My Story

[HumanNature]

You've all undoubtedly heard this before, but I just need to talk to people who understand.

I’m twenty-two and very rapidly losing my hair.
I used to have long, curly hair (think Slash from Guns n' Roses), and I only noticed my aggressive balding when I got it cut to a more modern style in January (ironically, I got it cut because I moved to University and thought it would be the ideal time to make a style change, seeing as I was entering a new, exciting time in my life), and since then it’s gotten a lot worse. At first, I had an instantly visible patch at my crown that I could occasionally cover up, but now it's bigger and my hairline at the front is receding to the point where I have to move the surrounding hair certain ways to conceal it - and that's in the space of only a few months. If things continue the way they are right now, the majority of the top of my head will be more-or-less hairless by this time next year. I used to be a very confident person. I had a lot of friends and had no problem approaching women. Virtually overnight, that confidence was devastated and will never return.

What are supposed to be the best years of my life have now been replaced by day after day of humiliation and suffering, wearing a hat constantly - which I fear is only speeding up the process - and secluding myself at home because I've lost the will to go out anywhere and I can't face the prospect of seeing people. I get this overwhelming sinking feeling in my stomach when I look at guys my age, and older, with full heads of hair, living their lives in happiness and talking to young girls - something I know for me will never happen again.

The worst part by far, is that I’ve noticed the way women relate to me changing. I'm not an idiot, and I'm well aware that balding guys - especially at my age - are an instant dealbreaker. Women I used to flirt with are suddenly very static and business-like and the long term if-we-weren’t-in-different-cities-we-would-totally-be-together ones I used to maintain regular communication with have now, every single one of them, severed all contact with me. The girl I liked, had known for months and been dating for a few weeks, stopped seeing me in a romantic sense LITERALLY on the spot - she was sitting beside me when I got it cut. Of course, I couldn't see the back of my head while in the barber's chair, but I saw the look on her face change, and at first, couldn't work out why.

Let me tell you, that was the most horrible moment of my life.

I'm in University surrounded by 18-21 year olds who now see me as either an old man or "that guy's who's only 22 and going bald". My confidence has hit rock-bottom and I barely speak now. I never leave the house and can't walk past a mirror without checking my hairline and noticing it getting worse by the day.

My parents don't understand, they just say "Ahh, it's nothing! You're just imagining it!", so I went to college without my hat one day and EVERYONE I knew mentioned it straight away, very loudly, drawing everyone else's attention to it.

It might seem petty to people who aren't experiencing it, but it's ruining my life. The 'young man' period of my life is over now and it's only just begun. I've prematurely entered into old age and I just can't bear it.

The chances of me getting another girlfriend are ludicrous, and even when I meet girls in bars and think I've got a shot with them, they suddenly vanish after they see me without my hat on.

I'm not usually a pessimistic person, but I see nothing in the future for me but further pain an misery. The best I can hope for is to become a friend to women, the "Oh, he's such a nice person" guy, but never anything more, and all because I'm going bald.