Mom who is concerned about my 14 year old son.

[MsMac]

My son is fourteen. As a young boy he had a high forhead and a high hairline, similiar to me (his mom). It was what I called a widow's peak. I have not paid too much attention to his hair for the past few years. He cares for and styles it himself. He wears long bangs swept to the side. He asked me to help him style it one day. I was shocked when I saw his temples! His hair line at the temples goes pretty far back. The middle section (what I always called his widows peak) doens't seem to have receded. His crown still looks full and overall his hair looks full. The temples do look as thought they have receded. I can't post pictures because I don't won't to draw his attention to it just yet. He is finishing up his eighth grade year at school and is having finals this week and next and I don't want to stress him out. He has a hard time with stress now.

There are lots of males on mine and my husbands sides of the family with hair loss. My dad and his brothers started lossing there hair in their eary thirties. My husbands father is 74 and has a small bald spot on his crown. My husbands mother's brothers started to bald in their twenties. My husbands brother had thin hair in his twenties. My brother is 46 and has l bit of thinning on his crown and top of his head. My husband is 44 and has a bald spot on his crown and some thin areas on top. Lots of balding men on both sides but none starting this early.

I check his pillow in the morning and don't see hair on it. I check the shower after he showers and don't see hair in the shower. I've also checked the chairs he sits in and I don't see any hair he has shed. His towels don't have hair. I guess he can be loosing his hair without it shedding on everything?

I've also read a good bit on these boards. It seems at his young age there are not any options to slow the process down until he is a few years older. He is very deep into puberty. He is six feet tall, he has to shave, is covered in body hair, including some chest hair. has a very deep voice, very oily skin, I think he is almost finished with puberty. My husband funished puberty at an early age.

I'm not really sure what I am asking. This summer I will bring it up to him an see what he would like to do. I will take him to a dermatologist and go from there. Any opinions or encouraging words?

 

[Diffuser44]

I would say its a mature hair line. It's technically speaking not male pattern baldness but is a form of hair loss. Most drugs can't stop the mature hair line anyway. One way to tell is to raise your eyebrows and look at the wrinkles. If the hair is within half an inch to an inch of the very top wrinkle chances are it's a mature hair line. Men with widows peaks like myself have an accentuated hair line.

 

[Sailing123]

Mature hairline most likely. Since he has not mentioned it himself, why even bring it up to him. The most effective drug, finasteride, is usually prescribed to males who are over 18. Once he is finished puberty, then he can start with the drugs. No need to add hair loss stress to a teen entering high school.

 

[zzzzz]

I would have to see pics but I doubt at 14 he is experiencing male pattern baldness. If there are no hairs on his pillow than he is probably not losing his hair. You couldn't treat it anyway until you are sure he is done with puberty because the treatments will mess with his hormones

 

[2bald2young]

Well his situation looks similiar to mine to be honest, when I was 14 I also had to shave and were literally covered in body hair. This could be a sign that he has a lot of dht however the most important thing about mbp is how sensitive his hair is for dht. Just keep an eye out and try to check his hair every now and then. Btw the good news is that if he is already done with his puberty maybe he can take finasteride when he is 16. I am 16 now and after some testing the hospital said that I could take finasteride.


Good luck

 

[MsMac]

Thanks everyone for the replies, I really appreciate it. I wish I could post pictures but I don't want to place another burden on him right now and give him something to worry about. I haven't mentioned any of this to him. 2bald2young, how often should I check his hair? Do you have the same hair pattern, receding at the temples? Will his body continue to have lots of dht when his hormones settle down? I've always expected my boys to start balding at a fairly early age because of our family history but never imagined it wuold start in their early teens.

 

[Diffuser44]

You could ask the boys male relatives what they think. They might have had the mature hair line at that age too.

 

[MsMac]

Diffuser44, that is a good idea. The only one still survivng is my husbands brother so I will check with him. My husbands uncles that had the early hair loss have all passed away as well as my dad and all his brothers.

In your earlier post you stated that I could have him check how far his hair line is from the top wrinkle. Would that be the lower hair line or the section on his temples that look like it has receded?

 

[2bald2young]

MsMac you can just look every once in a month, maybe you can compare his hairline with the norwood scale. you can find it by just typing it in google.

