Complex cause?

[Hozzam]

Hey guys,
I have a receeding hair line and I'm beginning to thin all over. I first noticed it 1 year and 2 months ago. My friend was talking about him losing hair so I thought 'hey i'll go check in the mirror and see if I have a receeding hair line' when I pulled back my hair one of my temples appeared to have receeded. By this stage i still had the thickest of hair you'd see. I'm renowned for my afro/curly hair, and its my best feature, all the girls I've ever been with were simply because of my hair, so there you understand my stress. At this stage I was losing handfuls of hair in the shower. I was at the time going through a lot of emotional stress with a girl who completely messed me around and I was compensating by drinking a lot, I was having panic attacks when I woke up and I was a complete mess.
From that day on every day I have obsessively checked my hair line. I have always had OCD but this has taken it to a new level. I cannot shower without touching my hair and counting the hairs that fall out. My body is on 'high alert' for the feel of a hair touching my body and I will quickly check if its a hair. If I have a shower and lose little hair I feel good about myself. If I have a shower and lose a considerable amount (just like now) I feel terrible and start stressing and sweating badly and thinking very negatively. My hairline has got thinner over the year but it is not terrible. However, I have started losing hair density on top and that is thinning all over. The weird thing is when I pull the hair back on the sides of my head it looks like its receeding too and thinning as well which leads me to think possibly I may have telogen effluvium mixed in with some MPB? I cannot stop myself from almost pulling/tugging my hair constantly and seeing how many hairs fall out. I don't tug hard just a little bit of pressure. I'm sure this hasn't helped.

Guys, I know you feel my pain..I'm quite distressed by the whole thing. I'm a 21 year old male and I suffered from a Panic disorder for a while (which i still have ofc but its not that bad) I have sleep disorders as well. I guess all of this doesn't help my hair but your input would be good.

Thanks guys.

[Exodus]

I was like you at first with the panicking and lack of sleep etc. I was really upset with my hairloss.

Then I just got the clippers and went Grade 1 all over. I keep doing that once a week. I look bald and its certainly obvious I am going bald. It's on my mind a fair bit, but it doesn't run my life like it used to. I mean I've even got a new gf who doesn't give a toss about my hair, so it can't be that bad right?

But you've come here for help and advice, so here goes. The big three (read a few posts on here, you'll pick up) Minox, Finasteride (Propecia) and Nizoral Shampoo. Personally, Fin would be your best bet at stabilising the hair and then minox would thicken. It sounds like you're a diffuse thinner like me, from what I've read we're known to respond fairly well to treatments.

Obviously Fin may have the potential for sides, that's an issue for you to consider with a doctor or medical professional. It works for some, it might not for others.

Hope this helps!

[Hozzam]

Thanks for your response, I appreciate it.
Well I am panicking but i've always had sleep problems, but definitely exacerbated by this hair loss problem. I'm away for 3 weeks at the moment, but i'm on a very strict diet, working out daily, not smoking or drinking and trying my hardest to stick to a sleep routine. I want to see if it has any responses to my body.
1 week in, I feel a lot more mentally stable, sleep is getting better, and I don't know if its because i'm not tugging my hair as much but less feels like its falling out. When I get back I'm booking an appointment with a trichologist and getting to the root cause and get some advice, if it is what I expect to be MPB then I will start on prescribed propecia and hopefully things improve.

I'll post a picture, you'll not be able to notice to start with because I have a lot of hair and its long, but when I post the pictures of the hair being pulling back you'll notice that I'm NW2 possibly?

Ah i'm glad to hear it man, at the end of the day there are so many more bad things in the world than balding thats why i feel pathetic at times worrying about this..also if i shaved my head it'd look weird (weird shaped head haha)

Cheers

[gldngamer]

Thanks for your response, I appreciate it.
Well I am panicking but i've always had sleep problems, but definitely exacerbated by this hair loss problem. I'm away for 3 weeks at the moment, but i'm on a very strict diet, working out daily, not smoking or drinking and trying my hardest to stick to a sleep routine. I want to see if it has any responses to my body.
1 week in, I feel a lot more mentally stable, sleep is getting better, and I don't know if its because i'm not tugging my hair as much but less feels like its falling out. When I get back I'm booking an appointment with a trichologist and getting to the root cause and get some advice, if it is what I expect to be MPB then I will start on prescribed propecia and hopefully things improve.

I'll post a picture, you'll not be able to notice to start with because I have a lot of hair and its long, but when I post the pictures of the hair being pulling back you'll notice that I'm NW2 possibly?

