How much did hairloss change your life?

[Toms]

Deleted.

 

[EvilLocks]

From heaven to hell, to put it simply. (Okay it wasn't perfect before but compared to now like a dream)

 

[hellouser]

Drastically... and that's an understatement. To put it simply; I've been robbed of my identity. I am today someone who I don't want to be and neither does society.

 

[EvilLocks]

But what?? Are you a girl? Is it like you have the Female Pattern Baldness?

Yes, I have Female Pattern Baldness, Deluxe edition...

 

[EvilLocks]

Damn, are you on treatment?

Rogaine and oral spironolactone, for more than a year, but unfortunately my hair loss is of the aggressive kind and treatment don't work The way you wrote about how hair loss changed your life could be me in guy form.. exactly the same happened to my life, exept i already left my studies. Good luck with your treatment, hope they work better than for me!

 

[EvilLocks]

EvilLocks, I hope you restore your hair...

However, how could nature be so cruel? I have though about rather having like a brain cancer... No one would judge you for it, everyone would respect you for going through something like that, all your loved ones and friends would visit you...
It's not like hairloss is a joke. Hair loss is above brain cancer. When you are bald, you are being judged on - being depressed, being bald, taking propecia, wearing wigs, being suicidal. And neither does your loved ones or your friends want to see you. Because you are depressed over "just hair".

Comparing with brain cancer is a little extreme, but I agree with the rest. I'm simply so tired of hearing "it's just hair", and my therapist(s) thinking they can somehow fix my brain to embrace hair loss with open arms and realise how "beautiful I am", "with or without hair". 2 years ago I was a prime female, when I went out with my friends I always got attention and guys bought me drinks. In my class all the guys except one who had a girlfriend crushed on me (they told me). Now I am a shell of my former self, insecure, put on weight (trying to fix this now), looks tired all the time, don't bother to dress up etc... I have no life, no future, no nothing because of hair loss. I can only hope the cure will be here soon (can't come soon enough), but in the meantime I will have to resort to wigs or toppers (toupee). Hair loss really sucks the life out of a person...

 

[CursedMen]

I'm 21 years old and instead of spending the best years of my life care free I worry about my hair every waking hour and sometimes in my dreams. I spend 30 minutes everyday styling my hair so it doesn't look like I'm losing it. I used to love going outside, lakes, beaches, and swimming pools. Now I don't like any of that because of the constant worry about the wind messing up my hair. To say the least, hair loss has had a negative impact on every aspect in my life. And it is only getting worse. I've been on finpecia, minoxidil, and nizoral, and I don't believe they are helping.

 

[EvilLocks]

I feel just like you, exactly, it is the same, are you also 20 or in early 20s?

22 This started at 20 for me as well. No women in my family has hair loss, but the men has.

 

[EvilLocks]

I didn't think that Female Pattern Baldness actually existed... Is it really a permanent hair loss or are you having like Alopecia Areata?

Neither did I before I became the unfortunate one. But apparently it does, experts say 40% of women will experience this form of hair loss, but usually it's after the menopause... I seriously doubt those facts though, as I inspect every head of hair I see when outside in public, and after looking at hundreds (or thousands) of women I have come across 2 case of FPHL, and both women were over the age of 60. So I'm seriosuly doubting if those numbers are real...

Yes, it is permanent and progressive hair loss, it is the female version of male pattern baldness. Basically the same thing except women for some reason tend to have diffuse hair loss all over scalp, while men develop the horseshoe pattern.

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Dude I just looked at your "hair loss" pictures, and you really don't look bald at all. Go live your life, stay on treatments etc, but live your life, you have hair. The real torture begins when your hair loss gets bad, which yours is NOT! I thought you were like actually bald from the way you wrote, but trust me you are not! No one is going to notice your hair loss at this point.

 

[Exodus2011]

I also have the habit of looking at everyones head in the public. I'm like "damn, lucky, full head of hair at 30" "dude, get on treatments your temples are receding" "the dude's wearing a hat, probably a hat prisoner"
But the thing is the guys I see receding are mostly around 30 or above. I just get angry when I see a 45 year old with a FULL head of hair that lives on the street, I would accomplish so many things, if I didn't have to worry about my hair.

But I can't live like this, It is not actually receding that makes me sick for now(although it's a good centimeter on the temples), my hair looks dead! No volume, no nothing. They just are on my head thin, with no power, and slowly leaving me. For now it doesn't look like hairloss(although a balding dude on the street could see im receding), it just looks like I'm getting so much less handsome. I'm at a point where I'll soon be considering a buzz cut, a buzz cut will soon look better than this(I look really really bad with a buzz cut, zero confidence). I wake up in the mornings and every morning there is less hair on my head.

I am worrying about the possibility of sides of finasteride all the time. If I experience sides, I will have to say goodbye to my hair, which immediatly means dropping out of college, quitting job and moving.

