# Anyone else in their early 20's with thinning hair?



## Cerberus

.


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## Eraserhead

If you shave your head it will look badass.


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## Canadian Brotha

The shaving option should be done early if you want to avoid seeing crown outline. You'll get that outline if you go about it in the later stages. When I look in the mirror I think I can see hints of the balding possibility, I'm not sure it's obvious as I haven't asked anyone nor have I been told of it but it seems to me that it may happen. Remember if you shave you head you can always grow a beard


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## shyvr6

My hair started to thin out in my twenties. I guess I inherited it from my grandpa because he had really thin hair as well.


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## VCL XI

Started thinning out at 21 or so, and it's noticeable from a far distance by now. I usually shave it all off, but I'm often too lazy to, and end up walking around town looking like I have mange.

I love the way my relatives have point it out at every family gathering, like, "What'd you do? All of _us _have hair!"


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## leomouse

well there may be many reasons for that, genetics, stress, and high amounts of testosterone (lol that would mean that ur extra manly). i think you should shave it, post pics and maybe we can tell you how it would look like.


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## Hank Scorpio

It's not any easier in your early thirties. :no

Rogaine is only for the bald spot on the back of your head, not the temples. If it works at all.


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## Prodigal Son

Your best bet is going with a DHT inhibitor, this is the primary cause of male pattern baldness...and it isn't even close. Get something like a propecia prescription you have a good chance of stopping the receding hairline and possibly regrowing hair. The only issue is you can never stop taking the stuff the rest of your life, because when you do you will just start receding again.


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## UltraShy

Prodigal Son said:


> Get something like a propecia prescription...


It's cheaper to buy Proscar. Both are the same drug, finasteride, in different dosage sizes: 5 mg Proscar for enlarged prostate & 1 mg Propecia for male pattern baldness. You can get a pill cutter and quarter a Proscar tablet (it harder to do fifths, though you could if you wanted). And I'm virtually certain Proscar is now generic.

Having used it years ago, I can tell you that it didn't work for me. Minoxidil also proved useless for me. Minoxidil is also a royal pain in the a**, having to apply it twice a day every day. And if you go with the 5% version you end up with an oil slick on your head that can take up to 6 hours to dry. The 2% version is less potent, but not nearly as greasy. Though I'd say neither one works. Numerous independent studies have concluded that it grows no "cosmetically significant" hair. In other words, it technically grows hair if you count what amounts to peach fuzz.


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## La_Resistance

I've heard horrible stories about propecia side effects. Worst than any side effects you can get from anxiety meds. 

I have thinning hair also, I shave it all off but leave about between 0.5 to 1 cm in length and I think it looks better this way.


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## Amelia

I don't think baldness makes a man look less attractive. It's a sign of manliness. A thick head of hair on a man always look a bit suspicous to me!

Prince William is 26 and has been losing his hair for a while. He has also grown a beard. Doesn't seem to do him any harm: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PhZffsL3yQA/SVo-tKKhiFI/AAAAAAAACd0/zPH536IT1WI/s320/e1.jpg

Bruce Willis (pfhoooaaar!): http://stupidcelebrities.net/wp-content/bruce_willis.jpg I think he looks much more attractive with a shaved head and a stubbly beard than like this: http://www.jupeal.com/Actores/Bruce_Willis/BruceWillis4.jpg


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## Amocholes

I have a cousin who was totally bald by 23. He makes up for it with a full beard and handlebar mustache.


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## Nae

My hair has been thinning and receding for over a year now. I didn't _really_ notice until I had my haircut 6 months ago and my hair wouldn't comb right because...it was missing. I never really appreciated my hair while it was there in all its glory and now that it is leaving me I miss it so.

No one but my sister has made a comment, in which she said (whilst sitting next to her 50 year old boyfriend who possesses a full head of hair): Holy sh-t! You're losing your hair!!



Cerberus said:


> Great. Just great. I have been cursed with sh-t genes. This **** shouldn't be happening until I'm 30 or 40, not my early 20's. agghhh! Here I come to turning into another shi-ty old man!
> 
> I have no friends, never had a girlfriend, I'm working on getting two worthless degrees, I still live with my parents, I already have high blood pressure, and now I'm going fu-king bald. At 23!


lol, yeah, I do find it amusing though (in a twisted way) how something like hairloss results in some sort of existential crisis. I at times feel I'm getting old before I deserve, as if I don't have the life experience that should commensurate with a balding head.


