Hi! my introduction and story

[DepressedByHairLoss]

You are totally right bro. If these scientists got paid based on how much progress they make in attempting to cure diseases for humans (not mice), then maybe we would have better results. I mean, everyone else gets paid on results. I work in the computer field and if instead of fixing a computer problem, I kept "gaining insight" and "developing clues" in how to solve a problem but never actually solved it, I'd be out on my ass. Granted, the human body is different from a computer, yet it gets really frustrating and excessive when all of these scientists sell their articles for profit to these science publications, claiming that they have developed new ways to grow hair in mice, but these so-called results are never tested on humans. I mean, what the **** is the point of that?
When I first started losing my hair a little more than a year ago, I started researching on the internet all of these articles where scientists claimed to make hair growth discoveries. I e-mailed over 100 of them and of course none of them were testing their discoveries on humans. Sometimes I wish I could just steal all of their mice so that they'll be forced to maybe begin testing on humans. Some of them just told me about shit like Rogaine, Propecia, and hair transplants. Granted, Rogaine, Propecia, and hair transplants are better than nothing, but treating hair loss by these ineffective methods is like putting a band-aid over cancer. I've tried Rogaine and it didn't do a damn thing for me. I'm on Propecia right now and although I'm shedding a bit less, the results are very, very minimal. And VictimofDHT, you're not alone with having your transplanted hair fall out; my friend had the same thing happen to him. IMO, there are so many flaws with hair transplants: 1) doesn't create any new hair, 2) leaves permanent scarring, 3) transplanted hair can fall out, 4) only a limited amount of hair can be moved during one session (multiple sessions are needed to achieve anything close to a full head of hair). It just baffles me that in this day and age, we don't have better options to combat hair loss. I mean, we've cloned a full sheep (Dolly the sheep) and we're even cloning full organs like liver and kidneys, but we can't clone hair. I doesn't make sense, and despite what others say, I certainly don't believe that cloning a hair is much more difficult than cloning an entire organism like Dolly the Sheep.

[VictimOfDHT]

I know. I think those so-called researchers should be treated like every one else - produce something or get the **** out. We're not just gonna pay you for torturing mice and doing USELESS experiments on them. There are so many ****ed up things with the way the world is run. Some of those "researcher" have been doing the same god damn thing for decades, probably their whole damn career life, without producing a damn thing. What are they getting paid for exactly ?? I am a firm believer that most of the research -and also researchers- is total USELESS BULL SHIT that does NOT work in real life and is NOT actually meant to. Plain and simple.

I know it's really ridiculous that they still cannot find a way to end this ****ing curse. And yeah, I don't understand it either. They can clone a whole sheep or whatever but they cant clone hair. I don't know but I feel this is done on purpose. Maybe there's pressure on them NOT to find a treatment so the HT doctors keep making the 10's of thousands of $$$ they make every week. Can you imagine what would happen to them if suddenly a miracle treatment comes out ??? I know that's a bit extreme thinking but you just can't help but wonder.

I still think your best bit at the moment is Minox and Fin. Minox has been very good for me in slowing down the hair loss. It does suck to use but I don't care as long as I don't become bald. How long did you use it for ? You probably already know that but you should give it at least a few months. You can also try increasing the Fin dosage. I think I'm gonna do that myself.

As for HTs, I know they're the best solution only for people with a small balding area. But what else can someone do if he's already bald ? Either live with this shit or have an HT. At least he won't be considered bald even if his hair was thin. Yeah, it's not the perfect answer but it's better than baldness. The scar isn't an issue if the doctor is good. What's shitty about HTs is the expense and the time involved. But talking about your friend makes me wonder if this problem (of losing the transplanted hairs) is more common than we're made to believe. Did he lose all of his transplanted hairs ? The guy must devastated. I know I AM. I haven't lost all my T hairs yet but I have lost a whole lot and I'm really worried that I'll end up losing it all after so many HTs. This is really really ****ed up. I still won't write off HTs as a good way to get rid of the bald look but I wish there was a way for people to know if they're going to lose their new hair or not before they go under the knife and lose thousands of dollars for nothing.

