Simple Question, Be Honest: Is Hair Loss The Worst Thing That's Ever Happened To You?

[hanginginthewire]

I'm curious.

 

[uhoil]

Unfortunately yes, nothing has made me so miserable as hair loss.

I miss my life 3-4 years ago, back when I had no worries in the world. Some days are okay, but every now and then I can't help but feel depressed about how my life could have turned out. I feel like I'm missing so much, being only 23 years old, and already having to deal with this.

 

[Guzam]

I endured a lot of psychological pain, especially in my early teenage, as my parents would (and still) fight and fight and put me in the middle and bring me down just to feel better about themselves.
I was easily bullied by most and I was ostracized and not liked for most of my life, living a borderline autistic life. For most of my life I had close to no friends. I have been left alone for most of my life. I just kind of 'woke up' in high school, everything before was a life not worth living at all. I am now 21. Teenage was yesterday and more than 2/3 of my life have been psychologically hard to endure.

The pain I am enduring because of hair loss in the last 3 years is 10 times worse than all the bullying and the psychological torture I received throughout most of my life. I would live again those years of bullying and pain and loneliness just to have my hair back. There is absolutely nothing comparable. Yesterday evening I broke down and cried alone. Finasteride is not working much, my hair is still so thin. It's been all almost useless, I am just maintaining and I am gaining close to nothing. I really prayed to be a good responder, guess I'm among those with aggressive hair loss and finasteride can't do more than maintaining the thin NW3. I am just 21. This is the worst thing that happened to me.

 

[PappinAce]

I endured a lot of psychological pain, especially in my early teenage, as my parents would (and still) fight and fight and put me in the middle and bring me down just to feel better about themselves.
I was easily bullied by most and I was ostracized and not liked for most of my life, living a borderline autistic life. For most of my life I had close to no friends. I have been left alone for most of my life. I just kind of 'woke up' in high school, everything before was a life not worth living at all. I am now 21. Teenage was yesterday and more than 2/3 of my life have been psychologically hard to endure.

The pain I am enduring because of hair loss in the last 3 years is 10 times worse than all the bullying and the psychological torture I received throughout most of my life. I would live again those years of bullying and pain and loneliness just to have my hair back. There is absolutely nothing comparable. Yesterday evening I broke down and cried alone. Finasteride is not working much, my hair is still so thin. It's been all almost useless, I am just maintaining and I am gaining close to nothing. I really prayed to be a good responder, guess I'm among those with aggressive hair loss and finasteride can't do more than maintaining the thin NW3. I am just 21. This is the worst thing that happened to me.

maintaining is responding! hang in there through these tough times and hold out for a fue. you can get those temples back.

 

[karankaran]

Yes it is the f*****g worst thing that has happened to me ever. It is 4 am in michigan and cannot sleep. and thanks to st john's wort, I no longer feel depressed but actually feel dead inside.

 

[karankaran]

It is 5:30 AM and am still awake. Did not sleep all night.

f*** my life. Need to get ready and get to work. FUUUUUUCK!

 

[Charles Rane]

It definitely is the worst thing for me, because outside of hair loss and being an incel at 22, i do not have big problems. I come from a rich family, i have a good social life, i'm doing good in school. All other things are going quite well.

My hair loss is not visible yet, because I have long hair, but it will get visible within a few years. And because of that, I feel like I have to hurry and get a girlfriend quickly before it becomes impossible. There's this attractive Russian girl in my class that likes me, which is great, but i would feel like i am deceiving her if I started a relationship with her right now, because i'm hiding my nw3 hairline to her. I just feel that it's morally wrong to sell myself for something I am not (a fullhead). In addition, I feel to young to start a serious relationship.

All in all, it's really depressing and it really makes me question whether I want to live another 60 years like this.

 

[Rudiger]

I've been thinking a lot about this topic, the loss of someone close to me is probably cited by people around me as the reason I was in a really bad place in my mind for quite a few years, and it's a pain that hasn't gone fully away and it may not.

Thinking of that made me feel selfish for thinking that baldness rivals such a thing, and whether I'd take baldness over losing them - which is a resounding yes, without a doubt, but still, that's just a pointless hypothetical, what does such a thought prove? It doesn't bring me closer to any realisation.

I don't know therefore if I can say it's truly the worst thing to happen to me but, and this is important, at least with that I've had moments where I felt at peace with it, that time is healing or will heal, and even if not fully, there's been some healing. That's still growth and progression, a reason for going on.

This little sentence from Mac (who I understand has suffered a lot) made me think about it further:

I've had heartbreaking moments that have come and gone - i make my peace with them.

And that's exactly it. I'm not comparing my heartbreak to his or anyone's but that simple quote expresses how I feel- those awful things that happen to people are temporary and your life may be impacted, but you make peace with it, that these things are unfair on our feelings but they happen and it's life, you aren't entitled to a perfect one.

Baldness doesn't work that way, because you can't ever make peace for it, the way it fucks with your mind isn't like a death. It just feels like a never ending torture that you'll never deal with, you'll never have those moments of acceptance.

