My first post - a bit of a rant

[TheHopeful]

I'm new here. I am 27 years old and as far back as 10 years ago, I believed I had began balding. Back then I had longer hair and was shedding a lot and became alarmed, but had really thick and wild hair. A little after that, I decided to start cutting it short, even buzzing it a few times and used some products which I can't remember the names (it was a shampoo, conditioner and lotion combo... It made my scalp burn a little when I used it, feeling like a very strong minty sensation). I noticed (or imagined I noticed) some thickness returning and assumed maybe my hair had become weakened by having grown it out in the past, and maybe it had been a temporary thing. I eventually ran out of the product and didn't go purchase it thinking maybe it had all been my imagination...

This was when I was 18-19... Since then I do remember thinking that my hair is changing a little bit in texture but thought it was a normal aging/adulthood thing (e.g. I feel my hair used to be more unmanageable, now it's less so), or maybe that it was becoming used to growing in a certain direction due to the way I was combing it for so many years. Fast forward until about a week ago, I'm 27, and go get a haircut with a new barber. He told me I am balding and have an empty spot on the front top of my hair and recommends I use this lotion called folicure (it contains biotin and other ingredients) to preserve what I have left since it's still not really noticeable. I don't know what to think... There is something there, but I can't remember if it's always been there and I had never really noticed it and it's just part of my normal hair distribution of always, or if it's newish.

I want to believe it's biotin deficiency (I have suffered from conjunctivitis a few times over the last couple of years and also have developed extremely dry skin on my hands and around my lips over the last year or so) or a thyroid deficiency (I did suffer from a mild case of hypothyroidism when I was in my early teens and thought it was under control), or just plain old stress. And every time I've told someone that I think I will go bald, they just say I'm crazy, but I don't know it was because when I comb it sideways it looks the "empty spot" in question is not visible... In the end, I am pretty sure that's all just fool's hope. There are only two bald members in my family: my maternal grandfather (who passed away in his 60s and even at that age he wasn't BALD, but had a pronounced widows peak and receding hairline) and now my older brother, who is 31 and almost bald and whose balding started advancing really fast in his late 20s... When it comes to my brother I thought it was maybe because he was perhaps taking too many supplements (I am pretty sure he doesn't use steroids, and for the sake of argument, let's say he 100% unquestionable doesn't. What think, though, is that he's taken some natural pro-hormone supplements to help him recover/build muscle) since he's into strongman kind of training. My father has a full head of hair at 60 and nobody in his side of the family seems to be bald (and yet he tells me he also was told he was going bald when he was young, therefore he doesn't think I'm going bald... But I'm pretty sure he's just saying what any father would). My mother has really thick hair as do all of her siblings.

Sometimes I think I'd rather accept it already and buzz/shave it so that it's not as noticeable than constantly wonder if the person I'm talking to is noticing it. But I just don't know for sure. Maybe it will only really be noticeable well into my 40s or something (not that I ever want it to be noticeable, but I just think that if I am bald at 30-31 like my brother, it'll really suck. He doesn't seem to mind as much since he's favored a shaved head for a long time anyway. On the other hand I don't look quite as good with short hair as he does, which is why I stopped buzzing it when I was 20ish.)? At least that's what I'm hoping for... It's sad because I am 27, and only now coming out of my shell (I've lived in shyness all my life and after a few failed efforts at getting over it over the years, I am trying now and think I finally have what it takes to get over it, and now this... it's just a blow to my confidence), I have, fortunately pretty good skin, but I know that no matter how smooth your skin looks, everybody will think I'm 15+ years older than I actually am once the hair loss becomes noticeable.

I want to ask, is there a trustworthy specialist I can see that will tell me for sure and is located in the Miami (or South Florida) region? I'm afraid that if I just go to one of the first hair loss places I find on google (not to mention one of the first results I found had many negative reviews), they will of course say what I have is MPB even on the odd chance that it isn't, just to try to sell me on surgery or drugs (I don't think I'm interested on surgery/transplants at the moment. And I'm too scared of side effects to try drugs... I tried some generic rogaine for about a month and after seeing no changes except for hair growing at an alarming rate on the back of my hands, eyebrows, and on my arms and numbness on my manhood, I got really scared and dropped it. Thank God the manhood thing seems to have sorted itself out. I don't know if I wanna put that at risk ever again). What kind of specialist should I see to know for sure, a dermatologist or a hair loss specialist?