i first noticed that i was balding around 18-19 but it was so minor that it didnt bother me. for the past 2 years or so my hair has begun to fall out quick. im 22 yrs old and not sure exactly what to do. about 1 yr ago i started using rogaine 5% but stopped after about 6 months due to the fact it was expensive and i need to save some money. i know a lot of people say hair transplants at such a young age are not a good idea. i just want some insight on what to do. i inlcuded a few pics with my hair wet for you to get an idea. if you need more let me know.

thanks.

http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=12la1.jpg

http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=23nz.jpg

rogaine to expensive? why don't you try generic minox from walmart, it's like 30 bucks for a 3 month supply. either way, not sure how you can consider HT if you can't afford rogaine? start with that and see how you respond.

That looks pretty bald for a 22 year old What does your hair look like when it's dry?

i can afford rogaine now but i thought that once you use it and stop its no longer effective?

PB: it looks much better when dry but i rarely leave the house without a hat on.

anyone have any suggestions for me? there are a lot of products out there and i'm not sure what to do.

Don't get your feelings hurt here, but if you're that bald at 22, chances are you're going to be extensively bald partner. You could try propecia; it may help. But, it looks like your hair is serious about falling out; its not playing games. Propecia might not even put a dent in it.

so are you saying that a HT wouldn't be a good idea?

i will post some pics with my hair dry also, its not as bad as the wet ones make it look.

You might at least try Propecia. Your loss looks very aggressive at your age but maybe it will halt it and regrow a little..........you won't know if you don't try. Propecia and Rogaine are lifelong commitments............if you quit using them what you've kept or gained from their use will fall out.

Though some have had HT's at your age there are several unknowns. How far will your loss progress? Will you be NW6-NW7 where donor hair could be a concern?? Potential permanent shock loss is a concern..........and, given your aggressive loss I would say a definite possibility in front and top.

You might consult with a reputable surgeon and see what they advise.

MeeKs

I'd get on finasteride. What's your family history like? (Any bald guys? And at what norwood level?)

With regards to shockloss, I'm going to have to go against hairbank on this one in terms of it being a concern as such. I feel that yes if you get a HT you will likely lose some if not most of the native hairs that will not be strong enough to survive another cycle, *but*, I don't necessarily think that there's enough of them there to warrant worrying about it too much...

That is not to say that you should get a HT. I think you should wait. I'm actually younger than you so maybe you'll take my advice without thinking necessarily that I'm a 40 year old who doesn't know what you're dealing with.

The reason I say to wait, is not so much the degree of hairloss as the rate. I mean, if you went to what appears to be a NW4 in 4 years, what will happen in the next 4? I'm not saying wait a decade, I'm just saying you need to be financially prepared and you need to have some sort of a cap on your hairloss. If you go in there now and get a procedure done, and lose your crown before you can afford another you'll be in quite a bit of trouble. I've read countless stories of guys who've had HT's, who were not fully aware of the fact that they'll almost certainly have to come back for more procedures at a later date. These guys desperately wished they could just shave their heads and move on...

But overwhelmingly, you should wait because you don't want to get a HT if you're going to progress to a NW7 (ie - when the sides begin to recede down - that's where the illusion of density gets blown out the window because you need to plant at a much high density per square cm than you will have available if you want people looking at the hair face on to not detect any thinning). Planting up top with lower density is ok because you look at the hair from a side angle, so you can get away with more than you can on the sides...

Anyway I strongly suggest that you get on finasteride, because a HT without finasteride is like a race car without brakes.

thanks for the info uglyman...my grandfather on my moms side is bald id say a nw 6 or 7. his 2 sons are balding, 1 is a 5a and the other a 5. now my father has lost some hair but not to the degree as the others. id say he is a 4, his 1 brother hasnt lost any hair at all, and the other would be a 2 if that. so it seems i get it more from my moms side. but i will look into finasteride and get some more pics posted as soon as i get my camera fixed. also where do you get our finasteride?

thanks again for the advice

You need a prescription for fin but I buy it from unitedpharmacies which will sell generic proscar (which is cheaper and I split into quarters) without a script... not that if you are in the U.S. you may have custom issues importing it, not quite sure..

http://cgi.ebay.com/Hair-Loss-Treatment-Finasteride-NIB...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

is that the same thing you order from unitedpharmacies?

also i notice a few different products on that website. which is the right one to get?

http://www.unitedpharmacies.com/customer/search.php?substring=proscar

MeeKs

I ordered this one:

http://www.unitedpharmacies.com/customer/product.php?pr...tid=449&cat=0&page=1

Generic proscar, I can say with almost certainty that it does work (ie - it's legit).

The ebay thing I'm not sure if that's brand name proscar or not, it's something you have to look into as we don't have ads or the same wrappers in my country, so I really dont know if it's the real deal or an immitation.

You'll notice that the generic proscar is basically half the price of the brand name on the united pharmacies website (on a per tablet basis). That makes a difference if you're short on cash.

Technically you should be taking propecia 1mg, but getting proscar and splitting a 5mg tablet into 4 means 1.25mg per table. It's a little bit over the dose tested for hairloss but it hasn't been a problem for me.

Good luck

That's some major hair loss there soldier. It would be nice to know where it's headed and where it will stop. I'll tell you this much, it depends on what kind of donor area you're left with. If you have a lot of donor and you do decide to get a transplant, make sure you do a big first session. This is most important because you get the best results and best survival rate from the first transplant.

ok thanks ugly, i ordered a few months worth. i figure i better get on something asap.

heres a few more pics un-wet just waking up this morning.

http://img173.imageshack.us/my.php?image=suc501979eb.jpg

http://img173.imageshack.us/my.php?image=suc502005ig.jpg

http://img173.imageshack.us/my.php?image=suc502058ve.jpg

http://img173.imageshack.us/my.php?image=suc502063qt.jpg

the pics i took before were a little inaccurate, the lighting was real high and didnt properly display how much hair i had.

hope this helps

that doesn't look too bad at all, now that it's dry. But it does seem like that you are holding the camera steady and the pic turned out a lil blurry. You balding rate looks about the same as mine, but I'm 26 and getting closer to my 30s. I am pretty sure I will get a HT eventually, but I want to do the wise thing by waiting a few more years to see where my progression is going. I do know what you are going through, but I agree with what others are telling you, waiting a few more years should be the wise thing for you to do at this point.

yea it looks a little bit better than wet, like i said the wet pic was under a flourescent light which is very bright. i did order some generic proscar and we will see how well that works.

quote:

Originally posted by scooping around:
that doesn't look too bad at all, now that it's dry. But it does seem like that you are holding the camera steady and the pic turned out a lil blurry. You balding rate looks about the same as mine, but I'm 26 and getting closer to my 30s. I am pretty sure I will get a HT eventually, but I want to do the wise thing by waiting a few more years to see where my progression is going. I do know what you are going through, but I agree with what others are telling you, waiting a few more years should be the wise thing for you to do at this point.

You do realize that waiting may not be necessary? If regrowth creams and genetic duplication techniques are being refined, then why wait? Those things will bail you out later if there were a problem, which there might not even be...

im not sure what you mean dhuge67, can you please explain? thanks!