 

[PappinAce]

It is 5:30 AM and am still awake. Did not sleep all night.

f*** my life. Need to get ready and get to work. FUUUUUUCK!

you doing ok? where are you working?

 

[DoctorHouse]

It definitely is the worst thing for me, because outside of hair loss and being an incel at 22, i do not have big problems. I come from a rich family, i have a good social life, i'm doing good in school. All other things are going quite well.

My hair loss is not visible yet, because I have long hair, but it will get visible within a few years. And because of that, I feel like I have to hurry and get a girlfriend quickly before it becomes impossible. There's this attractive Russian girl in my class that likes me, which is great, but i would feel like i am deceiving her if I started a relationship with her right now, because i'm hiding my nw3 hairline to her. I just feel that it's morally wrong to sell myself for something I am not (a fullhead). In addition, I feel to young to start a serious relationship.

All in all, it's really depressing and it really makes me question whether I want to live another 60 years like this.

Ask the Russian girl out for coffee before someone with a higher Norwood than you does. If you come from a rich family, you can be proactive with your hair loss. Letting your hair loss hold you back is a big problem.

 

[Nano123]

It is certainly the worst thing that has happened to me. I've gone through a break up after a 5 year relationship, depression for two years, financial trouble and family issues but in the end no matter how long it takes I can move on, but hair loss? talk about years of worrying, thousands spent on doctors, prp, minoxidil and all those pills and supplements.Best case scenario would be very far away from my original head full of hair, it's tormenting me.

 

[EvilLocks]

Yes, because it caused a chained reactions of shitty, negative events and dragged me into many vicious circles.

Same. Ever since I discovered those miniaturized Androgenetic Alopecia hairs on my scalp one morning 4.5 years ago, my life has went to sh*t in every possible way. Sure, I was ''suffering'' from periodic depression and anxiety even before that, but as soon as I learned that I had Androgenetic Alopecia I knew my life would never be the same. Androgenetic Alopecia made me lose everything - my social life, my education, my work, my self esteem... Years of my youth have gone down the drain thanks to Androgenetic Alopecia. If I could go back in time and do it all over again I would have made some different decisions, sure, but at the time I thought I was doing the only right thing by isolating myself and burning many bridges. The depression Androgenetic Alopecia caused me cannot be described with words, and being a young, balding female is incredibly lonely as there are few like me. I actually had to think long and hard about the question OP asked - is hair loss really the worst thing that has ever happened to me? After all, I've gone through a lot of crap... Years of anxiety and depression, health issues and loss of family members. After thinking about it - YES, hair loss is the worst thing that has ever happened to me. Nothing has been as life altering as this, and not in a good way. Like someone said here, it's so painful because it's so permanent, and there is no cure. Life has it's ups and downs, but hair loss is a constant, heavy burden on your shoulders that you have to carry with you 24/7, possibly for the rest of your life. It's a constant battle against not only society, but against yourself. How can you possibly love your self when you despise your reflection?

 

[karankaran]

you doing ok? where are you working?

Thanks for asking. I am ok. I work at a public university. I took a sick leave today. The stress was too much. Just one of those days.

 

[PappinAce]

Thanks for asking. I am ok. I work at a public university. I took a sick leave today. The stress was too much. Just one of those days.

that's good you got through it. i remember when i first moved to michigan that's when i first started having hair loss issues. i had trouble sleeping too. i would lie in bed and have panic attacks at 4am and would just stay in the bathroom staring at myself in the mirror.

you working at Umich? i got my degree from EMU but i'm living down in oklahoma now. i really miss michigan and would love to come back some day.

how is your norwood btw? are you maintaining on meds?

 

[ManinBlack]

Yes, but only because I have had a pretty good life so far and nothing worse has happened.

 

[hanginginthewire]

Thanks for the responses all. I would say yes, it is the worst thing to happen to me. It was always something I feared too, but didn't actually believe would happen to me. Even if a complete cure is announced tomorrow, I will never get these years back. I'm forever changed by this disease.

Also hair loss has revealed to me so many bitter truths about life and people. Fullheads can go glossing along the surface of life, blissfully unaware, while hair loss makes you realize how arbitrary and unfair life really is. (Not saying hair loss is the ONLY thing that does this, obviously.) Anyway I could go on and on but I know all of you understand.

I wish our fullhead family and friends would be required to read a thread like this or hear people's stories, maybe then they would understand the devastation that is caused by this cancer of the spirit.

 

[FWIW]

Hairloss is not the worst thing that happened to me. The society is.

 

[Guzam]

Hairloss is not the worst thing that happened to me. The society is.
23Yo here. You can imagine the college parties...

No f*****g way. It's time for you to formally sue God for slander. It's a guaranteed win.

 

[Trichosan]

I can't worry about the worst things that have happened to me, even if it's hairloss, when there are worse things I've done to other people. As long as we're being honest.

 

[JohnsonDDG]

Its not the worst thing that's happened to me, but I think if I was a Norwood 4 at 21 or something then it would have been.