I'm in hair limbo...

[mrclean]

I'm a 36 year old male (37 in a couple of months) who has been losing his hair for a few years now, and I've basically come to a breaking point. I would say I'm at around a Norwood 3V, approaching 4. Right now, my morning involves combing my hair into this elaborate comb forward, which I dread having to do. With a bit of hair putty and hairspray though, things look OK since the hair I have is pretty thick. People who see me all the time know I'm balding, but they don't know the extent from what they can see, so it's only a few passing jokes about my forehead growing and nothing more. Women don't seem to care too much with how it looks. One recent hookup mentioned more than once about not being into bald men, as if she had no idea that would affect me in any way. She's 25, so it's understandable and will change with age, I suppose. I mentioned my hair was going too and she laughed it off like she didn't know what I was talking about.

The problem stems from the fact that I'm currently doing better with women than I ever have in my life. The rest of me is holding up pretty well, I guess. I'm in decent shape for my age, beard is looking pretty slick, I'm tall, do well financially, etc. Basically, my appearance right now allows me to do what I want to do, which is hook up randomly/have casual relationships with women, then go my own way and do what I want the rest of the time. I desperately want to buzz my head and forget this stress I'm causing for myself, but I don't want to stir the pot, so to speak. I don't know how my head will look either. I suspect it's pointy, and I have a naturally long face/forehead, so the combo might just make for a terrible look.

I've considered Finasteride, but the tales of side effects scare me to death. I doubt any woman I'm with would trade my erection for a full head of hair. I sure as hell wouldn't. I've also looked into hair transplants, but I would have to shave my head and "show my hand" for a while and make everything obvious. There's also the chance it could be a botch job, which is also frightening.

I'm just not sure what to do that will allow me "fix" this to not show the extent of my hair loss or risk side effects that could mess with my lifestyle. At the same time I'm absolutely exhausted of this maintenance routine, avoiding pools, dreading windy days, etc. Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

I have the same issues. Had a really crappy hairday today and not sure why. Shaving my head is not a option because of my giant pumpkin head so I take the meds. I would give finesteride a try, most people have a good reaction to it but I know we focus on the bad reports. Other than that find a wife before the hair and the looks go.