Thickandthin's Story - (22 years old /pictures of hairline)

[Thickandthin]

I already posted a long, drawn out story in another section back when I first registered, so I won't do that again. Just the basics this time to catch everyone up to speed.

-First noticed hairline receding at 19
-First affected my appearance at 21
-Temples have gotten steadily worse over the last year
-Tried finasteride/minoxidil for about a month each in April/May 2008, decided my hair wasn't so bad and quit both
-Recently noticed temples getting worse, took pictures and freaked out.....decided I need to do something NOW and stick with it
-Read Success Stories forum, became inspired by Defenton, Dietcola, brentx, and shadowRX. Took my first dose of finasteride right before making this thread.

Anyway, I'm currently only doing "The Big 2" - Finasteride (in the form of Fincar) and Nizoral (which I've been using for a long time). No minoxidil yet. Will possibly add after 1-1.5 years on finasteride, depending on progress.

Here's my visual "hair history" (unfortunately as I've always worn my hair somewhat shaggy I have no pictures of my hairline older than April 2008)

Before any hairloss - beach after High School graduation, 18 years old

Next year at the beach, temples were starting to go, 19 years old

Hairline shot, April 2008, 21 years old

And now another hairline shot, November 2008, 22 years old

Might look a little worse than it is since its with an actual digital camera, not a cell phone, and the (very bright) flash was on. You can still see I've lost ground since April.

Left side of my hairline (the worst side)

Again, but pulled back taut

Yikes......all those thin areas will probably dissappear in the next year or two, sending me directly into NW3 territory

Right side. This was a NW1 up until about 2 year ago, has been slowly receding ever since, and is starting to catch up with the other side in the last 6 months

As you can see, my hairline looks weak, jagged, fuzzy, asymmetrical, etc. While it looks like crap, it is also what gives me hope. I'm hoping that all the areas that still have hair can be salvaged since the follicles aren't completely dead yet. Even if my hairline doesn't budge an inch - just thickens up and becomes uniform, I'd be ecstatic. Maintenance alone would be great.

With all that said, here's what my hair looks like right now (in need of a haircut).

As you can obviously tell by this picture, my balding is apparent only to me and to anyone I show my temples to (which is no one). I have extraordinarily thick hair, and despite my recession, there is enough hair on the sides/behind the hairline to cover it nicely. HOWEVER, it is becoming harder and harder to achieve this, and I'm having to comb my hair in different ways on a monthly basis it seems to keep it under cover. Also, my "forelock" as it's called is thinning as well. In fact, the entire frontal third of my hair has thinned out quite a bit, which is extremely apparent when I compare density of the sides and back with the front. As I said, my hair was thick enough to begin with to take quite a hit without being too noticeable, but I know if I don't do anything soon, I will be in NW3 land and soon have nowhere to run to.

Anyway, I plan on trying to replicate my hairline pictures as much as I can in the coming year to gauge progress, and will be posting updates every couples months or so. As I'm a person who is easily fooled by lighting, my emotions, the way my hair is combed, etc, the only way I will probably be able to tell for sure if treatment is working is with pictures, and since they will also be posted online I hope the feedback you guys give will help me know for sure if anything is helping.

See you guys in 2 months!

 

[Jake_89]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

I've got similar recession to you, I have thick hair exactly like yours and my biggest problem is my temples at the moment. You are doing the right thing by jumping on Propecia, that's really all we can do at the moment and hope for the best.

If we can just stabilize the hairloss with medication for a bunch of years then we can easily get a hair transplant and everything would be sweet again.

Keep it up!

 

[scouse]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

I would cut my left nut off for one day with hair that thick!

 

[Jack82]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

You have some recession, but your hair is dence and individual hairs look thick and healthy. It could be just a mature hairline. To me it looks the same with the april photos, even though there is a different angle. Does baldness runs your family? Propecia is the right choice if you have male pattern baldness.

 

[Odie]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

where's the hairloss ?

 

[Hammer87]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

I said this to you in another thread I believe TaT. - I don't think you're hairloss is anywhere near as bad as you think, nothing to get too upset by anyway.

 

[Thickandthin]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

I said this to you in another thread I believe TaT. - I don't think you're hairloss is anywhere near as bad as you think, nothing to get too upset by anyway.

I know it's not bad now (subjectively), but it's getting worse.

The whole point of taking finasteride is to take it when you still have a relatively full head of hair - hence why I'm starting it.