[DepressedByHairLoss]

As for the doctors and researchers being pressured NOT to find an ultimate cure for hair loss, I wouldn't be surprised if that was true either. Hair restoration is a multi-billion dollar business and if a cure was found, then it really would put all of these HT doctors out of business. Nobody would buy Rogaine or Propecia anymore and the pharmaceutical companies that produce them would lose money. Places like Bosley would go out of business. So many companies/people would lose money or be out of a job if a hair loss cure was found. I mean, what incentive would a lot of these doctors have in trying to create a cure for hair loss if they already have experience making a ton of money through these shitty hair transplants? Other people would argue with me and say that whoever invented a cure for hair loss would make millions if not billions of dollars, and that would be a doctor's motivation for developing a cure. But if that was the case, then how come so very few companies/people are even attempting to cure it? How come there is literally tons of "research" done on "potential" hair loss cures, but none of these discoveries are tried on humans? A lot of these researchers are just content on making their money selling their "hair loss discoveries" on mice to scientific publications, yet don't give a rat's ass about trying their discoveries on humans. Or maybe a lot of these researchers aren't qualified to conduct human clinical trials, maybe the job of conducting human clinical trials falls to the doctors and the big drug companies? Maybe they're supposed to pick up where the researchers left off? And if the doctors are already making big money on these shitty hair transplants and the pharmaceutical companies are already making big money peddling shit like Rogaine and Propecia, then why would they bother testing new discoveries on humans when they're already making a ton of money doing the shit that they're already doing? At least I give credit to people like Dr. Cotsarelis, Dr. Hitzig, and Dr. Greco, who are at least attempting to try to find cures.
This issue not only relates to hair loss. As I said before, when I first started losing my hair, I started researching stem cell treatment which could possibly regrow my hair. Through my research, I found that many people with a wide variety of diseases continuously go to other countries for treatments that have not been approved by the anally-retentive FDA. Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali go to other countries to get stem cell treatments for Parkinson's Disease that aren't available in the U.S. And then a lot of the researchers here claim that these treatments are unsafe and unproven. But if some one is suffering from a disease, what choice do they have? Should they just accept the suffering or should they try and do something about it? I for one will NEVER accept hair loss and will always try and do something to get my hair back. That's why I don't blame you for getting the hair transplants that you did. I am just hesitant to get a hair transplant because I believe that it is such an imperfect procedure where far too much can go wrong. I mean, I've seen the bloody mess that these hair transplants can cause and there are plenty of people on here who tell stories of their botched hair transplants. I am not bald but I have two gaping receding hair lines and thinning on top. Yet I don't want to take a chance and lose that remaining hair through "shock loss". And I someday want to have a haircut like a fade, I would never be able to without the transplant scar showing through. I don't believe that Rogaine and Propecia do a damn thing either. I tried Rogaine for a year and it didn't do a damn thing. They advertise that 85% of people regrow hair on Rogaine, which is absolute horseshit and shows the level of honesty of the pharmaceutical industry. Propecia maybe caused me to shed a bit less, but none of these do a damn thing to regrow hair. I just feel that there are so much better methods out there to regrow hair, yet no one is trying them. I posted a whole list of potential treatments in the "Cutting Edge" section of this website. For example, scientists have recently been able to reprogram stem cells and give them embryonic characteristics. If these reprogrammed stem cells were applied to hair loss, then these stem cells would theoretically be able to grow hair like they did when they were in an embryonic stage. Yet no one tries this and unfortunately we're stuck with the limited shitbag options that we have now. Despite the fact that hair loss is a multi-billion-dollar industry, I read somewhere that only like 7 percent of people actually spend money trying to do something to combat hair loss. It's not because people want to accept being bald or like it. It's because the options are so few and ineffective that some people believe that they have no choice but to accept it.
Oh, and my friend who had the hair transplant lost most of his transplanted hair. He wasted a ton of money and got nothing out of it. He won't tell me which doctor did it (he doesn't want to talk about it, just wants to forget it), yet he lives in NYC so I doubt it was some dipshit clinic in the middle of nowhere.

[VictimOfDHT]

Well, special interest groups and lobbyists are no secret. We know how much influence these guys have. It is obvious that it is NOT in the interest of any HT doctor, the makers of Minoxidil, Fin, Dut or the countless numbers of so-called companies that rake in billions of dollars selling their bull shit hair loss products. Even the FDA are a bunch of crooks. It's a fact that there are many treatments (for different illnesses) in other countries around the world yet you can't find shit for these illnesses in N. America. I'd say "safety" is second to profit and special interest groups in the eyes of the FDA. The fact that there's hardly any research into hair loss is something fishy. Yes, that who invents a hair loss treatment will make billions but all the guys we just mentioned will LOSE billions and they'd be pretty pissed. So....

I don't know what to say, man. Believe me, I'm more pissed and depressed than I have ever been regarding the problem of my hair loss and all the empty promises we keep hearing. I think I'll probably die from a heart attack from my stress before I see a real treatment for baldness. There's no word to describe my despair. I just can't sit and watch my hair fall out especially after all these years of torture going thru HTs and all the money that had been spent. I don't know, maybe those injections being offered in the UK by dr. Hitzig or don't know who can really do something. I'm gonna look into that and try to follow any new stuff about it. It's my only hope to at least stop any further hair loss. 4 or 5 years will be too long for me to wait for Histogen or follica or whoever. This really really sucks.

