Decided to accept balding...LIFE MUST GO ON. (long post)

[80sRevival]

I have decided to throw in the towel and accept my balding. I am still very young, at the age of 24. Now I'm not entirely bald yet (diffuse thinner - crown particular) and I'm sure that I can go on finasteride and save my hair. But I've given up. I don't care. I've decided instead to put my head down and work hard in the business world and become wealthy. I will direct my energies from looking at the mirror into other things that will matter in the long term. I will shave my head and hit the gym hard. I don't look good with a shaved head because my head is big - BUT WHO f*****g CARES?!? There I said it! IF YOU'RE JUDGING ME FOR THE WAY I LOOK...then f*** OFF because you're not worth my time anyways! I only want to have relationships with REAL poeple. That should be our outlook on the balding situation. So what if we don't have hair? LIFE MUST GO ON.

My rational is it's better to be rich, bald and ugly rather than poor, bald and ugly. (Ugly only if you can't pull off the bald look)

Whats the point? If it's our genetic programming that your hair will fall out, then so let it be. I think that most of us here place alot of value on our looks and hair because we don't have much else going for us in terms of real life. Therefore, if we lose our hair its the end of the world because theres nothing else after that. But I'm not dissing everyone out there. I know that everyone even if you rich/poor and successful that you still feel like sh*t when you're balding.

I don't want to go on finasteride because porpecia, proscar - the sh*t ain't candy. People tell other people to go on Propecia likes its a bag of Skittles or something. The drug is very powerful. Heck, if pregnant women can't come in contact with it, why are we eating it everyday? Doesn't make sense. The sh*t will f*** you up. There are no studies to prove that now but (let's use some common sense here) if pregnant women can't touch it, why are we even eating it? And it costs money too. Money you can spend on other things like a house or a car or a yacht (jk).

Don't give another penny to those companies who PREY on your greatest fears and sell you a product that will help with maintaing your hair. It's only good for 5 yrs anways people!!!! After 5 years, the shareholders of Propecia, Merck to be exact are on their yachts in FLorida and driving their BMWs on your espense. While you still lose your hair, they're making millions off of people. Thats why once you take Propecia, you have to keep taking it!!! Same with all other hair cures/elixirs out there.

Balding was there in the 1800s and its here now. And there still is no cure in sight. There is no cure because you have multibillion dollar drug companies who spend money not on FINDING the cure. But millions of dollars researching a drug that you have to spend the rest of your life on to have hair so they can make they billions in profit. It's just a business folks, they don't care if you grow hair or not. Just as long as you pay for their drug then they're happy.

Don't get me started on Rogaine, because that sh*t is a mess - even if its fast drying. And you have to put it on in the morning and at night? WTF? Might as well make it a 3 meal deal. Apply it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 3-5 years after roagaine has lost its effectiveness and you're balding once again you're gonna kick yourself for wasting time on your hair when you could have been advancing your life or forming relationships etc.

Have you noticed the common denominator/trick for all hair products? Once you use them you have to KEEP using them. You know what that means? Money our of your pockets and into their pockets for a long long long time.

Just f*** regimens and go for a trip around the world. Heck, some peoples' regimens here are so long, what will happen if you travel? Or if you're removed from your comfort zone (applying sh*t in the secrecy of your home). What happens when you play sports or go swim in the pool? Shave your head and enjoy life. Your hair is consuming your life with these regimens. You are in control of your life, not your hair.

In conclusion, we have to realise that the end result is that we will go bald. The faster we accept it, the faster we can move on in our lives and make a contribution to society. The faster we accept it, the less money drug companies can steal from us by preying on our insecurities and fears. Shame on them. Life is larger than hair. Be grateful that you have arms, legs and the 5 senses. You don't need hair to live. Nad the people who judge us for our looks? A big f*** YOU, I won't be sharing my millions with you! Real people, real friends and REAL GIRLFRIENDS will accept you in any form. Hairy or bald.

 

[circusrat]

Good post man. Alot of what you say is true and to not care anymore would be heaven. I just started the fight at 23, so i'm still holding on to the hope I can maintain the hair I have with these regimines you have forsaken.

