UK newbie here..

[charmingman]

I noticed about a year ago that my hairline had gone back at the age of 22. It worried me for a while, and now a year later the thinning (on my left temple especially) is getting silly. When I come out of the bath/shower with my hair slicked back, the recession is depressing. I really don't think the shape of my head would suit a shave/close cut, so I really do worry about losing my hair.

It's starting to thin slightly on the top aswell. My father is as bald as a coot so I must have the deadly genes. I went to see a doctor about this in February and she basically looked at me and laughed. However I feel as though it's got a lot worse since then and now I am stuck in a quandry.

Some days I feel completely fine about my appearance and just think "Hey, that's life", but others I can't stop looking at my reflections in car windows/any shiny surface because it's all I think about. I really wish I could not give a sh*t about it but I do. I have been considering going for Proscar but the sides do worry me and I do wonder if it is worth spending so much on something that you're going to have to carry on for years and years when it might not work anyway. The only thing I have tried on my hair so far is Nourkrin shampoo (as it is the most easily available thing in the UK. This does present another problem, as if I did go for something like Proscar, I only have a Solo card and most online pharmacies I have seen only take credit cards. Any advice would be thoroughly appreciated, especially from UK posters who are in the same boat.

 

[The Gardener]

I hear you, I was in your shoes about ten years ago.

First off, I highly recommend that you take a deep breath and relax. male pattern baldness is a slow process. It comes in fits and starts, it will take a chip out of your temple, then go in remission for years, then suddenly take a chip out of the other hairline, and give your other previously weak hairline a nice "V" notch, then stop for years.. etc, etc.

Your what we call "diffuse" hairloss on top is what worries me most for you.

In order to properly diagnose you, I have a few questions. First off, is your hairloss accompanied by any scalp itch in the affected area? If so, is it intense, or just an ambient irritation? If you do itch, is it in the receeding front, or in the potentially diffusing areas on top?

Second, has the recession in your temples been something that happened relatively suddenly and abruptly, or is it something that has been "creeping up" on you a bit and only now is it to the point that you are presuming male pattern baldness?

One thing you need to do immediately is pick up a bottle of Nizoral shampoo. You can get it at a local chemist, I'm sure many of the UK contingent here can steer you to a great price, but I think that most of them can pick it up easily at the corner Boots store. Pick it up, lather it in, and let it set 5 mins or so while you go about cleaning the rest of your body. Then, rinse it out. Nizoral helps keep your naturally-occuring scalp fungus in check (this fungus, that all human scalps host usually quite harmlessly, can exacerbate irritiation in a similar fashion that male pattern baldness does, and to top it off, the chemical is a mild anti-androgen that helps fight the hormonal war in your scalp that causes male pattern baldness.)

Let us know the answers to the questions above, and we have tons of advice to help you keep your hair! 22 is a great age to start fighting male pattern baldness with some of the tools that are available to us now.

 

[charmingman]

Q: In order to properly diagnose you, I have a few questions. First off, is your hairloss accompanied by any scalp itch in the affected area? If so, is it intense, or just an ambient irritation? If you do itch, is it in the receeding front, or in the potentially diffusing areas on top?

A: My scalp does itch in those areas but not an absolutely intense itch, merely irritating I'd say. It's not just at the back of my temples but sometimes at the top and at the back. This may have something to do with the fact that I put off shampooing my hair for fear of losing 50 hairs in one go though! What does "diffuse" mean, by the way?

Q: Second, has the recession in your temples been something that happened relatively suddenly and abruptly, or is it something that has been "creeping up" on you a bit and only now is it to the point that you are presuming male pattern baldness?

A: The recession in the temple has happened over the period of a year I'd say (as far as I've noticed anyway). However, over the past two weeks I believe it has gone a lot faster and it's forced me into doing something about it.

 

[The Gardener]

That's a good sign.

My personal experience is that the more rapid loss is usually accompanied by more pronounced scalp itch, from the inflammatory effect of DHT attack.

"Diffuse" refers to the type of hair loss. For male pattern baldness sufferers, hairloss comes in two types, recession and diffusion. Recession is the loss of hairline, or real estate of covered scalp. Diffusion refers to the process of progressive thinning of hair in areas that have coverage. Some people (like myself) do not have any "diffuse" loss, my existing hair is thick... but my hairline is receeding. Some have no recession, they maintain a great hairline, but the hair thins on the top of the scalp. This is "diffusion". Many have some sort of combination of the two.

You really want to concentrate on maintaining good scalp health, which is all about reducing inflammation and irritation. In addition to the Nizoral, I suggest you add in a good copper peptide spray (Folligen or Tricomin) and see how things feel and look from there.

Whatever you do, don't panic!... at least, yet! There are tools at your disposal, and as things develop, if they do, us gourmetstylewellness.com'ers can help you determine which weapons to throw at them.

 

[charmingman]

I will get some Nizoral after work. I really do thoroughly appreciate your help on this.

What is the difference between the percentages of Nizoral? Also, are there any sides? It almost seems too good to be true.

Is there really a difference between thinning hair at the temples and a receding hairline?

 

[charmingman]

I've looked around this forum and saw a thread lower down with some people saying that Nizoral thinned their hair out. Can this really be one of the possible negative effects of the shampoo?