I think you should continue to take Fin. What other options do you have ? I wish there were a ****ing place even on the moon that had a solution to this god damn curse. I'd ****ing walk all the way to there. But for now, all we have is Fin and Minox. The rest is nothing but promises that might or might not come true.

As for HTs. Many people seem to be happy with them. But some people don't do their homework when they look for a doctor. And some -like me and your friend- just have some shitty bad ****ing luck and a special curse from god to make us even more miserable than usual, that would make us lose our transplanted hairs.

[mstymoon]

Wow! I feel like i just read my story lol, same 23 and people started saying hey whats going on with your hair man? At 15-17 in that age range, i took accutane which i think messed with my height so i feel you on the short thing! It stinks, I also started losing hair as well at 17 not much, but it started and its a side effect of accutane. But the good thing is you are deciding to do something about it! Keep me us up dated and good luck!


Also use Minox and Finasteride. I mean it hasn't done much for the front of my hair. A little bit though, better then nothing and my hair on top of my head filled in a bit. If anything at least it will hopefully keep you from becoming more bald until you figure out how you want to deal with the situation.

[DepressedByHairLoss]

Yeah man, I really have the same sentiments as you do with regards to hair loss. It baffles me and pisses me off so much that we don't have any better options to regrow hair than Rogaine, Propecia, and hair transplants. One thing that you and I have in common is that we are willing to fight with all our being to get our hair back and we refuse to accept hair loss. I certainly will not go through life simply 'accepting it'. **** that! As I've said before, I really think I'm gonna have to go outside of the country for a solution to hair loss. I've been doing tons of research with regards to stem cells regrowing hair and I've found that several clinics outside of the U.S. (in Tijuana, Mexico and China) use umbilical cord blood derived stem cells in an attempt to regrow hair. These kinds of stem cells are used in the U.S. to treat other illnesses, but of course they're not used to treat hair loss here. Instead, we're stuck with chickenshit Rogaine and Propecia. Also, other places around the world are using autologous adult stem cells (from either fat tissue or bone marrow) to treat hair loss, yet here we're stuck with friggin hair surgery and wigs. There are even 3 stem clinics in the U.S. that offer these autologous stem cell treatments, yet they're performed by 'naturopaths' as opposed to regular doctors so that leaves me a bit skeptical. Why can't doctors here in the U.S. perform these stem cell therapies? I guess they're too attached to their beloved hair transplants.
I live in NY and I've already been in contact with Dr. Hitzig's office about the Acell/PRP treatments. Except the hair growth results with this on his website are so very minimal. Hopefully he's added or expanded his technique so that it will result in more hair growth. I mean, I don't think he'd bring it all the way over to the UK just to show minimal results. But then again, Rogaine and Propecia don't do dickshit and they're making billions. What a world we live in.
Yeah, I'm gonna continue taking Propecia cus that's all we've got, but I'm not even bothering with Rogaine (didn't do a damn thing for me). But this isn't gonna be the only weapon in my arsenal. I'm really gonna seek out some of these stem cell treatments cus there's really gotta be something better out there than Rogaine, Propecia, or a ****in hair transplant.

[VictimOfDHT]

Well, the reason why doctors are so stuck on the HT shit is because there's more money in it. A whole lotta money to be made. Most people who do HTs are hooked and they're back to do a second, third and even more. Each time it costs a few $ 1000. The average guy pays somewhere around $20000 and even more. However, a one shot treatment -IF IT EVER COMES OUT- would be a bargain even if it cost a few thousand dollars. Of course way more men would choose to go for such treatment but HT doctors won't get a cut of that money because they won't be needed anyway for such treatment, which means they'd be out of business.

Yes, I am willing to do anything in my fight for this ****ing curse, but I don't think there's much available right now. I've done all three things - Minox, Fin/Dut and HT but it seems god hates me so much that even the HTs aren't gonna work for me. So I don't know what else is left. I DO believe there are treatments available for some illnesses in other countries that are NOT available in the US or canada but I don't think there is anything for hair loss. If there were, it wouldn't be a problem any more. ****, even China hasn't been able to do anything so far. What the **** ? It is possible these days to change sexes and even grow facial hair on women but they still cant do shit for head hair.

I am really in a desperate situation right now. I ask god to take my ****ing life before he makes me bald. I don't think I'll EVER be able to live with this shitty disfigurement, unless I live in a cave somewhere and never have to look in a mirror ever again.

I just HOPE that Histogen or whatever other companies trying to do something for hair loss sufferers come out with their shit soon or, god just takes my life.