But I understand, that some people think I'm overreacting, it's ok. Btw, have you experienced any sides? Is FPB also caused by DHT?

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By the way, I understand your situation. You feel like why you had to be one of a million who gets FPB at 20. I am also quite unlucky, with the genes of my family, there was 1/50 chance of balding at 20, 1/20 to start balding at all...

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View attachment 28561
This is how dead and thin my hair is...

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View attachment 28562
And this is my freaking perfect hairline 2 years ago.... Such a ladies man.

i see practically no hair loss lmfao. a tiny *** bit of receding but thats all 0_0

smdh i cant freaking stand how NO ONE here is ACTUALLY BALDING. i can't even relate to people on a hair loss forum . . . . .

you prolly have BDD which makes you think your pathetically minor hair problem is bigger than it is. get off this forum, go to a psychotherapist office and live life. ABSOLUTELY NO ONE can tell you are ballding

 

[Notcoolanymore]

Before I saw that this guy posted his pics, I was going to ask him to do so. I wonder how many people agree with his view point now that they see how "devastating" his hair loss really is.

 

[VeprSuper]

Toms, I see very little hair loss there. Im not that bad and yours is better than mine. Dude, just go live life and be happy.

 

[Cue Bald]

yeah, nobody will look at you and think you are even balding. Try being a NW4/NW5, sitting around the restaurant table, completely invisible to all the girls there, while they swoon over the NW1's and NW2's there.

 

[Lollerme]

EHH toms does have hairloss, you just don't see it because of his combover.
You are perhaps a nw2 now whilst 2 years ago it was a NW1.

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I concur with Exodus and Notcoolanymore here. The guys who whine the loudest here have no idea of what true hair loss is about.

They think they have it bad with their NW1 or their mature hair line. How should guys like Exodus and me react to that?

There have been some very depressed young people here, and they every reason to be. But seeing those BDD guys cry over their non-existent hair loss, it makes me angry.

In the end, it makes you wonder. Who here besides Exodus, me, uncomfortable man, Captain Forehead has been really suffering from devastating hair loss?

I'm talking about NW4 territory and more here. Who? We've never had any pictures from EvilLocks either, so who knows, it may not be as horrible as she says.

I know I was guilty of that, when I was 20 years old, thinking my hair loss was horrible at the time while my hair was in fact still pretty decent.

It's only where you hit NW5 that you realise that every Norwood before that was just a walk in the park.

At NW5, you are the bald guy, for real, no more hiding, no more respect from society, and you become invisible sexually to 95% of women.

People who have not experienced it will never understand what the NW5 crew guys are going through.

So because they have lost less hair than you, they don't have the right to be upset?
They have every right to be so, they can still save whatever they have left.

It sounds like you want everyone else to be bald so they can feel how painful you have it.

If I were you Toms, I wouldn't go posting about it here. If you are at the beggining of your hairloss you will be frowned upon by the grumpy people on this forum.
Try hairlosshelp, a better place

 

[Notcoolanymore]

I concur with Exodus and Notcoolanymore here. The guys who whine the loudest here have no idea of what true hair loss is about.

They think they have it bad with their NW1 or their mature hair line. How should guys like Exodus and me react to that?

There have been some very depressed young people here, and they every reason to be. But seeing those BDD guys cry over their non-existent hair loss, it makes me angry.

In the end, it makes you wonder. Who here besides Exodus, me, uncomfortable man, Captain Forehead has been really suffering from devastating hair loss?

I'm talking about NW4 territory and more here. Who? We've never had any pictures from EvilLocks either, so who knows, it may not be as horrible as she says.

I know I was guilty of that, when I was 20 years old, thinking my hair loss was horrible at the time while my hair was in fact still pretty decent.

It's only where you hit NW5 that you realise that every Norwood before that was just a walk in the park.

At NW5, you are the bald guy, for real, no more hiding, no more respect from society, and you become invisible sexually to 95% of women.

People who have not experienced it will never understand what the NW5 crew guys are going through.

This is why I usually avoid commenting in this section. I started losing my hair at 22/23 and am currently a severely diffuse NW3 with crown loss, so I have plenty to be upset and depressed about. With that being said I don't know what it is to be a guy in his early 20's walking around with a NW4-7. It is not that guys in the beginning stages of hair loss don't have a right to be upset because they do. The annoying part is when they have no signs or very little hair loss and they are making claims that they are suicidal or their lives are destroyed that pisses people off. These guys can give their input but to be a Norwood.5 and create 20 threads a day about how tough it is to go through life as a balding man is just way too much.