I suppose in a year or two if it keeps progressing that I might take the stance you have and buzz it. It's alot to swallow for us guys that have used our full heads of nicely styled hair to get women though. I've had a baby face my entire life. If I buzz my hair and let the balding take its course... i've just completely altered my image to the world. I'll look much older and probably much less attractive. Of course, your point of view is f*** the world and what they think. You have to admit though, that is an extremely tough stance to take.

 

[daedalus]

80s revival, you make some excellent points. I've been thinking a lot about this stuff myself. These regimens really can take over your life. The best thing by far I've done for my hairloss battle is buzzing my hair down to a #1 setting. I still think about my hairloss, but not nearly as much as before.

Yeah, it was hard going from a full, thick head of hair to practically nothing. It probably makes me look older, possibly less attractive. But it's something I can learn to live with.

I agree 100% with your point about propecia. This stuff is NOT candy. It amazes me how quickly people jump on it, thinking it's harmless. Maybe at some point down the road, studies will show that it is indeed a dangerous drug.

The important thing is just living for each day and making the most of your life, with whatever circumstances you have been given. If I was destined to be bald, I have to focus on other areas of my life. Like you said, I still have arms, legs and 5 senses. There's a whole world out there to be enjoyed, and I don't need my hair to enjoy it.

As far as attracting women, the interesting thing is that the two best looking women I've ever dated I met when I had already buzzed my hair. So it is obviously still possible to meet and attract good looking girls. I just went on a date last night with a girl, who in my opinion is gorgeous. She didn't seem to care at all that I have a buzzed/almost shaved head.

Now, of course there are some women who do judge guys based on hair. But I want nothing to do with girls like that anyway. If you don't like the way I look, f*** you. That's my attitude now. I'm still a fairly attractive guy even with a shaved head, so life can go on.

The only treatment I'm currently using is revivogen. It's a long shot that it will actually do anything for my hair, but I've accepted that eventually I will be bald anyway.

My point is, you have to enjoy life and live everyday to the fullest. Hairloss sucks, but it is not the end of the world. The moment you begin to accept it, you will be that much more mentally free.

 

[Red Rose]

Just f*** regimens and go for a trip around the world. Heck, some peoples' regimens here are so long, what will happen if you travel? Or if you're removed from your comfort zone (applying sh*t in the secrecy of your home). What happens when you play sports or go swim in the pool? Shave your head and enjoy life. Your hair is consuming your life with these regimens. You are in control of your life, not your hair.
.

You make some good points - especially this one.

I have laughed out loud so many times when I have read that some people apply X to their head, go to bed, get up at 3am and apply Y and/or wash out X, go back to bed...or they have written in asking "will my hair fall out now that I missed a minoxidil application..." :smash:

 

[X190]

Viva le baldus!

 

[Chris Johnson]

You'll be back and when you do you'll go on Propecia, Avodart, and all kinds of other sh*t that's out by then.

 

[Trent]

sure, he makes excellent points. try not to care about hairloss, look for people who judge on character, not looks. all those things are very very true, and actually starting to lose my hair has made me realize a lot of that. on the other hand, a pill in the morning is not a huge inconvenience in my life, neither is nizoral since i have to shampoo anyway. so i can travel, do whatever. my goal is to have your above outlook, while quietly fighting male pattern baldness the best way i can. sure propecia/proscar is a little scary, but its been taken for a long time to treat benign prostatic hypertrophy (before it was ever dreamed of for hair loss), so its long term safety has also been tested, and has passed with flying colors. My dermatologist actually called it one of the safest drugs out there. yes, it can't be used by women, but that's because women can get pregnant!! as far as i know, it poses no danger to an adult female, only to the potential fetus she may carry, who during development, may need the correct male hormones to organize the process. I'm not denying that there is some risk, there probably is. and one might say, well hairloss isn't life threatening, why take the risk? why take any risk? there is risk in going to the mall to get that shirt i've been wanting to make myself look better (not a necessary action in the sense that i need it to live), but i may get in an accident along the way. you have to measure the reward, and the possible negative effects and decide if its right for YOU! 80s Revival, i respect your decision, you have weighed the rewards and consequences, and made your decision. best of luck to you man!!

but for me, I know that propecia doesn't block 100 percent of DHT, so i'm not just ridding my body of something it may need, the safety profiles have been very good for the drug long term, I feel i may be saving my hair for years until a better treatment comes along, I feel better (innerpeace if you want to call it that) knowing i'm doing everything i can within reason to fight it, its very easy to fit into my life, hair is important to me (and not because its "all i have" that keeps me going, but yes, it is one thing that i like about myself) and propecia has a pretty good success rate. These are the rewards i weighed against only speculated side effects that we are unsure of, that could happen in years beyond those tested clinically. Everyone is different, and everyone should make decisions based on research they have done on the drug.

just wanted to pose different perspective on the whole thing. again, good luck to you 80s revival. hair loss sucks!

