Opinions on my crown, please!

[Justwandering]

I'm 23 years old. No recession on the hairline, but when my hair gets longer, it does tend to make this rather pronounced line from my hair whorl. Sometimes after my hair is done drying from the shower it looks like this, other times it's not visible, and other times it falls at a bit of a different angle, but still in same direction.

I have naturally really fine hair, and it has been all of my life. If anything, my hair actually got darker and maybe a bit thicker some time in the last 3-4 years. However, here at my crown, it does make this pattern that gets me nervous.

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One of the weird things is that it also tends to make this more pronounced pattern when it is cold outside, and my hair gets that "static" kind of reaction. When I got my hair cut 2 weeks ago, it wasn't noticeable at all.

Is it something? finasteride and nizoral?

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Hmm, can yall see my pics in the OP? They were visible when I first posted them, but now I can't see any.

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I was just reading about Telogen Effluvium and it sounded relatively similar to what I have experienced. I find, as I think many people that are paranoid about their hair do, that I run my hands through my hair pretty frequently and do pull tests way, way more often then I should be doing. Many times I do have bulbs at the base of the hairs that I get out.

"The shed hairs are typically telogen hairs, which can be recognized by a small bulb of keratin on the root end. Whether the keratinized lump is pigmented or unpigmented makes no difference; the hair fibers are still typical telogen hairs.

People with Telogen Effluvium never completely lose all their scalp hair, but the hair can be noticeably thin in severe cases. While Telogen Effluvium is often limited to the scalp, in more serious cases Telogen Effluvium can affect other areas, like the eyebrows or pubic region."

Over the last 3-4 years I have also been pulling out my eyebrow hair and eyelashes fairly often, and then generally have a small bulb of keratin on the root end as well.

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More pics, taken today

 

[Justwandering]

Marco......

Bueller.....

 

[Still_Ill]

First things first. This may sound like very obvious advice to you, but sometimes you need someone else to tell you if you want to stop a bad habit: you really must stop plucking your eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair anywhere else. Hair you pluck repeatedly will eventually stop growing properly -- if you care about your hair enough to inspect it regularly by plucking it, an unintended and unfortunate consequence would be developing trichotillomania. Now I'm not a psychologist by any means, but it sounds like plucking is an OCD ritual for you, especially since you acknowledge that you do it too much and have been plucking hairs for nearly four years. You can resist the urge to perform that ritual by taking medication, but I find cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) more effective in managing my own OCD symptoms. Relying only on CBT circumvents potential adverse side effects (which may also include hair loss) that can result from taking psychiatric meds, and it also costs nothing if you learn how to implement it. My advice is to start researching and reading about CBT.

You can drive yourself crazy by self-diagnosing. Believe me, I've been there. If you're worried about your hair and whether you have Telogen Effluvium, consider seeing a doctor specializing in hair loss. A reputable IAHRS doctor would be able to provide a proper diagnosis for you and tell you what you can do about your condition. Do yourself a favor and avoid clinics like Bosley like the plague -- they only want your money.

Now here's my (unprofessional) assessment given the pictures and info you've posted: considering that you've always had fine hair, your crown may be okay as it is. Some people with fine hair naturally have big, irregularly-shaped whorls that look sort of like thinning crowns. You're at the stage where it's difficult to tell if you have genetic hair loss. If you can post larger versions of the photos of your crown, I'll be able to get a better sense of what's going on. I can't tell what it looked like a few years ago, either -- male pattern baldness is a progressive condition, and as such it will cause thinning areas to become more noticeable over time. If you have any older pictures of your crown area, look at those and compare them to these photos. One last thing -- male pattern baldness is an inherited condition, so it's important to know if anyone in your immediate family has hair loss.

 

[Justwandering]

First things first. This may sound like very obvious advice to you, but sometimes you need someone else to tell you if you want to stop a bad habit: you really must stop plucking your eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair anywhere else. Hair you pluck repeatedly will eventually stop growing properly -- if you care about your hair enough to inspect it regularly by plucking it, an unintended and unfortunate consequence would be developing trichotillomania. Now I'm not a psychologist by any means, but it sounds like plucking is an OCD ritual for you, especially since you acknowledge that you do it too much and have been plucking hairs for nearly four years. You can resist the urge to perform that ritual by taking medication, but I find cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) more effective in managing my own OCD symptoms. Relying only on CBT circumvents potential adverse side effects (which may also include hair loss) that can result from taking psychiatric meds, and it also costs nothing if you learn how to implement it. My advice is to start researching and reading about CBT.

You can drive yourself crazy by self-diagnosing. Believe me, I've been there. If you're worried about your hair and whether you have Telogen Effluvium, consider seeing a doctor specializing in hair loss. A reputable IAHRS doctor would be able to provide a proper diagnosis for you and tell you what you can do about your condition. Do yourself a favor and avoid clinics like Bosley like the plague -- they only want your money.

Now here's my (unprofessional) assessment given the pictures and info you've posted: considering that you've always had fine hair, your crown may be okay as it is. Some people with fine hair naturally have big, irregularly-shaped whorls that look sort of like thinning crowns. You're at the stage where it's difficult to tell if you have genetic hair loss. If you can post larger versions of the photos of your crown, I'll be able to get a better sense of what's going on. I can't tell what it looked like a few years ago, either -- male pattern baldness is a progressive condition, and as such it will cause thinning areas to become more noticeable over time. If you have any older pictures of your crown area, look at those and compare them to these photos. One last thing -- male pattern baldness is an inherited condition, so it's important to know if anyone in your immediate family has hair loss.

