22 Years old and suddenly my hair has taken a turn for the worse.

[tommania]

Hi folks.

My names Tom and I'm 22 from England.

I'm currently experiencing some what I'd say are quite early but bad hairline problems. I've spoke with my older brothers and dad and they all have really nice straight hairlines, and mine has taken a turn for the worse. If you look below, about 12 months ago I had long thick great hair. The hairdressers would always compliment on it, I even shaved it all off at one point and it grew back fine and retained a somewhat straight hairline. In the past 6 months my hair has now got a lot worse. I've noticed more hairs around the bed etc. and my hairlines is just coming to pieces. I'm attaching before and now pics. What can I do to help this recover? Will it recover? My crown looks okay really, its just the darn front! I really like my hair and I feel like it is one of my only redeeming features, and my friends and girls always liked it and I want to keep it I'm currently experiencing a lot more stress in my life, I work two jobs and I've moved out, is it all related? can it be reversed? What meds?

Thank you.

Tom

Before:

- - - Updated - - -

Not the best pics I know! I don't really take photos that much, these are taken from a little band tour video I did, and the shameless selfies are at work!

Thank you.

Please help.

T

 

[Mapleman]

So you went from a straight hairline, to a solid Norwood 2.5 in 6 months? You need to get on finasteride. Luckily your crown isn't that bad, so you'll probably be fine unless your genetics are bad (like mine) and finasteride won't do anything at all.

 

[tommania]

So you went from a straight hairline, to a solid Norwood 2.5 in 6 months? You need to get on finasteride. Luckily your crown isn't that bad, so you'll probably be fine unless your genetics are bad (like mine) and finasteride won't do anything at all.

Thanks mate I'll look into that asap. Its honestly been about that time I can't understand it and neither does my family! I've always loved my hair and I want to grow it long again but I'm assuming that's totally out of the question

 

[Swoop]

Look into finasteride (crucial) and minoxidil asap. Already gave you that advice somewhere else.

 

[g.i joey]

yeah man... this is exactly what happened to me... had a high forehead my whole life but nice density, i also used to be in the metal scene and in a band and hair is SOOOOO crucial when in that scene, luckily i stopped playing in a band before my hairloss kicked in.. then one summer i noticed it thinned a little at the forelock and its been downhill since there, ive been on low doses of finasteride which have def slowed down my loss, but if i want to stop it i think ill need to be alot more consistent with doses over .5mg

 

[davesmith420]

Your hairline looks basically the same to me in the before and after pictures (you can see a lot of temple in the before pictures). But still you caught your hair loss early, look into Finasteride.

 

[diehunnen123]

try taking a close up of your hairline with the flash. so we can see how much regrowth would be possible

 

[Rudiger]

Your hairline looks basically the same to me in the before and after pictures (you can see a lot of temple in the before pictures).

Exactly. I don't know how OP or others aren't seeing this.

But this is a good thing, going from NW1 to NW2.5 in 6 months would mean aggressive hair loss has started out of nowhere. You've probably been receding for a few years and not noticed, I know that sounds strange but actually plenty of people on here have written about it. Especially if you have thick hair that goes over the temples, you probably just didn't pull it back much when looking in the mirror.

And also, I know you mentioned more hairs around the bed, but if you lost THAT much hair, especially long thick hair, in the space of 6 months, man it would be absolutely covering the place. Mine used to be like dog hairs at the top of the bed from ages 18-23ish, and I always kept it short, and it gradually went back to an NW2. So yeah yours would be like malting if it was that much recession in 6 months.

 

[davesmith420]

Exactly. I don't know how OP or others aren't seeing this.

But this is a good thing, going from NW1 to NW2.5 in 6 months would mean aggressive hair loss has started out of nowhere. You've probably been receding for a few years and not noticed, I know that sounds strange but actually plenty of people on here have written about it. Especially if you have thick hair that goes over the temples, you probably just didn't pull it back much when looking in the mirror.

And also, I know you mentioned more hairs around the bed, but if you lost THAT much hair, especially long thick hair, in the space of 6 months, man it would be absolutely covering the place. Mine used to be like dog hairs at the top of the bed from ages 18-23ish, and I always kept it short, and it gradually went back to an NW2. So yeah yours would be like malting if it was that much recession in 6 months.

Yeah even when his hair is short in the one before picture you can see he has the same amount of recession going on as his after pictures. I can relate to you guys, I thought my hair loss happened out of no where. But after lurking some old pictures and videos of myself I could see that it had actually been going on for a good year or so. I think I just started to become more aware of it after I saw some thread about balding on 4chan, then it all clicked. Thankfully it seems like we caught it early and with treatments we can maintain/regrowth.

