Introduction, Pics & Questions

[wombat]

Hi,

I'm 26 and have just started hair loss treatment. I'm Unlucky because my hairloss started at around 20, but lucky because it's been very slow since then. I remember on my 21st birthday pulling back my hair to show my friends my hairline and they were all shocked. None of them had any signs of hairloss, but now many of them are much balder than I am. In the time it took me to lose a teeny bit of hair, some of my mates lost almost all of theirs. In the last year or so I noticed it starting to get thinner on top and it started becoming more obvious so I shaved it off.

For the last 2 years I have kept my hair shaved almost to the skin. I'm happy like this as it's not that important to me, but if I can grow some back I may as well try it.

I always thought procepia and minoxidil were nonsense and didn't work until I did a bit of research on them and found out that they did work for many people. So I thought why not? If it doesn't work I'll just keep shaving my hair, but although I pretend to my mates that I don't care, it would kind of be nice having hair again (although the intimidation factor of having a shaved head is priceless!).

I'm cutting Proscar tabs into quarters and using minoxidil. I started using the proscar about 3 and a half months ago, the minoxidil about a week or two ago. I have noticed that I have a few stray dark hairs growing around my hairline which kind of look weird cause they're growing where my hairline would have been 5 or 6 years ago and are just there by themselves. I don't know if this is regrowth or hair that I had and just didn't notice before (I didn't pay any attention really until I started treatment). I have also noticed that there is small soft, white hairs growing around my receeding hairline, but once again I don't know if this is the start of regrowth or if I had it before I started treatment.

I'm going to give the the tried & true procepia, minoxidil and Nizoral combination a go for about 12 months. If I don't notice any difference then I'll quit them, because - to be quite honest - I am a little concerned about screwing around with my natural hormones.

Below are some pictures. Like I said, I don't know if I've had any regrowth or not. It's hard to tell because the first one I have my hair shaved much shorter than in the second one, but it's the only photographs I have. In the second photo the "stray" dark hairs that I referred to around my old hairline are obvious, especially on the right hand side.

What do you guys reckon? Maybe I can regrow some hair? I don't care too much if I don't. I'll keep a record, taking new photos every few weeks.

This one is from 28 Jan, 2004 before starting treatment.

This one is from 6 May, 2004.



Hey thanks for reading my long (and probably boring) post.

 

[NilesTilden]

That's a good attitude to have about it. Wish my hair was of such little importance to me.

It looks to me like you may well have some regrowth. In pic 2 the hair looks thicker than I'd picture grown out a little in pic 1. Also looks like more uniform coverage across the scalp.

If you do decide to drop propecia at some point, you'd probably be able to keep some with continued minoxidil use, without messing with the hormones.

Congrats, I think it's working.

 

[wombat]

Wish my hair was of such little importance to me.

Hey thanks mate.

Let me tell you though, when I first started going bald I freaked. It was only after a couple of years that I got used to it. When I shaved my hair I realised that it really didn't make much difference at all. Some people literally didn't even notice that my hair had gone from about 3 inches long to about 1mm long.

I actually started getting more girls than I did before because I started listening to them and being myself instead of just trying to look good, which is very transparent anyway (and lets face it, if it weren't for girls nobody would give two knobs of sheep sh*t how bald they were. I certainly wouldn't). Seriously, the only reason people want hair is to look good for girls, and once you realise it's not that important to girls, hair becomes not that important to you. Sure hair helps, but a friendly, confident bald guy with a big smile who is genuinely interested in what a girl is saying and can relate to what she is saying is going to fare much better than the bloke who is always talking about himself and is too cool to smile and be friendly, no matter how much hair he has.

But anyway, I ramble...and it's only my opinion anyway. I'm certainly no don juan, so take my advice with a grain of salt... (or maybe I'm just way off track anyway)

And when it's all said and done, I'm taking the drugs anyway so it must be somewhat important to me deep inside although I do feel content with the idea of living the rest of my life with a shaved head. Just experimenting I guess...

 

[The Gardener]

Yeaaah, Wombat, I think you are a responder, bud. That is good news.

I kind of had a similar positive response early in my regimen. I got all excited, thinking the pace would continue and my temples would be filled in by next month. Wrong.

What ended up happening is that those 'stray hairs' popping up in the bald area will continue to 'pop up', but that is not how the real regrowth happened. What happened instead is that the hair in my center strip, between the bald temples, started growing thicker, then the center strip slowly started getting wider, minimizing the temples. It is a hair-by-hair fight, so celebrate the new hairs but be patient, because it will take you several months of this continuously before you start seeing cosmetic improvements. Patience, bud.

 

[wombat]

Hey cool. I hope your right, that would be great.

 

[Guest]

I think you also have the advantage as well with your hair loss so young. Some of us lose our hair over many years where as you have lost yours quite early. I know that's no consilation but I'd rather have been losing it much quicker much younger than trying to make my hair look half decent now that I am 35.

But I suppose you would wish you had my hair when you are 35.

 

[Kramer3]

Wombat:

First off I have to say it's refeshing to hear from someone with such a positive outlook on their situation.

That being said, it appears as if you are one of the immeadite responders to the Big 3. You still have the crucial hair in the apex of your head which is a good thing. I think as long as a man can preserve that, he can still preserve the image of having hair. Look at the men like Bill Murray, or Jack Nicholson. You have more hair then them yet they are still able to pull off the image of having hair, although it's very sparse.

 

[wombat]

Wow thanks guys. You're making me feel pretty optimistic about all this. I hope your predictions are right. I can't notice any real difference at all, but I guess looking at those photos it looks like it might have been thinner in the first one. Hard to tell because it's so short.

Kramer3,

To be honest I'd rather have a shaved head than hair like Murray or Nicholson. Well, at-least at my age now. Older guys with receeding hairlines often don't look like they're balding at all because it's kind of "expected". So much so that older guys with thick, coloured hair look almost strange. LOL