If the areas directly behind my recession were still thick, I wouldn't worry because I would just consider it to be a mature hairline, but they are beginning to thin as well. I'm probably a Norwood 2.5, but because my hair is so thick everywhere else its still fairly easy to disguise.

Plus, my crown will probably begin thinning in the next 3-4 years, and in fact, given the progressive nature of hairloss, has probably already started miniaturizing, so the finasteride should delay that for several years.

 

[Jack82]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

I said this to you in another thread I believe TaT. - I don't think you're hairloss is anywhere near as bad as you think, nothing to get too upset by anyway.

I know it's not bad now (subjectively), but it's getting worse.

The whole point of taking finasteride is to take it when you still have a relatively full head of hair - hence why I'm starting it.

If the areas directly behind my recession were still thick, I wouldn't worry because I would just consider it to be a mature hairline, but they are beginning to thin as well. I'm probably a Norwood 2.5, but because my hair is so thick everywhere else its still fairly easy to disguise.

Plus, my crown will probably begin thinning in the next 3-4 years, and in fact, given the progressive nature of hairloss, has probably already started miniaturizing, so the finasteride should delay that for several years.

You are a solid nw2, and you can't predict what is gonna happen in 3-4 years. When i started losing hair, i thought that in 1-2 yrs i would be bald, and right now, four years later, i have pretty much the same hair, if not MORE.

You are right that it's best to get as early as possible on treatments, BUT you must determine if you have male pattern baldness or not. Does male pattern baldness runs your family? Have you visited a derm? If so, get on treatments asap, if not, get sure first instead of taking drugs that you don't need to take.

 

[Thickandthin]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

I said this to you in another thread I believe TaT. - I don't think you're hairloss is anywhere near as bad as you think, nothing to get too upset by anyway.

I know it's not bad now (subjectively), but it's getting worse.

The whole point of taking finasteride is to take it when you still have a relatively full head of hair - hence why I'm starting it.

If the areas directly behind my recession were still thick, I wouldn't worry because I would just consider it to be a mature hairline, but they are beginning to thin as well. I'm probably a Norwood 2.5, but because my hair is so thick everywhere else its still fairly easy to disguise.

Plus, my crown will probably begin thinning in the next 3-4 years, and in fact, given the progressive nature of hairloss, has probably already started miniaturizing, so the finasteride should delay that for several years.

You are a solid nw2, and you can't predict what is gonna happen in 3-4 years. When i started losing hair, i thought that in 1-2 yrs i would be bald, and right now, four years later, i have pretty much the same hair, if not MORE.

You are right that it's best to get as early as possible on treatments, BUT you must determine if you have male pattern baldness or not. Does male pattern baldness runs your family? Have you visited a derm? If so, get on treatments asap, if not, get sure first instead of taking drugs that you don't need to take.

Baldness on both sides of the family. Nobody's a NW7 or anything, but my dad is probably a NW5v and his older brother is as well. My older brother is 26 with a receding hairline and a thinning crown....so I will more than likely have one soon as well. He has roughly the same hairstyle as me, but I can tell his temples are probably a bit worse. Seems to be thicker all around though - I think I'm diffuse in the front more than him.

I could wait around and see if it gets any worse, but I'm not willing to take that gamble. When I first noticed my hairline was receding at about 18/19, it had creeped back a very small amount on my left side (the worst side). I didn't do anything, and now I'm a NW2/2.5. Maybe I dodged the bullet and it will stay like this for life, but I'm very dubious of the claim that "all males", especially Caucasians, develop a mature hairline at some point. A mature hairline is balding, period. And recession at 22 is IMO a sign of more balding to come.

 

[Thickandthin]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

Two month update!

Nothing big to report, for better or for worse.

Hairline perhaps looks a little worse, although this is probably to be expected as the areas that look more receded were probably miniaturized anyway and thus clearing out for healthier hair

Side effects so far seem limited to a smaller flaccid size. No problems w/getting it up or anything like that though.

As a side note, its funny how our mind can play tricks on us. About 2 weeks into treatment, I swore that my hairline was better already. But now it looks worse, when in reality its probably exactly the same

Since there's not much regrowth to speak of, I'm gonna wait to make my next update in April complete with comparison pics to make a better judgment of progress.

 

[Nighthair]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

Two month update!

Nothing big to report, for better or for worse.

