Hi everybody, new here and seeking desperate help... Is it starting? (18 years old)

[Basculho]

Well, recently I just turned 18 and i'm starting to get horribly worried about hair loss.
First of all I got to say congratulations to everybody here who has the courage to share their stories about the number one problem men like us face. It gets us paranoid, stressed, depressed and, above all, it is unfair, and no one deserves it.

I will put pictures here, as i'm getting really worried about the thinning of my hair that started like a year ago, my Dad is bald and i'm afraid I'm going to be the same one day, but so freaking soon?!

The flash is turned on if that changes anything.

Thing is, everytime I cut my hair I get paranoic, but like 3 months afterwards it grows to be HUGE but it's still really thin, I have no idea if this is related to the staring of baldness.

[Illusion]

Welcome to the community. It's hard to say if there's actually any thinning going on based on that picture... It appears that there indeed is a little bit of thinning going on at the crown (not a lot though, based on this picture) but this could also be a weird thing with the flash or something.

I guess your hair feels thinner at your crown? Imo early hair loss can be also determined by simply feeling your hair and comparing it with a non-mpb affected area. It's not really a good way to determine how thin (paranoia always makes things 1000 times worse in our perception) but it can give you an idea of wether something is going on.

At what age did your dad start with going bald? Not that you are necessarily starting to go bald at the exact same age but again, it can be a semi-decent example of what might be awaiting for you. But keep in mind: when asked when they started going bald, most people usually tell you of the moment they first started to notice a bald spot on their crown. This is NOT the beginning of their balding, as they were probably balding for a while before that bald spot was visible. Maybe something to take into consideration when your dad tells you he was going bald at (insert age here) because that was when he noticed a bald spot up there.

Also, I recommend that you do proper reading on the subject, on the current treatments available (proven treatments as well as experimental treatments) and on future treatments. But: don't wait too long with starting some kind of treatment. The earlier you start doing something against hairloss, the better.

Final tip from another early hair loss sufferer: don't let hair loss take over your life and don't spend too many time on browsing the internet about it. While the latter may seem contradictory with what I said earlier ("do proper research"), it is also one of the easiest ways to get very depressed about hairloss very quickly, as you get to read a lot of highly subjective (and very negative) things. Try to balance it.

Best of luck.