Ah i'm glad to hear it man, at the end of the day there are so many more bad things in the world than balding thats why i feel pathetic at times worrying about this..also if i shaved my head it'd look weird (weird shaped head haha)

Cheers

looks like youve got everything under control, the same thing happens to me im contantly obsessing about each and every hair that falls in the bathroom or while running my fingers through my hair.. its a natural thing and its induced by the fear of loosing our precious manes.. hey plz dont cut your hair short or anything its not worth it trust me i cut my hair short just to see if i was receding (which i was not, just minor vertex loss) and i lost all my long hair in the process! its my biggest regret. neways im growing them all over again, best of luck with your trichologist appointment.. tell me how it goes (btw im 18 and your story is extremely similar to mine)

[Hozzam]

looks like youve got everything under control, the same thing happens to me im contantly obsessing about each and every hair that falls in the bathroom or while running my fingers through my hair.. its a natural thing and its induced by the fear of loosing our precious manes.. hey plz dont cut your hair short or anything its not worth it trust me i cut my hair short just to see if i was receding (which i was not, just minor vertex loss) and i lost all my long hair in the process! its my biggest regret. neways im growing them all over again, best of luck with your trichologist appointment.. tell me how it goes (btw im 18 and your story is extremely similar to mine)

I will do pal and thanks for your response. It just sucks because i'm at university and I still get tonnes of compliments on my hair when I go out, the hair just feels kinda dead at the moment. It shows that hairloss can unfortunately hit anyone, i've been told silly comments like 'you'll have hair until you're 80' and just things like that. My dad is like 48 and he's NW3/4 and it doesn't look so bad.

But as you said, I've got to keep motivated and keep looking after myself. Mental strength is so important when you hit a snag like hair loss, once you don't feel so panicky it doesn't seem like the end of the world any more. And if you live for now as opposed to constantly thinking like 'shit this time 10 years i might be completely bald' (which is an automatic thought process for me) then you're wasting the time you had with the hair you have now. My mum said to me once when you look back at yourself now in 10 years, you'll be like what was I so worried about I should have enjoyed myself. Again, easier said than done All the best.

[Benjaymin]

Dude, out of ALL the posts i have read, this one has hit home the hardest since i am exactly like you. I don't have the sleep problems, but i freak out and panic the same way, and when that happens my self esteem is EXTREMELY low, but when i take a deep breath it doesn't seem so bad anymore. Anyways i'm currently 16 years old with a NW2 (waiting to see if its just a mature hairline or mpb, althought all signs point towards mpb), so don't feel to bad, i wish i started losing it at 21 On a serious note, stay positive, healthy and things will start looking up! Cheers

[Hozzam]

Dude, out of ALL the posts i have read, this one has hit home the hardest since i am exactly like you. I don't have the sleep problems, but i freak out and panic the same way, and when that happens my self esteem is EXTREMELY low, but when i take a deep breath it doesn't seem so bad anymore. Anyways i'm currently 16 years old with a NW2 (waiting to see if its just a mature hairline or mpb, althought all signs point towards mpb), so don't feel to bad, i wish i started losing it at 21 On a serious note, stay positive, healthy and things will start looking up! Cheers

Hey man, I'm both happy and unhappy you can relate to this post if you know what i mean. At least we can relate and exactly once you're at inner peace with yourself, which is really hard to achieve (especially with hair loss) then nothing as 'trifling' as hair loss will get in your way.

But as for this forum, i've read it for a while and chose not to participate ( i don't know why ) but it's slowly releasing all the inner tension I've had for the last year or so from keeping it in and not telling anyone. I've only told my mum and she doesn't know what to say to me, she doesn't want to upset me by telling me I am losing hair or lie to me saying i'm not. So she's not much help, i don't blame her though. So I can gather strength from people who are possibly in worse hair situations from me and still able to keep face.

My additionally problem is that i spent my A level days so excited for university and working so hard ready to go mad at university, i'd got a good body nice head of hair and was a good looking confident man. When I got to university, I randomly started getting gynecomastia and this knocked my confidence so badly. I was stupid because I didn't many tests on it and it's still here now. Then one year later I start getting hair loss. That's the way it is sometimes I guess, oh well. I still have my mind ( for now )

[Hozzam]

also, just broke the ice with my mum about how much it's bothering me and I found out some interesting things. Her dad started balding at 18. Apparently it was one of the reasons (amongst other more serious issues) that he turned to alcoholism which eventually caused his death. She said that hair loss hit him badly, and for her as a child, it didn't change for the world what she thought of him but it really destroyed him. Wish I could have met him now. So I guess I can now discount telogen effluvium completely as being the cause. The severe stress didn't, and probably doesn't help my current situation.

