Desperate for Advice

rj55 · Post by **rj55** » Thu May 19, 2005 7:44 am

Hi there, just thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Robert and I'm 18 years old (going to turn 19 in November). I was hoping I could get some opinions from this forum on my current situation. As I said, I'm 18 years old and well, I began to notice hair loss after I turned 18. Mostly from my crown region (looks like the editor's and this, except slightly less).

So it's been around 7 months since I've started shedding hair. Both my hair line (I've got a widower's peak) and temple regions are fine and there really isn't a substantial amount of hairloss from those regions. But both my crown region and the top of my head seem to be shedding. So I considered genetics, but here's the thing: my mother has 8 brothers and one sister, some of them are bald (~3) and the rest have really thick hair. As for my father's side, he had 2 brothers and 2 sisters, all of whom have no hair loss whatsoever.

Another thing that happened at the same time that my hairloss occured was that I was in college. I guess I could be paranoid (lol) but the city that my college was located at was known to have really bad water. And I lived in the dorms and whenever I took showers, was when I noticed a lot of my hair was falling off. Also a "lot" of hair would've been around 10 follicles each shower. It was also the time when I switched shampoo products (from Johnson's to Pantene Pro-V... don't laugh). Of course, I could just be paranoid and think that this is attributing to it. Another, quite possibly, silly thing of me to notice is how whenever I took tests, I would keep reaching into my hair on top and hair would just fall onto my test. Stress perhaps? I don't know. Initially it was only 10 in the shower, but increased to the point that I would be shedding at any time of the day, not just in the showers.

But, here's the thing, I am now home (summer vacation from univ), and I 've decided to experiment. To me this is a little disgusting, but I still take regular showers each day, except for the fact that I only use the shampoo once every 2 days. I've noticed that I don't shed as much. Also, I don't put my hands in my hair as much either. Truth be told, I've noticed I shed less at home as compared to college period. The reason I mentioned shampoo's was because I read that sulfate could be a major cause of hairloss, *if* you're allergic to it. I noticed that Pantene contained sulfate but I didn't know about Johnson's. However, Johnson's should contain sulfate if sulfate is what causes the suds whenever rubbing your hair in the shower. Quite honestly, I am terribly confused, even after reading a major portion of this website!

Another thing I experimented with was trying to try Propecia. I thought our medical insurance would cover it, but when I went to the local pharmacy, they said our medical insurance doesn't cover cosmetics (silly of me to think that they would), and it was really expensive (100$'s for a month worth of pills I think and I don't really want to do that at this young an age). So I'm pretty much left clueless with no idea what is going on. My father said he went through a similar experience when he was about my age, but his hair grew back. However, my father has curly-wavy hair and when I was born I had the same hair, except I shed it and my mother's type of hair replaced it. This leaves me even more clueless.

Sorry that my "story" is this long, and I hope you don't regret having to read this all, because I would REALLY appreciate any comments / ideas you have as to why this is happening. I truly want to believe what's happening to me is like my father's, but I am whole-heartedly ready to accept that fact that I AM balding. Any comments would be helpful.

Thanks in advance
-Robert

Post by **HairLossFight.com** » Thu May 19, 2005 9:13 am

Helllo Robert and welcome!

Just wanted to let you know that I've read through your post and intend to respond to it in full within the day. I'm at work at the moment so can't really give you the kind of detailed response that I like at the moment.

Best Regards,
Sam

Tricia · Post by **Tricia** » Thu May 19, 2005 12:54 pm

I don't mean to sound insensitive, but you probably are suffering from AGA (male pattern baldness). It won't grow back like your father said. It's not because of the bad water or shampoo. It's genetic.

If you want to save as much as you can, you can try propecia (or get proscar and cut it into 4ths if that is cheaper). Try minoxidil.

Make sure you're eating enough protein. I did actually lose some hair in college because of my low protein diet and that hair grew back....but women's hair tends to be like that. Women suffer more from TE (big sheds, with recovery). Men tend to have pattern balding and since you say you have a widow's peak, then that sounds like the typical male pattern.