Not to offend EvilLocks but it is kind of hard to understand your view point without providing any pics. I know you may be embarrassed, WE ALL ARE, but posting pics might help us understand your point of view a little better. There are many on these boards that over exaggerate their hair loss. Even the guys with full heads of hair make the claim that "at this rate I will be completely bald in a couple of years". Being that you are a woman just makes your view point of yourself even more questionable. Not trying to be offensive, but being around women for my entire adult life, I know that they over blow every imperfection they may have.

 

[uncomfortable man]

So because they have lost less hair than you, they don't have the right to be upset?

It's not that he doesnt have a right to his feelings, it's just that his feelings are an overreaction to his situation, ie. he is exaggerating. Like anything, it's not black and white. There are many grades and levels to hairloss and the suffering it causes. But the thing is that nw5's have been through the whole spectrum so they have the perspective people like toms lack. He may be suffering now, but how much worse will his pain become as he looses more hair? He would most certainly look back at this time and shake his head at how easy he had it, just as I am shaking my head at him (and you btw) now.

 

[DoctorHouse]

I concur with Exodus and Notcoolanymore here. The guys who whine the loudest here have no idea of what true hair loss is about.

They think they have it bad with their NW1 or their mature hair line. How should guys like Exodus and me react to that?

There have been some very depressed young people here, and they every reason to be. But seeing those BDD guys cry over their non-existent hair loss, it makes me angry.

In the end, it makes you wonder. Who here besides Exodus, me, uncomfortable man, Captain Forehead has been really suffering from devastating hair loss?

I'm talking about NW4 territory and more here. Who? We've never had any pictures from EvilLocks either, so who knows, it may not be as horrible as she says.

I know I was guilty of that, when I was 20 years old, thinking my hair loss was horrible at the time while my hair was in fact still pretty decent.

It's only where you hit NW5 that you realise that every Norwood before that was just a walk in the park.

At NW5, you are the bald guy, for real, no more hiding, no more respect from society, and you become invisible sexually to 95% of women.

People who have not experienced it will never understand what the NW5 crew guys are going through.

Very well said Fred. Unfortunately, most people with BDD/OCD tend to be perfectionists as well. So if the hair is not "perfect", their world comes crashing down to the point they feel overwhelmed with anxiety and start talking "suicidal" because they are crying for help. They absolutely know they need help but they come on here for validation in hopes you will say its not that bad. However, it "backfires" with people like you, Fred, and Uncomfortable Man because you truly know what it is like to be bald. And I can totally understand why you guys react as most of society, beyond a Norwood spotter or someone else with BDD, is not going to notice minor hair loss.

Unfortunately, our media and society has created this anxiety, narcissism, and the strive for perfectionism so you are going to see more and more NW1's or those with minor hair loss posting their photo's and freaking out. I am noticing this on all the forums. Mostly young teens or early twenties finally realizing they don't look like a "cute little puppy" forever and posting their transition to a "mature adult". Hair is something we ALL are going to lose eventually at some point in our lives due to aging alone.

Of course losing significant amounts of hair at a very young age is the worse case scenario. However, people like you, Fred, have shown there are ways to cope and not make it the "end" of the world. In my opinion, you certainly have dealt with it much better than Uncomfortable Man. No offense, UCM.

If you really think about it, I feel our society has become a "nightmare". Here are some facts supporting this. The three class of medications prescribed the most are in this order: 1. narcotics for pain 2.hypertensive medications 3. anti-depressants. The most watched show now is "Walking Dead". I love the show by the way. Basically, the show is a good lesson. Hair is not going to save your *** if you live in Rick's "world". Our society is now into shows that are "nightmarish" in theme. Let's face it guys, misery loves company. Game of Thrones, another excellent show, but what is the theme. Murder and betrayal to gain power. Hair won't save your *** in that "world " either. More facts, divorce is the highest it has ever been. There are more single people than married people now. Could all these divorces be over hair loss? Doubt it. Must be miserable couples who don't know how to communicate and relate to each other because they are so into themselves instead of their partner. Very sad.

Fortunately, in my youth, sitcoms were the norm as the most popular shows on TV. However, perfectionism was there but not as bad as today. No social media back then so less narcism. Our society is basically a "train wreck" on a path to a big "nightmare". I hope things change paths in the future or the younger generation is really doomed psychologically.

Toms, yes, your hair is changing but so is your body. We call it aging. You are no longer going to look like a cute little puppy. Your transition into your 20's might have been tough but each decade it will only get worse unless we develop a way to reverse aging. There will always be guys with genetic jackpots that will always be the exception to the rule. Those guys usually become models or actors as they know it had to be in their destiny if you are born with those genes. You have to understand those situations are not the norm. However, looks will fade no matter who you are but one thing you have now that I don't is youth. So cherish it as much as you can because like hair, once its gone, its impossible to get back. Your hair is not perfect, so what. Its not the end of the world. No one will focus on YOU, more than YOU will. You will be your worse critic. You got your validation now. Your hair is not bad. Purchase your hair loss insurance policies like finasteride and minoxidil and live your life to the fullest. Just remember, hair is not going to save your *** when death is around the corner.

