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You think you know, but you have no idea....... :)
Ok, due to the interest in this topic and the number of questions I get, Ill be tracking my battle against losing my hair. This will be an excellent reference thread, packed with info. I promise you.
Here's my story
Im 24 years old (almost 25) and Im surrounded by bald men in my family. Since the baldness is acquired primarily from your mother's side, I took a look at the men from her side... my uncle who's mid 40's is long past bald, and my grandpa, although deceased, was bald in his early 30's. The big one is my brother, who's 19 months older than I am and he's about 75% bald.
Phase 1: Realization
For some reason I was nieve enough to not thing I would lose my hair. My barber (who knew my grandmother) always told me my hair was too damn thick to cut once it grew out.... although I now see my brother on a weekly basis and I see him without his hair (he began losing it in high school) and he just doesnt care. Never thought it would happen to me.
*I first noticed shedding after showers, which is the common place to observe it. Didnt think nothing of it.... then my girlfriend would run her hands through my hair and get 3-4 hairs and make fun of me, still didnt bother me. Oneday after telling my barber to cut my hair kind of short (team I was conditioning started outdoor practices, didnt want to get hot) and he did as directed. I went home to wash my hair and almost shit a brick. My hairline was fasing back quickly and my bangs were thinning dramatically. Now remember, I have thick blondish-brown hair and never even paid attention to hairloss.......
Phase 2: Prelude to the battle
At this point, I began to read up on hairloss (MPB & androgen related). I knew only a fraction of whats out there. My hairloss wasnt bad enough that I needed Propecia right away, so I figured I could calm it with some OTC Polysorbate 60 shampoo. I began using this shampoo every other day with my regular shampoo and didnt like the greasy feeling it left. I dont think this actually helped but I think its good for cosmetic reasons because it makes your hair appear thicker than it really is. I stopped scrubbing my hair real hard after showers as well. I also stopped rubbing my hands through my hair so much, anything I could do.
Phase 3: Dealing with Depression
Some people like being bald, some people look good bald, I dont and I dont like it in the least. All I was told was "use a BIC", "Shave it". To which I promply responsed with "Fuck you raisin head". Im 24 years old and I do not want to be bald, simple as that. They make hairloss prevention products for a reason, not everyone wants to go bald in their 20's. And to whomever is following this journal, dont listen to people who tell you to just shave it, theres a myriad of products to slow, stop and even help regrow hair out there, it can be done.
Male alopecia (baldness) has several stages of depression I think. The first is a little panic, the "what am I going to do stage?". This is where you need to relax. 9 times out of 10 you're the only one who notices any shedding. Then you have the "Spend $100 on random products" phase. Again, relax. Read about male pattern baldness and choose products that work. Im going to be real honest with you, fighting hairloss isnt cheap, we'll get to that later. Next you have the stage in which you no longer notice females (or males if you're into that) you begin starring at every man's hairline. If you do this, you'll notice A LOT of men who are losing or who have lost their hair. You're not alone brother. The final stage is the stage in which you want to give up. You learn how expensive it is to fight it and you begin picturing yourself being bald and debate whether or not to shave it, but your hands just wont let you do it.........
Phase 4: Becoming Educated
If you'll notice, I have been posting several hairloss related links & articles lately. This is for a reason. I sit around at work most days and read up on hairloss, causes and preventions. Take it upon yourself (before you see a doctor) to educate yourself about hairloss. So if and when you see your doctor, you can carry an intelligent conversation about it with him. You make his job easier and you give yourself a better chance of scoring some Propecia. The more you understand about the topic, the more educated decisions you can make and the less depressed or down you will feel about losing hair. This is great motivation. Read other people's stories, read about products, before you know it, you'll be ready to go to war against your hairloss!
Phase 5: Declare War- What Hairloss is Packin'
Why am I losing my hair? Most would say "who gives a shit? all I know is Im losing it". Careful, different products work based on why you are losing your hair. Dihydrotestosterone or DHT is our Al Queda. This is what we want to destroy. To make it short and sweet, testosterone converts to DHT via the 5-alpha reductase. The 5-AR is the conversion enzyme. So why not destroy that enzyme and all hairloss ceases, right? You wish. Its not that easy. Look on the bright side, if you're castrated and not taking in androgens from the outside (ie. steroids) you wont have a problem. The DHT will cause an early onset of exfoliation. If you have an excess of the 5-AR enzyme, look out.... in short, the DHT causes changes in the hair follicle, resulting in an auto-immune response attack on the hair. So basically, DHT signals your body's immune system to attack and destroy your own hair! So now we have to fight hairloss in 2 ways damnit. From the DHT conversion area and the inflammation area. So if you're prone to male pattern baldness it sucks, add in some anabolic steroids and it really speeds up the rate in which you lose your hair. So that poster in your high school health class is correct in a sense when it tells you steroids will cause hairloss. Certain medications can cause hairloss, as well as thyroid or hormone abnormalities and all these should be taken into consideration. Im more concerned with the male pattern baldness/DHT related hairloss.