You won't want to hear this, but don't despair. I know men hate hair loss, but it is acceptable for men to lose their hair. You can try the treatments and if they work for you. That's great. If they don't, then you are still handsome and you shouldn't let hair loss get you down

kakarot · Post by **kakarot** » Thu May 19, 2005 1:53 pm

I dont want to sound mean tricia but dont tell him that his hair wont grow back, let him have hope, I am suffering from alot of hair loss and honestly I was looking at my hair with a magnifying glass and saw regrowth along my hair line. And my hair seems to be getting longer, and the last thing I want to hear is that my hair wont grow back. So keep hope kid, use Minoxidol, and you can get Proscar which is a cheaper version of propecia, Im probably gonna get me a bottle soon of Proscar considering I dropped off my prescription and they gave me a price that was reasonable. Also some herbal pills might help, Saw Palmetto has definatelly helped me maintain hair and help regrow hair with the use of Xandrox15. Just do your research, and see an expert before coming to a conclusion on what type of hairloss you have. You need to have a healthy diet too and not stress so much like I use to have in my college years. Good luck and take care...

kakarot · Post by **kakarot** » Thu May 19, 2005 1:58 pm

Oh I meant my hair seems to be getting thicker, LOL of course its gonna get longer. And also one of my friends from work is back from college and is working with me, he is like a half year younger then me and we are both 21. I can tell his hair line is receding, but honestly he dont seem to care and nor do I, so its a natural thing, confidence is key to everything, I got me a good girl now in my life and she doesnt seem to have a problem at all considering Im young and losing my hair and shes even a little younger then me too. Its how I act, how I treat her, and how smart I am, I even left her a rose today on her car when she was working, its simple things like that, that makes people happy. So dont stress it out, just do your research and do whatever you can, sometimes you cant control it, as much as I see regrowth, there are probably parts of my hair that wont regrow, but oh well, thats just mother nature playing its role in our lives. Just go with the flow of things...

Tricia · Post by **Tricia** » Thu May 19, 2005 2:56 pm

kakarot,

I meant that his hair won't grow back without treatment. I put off treating my hair loss for over a year because I thought it was a temporary thing. A derm told me to take iron tablets and that's all I did. I continued to lose hair.

Starting minoxidil has helped me. I've grown some hair back and maintained some more. But, if I didn't treat it, it would have gotten progressively worse.

Also, if you ask my family, they tell me I'm not losing my hair or it's not so bad. The reality is that I am losing my hair. It is genetic and I'm glad I'm treating it with minoxidil.

kakarot · Post by **kakarot** » Thu May 19, 2005 6:56 pm

That makes sense, sorry for the misunderstanding tricia, thanks for clearing things up,

James · Post by **James** » Thu May 19, 2005 9:08 pm

Hello rj55 and welcome to the forum. You can definetely get finasteride (propecia, proscar) online for cheaper than 100 buck a bottle. I am not really sure of great sites to order from but I do know that they exist and maybe someone else on the forum can throw you a link.

There are also topical products that can block DHT also if you are don't want to get on Propecia. These include, topical spiro and revivogen.

If you are serious about keeping your hair then I would start using a topical anti-androgen or propecia along with some minox 5%.

rj55 · Post by **rj55** » Fri May 20, 2005 10:25 am

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies. Well, I guess my suspicions about me having AGA were confirmed then. Ah well, I wouldn't mind losing my hair around the age of 24-26, but 18, come on :\ I think I'll start with some 5% minox and then move on up from there. I'll also try to see if I can setup an appointment with a dermatologist. Hopefully, I can get a prescription too to try finasteride. By the way, has anyone seen this website? It's an alt product for preventing hairloss.

damo · Post by **damo** » Sat May 21, 2005 5:53 am

RJ55 hang in there buddy definately get on the proscar my friend to maintain what you have.Then once you are older maybe a Ht would be down your alley but consult with your surgeon first as they are the experts.

