Baldness

[FeliciaLee]

This is probably the route I would have taken had I not been able to pull off a super short look. Or had a huge, bumpy head, etc.

I'd have done all of the scripts and OTC products that have been proven to work. Minus the Propecia, of course, women can't take that one.

[NoahSD]

jkkk and other balding guys who are getting it to reverse,
More info please.

I'm 20 and started to notice that my hair was thinning when I was 17. I've been on Propecia for about a year now, and it's very clearly stopped the loss and maybe even grown a little back.

But, I'm still bald and it sucks. I think it's actually hurt my self esteem pretty badly.

Here are some pics:

When balding was just starting (can't find a proper before pic):


Long hair with weird stringy thinning hair in the front:


Short hair (current):



I know it's not that bad, but I'm 20 FFS. I'm thinking about shaving it, but I really love my hair. Also considering getting transplant surgery.

Edit: I also agree that some women look really good with a shaved head. I think you might have to be really skinny with good bone structure to pull it off.

[MicroBob]

I'm 36 and am getting balder all the time.
I like having hair but getting to keep it permanently obviously isn't in the works for me.

Am kind of lazy on the rogaine thing.

GF has some pretty thin hair up front and might lose more of it.
We've decided that we can run around wearing all sorts of insane wigs when we're 60 or something and just have a good time with it.


Unfortunately, the whole bit about girls losing hair is definitely a bigger societal tabboo.

Probably how I've been programmed, but I just don't think Britney, Demi, Natalie, Sinead are very attractive as baldies. Maybe I'm just not used to it I guess.

[jkkkk]

NoahSD,

If you are going to go for the short hair look, you need to cut it shorter, kinda looks silly like that imo.

I'd recommend doing your own research, there are a whole lot of products and alternative methods out there, but the two most clinically proven methods are minoxidil (marketed under Rogaine and various other brand names) and finestaride which is marketed under the brand name Propecia (1mg finestaride) but you can get it a lot cheaper by buying Proscar (5mg) and cutting it up into 4 or 5 pieces.

The other most talked about products are Nizoral, a shampoo that helps with irritation etc, MSM, a dietary supplement which has ambiguous uses, apparently helps with hair regrowth and the slightly experimental Dutasteride, an inhibitor sort of like finestaride.

[jtr]

NoahSD, courageous post man. I can see why your self esteem might have been affected. You basically went from Steve McQueen to Art Garfunkel. Fortunately things appear to be looking up in pic 3.

[HajiShirazu]

I still have relatively thick and long hair but I started taking propecia a few months ago after I realized I was losing a lot of hair and was noticeably thinner on top. I seem to be losing a lot less hair than before but don't know if it's just in my mind or if it's the drugs. Propecia doesn't stop receding hairline at the temples, it is only supposed to work for hair in the back and top of the head, and supposedly it only helps you keep the hair you already have. Honestly I don't think hair loss at the temples looks bad unless it starts to go really deep, the bad-looking pattern is when you lose the hair at the back of your head.
I also stopped drinking diet drinks at that time and honestly I think that might be the real reason my hair loss stopped. I was drinking of ton of them, like 1 to 2 64 oz. cups of diet coke a day, and eventually this weird greasy crap started coming out of the top of my head which would not go away no matter what I used to wash, and my hair always looked awful because of it. After I stopped the diet drinks it went away. This might be why I was losing my hair as if anything my family members have unusually thick hair even when elderly.
Combovers and the like are absolutely ridiculous, while the shaved look is not that bad. There are some guys, especially black guys, who probably look much better like this than with most haircuts, while big-headed white people tend to look bad. If you are white, and have some hair on top but not much it usually looks better to shave it really short but not all the way. This takes away some of the shinyness that turns some people off. In any case, the horseshoe is the worst of them all, I think it looks far worse on anybody than a completely shaved look, except maybe on old people.
Anyway regardless of how it looks on you, to me it is more of a self-respect type thing. Nobody wants to be bald, and there are some hairstyles that look better than shaving if you have a decent amount of hair left, but if you are bald, why not just go with that look? People realize that it isn't your fault you lost your hair, so why hide it? There is no shame in it, and the only people who will look down on you for being bald are not worth caring about anyway.
Being a woman and bald is obviously worse, because it is so much more unusual and unacceptable to many. If you are the type like OP that has the self esteem to not really care what people will think about it, then go with the shaved look because while I and I think most people prefer hair, it isn't really that bad, but some people aren't this strong or in many cases aren't in a position with their career etc. to not care. I recommend wigs in this case - there are definately female wigs around that look far better than any kind of thinning hairstyle and will pass for real hair under a quick inspection. I know - I met a friend of my girlfriend whose parents owned a buddist temple and had to shave her head. I thought she was pretty hot with hair that was kind of an odd style but looked good on her, and never suspected it until months later when I was told. I then realized that I would have no problems dating a girl with a wig if it looked good and that there is nothing wrong with wearing one, in the same way there is nothing wrong with wearing a push-up bra. Unfortunately most toupees look bad and obvious on men so there are problems for us there. Two especially heinous examples are Marv Albert and that other guy on TNT that does the interviews - anyone who has seen him even once knows who I am talking about.

[russellmj]

Good post. You'd think that there would be less self consciousness today what with short hair styles and shaved heads being in vogue. I'm sure this is much harder for women though.

For the guys: GQ ran an article last month about how to wear you hair based on your pattern of hair loss. For instance if your receding at the temples ala Kevin Spacey, keep you hair about 1.5 inches. Shorter for different areas and situations. Might be worth a look.

[Claunchy]

[ QUOTE ]
You basically went from Steve McQueen to Art Garfunkel.

[/ QUOTE ]
ROFL This is perfect.

In all honesty, I don't really think the receding hairline is all that bad a look (now your haircut is a different story).

I don't think I'd mind going bald all that much, since I am always too lazy to get haircuts and my hair gets super-shaggy. Alas, I will never lose any hair barring some unforeseen circumstances.

Felicia: I think you look better w/ short hair than with long FWIW.

[Golden_Rhino]

I am 33 now and almost completely bald. I started noticing a receding hairline in my early 20's. Aside from the fact that I liked having long hair (which would look stupid now), I don't really mind.

I am fortunate that my hair started to go around the time that the shaved head look became 'cool'. I have also noticed that there are a lot of bald people around (actually, I think people are starting to go bald at an earlier age now), and that nobody even care/notices that they are bald unless they do the bald guy with a ponytail look, or attempt a comb-over.

[im_the_dirt]

Felicia,
Do you think your experience with baldness would have been different if you were single? Would you have stayed as self-confident when doing things like dating?

-dirt