didn't map for miniaturization, I'd get a second opinion before I started taking pills.

 

[GNUist (formerly FC)]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowlick

 

[hbdale309]

I think you've made outstanding improvements. Congrats bro.

Your hairline came back and you filled in your bald spot. WTG! I also use just nizoral and and minoxidil and have gotten good results. I'm still contemplating whether to go finasteride or not.

I keep hearing these horror stories about these guys shedding for 12 mos etc, and I am afriad of losing what I have gained back with the rog and nizoral.

I'll keep reading these forums and studying. Who knows, maybe next month I'll start with the finasteride.

 

[savetheworld]

thanks hbdale.
and yea i was exactly the same as you, i was on minoxidil and nizoral for a while and made a lot of progress, in fact i only started using propecia a month ago. The only reason I am doing it is because I want to stop any further loss, you know keep what i have. and honestly with any drug, there are a lot of horror stories. some people say that minoxidil has made their face really fat and etc. but you never know what will happen to you until you try it. I suggest that you start with like 0.25mg and work your way up if you have no sides.

and honestly for the people telling me that it was a cowlick, i was looking at pictures of me as a kid and it was never there. also the same doctor prescribed me minoxidil and propecia almost 8 months later, so i am pretty sure i had some hairloss for him to do that.

 

[kalbo]

Take whatever people say here with a grain of salt. Personally I agree with you, it does look like you were thinning in the crown. Comparing the two pictures, there is definite improvement in that area. The hairline however, remains unclear to me. No one keeps the same hairline they had when they were 15. Even though it may have receded a bit, it still looks pretty strong so it could just be a mature hairline.

Imo, you may want to drop the minoxidil though. Your hair loss wasn't noticeable to begin with so you should see if only propecia and nizoral would be sufficient. You'll experience a huge shed if you drop the minoxidil though.

Anyways, don't worry about what the others say. Don't wait until your hair loss becomes really noticeable to convince everyone that you have male pattern baldness. You caught it very early so consider yourself lucky.