I have read many posts on this site from hair loss sufferers in their early 20's. I am 36 now and I remember my hair receding at 19. Friends would look at my thinning hair at 24 and then my hair loss stopped for around 6 or 7 years. I went on Propecia, just in case it started again. I have always heard to look at your mother's father (or brothers) to see what the future may hold. I just thought I would share this.

It's actually a myth that hair loss only comes from your mother's side. It can actually come from either side, although I have read that it tends to be stronger on your mother's side.

It is certainly the case in my family. My father (who's 62) has got TONS of hairs, like his father had. My mother's brothers, however, are all NW5 or worse. And I was heading the same way before I decided to do something about it.

I started receeding rapidly in my mid teens and surely the front/top would have been completely barren by the age of 22-23 if not for my proceedures. (What fun during the "big hair" and looks obsessed 80's!) My father still had thick hair when he passed away. However there are two balding uncles and a grand uncle all on my mother's side. I am an only child although two male cousins always have had gorgeous heads of hair and have only recently started to thin a little in their late 30's and early 40s.

Phil