 

[isishearmyplea]

respect dr house!

 

[uncomfortable man]

In my opinion, you certainly have dealt with it much better than Uncomfortable Man. No offense, UCM.

How am I not supposed to take offence to that? To be fair, how long has Fred had to suffer from balness? A decade? Two decades? Not nearly as long as me. Not by a longshot. Now I can give more credit to fred than I can to you (or the likes therof) because he has actaully lived it. He knows, but he is emerging from this nightmare with his twenties in tact. He will recover, physically but more importantly emotionally. But the longer you have to endure this nightmare the more it takes from you and the more your spirit changes for the worse. If Fred hadn't the means for an hair transplant or even worse got a couple of botched jobs like SAF then I have no doubt that he would be just as jaded and pessemistic as I am. And before you tell me that SAF had a relatively healthy attitude for everything he has been through, he only arrived there AFTER achieving acceptable coverage. YOU really only have a right to judge how well we have dealt with our balness AFTER you have been through the same dismal downward slanting tunnel. Given your BDD, I'm sure you would probably make me look like the dali lama. Your privelage grants your perspective, remember that.... because I'm sure if you were Nw5 like me and with a mind like yours, you would be granted a whole new perspective on life and and it's unseen truths.

 

[DoctorHouse]

How am I not supposed to take offence to that? To be fair, how long has Fred had to suffer from balness? A decade? Two decades? Not nearly as long as me. Not by a longshot. Now I can give more credit to fred than I can to you (or the likes therof) because he has actaully lived it. He knows, but he is emerging from this nightmare with his twenties in tact. He will recover, physically but more importantly emotionally. But the longer you have to endure this nightmare the more it takes from you and the more your spirit changes for the worse. If Fred hadn't the means for an hair transplant or even worse got a couple of botched jobs like SAF then I have no doubt that he would be just as jaded and pessemistic as I am. And before you tell me that SAF had a relatively healthy attitude for everything he has been through, he only arrived there AFTER achieving acceptable coverage. YOU really only have a right to judge how well we have dealt with our balness AFTER you have been through the same dismal downward slanting tunnel. Given your BDD, I'm sure you would probably make me look like the dali lama. Your privelage grants your perspective, remember that.... because I'm sure if you were Nw5 like me and with a mind like yours, you would be granted a whole new perspective on life and and it's unseen truths.

Very wrong you would be if I would have lost my hair at an early age. I would have been more like Fred and did something about it at an early age. I am about concealing. I always wore concealer for my acne. Secondly, my father lost his hair starting at 17 and he never had an issue with it and never experienced what you have. I have asked him many times about it. True, he was born in a different generation than you but still bullies have always existed. I have met many bald men and not too many have a story to tell like you have. My cousin went bald like my dad at a very young age and never endured what you did. I asked him. He married a beautiful girl even with a high Norwood. Everyone respects him and enjoys being around him. He does not pity himself ever. You had plenty of opportunity to do something about you hair when it all started but you chose to let it go. That was your choice. I would never have chose that. You still carry your misery with you and use your baldness as a trump card. Let it go. Life is too short to wallow in your past. Most importantly, I fully apologize for offending you as I previously stated it was totally unintentionally.

It is true that I will never know what is like to be a young balding man but I had the worst next thing to that and it devastated me. Acne is no picnic either. Wearing a hat is a lot easier than having to be a slave to facial medications and have huge lesions on your face that are impossible to conceal. And walking around with bloody scabs is no picnic either. I got plenty of ridicule as a kid. I got ridiculed for other things too but I am not going to go there. You think I don't know what is is like to be bullied and ridiculed over something beyond my control. I got news for you some people might not mind losing some hair if it means they could have perfect skin for life.

Yes, its all about perspective. I have suffered from acne all my life. I still get breakouts but I have changed and realize, my skin does not define me. My perspective about life has changed totally in a positive way. My perspective about my hair has changed too because I don't have to live "your life". The mind is so powerful that perspective can change instantly. I don't need to live in your shoes to understand what its is like to be a teen and suffer from a genetic defect that some people might feel is worse than hair loss. I think if you asked me which was worse back then, I probably would have said acne. I am sure acne forums do not differ much from this forum. I am sure it was my acne that eventually sparked up my brain to develop BDD/OCD. As my skin got cleared, I found hair as my next obsession. Now its hair and skin. However, neither were responsible for my career or my success in it. My perspective changed. I can't say I don't regress but I am a way better person than I was 10 year ago. We have all suffered with different affliction both genetically or beyond our control but I manage to stay positive and focus on living my life to fullest. I only post in these forums in hopes that I might change some perceptive for someone else so their life does not have to be a train wreck. I don't have to be bald guy to do that.