Premature Baldness: Options

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I've been losing hair since about the age of 20 and, seven years on, I'm frankly sick of it. The thought that, if I live to about my life expectancy, I have about another 50 years of this crap, depending on scientific breakthroughs, to put up with means it's about time to make some drastic decisions. Let's be honest, I'll be too old to benefit soon anyway, because my entire youth will have been lost.

So, as far as I can tell, my options are as follows, in my order of preference:

1) Avoid living to my life expectancy through over-indulgence and avoiding doctor's visits. I might take up smoking cigars and I could definitely give heavier drinking a go. It seems a bit pointless trying to look healthy when I'm going to look like a chemo patient and be debilitated by a worsening depression soon anyway! All going well, I'll be about a third of the way already and will be dead by 40.

2) Get a hair transplant. Expensive, and probably ineffective. Not a great option.

3) Kill myself. Might sound drastic, but the world is overpopulated anyway and life isn't exactly a blessing.

4) Shave my head. There's only one thing I can think of that could make life worse than this, and that would be a vegan diet. This isn't even an option really.

Anyone got any better ideas?

[Layercake]

yeah, I do, how about a 5th option: suck it up, man up, and live life as you would have if you weren't OCD about the fact that your going bald.

Dude, balding blows, no doubt. and at 21 I totally understand your pain , in fact everyone on this board does. The fact that we are here posting proves that we share your mindset- at least to some extent. But that having been said whats worse than hairloss, and frankly far more unattractive is the weak personality of someone totally incapable of rolling with life's punches. I find my own lack of ability to accept and be at peace with hairloss totally shameful and disgusting and I'm trying to work through it.

I guess what I'm getting at is, if something like hairloss is enough to totally shatter your life you should really reevaluate yourself as a human being. Do you really wanna be that shallow? Life is more than looking good and getting chicks, though Western culture may have the sheeple believing otherwise.

If you havn't yet, you should try giving the ol head shave a go. Stop obsessing.

[dgman21]

I've been really thinking of shaving my head like you just mentioned cause i want to live again and stop being concerned. I want to go swimming againg and enjoy the wind!I just wish i had someone to talk about this with.

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Sorry, but I've heard the phrase 'man up' once too often. To me, man up = bad grammar and little more besides. I get the impression it's what American men say to one another when they want someone to ignore something bad that's happened. It's the equivalent of the British having a cup of tea and hoping everything sorts itself out. Believe me, I've had a lot of tea.

As for head shaving, that's option 4, after killing myself. That's where it's staying, because I have no desire to spend what could be two thirds of my life with a head that looks like a balloon.

[KeepTheHair]

1. There are going to be much better options in the NEAR future.

2. FUE from one of the best doctors would most likely give a very good result.

3. Life is definitely worth living, even with this crap.




At what stage exactly is your baldness now? Norwood what? What are you currently using? finasteride/dutasteride only? Have you ever tried anything else?


My hair has improved a good deal since I first came here. Still nothing like it was when I was 16 though.

I am trying fluridil next. Just as backup.

[Fixed by 35]

I've used Avodart and minoxidil for two years now with little to no success.

Life was just about tolerable with hair. All the banal bollocks and cliches, which is the extent of the average person's intellect, is tolerable when it can be ignored. But once they targeted their ignorant attention on me because of hair loss, and I had to endure their stupidity on a daily basis, it really became too much.

[Layercake]

well first off, keep drinkin tea, tea is legit. second, I think some of your negative attention comes from that whole British cultural thing where you guys "take the mickey out" of other people. I don't think you take too much shit for being bald in the states....at least not to your face,unless your dealing with complete Dbags. Also its sounds like you've been pretty depressed all along. Maybe this is just making it worse and you should seek psychological help for the depression and the superiority complex.

Good Luck!

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As long as groups like the Tea Party exists, I have all the evidence I require to prove I am superior! It's not a complex!

[Layercake]

hahaha, nah man, those nut jobs are just inferior. morons, all of em.

[Weedwacker]

First of all, I started balding at 17 and know the pain that people here feel with regard to the issue. Balding sucks; however, having said that it's important to realize that there is hope in this world. Unfortunately, shaving the dome is not a good option for most guys. Body hair proportioning comes into play. If you shave your head and neglect to trim the rest of the hair on your body, you will look abnormal. There used to be a guy(who shaved his head) who came into the gym where I worked, and he had 3 inches of back hair and 5 inches of chest hair! He looked moronic with the ape-look everywhere except his head. If you are going to shave your dome you have to develop the swimmer's look for the sake of proportioning. You don't have to shave down everywhere like swimmers/MMA fighters, but you have to at least do some trimming so that you don't look like someone dipped you upside down in a bucket of nair. Secondly, I look like a criminal nazi with a shaved dome. I keep it trimmed very short and I think I look ok that way. I don't look as good without hair but that's life.