Recession, 31, advice?

[Inevitable]

Hey guys,

I am 31, and have some thinning of hair all over and recession of the frontotemporal regions on either side.

These are wet purposely to show the recession.. I do not wear my hair slicked back like this.


First here are three basic pictures, front/top view , and each side.

http://img686.imageshack.us/i/slicktop.jpg/

Left side:

http://img139.imageshack.us/i/leftsideg.jpg/

Right Side:

http://img824.imageshack.us/i/rightsidek.jpg/

The top picture is the most evident of the recession,..

Basically I just want to know how you guys would start to handle this?

 

[Inevitable]

I've shortened the original post to encourage advice.

Thanks,

 

[SuprisedGuy]

First off, to be 31 and still have most of your hair is amazing and your very lucky. Second, post some pics with your hair not wet or gelled, that'll give us a better look at your balding.

 

[Inevitable]

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.p ... 0d88d7.jpg

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.p ... f4770d.jpg

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.p ... b5c91d.jpg

I took pictures dry before and I was told to wet my hair to show it better, .. now I show wet ones because of that and am told to show dry pictures lol.

Either way, here it is.. I outlined the recession in case anyone potentially misses it. It is similar on both sides. My bangs cover up the other side, and it somewhat shows in the picture from the front but just assume fronto-temple recession on both sides.

I realize there are many worse off, but 'catching it early' is the best thing one can do from what I read.

So I don't mean any insult to any other members of the community by showing pictures of slight, in comparison to some, recession/hair loss.

While it is difficult to assume from the pictures the hair across the entire scalp has thinned a noticeable degree to me, as my hair has been extremely thick naturally.

At any rate .. yes I am 31, but given this people who just left their 20's still care about their hair.. I promise =)

With this recession pattern what would you guys do at this point?

*I have noticed this just over the last 8months-12months out of the blue and isn't something I have even bothered to notice in my 20's. So I feel like it has accelerated lately.

I don't notice immense shedding, however.. but do see a few hairs here and there.

Thanks,

 

[timbo]

I would very much recommend that you start on finasteride. It could potentially stop your hairloss for many years and you might even get regrowth on the hairline. Given your age, I would guess that your male pattern baldness isn't very aggressive, so finasteride may be all you need. You have a lot of hair for 31 and 99% of the population isn't going to notice recession when you're in public. Its always much easier to maintain than it is to regrow, so start soon my friend! Good luck to ya.

 

[skelll]

Yeah Im 26 yrs old and panicked at the 1st sighting of any thinning along my hair loss, but anyway I started using the Big 3,Propecia, Rogaine and Nizoral. I even started putting Rogaine foam along the hair loss a little over 3 month ago. I have noticed more recession in my hair loss. I know its too early to see results yet but I think Im gonna stop putting Rogaine into my hair loss I am worried that its doing more harm than good to a not so bad hair loss.

The Product must tell us not to put in along hair loss for a reason! I dont give a f*** if it was not tested in that region, so it must do more harm than good in that reason otherwise they wouldnt tell us not to put it there, Anyway I hope that I can gain back what I may have lost.

Good luck to u champ, if ask me, just take finasteride, putting Rogaine on hair loss is to big of a risk, it will prob do more harm than good to a nice hair loss like u have

 

[skelll]

Also ur hair loss in wet pics looks much better than in the dry pics. It looks bad in bad pics when compared to the wet picks. Sorry to say bro

 

[Inevitable]

I would have to agree that it makes sense for a medication to keep what you have rather than cause something that stopped grow to once again grow.

I don't have a problem taking a pill everyday,.. just don't want the side effects, but who does?

If I could keep what is 'here' right now.. then no big deal. There is a few spots as shown, that show thinning and people have commented on but it isn't anything that looks just terrible. Skelll, I appreciate your feedback, I'm not really trying to debate just how 'bad' my hair looks hehe.. but thanks for the clarification on the 'wet' vs 'dry'.

With Propecia, would it thicken up the areas shown that have some obvious hair there, but look 'thin'. The areas next to my widows peak (have always had a big one) -- do they have any chance of maybe not showing my scalp like they do now with some time on finasteride? Or is it just really to stop more hair falling out?

I'm not really interested in putting a topical in those spots to 'regrow' hair that only stays if I continue putting minoxidil, etc daily. So I ask if the finasteride might have any effect..

Otherwise -- any explanation of why I don't really see much of a shed? Like I mentioned I see a few hairs over the sink every now and again.. but even gripping my hair and pulling a chunk of it might give me nothing, or maybe 1 or 2 hairs. ?

Also, I have Nizoral already -- and bought some T/Gel that I haven't used.

How often would you use the Nizoral? (in my case).

I got the T/Gel as I was looking for T/Sal,..and the T/Gel looked like it was more of something I could use everyday. It says 'daily control'.

Says 1% Pyrithione Zinc -- anti-dandruff, anti-sebhorrheic dermatitis. Plus it has some sort of conditioner.

I wanted to get something I knew was safe to use on the days I don't use Nizoral.

I was thinking maybe like Nizoral 2-3 times a week, and this T/Gel the other days?

I just don't trust any of the other shampoos or conditioners now that I'm dealing with hair loss.

(I do notice some red acne looking bumps in random spots in the scalp if I look hard enough, and I itch a little bit (though I think I have for many years).) -- So maybe getting the scalp healthier will help things.. thats the idea right?

I read alot on these forums, so I'm familiar with alot of the concepts, but I do welcome any and all opinions and information.

I know my case is nothing new or special.. just taking my condition to the experts,.. you guys.

Thanks

 

[SuprisedGuy]

One of your new pics struck me to how similar the thinning was to mine, if you look at my most recent thread I have the same thing happening, albeit my temples are less receded and I'm 22. I actually just buzzed my hair so it's more obvious unfortunately.

So my advice, get on finasteride and start applying Rogaine. You should save your hair for awhile with some regrowth.

 

[Inevitable]

Yup. I noticed that looking at your thread the other day. Especially down where I part my hair.

I think we both have the 'at one point' thick/coarse black hair and also really pale scalps (most do )..

I really think with black hair the contrast of a scalp that isn't 'tanned' as is our case with the thinning really makes it show up more than say, someone with blonde hair, or even light brown.

I do believe I will get on finasteride within the next month or so.. I don't believe I am going to bother with Rogaine, I have no doubt it would grow some hair but I just don't want to have to put goop in my hair once or twice a day and also have hair that falls out rather quickly after I stopped putting this magic 'goop' on my hair.

No offense to you, and all the other billion people who use it.. I'm just lazy I guess.

I've used something called Nioxin, and it is just a spray -- even doing that gets on my nerves to the point where I don't bother with it. I don't think it really helps anyways.