H
Here2dayHair2morrow?
Valued member
Hi,
Been lurking for a few months on numerous forums, but there was something about these forums that have made me feel comfortable to post.
My Story-
I am 33 years old, i started to notice I was losing my hair at 22, the usual feelings that everyone experiences, I feel almost identical feelings in pretty much every post i have read about the destruction they feel about their hairloss.
I started using Regaine and this seemed to stabilise my loss for a while. I then went travelling and stopped using rogaine, my hairloss accelerated and when i returned home my hair was very thin, i started to use rogaine again and saw progress but not enough and started getting comments from friends but worse of all family ( all my living close family have full heads of hair apart from two maternal uncles, their kids are all older but show no hair loss whatsoever, my dad is 60 but has no loss ) I started to blame my family and when they started making fun of my loss we started to lose touch.
At 24 I started using finisteride (1/4 pill per day) the results were truly amazing, I had a full head of hair and it was thick, I got loads of positive comments, no-one could put their finger on it exactly, some friends thought I had dyed my hair. However the sides got the better of me. I had brain fog, adrenal fatigue, bad memory, panic attacks, depression and a complete loss of sex drive, as much as I wanted to stay on fin, for my sanity I had to give it up. For approx 6 months after stopping Fin, i did not lose any hair, I was the happiest man, no sides but a full head of hair. ( i am not joking I thought it was a miracle, my hair looked amazing ) then the inevitable happened and my hair started to fall out again. (Actually my family noticed my new hair and thought it was funny to say at family weddings etc about me popping pills for my hairloss and using potions on my head and the whole family wanted to have a look )
I was desperate because i thought if i did nothing about it, my hair loss would be so much quicker than when nature takes it's course, because im losing all the hair i regrew using fin, so looked for something that would just slow down my loss.
I started taking Dusteride (DUT) this slowed down the loss massively and I started re-growing my hair again, but again the sides got the better of me, they were not as bad as fin but I think this was because I was only taking 0.5 pill every 2-3 days, however still suffered depression, loss of sex drive and I was anxious all the time and felt really weak. I went to 1 pill every week, but still had the same feeling, basically felt terrible, I was irritable, everyone noticed, my boss, girlfriend, and family. I stopped taking DUT after being on it for about 2 years could not carry on.
I was still desperate to keep my hair and turned to herbal remedies, i tried all sorts of things mostly from immortalhair's website, there were so many I cannot remember most of them. I found potent green tea extract stabilized my hair ( I also still use Regaine and have done for over 10 years i use it just in the evening and I have used nizoral for about 3 years ) I even believe I was regrowing new hair, but again i felt terrible. I believe that I respond to DHT blockers very very well, but I get very exaggerated sides I have tried numerous meds to combat these feelings but to no avail.
OK now I was desperate the only thing I thought was left was to take the plunge and shave my hair off. What a terrible mistake it looked terrible, im sure it takes time to get used to it, but it looked terrible, I plunged into a deep depression, now I got really bad comments which made me feel even worse, I lost my girlfriend of 10 years, i did not want to go out, everyone was asking where my hair had gone.
I started taking saw palmetto ( I forgot I took these a few years ago and although the results were OK the hair was thin but good coverage I still turned into an angry man, but no depression from what I can remember ) and grew my hair out I then found Nanogen which works wonders. The depression is now lifting and my hair looks ok but mostly due to a cosmetic, so feel i need some work. Here is where I would like some advise.
I am a norwood 4 I would say with a thinning crown and thinning at the front
I feel I now only have 2 options.
Option 1
FUT transplant due to what's involved will prob quit the job and travel for 3 months after having the procedure, will try for 4000-5000 grafts for full coverage.
Problems I have is the doldrums after the procedure being far away from home, the scar and people noticing the procedure. Coming back to blighty with no job ( in this economic environment not a good idea ) no car, and no home no money. Not being able to shave down, although as mentioned before my hair looks terrible shaved anyhow so would I want to?
Option 2
FUE transplant hopeful to be able to take 1 month of work then go back, thinking that I will recover in 4 weeks and the transplant not noticing. I could only afford 2000 transplants, so would most likely have to have another treatment down the line which means more expense and time off work. Do i go for filling in the crown, or the frontal region which would give me a better look as I think this is why I look so bad with my hair shaved having no hair at the front. I could then shave down if I wanted to ( i just hope it looks better than it does now when I shave down ). Would I be happy with the job only half done.