[DepressedByHairLoss]

I know man, and that's what I can't stand about these ****in hair transplants. If you want somewhere close to a full head of hair, you've got to have at least a few sessions done with something like 10,000 grafts total. If there was some kind of hair multiplication procedure that cost as much as these hair transplants, I'd do it in a second. However, I'm not gonna pay that kind of money for a procedure that leaves permanent scarring, doesn't create any new hair, and isn't even nearly 100% effective. These doctors have spent years though performing these hair transplants and therefore have lots of experience performing them. So it wouldn't be in their best interest financially or medically to start looking for other hair loss cures. If they're making a ton of money doing these hair transplants, then why would they **** with good enough and try something else?
And really man, they can actually perform sex change operations but they can't find a way to grow hair??!!! What a ****in joke!! I mean, that's just unbelievable!! I mean, they can change some one's entire gender yet they can't find a way to grow hair!! That's just unbelievable to me and provides just more proof that there's a lot of fishy stuff going on in the pharmaceutical industry and big business. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that some one who wants to change genders probably has some really unresolved issues going on, and I'd bet most people would consider a sex change to be unethical (I'm not even sure they can perform this in the U.S. due to ethics issues). Yet, all people like you and me want to do is grow our hair back; there's nothing unethical or immoral about that!!
I feel your pain too man, I'm in a desperate situation myself. I too have at times thought that a life without hair is not worth living. That's all I pray to God about. I say: "I don't ask for anything else, all I want is a way to grow my hair back". I don't think that is too much to ask. And what really kills me about this disease is that there is really nothing that we personally can do about it. I mean, if some one is fat, they can exercise and lose weight. If some one is skinny, they can lift weights and put on muscle. Hell, there are even people like Dennis Byrd who have had spinal cord injuries yet have still gotten up, walked again, and are now living normal lives. Yet there is no effective way to grow hair. Again, unbelievable.
I'm really going to look into this umbilical cord blood derived stem cell thing to regrow hair. If you google 'Han Hoon umbilical cord hair loss', you'll see that this Korean doctor performed a study where these umbilical cord blood derived stem cells were injected into a patient's scalp. Apparently these stem cells are very powerful and outstanding hair growth results were seen. But in this day and age, in supposedly the world's most technologically advanced nation, we're still dicking around with Rogaine and Propecia. Again, just totally unbelievable and downright unacceptable.

[VictimOfDHT]

Well, like I already said, there's hardly any research being done on this hair loss curse. It's like they don't care about it. Had there been any serious interest to study this problem 40 or 50 years ago I'm almost sure we would've found a solution long time ago. But no, they're too busy doing breast cancer research because you know, there are no other problems more important. The thing is they haven't been able to do a jack shit about cancer either despite all the billions they're taking.


Yeah I've done the "praying" thing too for years and years but I wasn't expecting miracles and I didn't wait for them to happen. So I went out and went through hell to get those HTs and spent thousands of dollars that took me years to make and again prayed to god to at least make everything go right. Well, I guess I was asking too much.


I don't know what else to do. Now I'm virtually living on these hair loss sites waiting and hoping that one of these companies will surprise us with a treatment. But I know this wait is going to be a long one. Maybe even a very long one. But if a treatment is ever made anywhere on this planet I'll be on a plane the next day to wherever the hell it is, well, as long as it is affordable, which is another concern I have. We don't want to wait for years and then be told it's going to cost 50,000 dollars to get your hair back.

So, I guess for now we're just gonna continue to suffer and live in this misery for god knows how long. Like I always say, life is cruel. Life isn't fair.

BTW, as far as I know, sex change operations are available in the US.

[DepressedByHairLoss]

For one thing, I'm glad there is a website like this where I can vent all of my anger and frustration with this disease. It creates awareness that baldness is a disease and not some little condition that people feel comfortable to laugh about. But what we really need is a concerted effort to find a cure for this disease. As I've said before and I'll say it again, it just baffles my mind that we don't have anything better than Rogaine, Propecia, and hair transplants to combat this God-awful disease. I dunno, I just can't accept that a cure will be a long time coming; it's just too much for me to live with. Man, I'm a rock n roll lover and guitar player and I used to love to have hair like the guys in my favorite bands like Kiss and Motley Crue. This dream has been taken away from me and I don't think I'll ever be the same. I've really got no other choice but to look at other options. Like I said before, there are a few places in the U.S. that perform a treatment where they extract bone marrow stem cells and inject them into the bald/balding areas of your scalp to hopefully replace the damaged stem cells and promote hair regrowth. Except these procedures are performed by three 'naturopaths'. I also came across the Sparsh Clinic (http://www.sparshclinic.com/sparshpage.asp?id=22) which shows some amazing hair regrowth results. Not sure I believe it though. I just cannot sit back and accept this shit any longer. If there don't appear to be any options than the FDA-approved shit, then I'm just gonna have to go out and find some.
And one last thing that came to my mind. I just can't stand it when people like Larry David and that George Costanza character from Seinfeld constantly joke about baldness. I think it does a real disservice, portraying baldness as some comical condition rather than a miserable disease. Maybe they're all happy and content that they look like shit and just don't care.