Phase 6: Your Arsenal
Ahhh, the moment you've all been waiting for. The weapons you will have at your disposal to kick hairloss' ass. First lets go over some over-the-counter goods.
Rogaine (Minoxidil) I wouldnt buy Rogaine to be honest with you and if you do, buy the Wlamart version for much cheaper. Minoxidil is the active ingredient in Rogaine and is really what we're after. Rogaine will generally last you 1 month and is not cheap. So here's a shameless plug for www.wholesalehairproducts.com and our good friend Nizoralman. Niz carries the same size bottles of pure Minoxidil for about $8. Minoxidil is a decent product in stopping hairloss. Its advertised as a hair re-grower and for some it does, but you must be realistic about your hairloss, its worth the money spent on it, but dont expect a miracle, that guy on the commercial you saw was very lucky (and using more than Rogaine Im sure).
Nizoral Shampoo You'll notice this product is now sold over the counter for severe dandruff. Well it can be beneficial to us future bald guys of America as well. The 1% can be found at Walgreens, Walmart, etc. You can go to the website above and get the prescription strength 2% if you wish. Nizoral shampoo is an anti-fungal shampoo and has an active ingredient Ketoconazol (I know you dont care, you just want to know what its going to do for you) but there is no true evidence of how Nizoral works against baldness. It could block DHT or be sort of an anti-inflammatory. To be totally blunt with you, Im not real worried about how it works, only that it does. Some see it as the holy grail of stopping hairloss and thats enough for me. The pricetag could be better on this, but then again, you could be bald.
Folligen Folligen is a copper binding peptide (exciting aye?) Bascially copper binding peptides have an anti-inflammatory property that can be very beneficial in the battle against baldness.
Spironolactone Cream- Spiro is a topica anti-androgen cream and although some think the jury is still out on it, I have never heard of a negative review of Spiro. Great to use when on cycle.
Nioxin- This is basically a shampoo that creates a good growing enviroment for your hair.
Azelaic Acid- This another topical thats said to inhibit the 5-AR and is also said to be anti-microbial. This is also effect when on cycle.
Vitamins & Minerals- As basic as it comes. Things like vitamin A and zinc are said to aid in stopping hairloss and creating a clean enviroment for regrowth. Another reason to take your multi.
Other products Here is a list of other products you can look into: Inner Shampoo, Retinoic Acid, Emu Oil, Biotin & polysorbate 80 shampoo.
Now we arrive to the prescription 'shock and awe' approach to fighting hairloss and only one product comes to mind... Propecia. Propecia/Proscar (known as Proscar in 5mg version) was originally given to battle prostate enlargement, but studies have shown Propecia shrinks the over-all amount of free DHT. Propecia is a serious step, maybe the most effective in stopping and even re-growing hair, but it comes with its sides. The sides are said to be found it only 2% of users, but most say and I agree that its much higher. This is a decision you must make after careful thought. I opted to being Propecia after reading about it until my eyes bled.
Phase 7: The final phase- Patience
We have discussed very briefly what causes hairloss and what to do about it. This is a very general guideline, but good enough for me. Now we come to the most difficult part of the war... patience. The only thing I can say and be 100% sure about in your hairloss is its not going to happen overnight. You know, Ill go out on a limb and say it wont happen in a week, or even a month. But I can say the quicker you realize you are losing your hair and the quicker you begin to take action, the better the chance you have of stopping and even re-growing your lost hair. Products like Propecia and Minoxidil take time. Months and months. Be ready for some heavy shedding while on these products, but DONT QUIT USING THEM! This is a normal occurance. Your hair growth cycle is sped up and and will lose hair before you grow some back, this is naturally, dont quit using your products. In the mean time, pray to the hair gods for us all. Now for some honesty.... you can use all of the above products and not see any delay or regrowth of hair. Thats life. What works for me, might not work for you. Its not a sure thing, because you use these things doesnt mean you will regrow or even stop hairloss. Set a realistic goal. If you're young and have only lost a little hair, you may grow some back, but let's face it, if you're in your late 30's and lost most of the hair on top, dont set a goal to regrow it all back, its not going to happen. So set a small, achievable goal, so when you reach it, its great motivation. Have some patience and know what you're getting youself into. Fighting hairloss isnt cheap and its not a sure thing, but Im not going to sit around and watch my hair fall out.......
