20, In need of advice

[Lancer]

Hey folks, though I'd introduce myself. I have been a lurker of this and many other hair-loss sites for a couple of months now. The reason being that since getting a recent hair cut and looking in the mirror, I caught a view of a sight I'm not too comfortable with to say the least. I saw that the hairs at the back of my head seem to have been thin or thinner since I never really looked at that part of my head before. Needless to say, I panicked and started searching a bit into it and trying to figure out if MPB was the cause. Baldness isn't really a common problem on both sides of my family. All of the males on my mom's side still have their hair regardless of age, although some exhibit receding temples, although nothing else. However, it is from my dad side of the family that my worries are mostly contained. My grandfather was never bald, but old age did recede his hair some and neither was his father who died young at 40 because of cancer, still with a full set of hair though. However, my father is an odd case since he began to recede in his thirties and is now NW6 I believe you'd call it.

Anyway because of that, I've always been wondering if I would end up in his situation and these past few months have been a wake up call to that. I've always had an irregular hairline, namely that my right temple recedes more then my left one and it's always bothered me since high school. Recently however, after discovering that I might have less hair then I originally though, I started to look more in depth into my hairline and have noticed that the top of my head seems to be thinning or at least is thin. This startled me, since I've never payed attention to that particular part of my head and now, it's the main source of all my worry regarding my hair. After seeing old photos in which I could inspect my hair more thoroughly, I've noticed that I've had a split in my hair in the very middle that's caused this and I'm worrying that this part has become thinner over the years. Also, it seems as though the top of my hair just isn't as full as it once was since I'm noticing that there's a lack of thickness in that area.

Basically, I'm would really appreciate any input from here that I could get about it. After researching extensively and reading different forums and websites about the subject, I've learned that tackling this problem early on often will give you better results, so please don't think I'm paranoid or crazy over this. I'm only 20, but I'm at a point in my life were I'm trying to turns things around, eating healthy, working out, getting a worthwhile job, the works basically. The last thing I want is to worry constantly about whether or not I'm losing my hair. However, I'm on a budget and because of that, I'm wondering if taking generic dutas, maybe on a M/W/F schedule to hopefully reduce the side effects would be a good choice on my part. I'll provide pics in my next post. Sorry if this was too wordy.