My riveting hair loss story a novel

Tell us your personal story, how hair loss has affected you, and what you're doing to treat it. Also keep us posted on your progress.

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Forum rules
This section is for you to use to chronicle your experiences with hair loss and how you're treating it. Use this section to give us your story and keep everyone posted on your progress.

This section will prove useful in that whenever anyone wants to know how you're doing they can check here, and YOU can check here as time goes by to reflect on your own situation, what you've learned and the progress you've made (or not for that matter).

Post pictures of your hair loss and regrowth, tell us about your regimen. Keep us updated!

If you're starting a new thread, please call it "{Your Forum ID}'s story", replacing {Your Forum ID} with the handle you use to login to these forums.


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Hairisgoodforu
New Member
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jun 12, 2015 11:16 pm
Norwood Level: Norwood III Vertex
Have you had a hair transplant?: No
Treatment Regimen: Coal tar shampoo .5% (net concentration)
Clobetasol Propionate foam .05% (three days every two months)
Pyrithione zinc shampoo 1%

My riveting hair loss story a novel

Post by Hairisgoodforu » Fri Jun 12, 2015 11:38 pm

When I signed up for this site there was a note asking me to share my story. I personally feel like no one cares, but I will share with you all of course.

I used to have full and beautiful red hair. I don't think this counts as narcissism, seeing as how I no longer do have full and beautiful red hair. Im a stubborn guy and a musician, so I still wear my hair long. It is now better described as tangly, frizzy sad red hair. I still like myself enough... But yeah i want it back. Thats why we're all here.

When I began high school my hair was a mop. I'm going to go ahead and say my hair loss began around 2008, though I barely noticed it at the time - my hair was certainly thicker than average in my early teens (~14yrs), so by the end of high school (2008-2009) I wasn't concerned with my slightly 'thinning' hair. And no one would ever have agreed that my hair was thinning at that point anyway.

However, just about one year after that, in the fall of 2009, my hair loss became unmistakably clear to me. It was my first semester of college, and my hair was coming out in handfuls. The progression was so fast it was startling. In the shower I would need to pick 7-10 hairs off my hand after each run through (my hair was long at the time). In addition, my scalp had quickly become chronically itchy and irritated. I was sure I wouldn't make it through college with hair on the top of my head. That made me pretty depressed, to think that I was starting off this new journey with an 'irreversible' and very unappealing problem. I saw my GP who was mostly unsympathetic, saying that some men lose their hair and there's not much you can do about it. He recommended the coal tar shampoo and prescribed clobetasol propionate for the itching. This is the regimen I have used until now. Yes, it has taken me this long to accept the problem, delve into research, and finally find some options I can get excited about. So wish me luck and I will do the same for you.

Some important notes concerning the legitimacy of my current treatment. While I have continued to lose hair steadily, there was a drastic reduction in the speed of my hair loss with the addition of the coal tar shampoo and the glucocorticoid. Without those two treatments, I am sure I would be a healthy 4 Norwood stages further advanced than I am today. For that I am very grateful. I have only recently learned of the carcinogenic effects of coal tar, but I am ready to advance to some new therapy options anyway. It has served me well. I will make a ballpark estimate and say the coal tar, in conjunction with the corticosteroid, has slowed down my hair loss by 40% or more. Now I am looking into laser therapy and possibly minoxidil or finasteride. This week I consulted a hair replacement surgeon who has a fantastic reputation, to the extent that he has been the choice surgeon for a few celebrities. I was excited to hear from his mouth that he sees a 90% success rate in LLLT for halting hair loss. I figure this is a great option to keep me where I am while i consider alternate additional therapies.

beardfreak

Re: My riveting hair loss story a novel

Post by beardfreak » Sun Jan 24, 2016 3:01 am

Hey there, just wanted to thank you for taking the time to share your story with us. I've obviously had hair loss issues myself which is maybe why I've become obsessed with my beard! You don't always have to try and grow hair again. I've found it best to be bald with dignity so to speak, and to make up for it with my facial hair and overall style.

beardfreak

Re: My riveting hair loss story a novel

Post by beardfreak » Sat Feb 20, 2016 5:40 am

thanks for you stroy. Every on here has a worthwhile story to tell.

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