 

[Rudiger]

Oh no I did realise from an early age, I'm not sure if I was actually losing hair at 16 but it already wasn't the thickest and a few friends had noticed. By 18/19 I was definitely noticing recession on my right temple especially for some reason, too bad I was too naive to think curing it would be simple so I didn't do anything about it.

However I will say that sometimes I did manage to block how bad it was getting out of my head, sometimes even for months, genuinely just putting it aside in my brain, not able to cope with thinking about it. So I mean if someone can do that after knowing they have hair loss, for someone who hasn't had it, it's totally possible to block it out of your brain for years before facing up to it.

 

[tommania]

try taking a close up of your hairline with the flash. so we can see how much regrowth would be possible

I'll try and get a photo up tomorrow. Its just strange as when I cut it short it grew back so much better than it is now had it trimmed a few times and its just gone pear shaped! What do you guys reckon are my chances of those two meds?

 

[davesmith420]

I'll try and get a photo up tomorrow. Its just strange as when I cut it short it grew back so much better than it is now had it trimmed a few times and its just gone pear shaped! What do you guys reckon are my chances of those two meds?

You have like an 80% chance of maintaining what you currently have on Finasteride. 50% (someone correct me if I'm wrong) of those 80% see a decent amount of regrowth. Since you're younger I think you have a good chance of seeing some thickening of your crown and temples. Don't expect to become a full Norwood 1 again though the temples are the hardest to regrow. Along with Minoxidil (aka Rogaine) you'll probably see some good results. Worse case scenario all these do is just slow down your hair loss considerably. But realistic I think you should expect to maintain and have some thickening. Best of luck.

 

[blackg]

You always did have a receding hairline, dude. At least for the past few years. It does look a bit thinner now, though, sorry. How long between those band shots and the more recent selfies?
And, what style of music do ya play? Country?

 

[tommania]

You always did have a receding hairline, dude. At least for the past few years. It does look a bit thinner now, though, sorry. How long between those band shots and the more recent selfies?
And, what style of music do ya play? Country?

Yo dude. I know it was always like that, and it was always high and I just used to say I had a big forehead! But it's just like drastically gone worse now, it's not growing back like it used to everytime I had it trimmed!
It's about a year max between.

I'm based in England, I play everything! Been in bands for years! Currently started playing music in a band and we're influenced by a UK band called Basement.

- - - Updated - - -

[SUB]I'm thinking about going on the minoxidil, but is the finasteride definitely safe? just came across some horror stories[/SUB]

 

[davesmith420]

Don't read into the horror stories. Just give it a shot and if you get any undesirable sides then get off of it. If you just use minoxidil alone you'll continue to lose ground. Hell, I would just give Finasteride alone a shot for a year before adding minoxidil.

 

[BJtheadult]

try taking a close up of your hairline with the flash. so we can see how much regrowth would be possible

Just wondering how can you possibly see that when using flash, don't mean to sound rude.

 

[Chiefton93]

Need help or advice on what is going on with my hair ??

I'm a 23 year old and in the last 2 years I've noticed my hair is slowly thinning on the crown but no were else. I wear a hard hat all dat for construction could that be the cause? Am I going bald? It's starting to make me anxious on the way I appear in public I don't know what to do . You can't really tell but I know I can when sunlight hits it.

 

[marciojersey]

Dude, I highly doubt your hairline could recede so much in just 6 months. It actually looks the same to me in the before and after pictures. But anyway, it's too receded for your age so you should get on propecia and rogaine. At 23, I had thick hair but a bad hairline so I got on propecia. I'm 31 now and my hairline has receded very little.

 

[davesmith420]

I'm a 23 year old and in the last 2 years I've noticed my hair is slowly thinning on the crown but no were else. I wear a hard hat all dat for construction could that be the cause? Am I going bald? It's starting to make me anxious on the way I appear in public I don't know what to do . You can't really tell but I know I can when sunlight hits it.

I saw your pictures in the other thread. Yes you crown is starting to thin but it's very minor. Thankfully Finasteride and minoxidil work best of the crown area so you should see good results.

 

[tommania]

I saw your pictures in the other thread. Yes you crown is starting to thin but it's very minor. Thankfully Finasteride and minoxidil work best of the crown area so you should see good results.

Thanks everyone. You've really given me some great advice. I want to keep my hair as long as I can and I want to grow it long. Will it hinder my results if I don't cut it short whilst I'm on minoxidil and finasteride?