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## Kelly

My cousin is 26 and has been losing his hair for several years. Don't worry, though, he still managed to get married in November and his new wife is gorgeous.

I'm really only posting to show my disfavor for the bald head + beard look. Please, don't ever do that. I may have to divorce you. And you'll have to find new wives all on your own.

Have a nice day,
Kelly


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## rafaelapolinario

Toupee always makes a good alternative.
If you can afford it, hair transplant could always be your best resort. Why don't you try Rogain or similar products first and see if it works?


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## Still Waters

I happen to be very attracted to bald men!!


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## Prodigal Son

La_Resistance said:


> I've heard horrible stories about propecia side effects. Worst than any side effects you can get from anxiety meds.


I don't think so, just a very vocal minority who didn't react well to propecia.


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## Aurora

My partner is balding and shaves. Hes a little self concious of it. But I think its attractive. It doesnt make any difference to me whether a man is balding or not. Its okay! 

As stated by leomouse, high levels of testosterone can be a cause as well as stress.

You will find someone one day who loves you for you, not your hair.


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## Canadian Brotha

Kelly said:


> I'm really only posting to show my disfavor for the bald head + beard look. Please, don't ever do that. I may have to divorce you. And you'll have to find new wives all on your own.
> 
> Have a nice day,
> Kelly


You know I think growing a beard when going bald thing is a sort of coping mechanism. I bet half the guys that do end up going back to being clean shaven after coming to terms with their loss.

I'm curious though, you against beards or just the bald head, beard combo?



Still Waters said:


> I happen to be very attracted to bald men!!


Shaved bald or crown bald?


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## UltraShy

La_Resistance said:


> I've heard horrible stories about propecia side effects. Worst than any side effects you can get from anxiety meds.


Clinical trials show it to have minimal side effects and most people I've heard from find no side effects at all. I too was personally unable to notice any side effects, though it didn't produce any positive effects either.


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## UltraShy

rafaelapolinario said:


> Toupee always makes a good alternative.


Getting caught with a rug that could be mistaken for road kill is even worse than being bald.:lol



rafaelapolinario said:


> If you can afford it, hair transplant could always be your best resort.


Consider Joe Biden. His plugs make him one sexy man...or not. Late night they always run infomercials about hair transplants, where they fail to tell you the reality of it. If you get a hair transplant at age 23 you can be certain that you'll be back for multiple transplants in future years as you lose more. Once you have it done you're pretty much locked in unless you want to look goofy.

Say they give you a perfect youthful hairline at 23. Great until you lose more hair and now have a bald spot behind that perfect hairline. So then they can give you more transplants to cover that area in a few years. But later you find yourself with another bald spot behind the first two rows of plugs as your natural balding process continues so you can get yet another transplant.

For some reason Bosley & others never mention how this isn't a one time thing nor how if you're doing it to impress chicks you might as well just buy a Corvette because that's how much it's going to cost anyhow.


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## Atticus

I'm sorta past 23, but when I was that age my hair was thinning. It was a real shock. I was already socially isolated with a poor and mostly inaccurate perception of myself, and impending baldness helped loads. My attitude toward my hair loss, as opposed to any tangible reality it impacted, limited every aspect of my life. Unnecessarily. My initial shock and some period of adjustment were understandable, but my long term self limiting response to loosing my hair may be my biggest single regret.

You can't control how people react to your hair loss. However others might react, in my experience, about 80% of the problems I've had were my own doing.


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## bflygirl

I've female and been experiencing some hair loss due to an auto immune condition for the last two years. Right now I can disguise it by wearing my hair back in a barette or ponytail but it's the cause of my SA so I can relate. I am on a couple of different support site for hair loss, one that is for men and women is http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/

I've spent a lot of $$ on various products and not a lot of success but men generally have more success with products like Rogaine than women. Please don't be mad at me for writing this but it is easier to be a man in society losing hair than a woman. The other fellows are right, shaved heads are in or at least accepted by most. I've dated guys with various degrees of hair/some hair/no hair, for most women it's not an issue.


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## Bredwh

I may be getting a receding hairline in a big way. I say may because though the hair above my temples is very high I'm not sure if it's always been that way or not. I only discovered it a few years ago when I had long hair because that was the first time I parted my hair instead of just having bangs or shorter hair. My uncle on my mother's side says that the men in our family just have high hair at the temples but my dad and uncle are very bald so I don't know what to think.
I shaved my head bald in the beginning of last summer to see what it would like-

Before shave (reminds me of Saddam Hussein after he was captured:lol)









After









Here's when I had long hair-


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## Mr. Frostie

My hairline seems to be receding faster on the side of my head where I part my hair. Its freaking me out.