Ok, due to the interest in this topic and the number of questions I get, Ill be tracking my battle against losing my hair. This will be an excellent reference thread, packed with info. I promise you.
Here's my story
Im 24 years old (almost 25) and Im surrounded by bald men in my family. Since the baldness is acquired primarily from your mother's side, I took a look at the men from her side... my uncle who's mid 40's is long past bald, and my grandpa, although deceased, was bald in his early 30's. The big one is my brother, who's 19 months older than I am and he's about 75% bald.
Phase 1: Realization
For some reason I was nieve enough to not thing I would lose my hair. My barber (who knew my grandmother) always told me my hair was too damn thick to cut once it grew out.... although I now see my brother on a weekly basis and I see him without his hair (he began losing it in high school) and he just doesnt care. Never thought it would happen to me.
*I first noticed shedding after showers, which is the common place to observe it. Didnt think nothing of it.... then my girlfriend would run her hands through my hair and get 3-4 hairs and make fun of me, still didnt bother me. Oneday after telling my barber to cut my hair kind of short (team I was conditioning started outdoor practices, didnt want to get hot) and he did as directed. I went home to wash my hair and almost shit a brick. My hairline was fasing back quickly and my bangs were thinning dramatically. Now remember, I have thick blondish-brown hair and never even paid attention to hairloss.......
Phase 2: Prelude to the battle
At this point, I began to read up on hairloss (MPB & androgen related). I knew only a fraction of whats out there. My hairloss wasnt bad enough that I needed Propecia right away, so I figured I could calm it with some OTC Polysorbate 60 shampoo. I began using this shampoo every other day with my regular shampoo and didnt like the greasy feeling it left. I dont think this actually helped but I think its good for cosmetic reasons because it makes your hair appear thicker than it really is. I stopped scrubbing my hair real hard after showers as well. I also stopped rubbing my hands through my hair so much, anything I could do.
Phase 3: Dealing with Depression
Some people like being bald, some people look good bald, I dont and I dont like it in the least. All I was told was "use a BIC", "Shave it". To which I promply responsed with "Fuck you raisin head". Im 24 years old and I do not want to be bald, simple as that. They make hairloss prevention products for a reason, not everyone wants to go bald in their 20's. And to whomever is following this journal, dont listen to people who tell you to just shave it, theres a myriad of products to slow, stop and even help regrow hair out there, it can be done.
Male alopecia (baldness) has several stages of depression I think. The first is a little panic, the "what am I going to do stage?". This is where you need to relax. 9 times out of 10 you're the only one who notices any shedding. Then you have the "Spend $100 on random products" phase. Again, relax. Read about male pattern baldness and choose products that work. Im going to be real honest with you, fighting hairloss isnt cheap, we'll get to that later. Next you have the stage in which you no longer notice females (or males if you're into that) you begin starring at every man's hairline. If you do this, you'll notice A LOT of men who are losing or who have lost their hair. You're not alone brother. The final stage is the stage in which you want to give up. You learn how expensive it is to fight it and you begin picturing yourself being bald and debate whether or not to shave it, but your hands just wont let you do it.........
Phase 4: Becoming Educated
If you'll notice, I have been posting several hairloss related links & articles lately. This is for a reason. I sit around at work most days and read up on hairloss, causes and preventions. Take it upon yourself (before you see a doctor) to educate yourself about hairloss. So if and when you see your doctor, you can carry an intelligent conversation about it with him. You make his job easier and you give yourself a better chance of scoring some Propecia. The more you understand about the topic, the more educated decisions you can make and the less depressed or down you will feel about losing hair. This is great motivation. Read other people's stories, read about products, before you know it, you'll be ready to go to war against your hairloss!
Phase 5: Declare War- What Hairloss is Packin'
Why am I losing my hair? Most would say "who gives a shit? all I know is Im losing it". Careful, different products work based on why you are losing your hair. Dihydrotestosterone or DHT is our Al Queda. This is what we want to destroy. To make it short and sweet, testosterone converts to DHT via the 5-alpha reductase. The 5-AR is the conversion enzyme. So why not destroy that enzyme and all hairloss ceases, right? You wish. Its not that easy. Look on the bright side, if you're castrated and not taking in androgens from the outside (ie. steroids) you wont have a problem. The DHT will cause an early onset of exfoliation. If you have an excess of the 5-AR enzyme, look out.... in short, the DHT causes changes in the hair follicle, resulting in an auto-immune response attack on the hair. So basically, DHT signals your body's immune system to attack and destroy your own hair! So now we have to fight hairloss in 2 ways damnit. From the DHT conversion area and the inflammation area. So if you're prone to male pattern baldness it sucks, add in some anabolic steroids and it really speeds up the rate in which you lose your hair. So that poster in your high school health class is correct in a sense when it tells you steroids will cause hairloss. Certain medications can cause hairloss, as well as thyroid or hormone abnormalities and all these should be taken into consideration. Im more concerned with the male pattern baldness/DHT related hairloss.
