In the Life of a Balding 21 Year Old

[BrokenArrow554]

My sister first commented on my hair getting thinner last summer of 2014. Of course, I was in denial, but looking back at it I was definitely losing my hair. It wasn't until early April that I finally went to see a dermatologist to get a prescription for Finasteride. By this point my hair had gotten significantly worse, which prompted me to always wear hats, which I'm sure most of you on this thread are familiar with.

My confidence took a huge hit, seeing as I was in a fraternity and constantly surrounded by women. Losing your hair does something weird to you, or at least it did to me. I now pay close attention to the hairlines of every guy and envy those with full heads of hair with a nice hairline. Your hair is everything when you're young, and losing it at the age of 21 is a terrible ordeal to cope with.

I experienced the initial shed of Finasteride about a month into my regimen, in which i would take 1.25mg of Finasteride daily alongside 5% Minoxidil twice a day (in the morning and before bed). I would have considered myself a NW 1.5 or 2 at this point. The shed lasted for about a month, and then stopped. Where I was counting 20-30 hairs in the shower I now had about 3-4 hairs after the shedding stopped. My hair looked worse than ever, but about 4 months into the regimen, my hair had gotten thick again! With proper styling, nobody could tell that I was losing my hair. Though my temples didn't grow much, if at all, my crown and the entire top of my head thickened considerably. This awesome hair period lasted through the months of July and August. Then September came.

When September started, I noticed I was shedding yet again, except this time was much more severe. Instead of losing 20-30 hairs in the shower like I did with my initial shed, I was losing roughly 50-60 hairs during my showers. My head started to itch again, and I thought to myself, "Ah shit, here we go again." Fast forward to the current date and I am still going through the same shed, but its gotten a bit better in the sense that I lose 20-25 hairs in the shower now as opposed to 50-60. My crown has gotten thin again, and my temples have started a slow, but noticeable recede. Keep in mind this is me a little over 7 months into my regimen.

While my hair looks like shit again, I must say it still looks a bit better than how it was at its worst. My hairline has definitely taken a hit though, which kind of pisses me off haha. I still remain optimistic, and have no plans of stopping my regimen. If anybody has gone through a second shed roughly 6-8 months in, I would love to know if/when it ended and if your hair grew back stronger and better.

I will continue to update this thread on at least a weekly basis for all those in the same situation as myself, to let you know if there really is light at the end of the tunnel. I will post pics every month or so for a visual reference.

[BrokenArrow554]

1st update : 11/25.

So here is just a quick update as to what has happened since my original post. I come back with good news! Today is the second day where my shedding has decreased significantly. Instead of counting 20-30 hairs in the shower, I'm now counting only around 6! If this follows the pattern as to what happened to my hair after the initial shedding stopped, then I should hopefully see some nice thickening in a month or so! I'll be posting pics soon to give a visual track record of my hairloss journey.

I should mention that I increased the dose of finasteride to half a pill a day now, just on rumors that increasing the dosage would expedite the halt of the shedding process. I started doing this 5 days ago, so of course I can't confirm whether or not this has anything to do with the decreased shedding, but I'm happy with the result. I'll continue to keep this post updated every week or so!