Sylent's Story - ( What Norwood am I?)

[sylent]

Family history:

My grandfather on my moms side is bald. All of her uncles are bald. She has no brothers so I cant tell if they are bald or not. Cousins are to young to have shown signs of male pattern baldness. My grandfather was still a thin Norwood 3.5 in his 40s but some of his brothers went bald in their 20s (one of them in his late teens *gulp*)

On my fathers side my father is 45 with little to no balding. He is still an Norwood 1 even though his thick hair has thinned a bit over the years. His father also has a full head of very thin hair. From what I can tell my nans brothers also have great hair for the most part. My dad has 5 brothers. 2 of them are in their late 30s-early 40s and have perfect hair like my dad. The youngest one at 30 is Norwood 2.5 at the moment and has average hair. Oddly 2 of my dads brothers are bald. Both reached the point of no return (Norwood 3.5+) in their early 30s.

So as history dictates in my family there is obvious baldness. The good side is that a) my dad, the closest male relative to me has perfect hair and b) my pop on my moms side went bald slowly.

My concern is that my hair seems to have receded a bit. Maybe just a mature hairline. However having a mature hairline at 18 going on 19 is slightly concerning. I have pretty much accepted the fact that I will go bald but I truly fear being an Norwood 4 before age 30 (so sorry to anyone this has happened to).

So I was wondering what Norwood would you guys set me as? Also is there any corrilation between being able to grow facial hair early and going bald? I can grow a full beard at the moment and I know a guy who could grow one when he was 16 and is currently an Norwood 3 at 18.

tl;dr : What Norwood would you give me and does grown facial hair and body hair early mean you will go bald?

Thanks in advance!

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

Re: 18 yo. What Norwood am I

Looks like a solid NW2 with no miniaturization of the hairline.

 

[sylent]

Re: 18 yo. What Norwood am I

^ Thats the answer I feared but thanks for the honesty. If I'm an NW2 at age 18 when I shouldnt have and recession whatsoever chances are I probably will be bald by 30. feelsbadman.jpg

 

[Tom1985]

That's not how it works sylent.

A lot of guys recede back to a NW2 and just stay like that. It's known as a mature hair line.

Your hair shows no real signs of balding at the minute BUT given the history of male pattern baldness in your family definately keep an eye on it.

No need to start meds yet though.

 

[LooseItAll]

Don't know. It could also very well be your natural hairline. Some people have it v-shaped like that.

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

Many people get "mature" hairlines where their hair recedes to a certain point and stop. This is not male pattern baldness, as it might stay this way your entire life. It is simply your adult hairline forming.

male pattern baldness occurs when you start losing density on top or around the hairline. Some people develop a bald spot, some people's hairline recedes backwards. You can usually tell when your hairline is actually receding, as the front portion is not as thick as the rest of your hair, and most of the hairs start growing shorter and thinner. Yours looks solid from those pics.

You could still develop male pattern baldness if it's in your genes, I don't know what your family history is. Going NW2 at age 18 is not a sign of male pattern baldness though.

 

[SemperFi]

Re: 18 yo. What Norwood am I

^ Thats the answer I feared but thanks for the honesty. If I'm an NW2 at age 18 when I shouldnt have and recession whatsoever chances are I probably will be bald by 30. feelsbadman.jpg

If it makes you feel any better - I was a solid NW2 at 18. I'm 27 3/4 now (almost ten years later) and still NW2, but a lot less solid, slightly tending to NW3. I've been using propecia for the last 4 years, but what I want to say it's not the end of the world if you start losing hair early. In my case the process started when I was around 15 but it was quite slow apparently...

 

[sylent]

Hey guys I also want to apologize. I realize a lot of you guys reading this are NW4+ and would kill to have my hair. But the fact of the matter is being an NW2 at age 18 is scary. When I was in highschool last year I still had a M shaped hairline and I felt very self consious because 95% of the guys my age have NW0's-NW1's. In fact when we talked about male pattern baldness in biology everybody looked at me. A friend even poked fun of me in gr 10 for my receding hairline (at the time it was becoming a mature hairline I guess) and I think thats when I became paranoid. I always thought baldness was reserved for middle aged adults but the fact that I may lose my hair in my 20s is becoming a reality. When I was a kid-young teen I was always told how incredibly thick my hair was so I thought the chances of me ever balding were slim to none. They may still be but the fact of the matter is I have evidently progressed farther then most people in their late teens. I also have undeniable family history. I actually thought most people went bald but only 25% of men experience any form or recession, no matter how small by age 30! I didnt know so many people kept their hair. For me 30 is the magic number. By then balding wont matter as much anymore as my 'young' period of life will have passed me by.

So from this point on I want to try to forget about it and wait till I see much more evident balding. However my aniexiety and depression makes it hard not to think about it. The only blessing in this whole situation is at least now I am a Norwood spotter so the chances of me balding and not noticing are slim to none.

 

[cuebald]

Probable mature hairline. No miniaturisation at the hairline, so further recession seems unlikely.

I'd wait 6 months, take pictures and compare. It's a tad more receded than the normal mature hairline, but it isn't that unusual to see.
I can see why you'd get scared though. I'd rather be one of those guys who freaks out at a mature hairline and researches treatments, than one of those guys who remains in complete denial that he's going bald until he hits NW5, then admits it and finds out it's much too late to recover from.