Phase 6: Your Arsenal
Ahhh, the moment you've all been waiting for. The weapons you will have at your disposal to kick hairloss' ass. First lets go over some over-the-counter goods.
Rogaine (Minoxidil) I wouldnt buy Rogaine to be honest with you and if you do, buy the Wlamart version for much cheaper. Minoxidil is the active ingredient in Rogaine and is really what we're after. Rogaine will generally last you 1 month and is not cheap. So here's a shameless plug for www.wholesalehairproducts.com and our good friend Nizoralman. Niz carries the same size bottles of pure Minoxidil for about $8. Minoxidil is a decent product in stopping hairloss. Its advertised as a hair re-grower and for some it does, but you must be realistic about your hairloss, its worth the money spent on it, but dont expect a miracle, that guy on the commercial you saw was very lucky (and using more than Rogaine Im sure).
Nizoral Shampoo You'll notice this product is now sold over the counter for severe dandruff. Well it can be beneficial to us future bald guys of America as well. The 1% can be found at Walgreens, Walmart, etc. You can go to the website above and get the prescription strength 2% if you wish. Nizoral shampoo is an anti-fungal shampoo and has an active ingredient Ketoconazol (I know you dont care, you just want to know what its going to do for you) but there is no true evidence of how Nizoral works against baldness. It could block DHT or be sort of an anti-inflammatory. To be totally blunt with you, Im not real worried about how it works, only that it does. Some see it as the holy grail of stopping hairloss and thats enough for me. The pricetag could be better on this, but then again, you could be bald.
Folligen Folligen is a copper binding peptide (exciting aye?) Bascially copper binding peptides have an anti-inflammatory property that can be very beneficial in the battle against baldness.
Spironolactone Cream- Spiro is a topica anti-androgen cream and although some think the jury is still out on it, I have never heard of a negative review of Spiro. Great to use when on cycle.
Nioxin- This is basically a shampoo that creates a good growing enviroment for your hair.
Azelaic Acid- This another topical thats said to inhibit the 5-AR and is also said to be anti-microbial. This is also effect when on cycle.
Vitamins & Minerals- As basic as it comes. Things like vitamin A and zinc are said to aid in stopping hairloss and creating a clean enviroment for regrowth. Another reason to take your multi.
Other products Here is a list of other products you can look into: Inner Shampoo, Retinoic Acid, Emu Oil, Biotin & polysorbate 80 shampoo.
Now we arrive to the prescription 'shock and awe' approach to fighting hairloss and only one product comes to mind... Propecia. Propecia/Proscar (known as Proscar in 5mg version) was originally given to battle prostate enlargement, but studies have shown Propecia shrinks the over-all amount of free DHT. Propecia is a serious step, maybe the most effective in stopping and even re-growing hair, but it comes with its sides. The sides are said to be found it only 2% of users, but most say and I agree that its much higher. This is a decision you must make after careful thought. I opted to being Propecia after reading about it until my eyes bled.
Phase 7: The final phase- Patience
We have discussed very briefly what causes hairloss and what to do about it. This is a very general guideline, but good enough for me. Now we come to the most difficult part of the war... patience. The only thing I can say and be 100% sure about in your hairloss is its not going to happen overnight. You know, Ill go out on a limb and say it wont happen in a week, or even a month. But I can say the quicker you realize you are losing your hair and the quicker you begin to take action, the better the chance you have of stopping and even re-growing your lost hair. Products like Propecia and Minoxidil take time. Months and months. Be ready for some heavy shedding while on these products, but DONT QUIT USING THEM! This is a normal occurance. Your hair growth cycle is sped up and and will lose hair before you grow some back, this is naturally, dont quit using your products. In the mean time, pray to the hair gods for us all. Now for some honesty.... you can use all of the above products and not see any delay or regrowth of hair. Thats life. What works for me, might not work for you. Its not a sure thing, because you use these things doesnt mean you will regrow or even stop hairloss. Set a realistic goal. If you're young and have only lost a little hair, you may grow some back, but let's face it, if you're in your late 30's and lost most of the hair on top, dont set a goal to regrow it all back, its not going to happen. So set a small, achievable goal, so when you reach it, its great motivation. Have some patience and know what you're getting youself into. Fighting hairloss isnt cheap and its not a sure thing, but Im not going to sit around and watch my hair fall out.......
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