I want to say that i will now try and chill out, but I kinda want to fight this, I have nice hair and not ready to lose it. When I get back to uk on the 15th I am ordering propecia from the ukpropecia.info store (from reports its legit and they deliver very quickly).

I tell you guys what motivates me when I exercise, it gives me a lot of anger inside of me when I need that extra push, and its the hair loss and gynecomastia combo i have.

What i'd give to wake up in the morning and not feel heavy and immediately touch my hair and check my pillow and check in the mirror if you can see the receeding or my gynocomastia. Wish I could go back to being oblivious about how thick and nice my hair was and how chiselled my chest was. I just feel upset about the whole thing, i know i need to man up, i'm going to go for a 5k run hopefully that'll lift my spirits...but oh wait it's windy and it'll show off my receeding hair line -.-

[Benjaymin]

also, just broke the ice with my mum about how much it's bothering me and I found out some interesting things. Her dad started balding at 18. Apparently it was one of the reasons (amongst other more serious issues) that he turned to alcoholism which eventually caused his death. She said that hair loss hit him badly, and for her as a child, it didn't change for the world what she thought of him but it really destroyed him. Wish I could have met him now. So I guess I can now discount telogen effluvium completely as being the cause. The severe stress didn't, and probably doesn't help my current situation.

I want to say that i will now try and chill out, but I kinda want to fight this, I have nice hair and not ready to lose it. When I get back to uk on the 15th I am ordering propecia from the ukpropecia.info store (from reports its legit and they deliver very quickly).

I tell you guys what motivates me when I exercise, it gives me a lot of anger inside of me when I need that extra push, and its the hair loss and gynecomastia combo i have.

What i'd give to wake up in the morning and not feel heavy and immediately touch my hair and check my pillow and check in the mirror if you can see the receeding or my gynocomastia. Wish I could go back to being oblivious about how thick and nice my hair was and how chiselled my chest was. I just feel upset about the whole thing, i know i need to man up, i'm going to go for a 5k run hopefully that'll lift my spirits...but oh wait it's windy and it'll show off my receeding hair line -.-

hahahah i feel like where the same person! I held in my thoughts on my receding hairline for a little over a year, and only about a month ago did i start talking to my mom about it, half the time i was holding back alot of tears, but through finally expressing something that's bothered me for so long have i been able to accept it. it still bothers me alot, and at my age there's not much i can do to stop it besides vitamins and nizoral shampoo, but at least i'm relatively mentally stable and working on my mental and physical health

[BigThinker]

but at least i'm relatively mentally stable and working on my mental and physical health

You da man, kid.

It took me until my early 20's to figure that shit out. Once you realize you can better yourself, irrespective of hair (or whatever is bringing you down), the world makes so much more sense. Keep that mentality forever.

I never could tell my dad I was bummed about balding because of pride due to 1.) being 24/25 (too grown to whine about hair), 2.) I got the genes from him (would be a slap in the face to whine about something he conquered).

[Benjaymin]

You da man, kid.

It took me until my early 20's to figure that shit out. Once you realize you can better yourself, irrespective of hair (or whatever is bringing you down), the world makes so much more sense. Keep that mentality forever.

I never could tell my dad I was bummed about balding because of pride due to 1.) being 24/25 (too grown to whine about hair), 2.) I got the genes from him (would be a slap in the face to whine about something he conquered).

hahah i tried talking to my dad (whos a NW5 almost 6 himself) and all he said was "i don't know why people hate being bald, i LOVE it!" so i guess i have a good role model

[Hozzam]

Right so here are three pics of me. Left and right temples and normal. I don't know if you can see in one of the pics my thinning on the side of my head not at the temples too. I'm starting on propecia in 2 weeks, i won't be using minoxidil as due to my hair length its fairly inconvenient (i was on it for 2 months before).
And yes before you mention my hair is out of control and I will be cutting it soon also any comments, on what NW scale i appear to be and other visual observations would be much appreciated. Thanks. Hozzam.

[Hozzam]

guys, i know my hair loss is not major yet, but please bare in mind that i'm only 22 and left untreated could get pretty bad. So i'm not just some kid being over the top about it, please respond, would be nice to hear some feedback.
Thanks.