Age 26 and lost a ton of hair. What are my options? Pics inside.

[kazence]

Hey everyone, here's my story, and my questions follow all the pictures.

I started losing hair around age 20 or 21. So I got finasteride, but quit it soon after. I was stubborn and felt like an old man taking pills every day, and I didn't want to continue. (total mistake)

Here's what I looked like October - December 2013, age 22. Pretty damn decent head of hair - really just crown thinning and a receding hairline.

This is what I looked like around August 2014, almost 23 years old -- not all that long ago, still a decent amount of hair!



From mid 2014 - mid 2017, I was allowed to wear a hat at work. So I let things get kinda out of control. This is where I was at earlier this year, February 2017, (25 years old).





And here we are in the present day (December 2017, 26 years old). I can't wear a hat at work so I have to keep it super short and tamed. This is what I look on the shortest buzzer setting, freshly buzzed. If I let it rage for a week, I can get it to look pretty much like it was 10 months ago in the shots above.






I've been feeling really feeling bummed about my hair loss lately, and I decided to buy some rogaine out of desperation about 15 days ago while waiting to get to the doctor.

I'm going to a dermatologist in 2 days, and in a month I'm seeing an MD that specializes in hair loss & restoration. But I wanted to post here first and see if I can get any new info/insight.


My questions:

- Am I a norwood 6 or so?

- As you can see, only 3.5 years ago I had a pretty decent head of hair still. What are the odds I could get a lot of my hair back naturally with a new Finasteride prescription, continuing Rogaine, some Laser treatment, and maybe PRP?

- Or, am I screwed, and a hair transplant or razor shave is the best option?

Very much appreciate any insight. Thanks a bunch.

[Stevedawg18]

Man, that was a really fast change over those couple years. Sure it was rough. Not sure Rogaine is going to do much given that amount of loss. Looks like you do have good donor but that is a large area to cover, wouldn't totally rule out a transplant but might be hard to get total coverage. Shaving is the best option if you can just do that and move on but understand it's hard to lose your hair that young. Yes you are a Norwood 6.

[mrclean]

I agree with Steve. You could try Finasteride for a year and see what happens, if you can keep what you have maybe future treatments like replicel would work better. Replicel may be out next year in Japan so I would wait for that before I considered a HT.

[BaldBearded]

Wow... that is pretty significant, although it is possible that had you buzzed a few years ago, it would have looked like you had lost more hair.

So here is the deal, you are probably now an N5, and you are only 26. I can't see all of your face, but you appear to be a decent looking guy, probably could grow a nice beard. Why don't you say "**** it", and just leave it?

Take the thousands and thousands of dollars you are going to spend over the next few years... and buy yourself a really awesome set of wheels?

Best,

BB

[Steven D]

Wow... that is pretty significant, although it is possible that had you buzzed a few years ago, it would have looked like you had lost more hair.

So here is the deal, you are probably now an N5, and you are only 26. I can't see all of your face, but you appear to be a decent looking guy, probably could grow a nice beard. Why don't you say "**** it", and just leave it?

Take the thousands and thousands of dollars you are going to spend over the next few years... and buy yourself a really awesome set of wheels?

Best,

BB

True

[kazence]

Man, that was a really fast change over those couple years. Sure it was rough. Not sure Rogaine is going to do much given that amount of loss. Looks like you do have good donor but that is a large area to cover, wouldn't totally rule out a transplant but might be hard to get total coverage. Shaving is the best option if you can just do that and move on but understand it's hard to lose your hair that young. Yes you are a Norwood 6.

Yup it's definitely hard to cop with. Appreciate the response!

I agree with Steve. You could try Finasteride for a year and see what happens, if you can keep what you have maybe future treatments like replicel would work better. Replicel may be out next year in Japan so I would wait for that before I considered a HT.

Right on, going to the dermatologist tomorrow and hoping for a conversation that works in my favor. Not gonna lie, replicel looks a little sketchy for me. I don't really wanna be a guinea pig on anything.

Wow... that is pretty significant, although it is possible that had you buzzed a few years ago, it would have looked like you had lost more hair.

So here is the deal, you are probably now an N5, and you are only 26. I can't see all of your face, but you appear to be a decent looking guy, probably could grow a nice beard. Why don't you say "**** it", and just leave it?

Take the thousands and thousands of dollars you are going to spend over the next few years... and buy yourself a really awesome set of wheels?

Best,

BB

n5 eh? not as bad as i thought perhaps? haha

saying "F it" is definitely an option, definitely want to hear what the derm and hair specialist say first.

i appreciate the response!

[DAVE52]

Why don't you say "**** it", and just leave it?

Yup
Give it a month to get used to it and you'll like it .

[mattj]

Take the advice Stevedawg18 gave you. It looks like you've reached your final pattern of a NW6. Obviously this is an advanced pattern but it probably won't change very much now. The top of the sides might creep down a little bit more.

I don't see you getting any significant coverage back with any of the treatments. I can understand the psychological hit that you must have taken by losing so much hair so fast and so young, but if you learn to accept it and keep it buzzed short, it doesn't have to impact upon your life.

[BaldBearded]

Take the advice Stevedawg18 gave you. It looks like you've reached your final pattern of a NW6. Obviously this is an advanced pattern but it probably won't change very much now. The top of the sides might creep down a little bit more.

I don't see you getting any significant coverage back with any of the treatments. I can understand the psychological hit that you must have taken by losing so much hair so fast and so young, but if you learn to accept it and keep it buzzed short, it doesn't have to impact upon your life.

What he said, and he is the expert!

If you do, indeed decide to just say F'it, here is a website to help you out.

https://www.slybaldguys.com/smf/

There are a lot of awesome, supportive guys who have gone through what you have, some, even younger.

Good luck man


BB

[kazence]

I'm pretty bummed to read that I might be even beyond transplant status, but this is baldTRUTHtalk after all, and i'm glad to see all the responses.

Dermatologist visit today.

[mrclean]

If the dermatologist won't give you a prescription you can get one online and they will call it into your pharmacy. medicalwellness.com

[kazence]

Update - got the finasteride.

[BaldBearded]

Update - got the finasteride.

Good luck, keep us updated. I hope you don't suffer the side effects!

[pajason]

Update - got the finasteride.

Try that and consider prp I have seen some results that offer significant improvement and if it doesn't work your just out the 2k. Really ideally you would have started fin 5 years ago, if you get some improvement you could then consider a transplant but probably best bet is shave it and don't worry about it!