I'm 21- the story of how I destroyed my hair within 3 years

[21andbalding]

I'm 23 now and have some seriously patchy hair loss on the sides of my head, meanwhile my the hair on top of my head is probably around 50% less dense than it was 15 months ago.

My story begins around 3 years ago when I decided to start working out and taking supplements. I began taking creatine and doing weight lifting to build some muscles and starting noticing some thinning hair on the sides of my head. I didn't take too much notice of it at the time and carried on. A few months later I decided to shed weight by doing HIIT and simultaneously dieting. It worked, I lost around 5 kg in 2 months. But I also lost a ton of hair on the side of my head so it was becoming noticeable. I stopped doing the intense cardio and working out and went to a doctor. They told me my hair loss was stress related and it would grow back so I left it alone.

I went on another 6 months with no noticeable further hair loss. So I thought I'd try doing the cardio training again. Fast forward a further 3 months and I had lost more hair on the sides and now had noticeably thinner hair on the top of my head. I again went to the doctor and this time they sent me to a dermatologist. One scalp biopsy later I was told that I have redness and severe irritation on my scalp but no signs of MPB.

Fast forward to today, my hair has not changed for better or worse (slight recession of hairline at temples) and the top remains thin and the sides noticeably patchy. All of which is not helped by my patchy bald spots from the biopsy.

So in short I most probably contributed heavily towards my own severe and extreme hair loss. Doctors and dermatologists have given me no plan of future action and I know that I most probably will never get back to the hair I had 3 years ago or see any kind of improvement ever. It makes it all the worse when I consider all the times I ignored the signs my own body was giving me and carried on. I wish to god that I could just go back in time, I would do so much so differently. But now I can only look to the future, a future with this crappy straw like lifeless hair.

It just saps all my confidence whenever I am out in public and I always notice people glancing up at my hair which makes me increasingly uncomfortable. Sometimes I just prefer to stay locked up at home now just so I don't have to go out and endure the looks.

[jame]

I have similar problem. Look at my past messages. 6 months ago, still no progress. Hair is same. It is called telogen effluvium. It takes a year to see some regrowth. I had no redness. What was your time frame. When you stopped with gym??

[21andbalding]

It's been just over a year for me now, stopped around March last year seen no improvement. I wanted to go on Minox to see if that helps but my dermatologist told me I shouldn't since it would increase blood flow and increase the redness and irritation on my scalp. I've tried some vitamins/nutrients etc. but havent noticed any improvement. Apparently fin won't help me either so left with pretty much no options.

Hope you begin to see some improvements in yours soon, I suppose we can only really sit and hope and be grateful that at least it isnt geting worse. Out of interest did you also take protein shakes or any other bodybuilding/ weight loss supplements?

[jame]

Well, I stopped diet and gym when I noticed hair loss, it continued till March I think. It is sit and wait game. Didnt use any suplements, restricted calories intake only. Minox and fin is not an option, no hair miniturisation. My hair didnt recede..my genetic history of balding is perfect, no one with hair loss,dad at 75 has thicker hair than me..all. hair. I was 38 yo. without any hair loss, full head of hair. Didnt know that hair falls from time to time... Telogen phase lasts from 3 months(very optimistic) to even 7-8 months... Follicles need to rest, and conclude "Hey...I am going to grow now..nice weather outside!..". Now I use only some hair vitamins... By some Internet sources, reallistically it can take at least a year to see some progress from a hard diet and gym. At least my weight is the same, no return to extra weight..

[21andbalding]

I don't know if I can expect my hair to ever regrow. My family history sounds similar to yours although thinning on top does come into the equation in the 50's at least on my mother's side. Have you heard of or tried Nioxin treatments? I've been trying to research some alternative ways of helping my hair since I can't use minoxidil.

[ericgerard]

Would you mind posting some photos? It's possible you were misdiagnosed... If your hair hasn't returned long after you removed the initial stress, then quite simply you may never have had a telogen effluvium but rather you just suffered a swift bout of MPB.

[WHTC Clinic]

Have you consulted with an expert hair loss physician, and did you go to the nearest hair loss clinic in your area?

[21andbalding]

ericgerard here are some photos, ignore the obvious bald spot in the first one, that was from a biopsy. The second one probably shows more of the hair loss on the side of the head.

Technically I was never diagnosed with telogen efflevium, they just told me they didn't know what caused it and there wasn't anything else they could test for other than MPB.




WHTC Clinic - I saw a dermatologist, who did all the usual inspections of the scalp and then asked for a biopsy. I'm not sure what you mean by hair loss clinic, I do have some specialist ones in my country but if I go there all they do is offer minoxidil (which i can't take) and propecia, not any kind of expert consultation or anything.