I always knew this day would come.

[Jayme]

Hi people, I'm a 36 year old male who has kind of expected he was going to reach a point of seemingly no return since age 21. I actually thought I would be totally bald by now & the way I've treated my body over the years through bad diet & more importantly drug addiction, I probably should be. I've been clean now for nearly a year & in my clean & sober state I've taken more interest in my appearance. I've always had very fine hair which has been slowly but surely receding since my early 20's, but now my hair is falling into the unmistakable pattern of androgenic alopecia with major thinning of the crown.

This post is more a cathartic exercise to just try & release some of the overwhelming thoughts & sense of dread that I'm currently experiencing. I don't know what course of action to take, as I don't have the money to consider transplants & have only just become fully aware of what it is & what can be achieved.

Might as well post some blurry phone pics just to get some opinions of the very well informed users on here:

http://i.imgur.com/weobkJH.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/KEiPNJW.jpg

Thanks for reading & would appreciate any feedback.

[fred970]

First, diet and lifestyle have no influence on male pattern baldness.

Secondly, you just offended a lot of people here, but it's OK, you only have yourself as a reference I imagine.

Major thinning at the crown? More like, very minor thinning. You are very lucky and you don't realise it.

36 years old with that kind of hair, you're going to respond very well to medications (minoxidil and finasteride).

And even if it wears off at a point, a hair transplant and you're settled for life. You could even use concealers (dermmatch and toppik) and be fine.

So relax, if you do something about it, you'll never be bald.

[Jayme]

Secondly, you just offended a lot of people here, but it's OK, you only have yourself as a reference I imagine.

Major thinning at the crown? More like, very minor thinning. You are very lucky and you don't realize it.

I'm sorry if I offended anyone, that was not my intention at all. I guess it's just a case of "my problems are worse than others", even when all the evidence is to the contrary. It's a very selfish point of view & apologize for that. Thank you for your reply & your advice.

I'd just like to add that the thinning has accelerated over the last year, especially on the crown. My brother who is 3 years my junior has a high hairline but a decent amount of thick full hair & my father who is approaching 70 has the same. I've only seen a picture of my maternal grandfather who seemed to have thinning hair in his late 50's but wasn't completely bald. I knew my hair loss would progress & am kicking myself for not taking it seriously much earlier.

Once again, I appreciate any & all feedback.

[stimpy]

Its your thread, and your personal issue, and you feel the way you feel- and i feel for you man- i know that sense of dread you describe all to well, as does Fred (I'm sure) - SO he should be a little more sympathetic and stop speaking for all of us who empathise and want to lend some words of good will and sound advice (which Fred does actually go on to offer)- you haven't 'offended' anyone, except maybe Fred, who seems a little touchy.

Finasteride- get on it. You'll save what you got an improve your crown over the space of a year to two years. You're 36, so you can get away with that loss, which isn't major. Proscar is the generic form of propecia- same drug FRACTION of the price (20 dollars a month or something) I dunno the $$ ££ conversions, either way its pretty damn worth it.

Don't worry about side effects. It might happen for the first month, but once adjusted you can live your life. The vast majority get on just fine with it. Whatever you do, don't delay- If you're in the UK speak to the user Spex (Spencer)- he is dedicated to providing sound advice and can hook you up with a real doctor (no meet or anything, just fill out a form) who can ship it to you.