 

[drinkrum]

You'll be back and when you do you'll go on Propecia, Avodart, and all kinds of other sh*t that's out by then.

Haha.

D.

 

[johnboy]

I enjoyed your post and totally agree with your outlook about the judging of other people, if for some reason they want to judge you then f*** them. But, instead of maintaining my hair for other peoples piece of mind I do it because of my own. I like having hair for me, not for other people I miss styling my hair the way I want to. I am not afraid of other peoples judgements, instead I want my hair for me. If that is vanity, so be it, I really dont give a sh*t.

 

[finallyhair]

I think you all have great points and I've felt a little bit like all of you at one time. Fortunately, I now have hair. You really get use to the regimen.
The way I think of it is that the #1 cause of male death is prostate cancer and proscar shrinks and keeps the prostate in check. You get hair and keep your prostate healthy at the same time. Not a bad deal. How many times have you heard that you will soon need saw palmetto for a better functioning prostate? How many people take saw palmetto instead of proscar for their hair? Answer: alot. It's no big deal for us when our girlfriend has to pop a birth control pill every morning, she's use to it. You get use to it also.
Sometimes it takes a little work to look good. But I guess you have a valid point, I wish I was that humble. I just can't accept hairloss. There is a solution and I chose to take it. I'm happy now and the bill is paid off. It's a great feeling and somewhere down the road I may have to do it again.

 

[thin=depressed]

Good points all. Although every damn one of us if almost completely bald would not think twice about using a regimen that actually did place a combable amount of hair on our head. Its a hole different world to a bald pated man compared to a thin scalped man.

 

[Guest]

Nice attitude.

However, i will do evrything in my power to stop, slow are reverse male pattern baldness without having a hair transplant.

If you can do something about it, why not try?

You have quit before you have even tried.

i dont believe finasteride has any real side effects. Half of it is psychological man.

Floppy c*** and growing tits are things that happen to people sometimes anyway.

 

[80sRevival]

You're missing the point. You have to look at the big picture.

male pattern baldness cannot be stopped or prevented. There is no cure. It's not like a cold where you can drink some cough syrup and it'll get better and eventually go away.

You are just wasting time, money and effort in slowing down the inevitable. Imagine if you go invited to a dumb reality TV show like Survivor or Big Brother, and you spent that much time on a regimine. That will temporarily slow down male pattern baldness, but you body is a powerful thing. Eventually it adjusts and your balding will come back. It's better just accepting you're balding and allowing ppl to see that and so you can move on with your life.

Being bald is more accepted in todays society than it was in the past because the population is more and more showing this trait. Even in men and women. Just riding the bus and train to work (before I get my 3) I see lots of people losing their hair. It is fine people. I see even Women losing their hair (thats more devastating than men losing their hair).

 

[itsjustaphase]

I actually really like trent's approach. This is how I see this male pattern baldness thing:

1) In terms of the safety profile of propecia, I just think that there are so many things we eat, drink or do that are dangerous in some way. We take other medications that have gone through even less stringent tests. Granted hairloss is cosmetic and so we do not HAVE to take these drugs, but I truly believe these things are worth the miniscule risk.

2) While there is no CURE, there are really quite effective treatments. If you think about it, we are the first generation of male pattern baldness sufferers who can do something about their condition. I find it kind of empowering to know we can do alot to stop this or minimize the damage. If propecia gives me another 5 more years for popping a pill every morning before brushing my teeth, thats AMAZING. 5 YEARS! Sure the hairloss may eventually take over but if you really believe in living life each day, why not do so with more hair?