Hairline perhaps looks a little worse, although this is probably to be expected as the areas that look more receded were probably miniaturized anyway and thus clearing out for healthier hair

Side effects so far seem limited to a smaller flaccid size. No problems w/getting it up or anything like that though.

As a side note, its funny how our mind can play tricks on us. About 2 weeks into treatment, I swore that my hairline was better already. But now it looks worse, when in reality its probably exactly the same

Since there's not much regrowth to speak of, I'm gonna wait to make my next update in April complete with comparison pics to make a better judgment of progress.

good luck dude! unk:

 

[shadowRX]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

As a word of caution my hairline took an extreme downward plunge at the 2 month mark, I guess shedding the vellus hairs, but after 3+ Months all the hair started thickening up. My best tip is to stick with it till at least 6 months and TAKE PICTURES. I didn't realize how well it was working until I compared the start versus three months. I was in shock, it happens so slow you barely notice.

Also, our balding patterns, rates, and hair texture are almost exactly the same, and I'm about where you are now. I feel honored that I inspired you

 

[Thickandthin]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

Yeah, I can tell that my hairline does look a bit worse. Nothing drastic, and it doesn't really affect my appearance. Overall density is still good.

Shadow - judging from your recent pics, I'd say your hair is a bit stronger than mine ATM. I might not get quite the results you did as I'm not using minoxidil - but will possibly add it after a year or so depending on progress.

I think it was you who said something about losing chest hair in your original post? Anyway, I noticed that my temples started getting worse around the time that my sparse pubescent chest hair became thicker, darker, and denser. I'm still far from being Austin Powers, but I'll keep an eye on it as much as I do the hair on my head.......because if it starts thinning then I'll know for sure the finasteride is working

 

[shadowRX]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

With each cycle of my chest hair, I could tell it was getting thinner. Two hairs I was specifically watching don't even grow anymore. The most immediate effect I got was absolutely no acne for a month. (Now my acne comes back in cycles of like once a month but not as bad). Within the first week the number of hairs I noticed in the shower was down from 40 or so to 10-20.

 

[Thickandthin]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

Well, it's been 3 months and I have to say that my hair feels a bit thicker.

I got lazy and took 1.25 mg (quartered a pill) for a couple days instead of dissolving it in Everclear like I normally do, and definitely had a much limper penis and an itchy nipple, so I think my stuff is legit. No problems on .5 mg/day though.

But yeah.....not much to report overall. Probably won't see anything conclusive until May....

Edit: Oh yeah, I should also say that I seem to be shedding quite a bit. Not in the realm of what some of you guys experienced (handfuls at a time) but about a week ago I pulled on my frontal hair and had 5 in my fingers. That's never happened before and it freaked me out. Random hair drops seem to happen quite often too - but my hair still seems thicker. Hmmmm....

 

[BodyDysmorphic]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

just be patient......you hair takes time to grow ...and its not bad loss ..maybe just a "mature hairline" god i hate that term!

 

[Thickandthin]

Re: Thickandthin's story, 22 years old (pictures of hairline)

Yep....being patient is hard though.

I'm a hairline checker. I check it every damn day.

And today it looked worse.....like it's noticeably receded in the past week or something. Argh.

My bangs look thicker and seem to cover my forehead better than before, but I'm shedding like crazy from the front. And as I said, my hairline looks no better/worse than before.

I think I'm going to get a short haircut tomorrow and just stop worrying about it for a while....

 

[Thickandthin]

Jesus......my hairline continues to deteriorate on a daily basis it seems.

My recession doesn't seem much worse in terms of depth - the right side has caught up with the left, but my frontal island is becoming TINY.

Here's an example of what's happened in about a year's time

That's from last April, and the black marks show where I've lost hair since then. My forelock is pathetic now.

I have to keep repeating to myself that finasteride is not eating my hairline and can only make my hair better. And that since my hairline is going so quick, I'm starting Rogaine Foam again on the temples in an effort to possibly regrow something. This time it might actually have an effect since I'm using it with finasteride...

Ugh. I hate struggling with this every f*****g day.

 

[iwantperfection]

chin up man. ur hair looks good. keep the finasteride....sorry.. keep the faith

 

[Thickandthin]

It did look ok.....now it's starting to look pretty bad in the front.

My hair is longer now so that might have something to do with it, but the front is so wispy. Walking around on campus is a nightmare because the wind just has a field day with my hair. And I look at other dudes...even guys with haircuts similar to mine and their hair doesn't budge even in strong gusts.