18 years old. Need advice

[Heisann]

Hello ☺

I’ve been a huge fan of this website for a while now, and just made the decision that I should make a post and find out what you guys think I should do. I think its amazing that people are genuinely interested to help, and that its easy to cope with this problem together!

PS: I have to excuse my English. Its like my third language. Never use it.

Anyhow. I am 18 years old (soon 19). And I have always had very long and thick hair. I’ve never thought about the issue with getting bald, because of my hair type. My father is almost bald, but he has a completely different hair type then me, so I never worried. But for almost a year a ago I saw I photo of my big brother (he is like 22). He has always had pretty thick hair and long hair – but not as thick as mine. In this Photo I saw for about a year ago he had lost a LOT of hair!! I mean he was going bald. No question. It must be said though that the fact that he was going bold was more noticeable because he had cut of a lot of his hair, so now you could better see his.. ehm.. Forehead?

So when I see this picture I get a little scared, and I go to the mirror. I then brush my hair (which is pretty long), away to see if I have a receding hairline. And guess what? It looks like I do… I’ve seen a couple of pictures of peoples hairlines on the forum and mine was pretty similar to this, just hidden by my hair falling over. So of course I start to worry a lot (I worry VERY easy). But I keep in mind that perhaps its always been like this? I’ve had long hair as long as I can remember, and cant find pictures which shows otherwise. But I start to worry a lot, and check the mirriors all the time – knowing that when I cut my hair it will look like I have a reeceeding hairline.

About a month of this “worrying”, something suddenly starts happening. My hair falls of! I know its like normal to loose 150 hairs everyday, but I am loosing probably around 300… This did NOT happend before about a month after I noticed my brother picture and my hairline. I have never noticed loosing a hair before.. But now when I am fixing my hair etc, I notice about 20 hairs attached to my hand. This had never happend before this startet!
So I go see a doctor who we go to in my country for issues like this (directly translated it would be called a skin-doctor). She then says that hair falling off has nothing to do with getting bald… If you’re getting bald you wont notice this through your hair falling off.. It will just stop growing out. So she meant this would just stop.. But this cant be right guys? I mean…. It’s a connection between getting bald and your hair falling off? :S Right? Anyhow, she looks at my hairline and says its possible that its always been like this, or its happening now. I therefore say I want to get fin, and she gives it to me.. So I do have a Fin and I am wondering to start using it…

But after a while after I noticed my hairline (for about a year ago) I took measures of ehm.. my templtes – I think its called?. And they have grown like 1cm (I think, hard to measure) in about a year. I am 90 % sure they have grown atleast.

I am worried that when I am going to cut my hair shorter people will think it looks pretty dumb… Because it sort of does.. My hairline in front is okay, but when I push my hair back on the sides, You can see the huge “gaps” in the hairline. And I notice now after I have taken a shower that it really looks bad.. Might always been like this, but if not I need to stop it NOW! So I at some point may cut my hair and look presentable and not


So what the hell should I do? Thanks for ALL answers. And in writing moment, I am letting my hand run through my hair, and well.. There is a lot of hair coming out! Probably loosing about 350 hair today.

[badhairloss]

You should post pictures so we can tell if you're balding or not. Maybe you're loosing hair due to stress. Where are you from? Scandinavia?

I rembember when I was 18. I only lost hair on my temples, but I ignored it because I though I never would loose my hair because my father has a full head of hair. I inhered his hair type, thick and dark, but I also inhered hair loss from my mothers side of family. First when over 50-60% off my hair was gone I took action. Can not report regrowth from Finasteride (1.25mg daily since summer 2010), but it has stabilized it. If I had not ignored my hair loss when I was 18 I would most likely be NW2 today, but now I am a diffuse NW5-6.

If you belive you're balding, it might be the case. I would recommend Finasteride, but you should post pictures anyway so people can tell.

[Heisann]

You should post pictures so we can tell if you're balding or not. Maybe you're loosing hair due to stress. Where are you from? Scandinavia?

I rembember when I was 18. I only lost hair on my temples, but I ignored it because I though I never would loose my hair because my father has a full head of hair. I inhered his hair type, thick and dark, but I also inhered hair loss from my mothers side of family. First when over 50-60% off my hair was gone I took action. Can not report regrowth from Finasteride (1.25mg daily since summer 2010), but it has stabilized it. If I had not ignored my hair loss when I was 18 I would most likely be NW2 today, but now I am a diffuse NW5-6.

If you belive you're balding, it might be the case. I would recommend Finasteride, but you should post pictures anyway so people can tell.

Thanks for answering man And, yeah I am from scandinavia! How did you tell? And I will try and post some pictures.. But the question is if its maybe always been like that? Anyhow, I will take som photes and try and "publish" them here

And btw, like i asked in my first post, there is a connection between going bald and your hair falling off? (haha, sounds dumb, but I think you know what I mean )

[badhairloss]

I guess you dermatologist are correct about that fact, but you will notice hair loss, but maybe not before you've lost 50% of you hair. Some people can get stressed about hair loss and develop telogen effluvium, shedding lot of hairs. Those hair will grow back again, but if you are balding they become thinner. You can look for miniaturized hair in your hair line. Some kids can be born with "Huge gaps" on one side, but you would have noticed it in photos of your childhood even with long hair. Teenager's hair is often thicker than most children's hair (so pictures from teenage might not help you decide if you was born with huge gaps). I belive testosterone is good for your hair. It's first when the testosterone converts to dihydrotestosterone your hair follicles will be miniaturized.

I'm from Norway so I just made a guess from your nickname.

[Heisann]

I could not edit the starting post for some reason....

Bad picture.. It doesnt really show it.. Something to do with the light. May update it later with another picture

[Heisann]

I guess you dermatologist are correct about that fact, but you will notice hair loss, but maybe not before you've lost 50% of you hair. Some people can get stressed about hair loss and develop telogen effluvium, shedding lot of hairs. Those hair will grow back again, but if you are balding they become thinner. You can look for miniaturized hair in your hair line. Some kids can be born with "Huge gaps" on one side, but you would have noticed it in photos of your childhood even with long hair. Teenager's hair is often thicker than most children's hair (so pictures from teenage might not help you decide if you was born with huge gaps). I belive testosterone is good for your hair. It's first when the testosterone converts to dihydrotestosterone your hair follicles will be miniaturized.

I'm from Norway so I just made a guess from your nickname.

Yes! I do have miniaturized hair in my hairline.

[Heisann]

Well.. Since you may only edit posts 15 minute after they are made I'll have to make a new one to show the other side. Any admins who sees this, you may please put both of my photes in the starting post