3) I do think it can be a huge waste to spend so much time worrying about our hair loss. However, i think its very natural, especialyl in the beginning. My take is that there is a certain point where we can do something to put an end to this problem, and that is right now. I have decided to dedicate this year to stopping my hairloss and growing as much as possible. Doesn't mean I'm not going to live my life, but it does mean I will make that extra effort. Because even if you accept going bald at the moment, maybe 5 years from now you're going to regret not putting in the effort when you had the chance. And 80'srevival if you are going to shave your head regardless, you can slap on some minoxidil in the morning, take a propecia each morning (assuming u decide its safe - of coruse thats your discretion) and not have to worry about sheds. If it ends up not working, the loss is mostly financial. Following your regimen will not make you waste significantly more time thinking about hairloss if you are mentally strong enough to just move on, as you seem ready to right now. Give it your best shot for a year. You won;t get worse, and may even get much much better that you can apply your regimen knowing that its working with a smile on your face which actually has been the case with people on this forum.

Ok this is hella long. Good luck everyone. There is a huge element of luck here, but we do have some control and I think we should give it our best shot at least so we know we tried and wont have regrets years down the line.

 

[stevieb]

all i have to say is....KEEP ON FIGTHING THE BATTLE OF THE BALD....if i have the ammunition, then i am going to use it, and if i fail, then i failed trying!!!!

there is no way that i am going to give up that easily...while i understand the point that 80'srevival is trying to make, i still see it as giving up!!!

F#@k that...i am not giving up!!!

keep it up fellas!!!!

 

[Trent]

I wasn't arguing with you 80s revival, i told you that i respected your decision. While i don't believe you were "missing the point" about male pattern baldness, because everyone has their own issues that play into this, I do believe you were "missing the point" about my post. i was simply providing my very different perspective on your topic.

i'm fully aware of "the big picture" that you spoke of, that male pattern baldness probably will eventually creep up on me, not to be an ***, but no sh*t! that has little to nothing to do with my decision to fight it. Its about avoiding something i don't want for as long as i can. Its the same reason i brush my teeth everyday, i'm trying to avoid something i dont' want: shitty teeth. Will teeth eventually get old, rotted and require dentures when i get older, probably, but i choose to brush them each morning and night (despite the fact that rotted teeth is not life threatening) to put this negative off. Or I could accept it, and let everyone know NOW that my teeth will rot by not brushing them. That's MY approach to this whole thing, and its not the right answer for everyone. I'm just trying to demonstrate my perspective. I'm trying to show you that i'm not missing any point, i just have a difference of opinion. So enjoy your new carefree perspective, i'll just keep trucking away wasting my time and money on hair loss treatments and toothpaste for as long as i can, hoping quietly in the background for a cure.

 

[DarklyCharming]

I guess the real test is that if a cure does become available or HM is suddenly an option, you don't go get it. Because its the way you are.

 

[pleasehelpme]

i cant say that i agree with accepting hairloss but nevertheless it is a great post.

good luck with your life and business.

peace

 

[Trent]

basically, you're not going to get many people to agree with you if you're posting in a forum where people are trying to learn about how to treat hair loss; obviously we all care about our hair and most will fight till the end. I really do respect you if you can just move on, takes balls, if not, and you come back for advice on treatments, here we'll be

 

[drinkrum]

You're missing the point. You have to look at the big picture.

male pattern baldness cannot be stopped or prevented. There is no cure. It's not like a cold where you can drink some cough syrup and it'll get better and eventually go away.

You are just wasting time, money and effort in slowing down the inevitable. Imagine if you go invited to a dumb reality TV show like Survivor or Big Brother, and you spent that much time on a regimine. That will temporarily slow down male pattern baldness, but you body is a powerful thing. Eventually it adjusts and your balding will come back. It's better just accepting you're balding and allowing ppl to see that and so you can move on with your life.

Being bald is more accepted in todays society than it was in the past because the population is more and more showing this trait. Even in men and women. Just riding the bus and train to work (before I get my 3) I see lots of people losing their hair. It is fine people. I see even Women losing their hair (thats more devastating than men losing their hair).

That is a very provincial and fatalistic view. Let me extend your logic a tad bit further. Since we're all going to die anyway (it's inevitable), why live now? In your words, we're just wasting "time, money and effort" -- why not just kill ourselves now and get it over with? Get my drift?

The point with slowing down baldness by doing something about it is to maximize the incremental (marginal) benefit we get from having hair minus the marginal cost (time, effort, money). For most of us, the marginal benefit exceeds the marginal cost. For you, obviously, the marginal cost is much too high, and so, you'd rather not be bothered by it. To each their own.

D.