Early Signs of Balding? 24

[andrew198]

So i went to the hair dresser about 4 months ago, my hair was cut far shorter than ever before and for the first time it hit me i may be balding, my hair had clearly receded, its been like that for a while though. Crown does look slightly thin. I went to see a doctor who said it has clearly receded and early signs of thinning up top but overall my hair density is actually still quite high, i then went to get a final opinion from a trichologist who viewed my hair under a microscope and said my scalp was in pretty poor condition, (i'm not big on washing my hair, when i was younger my hair was thicker and curly now it's straighter dry and limp so i tend to leave it unwashed to give it some texture) he said there wasn't any inflammation which is a good sign and if i was balding it was extremely early and he couldn't say if i was at all. he did suggest i take saw saw palmetto tablets which i did for a few days but stopped because of side effects. 4-5 months later my hair has grown, my crown looks fine dry but still wet it looks pretty dodgy compared to rest of scalp. I really cant be bothered paying for another apt with a trichologist so here i am. Included are some of the more damning photos of hair 4 months ago and the hair now dry. I do have some dodgy lines at the back that still show up and also a possible cowlick/baldspot? These aren't always visible but for the purpose of this post i uploaded the worst looking photos, usually under the brightest light

My family are all pretty good with hair, my dad has full head of hair, similar to mine now. his dad did lose hair as he got older but i wouldn't say he was aggressively bald, in photos he looks normal in his 30s-40s. My mums dad has full head of hair and only 1 of my uncles was bald on my dads side but everyone else from either side has full head of hair.

and yes i do understand there are many people on this forum in a much worse situation than me but i still thought i might be able to get some thoughts.

[Notcoolanymore]

I really don't see much hair loss at all to be honest. The only questionable picture is maybe the 3rd one, but your hair is really short in that pic. I would say at this point you should be ok. Suppose you were balding, would you even be willing to do something about it? So many that come here for help don't really want to do use the proven treatments due to the potential sides. If you are in that boat, then I would just learn to accept it and not waste your time on sites like this.

[andrew198]

If it was confirmed I would be, I must admit flicking through similar posts people are very quick to prescribe and i'm not really going to jump on some medication because someone said so on here, Im more here for some opinions from people who are going to have an idea what they're talking about. The side effects of Saw Palmetto were pretty mild, kept getting headaches and ended up with some bruises from sport because of the blood thinning, didn't really think it was worth it considering he wasn't even sure if i was going to have MBP

[efedrez]

If it was confirmed I would be, I must admit flicking through similar posts people are very quick to prescribe and i'm not really going to jump on some medication because someone said so on here, Im more here for some opinions from people who are going to have an idea what they're talking about. The side effects of Saw Palmetto were pretty mild, kept getting headaches and ended up with some bruises from sport because of the blood thinning, didn't really think it was worth it considering he wasn't even sure if i was going to have MBP

First let me tell you is great you wont jump into anything that might have potentials sides effects based on the opinions of strangers on the internet.

To me your hair looks fine and if you are balding its very likely is not aggressive and your hair should stay there for quite some time (and hopefully we will have a better/safer treatment by the time you need something).

I wouldn't take the path of not washing my hair often, it will make worst your scalp condition and even make shedding worst in the long run.

I also took saw palmetto but sides were kinda bad, plus there is no guarantee it works as a true DHT blocker, so if your are concern by hair loos in the future I would star with something lighter like minox (rogain) which is very low on sides (to none) and might be sufficient for you

[andrew198]

Yeah fair call, my hairline has definitely receded and might further recede, although its hard to be certain there are what looks to be miniaturized hairs, the crown is more scarce than other parts but i do agree it doesn't seem to be overly aggressive, the longer my hair gets the more it covers it up.
My side effects to saw palmetto weren't overly bad, the 3 or 4 days i took it i had a headache each night so i just stopped taking them, i also ended up with a big bruise on my foot from an innocuous impact which wasn't a good sign. From what i was told it does work in the exact same way as one of the other approved medications but the dosage and effect is much smaller, making it not as effective but also less chance and severity of side effects

[andrew198]

two more photos of crown, doesn't look as bad to a human eye. used flash in a well lit room but seems more than just a cowlick