 

[MsMac]

I've checked the Norwood scale and am not certain but I think it would be a two. At this point I don't think it would be anything higher than that. His widows peak seems to be where his normal hair line should be. His temples seem to go back pretty far though. It doesn't look as bad since he got his hair cut. It is hard for me to get a good look at it. I'm being so careful not to tune him into it just yet because I know he will be realy upset and worried if I point it out to him. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions!

 

[Jkay]

I would have to see pics but I doubt at 14 he is experiencing male pattern baldness. If there are no hairs on his pillow than he is probably not losing his hair. You couldn't treat it anyway until you are sure he is done with puberty because the treatments will mess with his hormones

Sorry but finding some hairs on pillow does NOT mean a person has male pattern baldness and is losing there hair. Please stop giving out wrong info to people.

 

[Notcoolanymore]

This summer I will bring it up to him an see what he would like to do. I will take him to a dermatologist and go from there.

This is a good plan. Let him finish up with the school year, then take him to a dermatologist that knows about hair loss. At his age I would be hesitant to start him on any kind of med.

 

[zzzzz]

Sorry but finding some hairs on pillow does NOT mean a person has male pattern baldness and is losing there hair. Please stop giving out wrong info to people.

If he has male pattern baldness he should be finding hairs on his pillow. Not if he has hairs on his pillows he has male pattern baldness. get it? the reasoning you mentioned is the opposite of what I am saying. If he doesn't have hairs on his pillow it means he isn't shedding at least aggressively and this is an indicator he probably doesn't have male pattern baldness. How am I giving out "wrong info"? Is in not true that people with male pattern baldness will generally have an high amount of hairs on their pillow compared to other people?

 

[Sailing123]

Best to let him bring it up to you, not the other way around. No need to mention anything until he does since A. It will probably be difficult to find a doctor to prescribe Finasteride to anyone under 17/18 and B. He might not even have male pattern baldness, that may just be his hairline. He is just entering high school and no need to bring this to his attention, he probably will have plenty of stress as a teenager, without worrying about hair loss.

 

[beaner]

I would have to see pics but I doubt at 14 he is experiencing male pattern baldness. If there are no hairs on his pillow than he is probably not losing his hair. You couldn't treat it anyway until you are sure he is done with puberty because the treatments will mess with his hormones

I'm not sure why you doubt this. Male pattern baldness can strike any time after puberty begins. I noticed my hair loss at age 16 which means it started even earlier. My brother was obviously balding at a very young age as well. I knew a guy who was a Norwood 6 at age 18.

 

[PhoenixFly]

I would tread very carefully here, if you keep getting obsessed about his hair. Then he "might" become self conscious, lose confidence and become paranoid himself. If you mention how worried you are about his hair, then your basically telling him that he is not good enough from your perspective. He is at a sensitive age, his experiences now will shape the man he will become in the future.

Anyway, you know him best, so take my advice with a pinch of salt.
Good luck.

In the end it's just hair.

 

[2bald2young]

In the end it's just hair.

Despite the fact that it is just hair, hair plays a major role in someones self-esteem

 

[hellouser]

In the end it's just hair.

And our psychological well being, acceptance into community, being desired by women, self esteem and everything else....? It's not 'just hair'. You wouldn't say that to a balding woman, would you?

 

[hellouser]

I have never seen hair on my pillow or in my hands in the shower, even when I had my hair grown out, and I ended up bald.

It's dangerous because it can make you think "well if I don't see a lot of hairs fall, then I'm not balding!"

It doesn't mean anything, even Brad Pitt may lose 150 hairs a day, what matters is if they are replaced.

More important than if they are replaced is what kind of hair replaces them; thinner hairs or ones that were just as thick as the ones before?

 

[Onlinenow]

Everyone here is crazy.. My advice would be to leave him alone. Doesn't anyone here remember when they first thought their hair was thinning? It scared the **** out of you and you obsessed about it, so why would anyone here want to do that with a 14 year old? Don't take him to a dermatologist. Don't talk about it with your family. Theres nothing out there that you can do at his age and the last thing you want to do is worry him about male pattern baldness when hes so young. Doing any of these its likely hes going to overhear something. It would kill confidence. Let him be a kid, enjoy the summer and get a girlfriend.