 

[Guest]

hey im from the Uk too, also just turning 22, seem to have a lot in common, I first noticed like you about a yr ago, it was really tough! Uni exams and worried i was gonna be bald....Started Propecia (get a private proscription cos its not on the NHS) in July 05, no noticeacble further loss. Still have 3 months to go until its a fair amount of time to assess things, but so far so good. try not to freak out, I did. Had to go to councelling, but the main thing to know is even if you did nothing about your hairloss, you would progressively lose hair for the next 15 or so years till your bald, if you do something it will either;

1)Regrow some hair
2)Maintain (which isnt so bad cos if youve just noticed no-one else will have)
3)dramatically slow down the hair loss.

Either way your a winner. Get on Nizoral 2% 3X week, 1mg finasteride (propecia- tho ask the GP for Proscar and cut it up, it will reduce costs from £1.30 perday to 20p per day) and most importantly, give it a year. Try not to freak but stick with it, no matter what. It ISNT gonna make your hair worse.

Private Message me if you want.

Take it easy!

 

[charmingman]

I washed my hair with Nizoral 2% last night. When I looked in the mirror after with my hair soaked through and slicked back it looked the thinnest it has ever been. Even at the top it looked in parts as though I could see through it, almost. I'm now considering shaving my head. I did try to talk to my doctor about getting finasteride but she just laughed at me before. In a quandry yet again. Any advice would be great.

 

[Sean68]

From uk too - use conditioner afterwards.makes mine look thin without it too.but looks good with some conditioner.looks thin cos its so clean.

 

[charmingman]

From uk too - use conditioner afterwards.makes mine look thin without it too.but looks good with some conditioner.looks thin cos its so clean.

Any conditioner in particular? I have some bogstandard conconut oil conditioner, but I'd rather get it right. Need to get on the finasteride as soon as possible but the last time I went to the doctor she just said no, practically. Any way around it? UK posters can help me out here...

 

[iamnaked]

I would recommend the internet, and in particular unitedpharmacies.com. They will deliver to the UK, are pretty cheap, and I'm very happy with their service. You don't need a prescription.

 

[Sean68]

i just use those little charles worthington take aways ones theyre ok.above suggestion prob better though.

 

[charmingman]

I've been on Nizoral for a week and at times my head has been irritating all day and others it's been fine. Am still only using coconut oil conditioner after the nizoral.

I ahve also just ordered my first batch of Proscar 5mg from inhousepharmacy so I guess this is the stepping stone to either wasting money and losing my rock-ons or keeping my hairloss at bay.

Here's hoping it's the latter.

 

[Bungle]

...the last time I went to the doctor she just said no, practically. Any way around it? UK posters can help me out here...

If your doctor isn't happy to help I'd go to another doctor.

The first time I visited my GP he diagnosed me (incorrectly) with alopecia aereata and told me my hair would stop falling out after a few months at most. A few months later I went back to him because I was noticing not just the excess hair in the shower but also that my hairline was receding and thinning a little at the crown. He said it was a natural male receding hairline, my crown was perfectly normal and told me I would "not go bald".

A month or so later I went to a different GP, explained the situation and said how concerned I was and that I was getting very little help from Dr X. She gave me a referral to a dermatologist and I've since been given a treatment programme.


A good doctor will always take your feelings into account and if it's clear that there's hair loss and it's affecting you they should be happy to give you a referral. At the very least it gives you a chance to speak to someone knowledgable about it and who can then advise your doctor on treatments.

My advice is see another doctor if you don't feel happy with this one. Explain that you first noticed your hair receding a year ago and that your doctor has been unhelpful. Make sure they know how concerned you are and that it's affecting your everyday life. If all else fails, sigh and tell them you'll have to get your prescription drug from this website your mate recommended. If that doesn't make them sit up they're not a proper doctor.

I know you've ordered some stuff online but I'd still recommend you go through a doctor to get a referral and some proper advice. Remember a dermatologist can take blood tests and even a biopsy (although I didn't have this) to check your thyroid levels and whatnot.

 

[charmingman]

I started on Proscar 1.25mg a few days ago and have been alternating my shampoos between Nizoral 2% and Thicker, Fuller Shampoo/Nourkrin on the other days.

My hairline seems to have gone back in just a couple of weeks pretty much from the left temple pushing the whole line back, and forthe first time yesterday I thought I looked awful with my hair pushed up - my forehead was MASSIVE. So I'm not sure I react well to nizoral - a couple of my friends have made comments on how my hair is looking a bit thin on top and so I go through stages of just hating how I look instead of being confident how I used to.

I'm hoping the finasteride will work with me, but am apprehensive of nailing out loads of cash on other things to help my hair out.

 

[Barry_Blue]

Mate - a good conditioner to use is Pantene Full and Thick (the one endorsed by the National Institute of Trichologists) it's cheap too and works a treat after using the nizoral.

 

[charmingman]

Really? Ok, I'll get some of that in this week. Starting to get fewer erections already which is worrying, but then again it could just be me thinking about it too much.

I do appreciate that conditioner advice as I think my bog standard coconut oil shampoo isn't the best post-nizoral.

Will keep everyone informed how it is going anyway.

 

[ANDREW_J_I]

^yeh me too. i think i may be imagining it.

 

[Alpha7]

Hair loss Treatments

Hi Sean,

One product that I personally have tried is Nisim Shampoo and I noticed an almost immediate results, no more hair clogging up the plug hole! Hair regrowth seems to be a more difficult problem,Nisim claim that hair 'lost' over the previous 2-5 years can be stimulated back into a growing phase and back this up through clinical trials. Using Nisim extracts ( a minoxidil alternative) I noticed results after only a few weeks with hair starting to grow much thicker at the top of the scalp and at the crown.

http://www.alpha7haircare.co.uk
I hope this helps.

 

[Guest]

and what a surprise sells the stuff. Do us a favour and Jog on you f*ckin sigh....