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## Mr. Frostie

^^^ You seem to have a long way to go before going bald. You should keep rocking the long hair.


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## Bredwh

Well I shaved it last spring and haven't cut it but it's still not very long, just in my eyes.


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## huh

Cerberus said:


> I don't want to look like mr clean!


:lol

Anywho, I guess I haven't let me hair grow out long enough for me to see if I'm starting to bald, don't plan on doing that anytime soon either. My dad didn't start going bald until his 40's and both of my grandpas still have all their hair, despite going grey of course. I guess I don't care if I go bald since I practically cut it that way


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## Prodigal Son

I don't think a buzz cut looks bad at all. What I hate is when people leave hair to grow on the sides and back of their head yet nothing at all up top. Just buzz that off. 

Bredwh, I think you look better with the shaved after look in the before and after pics.


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## UltraShy

Mr. Frostie said:


> My hairline seems to be receding faster on the side of my head where I part my hair. Its freaking me out.


I can tell you that hair loss does not have to be symmetrical. I first noticed hair loss at my left temple back in the summer of 1999. The right side followed, but I still have more hair loss on the left than the right even after a decade.


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## Laconic1

Hell, I can relate. My hairline started noticeably receding when I was 18. It really took a toll on my low self-confidence and it fed my blossoming SA. The whole thing depressed me whenever I thought about it. I figured I was too young and handsome to start going bald. :lol My mom also pointed it out quite often, which didn't help at all.

I went on Propecia for a few years and it actually helped. My hair stopped falling out, and some of it even started growing back. Regardless, I still thought I was ugly and no woman would be attracted to a hideous bald f-cker like me. My self-loathing was so bad that I refused to acknowledge that women were in fact attracted to me; a couple of them even slept with me.

I finally came to grips with it when I turned 25, and I started shaving my head. It didn't look very good until my scalp tanned. I realized that most people don't care about my hair and the ones that do are probably not the kind of people I want to be around anyway. Hell, my gf likes my hair the way it is and she laughs at me whenever I bring up going back on Propecia or getting a transplant.

What I'm trying to say is, try not to let it bother you. It's not the end of the world. Most people won't care, and you're probably getting yourself worked up over nothing.


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## Arkturus

Sadly my hair is slowly dissapearing. I noticed when I was about 20 and my hair was pretty long. Four years later and it's even more noticable, but it still doesn't looks that bad, I haven't lost anything in the back yet and front looks OK when my hair is short, so for the most part I still have a full head of hair. My dad was in the same situation when he was my age, and was completely bald by the time he turned 30, so I just hope I'll lose it slower he did.


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## alex999

I think it's pretty common, if not normal to start balding some time in your 20's. Hair loss is major on my dad's side of the family, dad started balding at about my age. But my brother is 33 and has a very full head of hair, his forehead hair hasn't even receded the slightest bit. It's probably due to the fact your hair genes come from the grandfather on your mother's side of the family. My grandpa is 86 and miraculously still has a full head of (grey) hair.

My hair is still really thick, although it has receded slightly on my forehead. But I think that is just a hairline that is maturing, which is supposed to happen in your early 20's.


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## roverred

Yeah it sucks man, hair is hard to let go. 23 isn't actually as rare as you think, my friends starting balding at 18. Usually people bald early on but don't notice, or atleast I hear. You can always try a better diet, gentler shampoo without sodium lauryl sulphate, wash hair less and less products, and scalp messages to slow it down.


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## rocky

> It's probably due to the fact your hair genes come from the grandfather on your mother's side of the family.


I always heard the same thing when I was growing up, but studies have shown there is no real truth in that statement. The baldness gene can come from either side of the family and there is no better chance of inheriting it from the maternal versus the paternal side. I knew a guy in high school who went completely bald in his mid 20's and both of his brothers have also suffered significant hair loss. Their maternal grandfather had a full head of hair, but their father has been totally bald for as long as I've known him. So in their case the gene clearly came from the father.
Mine has receeded and thinned some on top but I don't think it has become any worse in recent years and I don't have any bald spots yet. My father has a full head of hair but his father was bald, so that concerns me a little because I know the gene is somewhere in the mix.


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## lonerforlife

Has anyone had success with propecia? It seems like this drug is extremely dangerous but I'm becoming desperate as my hairloss is progressing her bad. I haven't accepted and not willing to go completely bald yet.


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