MPB at 18, steadily getting through it but kinda down.

Hi, I'm like a norwood 1.5 I guess?

My hair was (and still is) my pride and joy. As long as I can remember vividly I've have long hair that drapes below my chest. I've always been so good to it, I've never bleached it, the only times I dyed it i used semi-perm dye, I treat it with coconut oil every week. So when I saw an article about receding temples a few months ago and saw that the pictures matched with my hairline I was in a panic. I immediately went to my GP and he said "You look to either have a mature hairline, which is common for people of your age or very early onset male pattern baldness." Maturing hairline or not I was absolutely devastated, to a point where I even took up smoking again which is something I've not done since I was in my very emotionally trouble early teenage years.

I'm on my 3rd month of finasteride 1mg/day now, my hairline in all honesty is not THAT bad. I've got some pretty steep recession at the temples (which doesn't recede upwards too much only) and so far I've got not thinning on my crown at all.
But Jesus Christ is this a bother. I look at it every time I get an opportunity to see my reflection. My friends can't see it but I can, I feel so ugly. I hate only feeling comfortable around others when my fringe is sitting a certain angle. I hate that I'm 18 and I'm having to put away money every month so I can afford finasteride. I hate that when I get a job later this year I'm going to probably start putting money away for a HT. And I hate that I start university in a month and everyone is going to be so youthful and full of life and attractive and I'm going to be sat somewhere making sure nobody can see my receding temples and stare at everyone with a sickening feeling of envy in my stomach.

I feel kinda pathetic because recently I just got into the university I wanted and I've just put down the deposit for the new studio apartment I'm getting and everything is looking up for me and then this happened and I this overshadows everything good that's happened. Which when you say it like that is stupid right? How is hair or anything physical even remotely comparable to your education. Is any one else in this self destructive cycle of feeling down about their hair loss and then feeling down for feeling that way?

Anyway, with each passing day I grow to accept things a little more. I'm taking fin and I can't afford both fin and minox, so I'm doing all I can do, which to me is a comforting thought. Hopefully the fin grinds in to a halt so that in a few years I can get a HT, or maybe even regrows it to a point where I'm comfortable with it anyway. Or halts it until the new technologies in the pipeline like histogens become commercially available.

Let me know what you guys think, any advice or support would be great, and I'll be sure to keep you all posted with my finasteride progress. (So far no side effects)

That's rough. I started losing mine at about 20 and progressed rapidly. If I had to do it over, I would have just shaved my head but this was prior to that being popular. I think you are doing the right thing, preserve what you have. I would not do surgery, keep everything you can but possibly mentally prepare yourself for shaving it all off. It will look good and it's free. Getting corrective surgery is like searching for bigfoot, you will never quite see what you want and it will consume/waste a big part of life IMO.

If your friends aren't pointing out your receding hairline or baldness, you're not balding. It's really that simple (personally speaking, I didn't notice any balding until other people pointed it out to me, so take it easy and don't sweat it - you're fine).