I Am 18 Year Old, Do I Start Treatment?

[Pete997]

I'm 18 years old, and curious about hair loss treatment. I've read a fair amount but I don't know how much I trust etc. My dad went bald at 18, one of my brothers went bald at 18, my other brother whose 23 is going bald (not quite as tragic yet).

So naturally I am quite concerned. That being said, I am more like my mum who has good hair and her dad still has good hair at 80.

Basically here's what my hair looks like. I'm 90% sure my hairline has slowly gone back, but that being said I've always had a large forehead and I don't really remember it not looking like it does now.












I really struggle with the prospect of going bald one day, and when it happens I will imagine I would have a breakdown. I know my hair is not tragic by any means right now, I'm just worried about my hairline and whether or not to start taking treatments. I'm considering some more organic treatments to start with e.g. vitamins, onion juice, oils etc.

But if anyone has any advice, comments, whatever, please do post!

[jackdeparis]

hello,
at 18 I started 2% minoxidil and some shampoo and product for men meant for those who are losing hair. My father and grant father were almost bald at 25 and totally at 30. Now I'm almost 36 I lost some hair true but I'm no way near bald for the moment. Still I took finasteride at around 23/24 4months a year every year and minoxidil everyday of my life. Sooo I think you could start using shampoo, vitamins and minoxidil in low dosage. about finasteride I think maybe you'r a bit young but that's just my opinion you should ask your doc about that. you need also to understand that some people have an hair line that goes deep into the scalp and also dont forget that at 18 and up you are turning into an adult and your hair line is not going to be the same as when you were 13. It's just normal and it' is not related to alopecia.

[Pete997]

Thanks for your reply!

Would you recommend starting with 5% or 2% minoxidil? I have begun some shampoo, but am probably going to look more into getting some oils e.g. argan. I was not considering finasteride, because I am far too young for that right now as still going through puberty.

There are a few vitamins I've made a list of taking, it just depends a bit on cost as well.

My hairline/forehead has always been high, but my hair is not that bad. So I am aware that my hairline might simply be going deep into my scalp. But I still will go on minoxidil to make sure.

[jackdeparis]

2% for your age is well enough. 5% at least here in france was only under prescription until like 5 years ago. Here we have a product called lobamine-cysteine, it's safe it's amino acid for hair : it contains DL-methionine and cysteine and you need to take biotin ( vitamin H 5000mcg /day) to increase its effect. it's very safe and cheap and for me it works ( but everybody reacts differently). I take these 2 for 3 months from time to time. basically because I knew I would probably turn bald like my father since I'm 16 I take multivitamins every single day just to be sure my hair has all it needs coz I eat crap ( you know like sentry/ centrum etc. it's cheap) Ricin oil and argan are fine.So anyway minoxidil, don't over use it and apply just where you need it. It gave me huge headache at the beginning but within few days they disappeared. About lobamine info here : https://www.soin-et-nature.com/en/ha...hair-loss.html ( they say it's a medication blablabla but it's OTC, it's just legal blabla and it means it's only sold in pharmacy, I guess you can buy cysteine and methionine anywhere ( though it's DL-methionine not L-Methionine and I couldnt find it on iherb for instance)

[allTheGoodNamesAreTaken]

I'm 18 years old, and curious about hair loss treatment. I've read a fair amount but I don't know how much I trust etc. My dad went bald at 18, one of my brothers went bald at 18, my other brother whose 23 is going bald (not quite as tragic yet).

So naturally I am quite concerned. That being said, I am more like my mum who has good hair and her dad still has good hair at 80.

Basically here's what my hair looks like. I'm 90% sure my hairline has slowly gone back, but that being said I've always had a large forehead and I don't really remember it not looking like it does now.












I really struggle with the prospect of going bald one day, and when it happens I will imagine I would have a breakdown. I know my hair is not tragic by any means right now, I'm just worried about my hairline and whether or not to start taking treatments. I'm considering some more organic treatments to start with e.g. vitamins, onion juice, oils etc.

But if anyone has any advice, comments, whatever, please do post!

Don't bother wasting your time and money on "organic"/"natural" treatments. They are all pretty much worthless or there use would be widespread. There is currently only one major, proven thing you can do to preserve your follicles and that is to protect against DHT. Minoxidil can stimulate growth but it's not a DHT blocker. Your only options to block DHT are finasteride (ie. propecia) or the stronger dutasteride (ie. avodart).
Both are available online at an affordable price so don't wait till you've lost significant ground before you try one of these, like so many people do - it's way better at stopping further loss than recovering losses. If it's ineffective for you or not a drug your body can tolerate, then try messing around with less well-supported approaches like 'natural' treatments.

[richter101]

If you're 90% sure than I'd go with your gut. For now I'd just recommend a healthy lifestyle because you're still growing, but if it's begins progressing rapidly in the next year or 2 then begin taking propecia/ finistaride. And in a few more years, I'd suggest looking into getting your first FUE procedure.

Until then.. Enjoy life! ;-)

Richter101 is a former patient of Dr. Parsa Mohebi

Born Oct ’89
Began Seeing Gradual Hair Loss Oct ’09
Began Seeing Gradual Hair Gain June ’15

My regimen includes:
HT #1 2200 (ARTAS- FUE) grafts at Parsa Mohebi Hair Restoration in Los Angeles in 2016
Finasteride daily, since 2014
Rogaine experimenter from 2012- ’13 RIP

Planning HT #2 By End of This Year