Hi, I appreciate the very reasoned, and helpful reply.

In terms my OCD hair plucking. I definitely do it more than a "normal" person (most people probably don't do it at all), but I'm not super obsessed with it. I think you are correct that I do need to stop all together. I am going to work on that!

As far as family hair loss goes, yeah some men in my family have it. My older brother lost his hair in his mid-20s, my father probably in his early-mid 30s. My fine hair much more so resembles my mother and sister's hair than it does my dad or brothers. My mom and sister both do not have dense hair, and it looks fine on them and no one thinks twice, because they are women. I have some uncles that had their hair longer though, and a grandfather that lost his later in life and one that had a pretty nice head of hair into his 60s. In my opinion, the genetics of it really is a crap shoot. There are plenty of examples of fathers with great heads of hair with bald sons, or bald older bros with younger bros that have good hair, or visa versa. I'd say I feel the worst for guys that are thinning who have almost no history of it at all in their family.

I'm going to look into IAHRS doctors in my area. Thank you again for your reply!!!

 

[meetjoeblack]

I never took steriods due to fear of side effects. After accutane, I noticed effects, and signed up hear. Slight effects, thinner on sides. I worried about my crown. Its fine.

We are going to die. We will lose our hair and our life. We'll likely be in a hospital bed nude, what manhood we do have will be out in front of females, What ego we created will be wasted away as our life drains away.

Read Eckhart Tolle. Find meaning and happiness, that is to say be content regardless of circumstances. Find love. Love yourself. Its not a big deal. Your hair is fine. You are fine with or without it.

 

[Justwandering]

Hello, gentlemen of gourmetstylewellness.com...it is with disappointment (sorry) that I return to you for opinions and advice. I'm sure we would all love never to have to consult a forum like this again. My last pictures were posted a year ago, but I think may hair may have gotten worse. My problem is in my crown area, and it is very inconsistent looking, but I think there is an underlying problem. Please keep in my mind that my hair has always been very fine and blonde, so I think that density has always been an issue, just not something anyone notices until your 20 and older. I'm currently 25.

I'll make a couple photo dumps and then I would GREATLY appreciate any opinions or advice. I've been taking 1.25 of finasteride for 3ish years without sides. I've never really been "diagnosed" with male pattern baldness by a doctor, but my dermatologist at the time that that's what it looked like to him, so I stayed on it, just in case. Overall, my hair started doing weird stuff about 4-5 years ago when I was 20. The sides and back started to look like they were thinning, but that went away. Not sure if that was because of something other than male pattern baldness or the finasteride. I tend to think it was not the finasteride, because I didn't take it for about a 6 month stretch when that problem went away.

Should my first order of business be to see a hairloss doctor and determine if it is miniaturization and where that may be happening? Then, based on what I've read here, I should probably start minoxidil pronto.

My dad probably started in his crown area in his mid-late 20s. Most of my unlces are pretty bald. My older brother thinned in his mid-20s. Both my mom and sister have thinner hair as well, below is actually a picture of my sisters too--I think people would assume she was balding if she was a guy. That said, her hair doesn't look weird when it's done.

 

[Justwandering]

bump

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I originally hit "reply to thread"--I'm not sure why that would make an entirely new thread and not just make a post in this thread? Seems counter intuitive.

Anyway....
Over the last year I think my crown area has changed and looks more open. I've been taking 1.25 of finasteride every day (except weekends. I know kind of dumb, but I'm gonna start 7 days a week now), and am thinking of adding minoxidil to the regimen.

You can see from my above post over a year ago. My dad and brother both thinned probably in their mid-late 20s. My brother's was rapid, whereas my dads was very prolonged and he was certainly not taking anything for it back in those days. My mother and sister also both have fine hair. I'm hoping for some advice and opinions going forward.

Thank you!








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Also, to give you an idea of how "fine hair" runs in my family, here is a picture of my sisters crown when it's messy. No one would ever think twice because she's a girl.

 

[stupidkoko]

Yea I have a bad habit of doing that too. Just try to stop it! Easier said than done, everytime i get a haircut I decide to not touch it. Then when it gros out for about 2-3 weeks and I feel that i can see thinner hair, I try to pull it a few times to check if its lose.
If it works then I just continue until I lose few. If I dont then I keep doing it until I do so lol.

This thread opened my eyes a little bit.
anyway, your crown looks alright to me.

 

[Justwandering]

Yea I have a bad habit of doing that too. Just try to stop it! Easier said than done, everytime i get a haircut I decide to not touch it. Then when it gros out for about 2-3 weeks and I feel that i can see thinner hair, I try to pull it a few times to check if its lose.
If it works then I just continue until I lose few. If I dont then I keep doing it until I do so lol.

This thread opened my eyes a little bit.
anyway, your crown looks alright to me.

Thanks for the reply, koko. It's an awful habit and thankfully I've cut way back on it.

I'll post a few more pics from today. Just hoping to get some more opinions :-/

 

[Justwandering]

bump

 

[zzzzz]

didn't read but I don't see any balding in any of those pictures at all

 

[mr the hairy monkey]

hello , your crown looks good , (I do not have any recession in the hairline , but my crown has less hair , I am losing way less than 100 hair a day without taking any drugs) I am 22 , so from my point of view , your crown is good , you even look like a (motherfu***ng) king if I can say .