Advice needed...

[Foligone]

Hello, I am diffusion balding in a NW5V pattern, and have been for some time.

I am 23, I'd say it started around 18, then paused, then really ramped up in the past two years.

After 4 months on propecia, I finally got frustrated and shaved my head. But what I noticed was that I had a lot more hair than I thought, just... miniaturized (I wore my hair way too long for what I had, I should've just got a new hairstyle and carried on.) So...I decided to make a big push and go all in with the big 3.

I've been on propecia for 6 months, and added rogaine and nizoral 2 months ago.

When my hair was grown out, I was quite satisfied with it, I would just get frustrated whenever I got out of the shower seeing my scalpe, but in the two months since I've buzzed it, well...it's not good for the diffused look... I probably wouldn't attempt treatment if I didn't have so many miniaturized dark hairs on my scalp. No area is shiny bald. (With toppik, I can easily emulate a full head of hair.)

So, 6 months in... my hair loss is gone as far as I can tell. I can be pretty rough with my hair and nothing. It feels healthier as well.

The "itch" is gone now too, which was usually accompanied by this "heat" feeling. Both gone.

I've noticed some regrowth in my temples as well since starting rogaine, but it's probably too soon to tell.

My issue is this... I never experienced any sheds that I always hear about... (or perhaps I did, and never realized. ) So I wonder if there is still some chance that I'll thicken up what I have. If just a 15% or so increase, I'd be happy. I'm not greedy, I rather like the mature hair look, but this diffusion is just not style-able at this stage.

I plan to go for 10 more months at least, but I wonder if these are indications that I am responding to treatment. During this time I'm going to work on getting in shape, hopefully that will be a boon as well. (Down 77 pounds).

Hopefully I'll feel a little better when my hair grows longer on top.

Anyone with similar stories or experiences?

[Swooping]

It is possible. I myself went from like NW4 to NW2 now and im heading to NW1.5 including temporal regrowth.

The big 3 is not everything, it depends on how much effort you want to put into your regimen. There is well enough room for you to furthermore enhance your regimen and regrowth or thickening of your hair.

[Illuminated]

Did you have thinning of your hair line at all?

Not the temple peaks I mean the actual frontal hairline edge area and behind it? If so did you regain density there as well?

I'm glad you are having good results since I fear I may be having the early stages of the same issue and I hope since I have caught it relatively early I can fully reverse it or close to it.

[Foligone]

Yes, the hairline is thin at the temples. The for-lock area is quite strong, which helps cosmetically when I grow out my hair and go for the shaggy look... which I want to do now, but the wait is brutal.

I had never shaved my head in my life. I have a good shaped head, turns out, and it suits me, but I'd prefer hair. So, before it was kind of our of fear that I was trying to salvage my hair. Now it's more like an experiment.

I am diffusing in a norwood 5, not 5v as I said before.

http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/picture.php?albumid=416&pictureid=3526

This picture is pretty similar to my own pattern, but my temples aren't receeded that far, although my thinning might be a little more pronounced, trade off. I have tons of miniaturized hairs though, so fingers crossed. I've always heard that where there is hair, they can be thickened, but we will see.