Damo

Post by **HairLossFight.com** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:06 am

rj55,

Finally found some time to reply to your post. I know exactly how you feel. In a way, you're in a better position than I was when I started losing my hair at just 1 year older than yourself. At the time my hair started falling out the only options available were 2% and 5% minoxidil. Propecia hadn't even been approved yet!

What you need to do is take stock of all the different treatments, read every thread on them that you can find to get an idea of what others are saying and get a general consensus. In the end however I would recommend that you do a number of things. Some of what I have to say here is what I would consider relatively new opinions that I have based on how my own hair loss has progressed over the years and what I've learned.

Right now, all you care about is stopping your hair loss. You probably have a TON of hair still and if you can keep what you have then that would be awesome. I recommend that you find out from your doctor if it's okay that you take Propecia and get on it. Once you're on it don't fret over it or think about it too much. Propecia will be a good job of maintaining what you have most likely.

As for topicals, I would recommend that you don't go all out with topicals just yet. That may seem like it's counterintuitive, but I'm trying to save your scalp from becoming sensitized to treatments that you may need to use for a long time. One or two topicals AT MOST is what I think you should use. AND USE THEM SPARINGLY!!!! I can't stress that last sentence enough. Don't go overboard. 2% or 5% minox is what I suggest to begin with. Anytime you start using stuff on your head when you haven't been doing so for your whole life you may get some shock hair loss, so don't freak out about that initially if it does happen to you. Keep a cool head (literally and figuratively) and think long term. Give yourself 6 months on a well-researched regimen before switching or experimenting with other stuff.

For a shampoo, I personally think Revivogen shampoo is great because it doesn't contain any SLS. You can also use Nizoral, but do so only or twice a week and very sparingly.

Watch for inflammation and stop using anything that cause redness, swelling, or excessive itching.

Keep coming back here and let us know how you're doing and don't be too worried. On another note, I know you think you look different from when you had more hair, but to most people (especially ones that haven't met you) you probably don't even look like you're losing any hair and it'll be the last thing they notice. So live your life and enjoy yourself and just think of what you're doing as a maintenance program to keep what you have.

Cheers,
Sam

rj55 · Post by **rj55** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 8:16 pm

Hi all, it's been a month or so since my last post. I'd decided to wait that long to see how things would go. Well here are the updates:

Hm... so many weird yet different conclusions can be derived from this, but I'll start somewhere. I had started taking summer classes and working; because of that going to the doctor had just slipped my mind. I had come to the conclusion that I was in fact losing hair. But just for further testing purposes, I decided to stick with my daily routine of 2 showers a day except for the fact that I only used the shampoo 2 -3 times a week. For the last month or so, I've noticed that my hair barely, if at all, fell at all. I'd even pull on it (in the direction it grew) and it wouldn't really come out.

The only regular problem I would have is when I ran my hand through my hair, I'd notice hair would stick to my fingers. What is going on? I knew I was balding, but if I was balding, why didn't my hair fall out like it had in college? At college, it was just falling all over the place and here at home it would never do it? This doesn't make any sense. I don't know what it is, but I didn't mess with my hair as much when I was home and just limited shampoo use and it didn't fall. In the process of one losing hair, does he/she go through phases like this?

One thing I had forgotten to mention in my first post was that around March or so of this year, I had used hair dye on my hair. My hair is black and I had dyed it a dark blonde (stupid move heh..) and my hair was damaged and fell out even more after that. Before that my hair had been falling out, but not as much. Well, this is just an update everyone. If anyone would like to share their comments, please do so. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

Tricia · Post by **Tricia** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 5:32 pm

The amount of hair you shed really doesn't mean much. I have always shed a lot. The problem began when I wasn't growing back all the hair that I was shedding.

You will shed and stablize, shed and stabilize. It's not constant or predictable.

LATE · Post by **LATE** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 9:28 pm

You know, mind you it is hair and it's not everything by any means. I know it can be tough sometimes but just be yourself and be happy with who you are and be the best and happient person you can be. You ow it to yourself. We all do here.

Cheer up ok