I am reluctant to take meds after the procedure due to the past experiences, which means maybe FUE is best as if then if I get further loss and cannot afford another procedure I can shave down.
I know ive rambled on and probably no-on gets to this point, but I must say it has made me feel a lot better telling someone, as I have suffered in silence for so long, and lost a loving girlfriend and nearly lost my family from all this.
Thanks for "listening"
Been lurking for a few months on numerous forums, but there was something about these forums that have made me feel comfortable to post.
My Story-
I am 33 years old, i started to notice I was losing my hair at 22, the usual feelings that everyone experiences, I feel almost identical feelings in pretty much every post i have read about the destruction they feel about their hairloss.
I started using Regaine and this seemed to stabilise my loss for a while. I then went travelling and stopped using rogaine, my hairloss accelerated and when i returned home my hair was very thin, i started to use rogaine again and saw progress but not enough and started getting comments from friends but worse of all family ( all my living close family have full heads of hair apart from two maternal uncles, their kids are all older but show no hair loss whatsoever, my dad is 60 but has no loss ) I started to blame my family and when they started making fun of my loss we started to lose touch.
At 24 I started using finisteride (1/4 pill per day) the results were truly amazing, I had a full head of hair and it was thick, I got loads of positive comments, no-one could put their finger on it exactly, some friends thought I had dyed my hair. However the sides got the better of me. I had brain fog, adrenal fatigue, bad memory, panic attacks, depression and a complete loss of sex drive, as much as I wanted to stay on fin, for my sanity I had to give it up. For approx 6 months after stopping Fin, i did not lose any hair, I was the happiest man, no sides but a full head of hair. ( i am not joking I thought it was a miracle, my hair looked amazing ) then the inevitable happened and my hair started to fall out again. (Actually my family noticed my new hair and thought it was funny to say at family weddings etc about me popping pills for my hairloss and using potions on my head and the whole family wanted to have a look )
I was desperate because i thought if i did nothing about it, my hair loss would be so much quicker than when nature takes it's course, because im losing all the hair i regrew using fin, so looked for something that would just slow down my loss.
I started taking Dusteride (DUT) this slowed down the loss massively and I started re-growing my hair again, but again the sides got the better of me, they were not as bad as fin but I think this was because I was only taking 0.5 pill every 2-3 days, however still suffered depression, loss of sex drive and I was anxious all the time and felt really weak. I went to 1 pill every week, but still had the same feeling, basically felt terrible, I was irritable, everyone noticed, my boss, girlfriend, and family. I stopped taking DUT after being on it for about 2 years could not carry on.
I was still desperate to keep my hair and turned to herbal remedies, i tried all sorts of things mostly from immortalhair's website, there were so many I cannot remember most of them. I found potent green tea extract stabilized my hair ( I also still use Regaine and have done for over 10 years i use it just in the evening and I have used nizoral for about 3 years ) I even believe I was regrowing new hair, but again i felt terrible. I believe that I respond to DHT blockers very very well, but I get very exaggerated sides I have tried numerous meds to combat these feelings but to no avail.
OK now I was desperate the only thing I thought was left was to take the plunge and shave my hair off. What a terrible mistake it looked terrible, im sure it takes time to get used to it, but it looked terrible, I plunged into a deep depression, now I got really bad comments which made me feel even worse, I lost my girlfriend of 10 years, i did not want to go out, everyone was asking where my hair had gone.
I started taking saw palmetto ( I forgot I took these a few years ago and although the results were OK the hair was thin but good coverage I still turned into an angry man, but no depression from what I can remember ) and grew my hair out I then found Nanogen which works wonders. The depression is now lifting and my hair looks ok but mostly due to a cosmetic, so feel i need some work. Here is where I would like some advise.
I am a norwood 4 I would say with a thinning crown and thinning at the front
I feel I now only have 2 options.
Option 1
FUT transplant due to what's involved will prob quit the job and travel for 3 months after having the procedure, will try for 4000-5000 grafts for full coverage.
Problems I have is the doldrums after the procedure being far away from home, the scar and people noticing the procedure. Coming back to blighty with no job ( in this economic environment not a good idea ) no car, and no home no money. Not being able to shave down, although as mentioned before my hair looks terrible shaved anyhow so would I want to?
Option 2
FUE transplant hopeful to be able to take 1 month of work then go back, thinking that I will recover in 4 weeks and the transplant not noticing. I could only afford 2000 transplants, so would most likely have to have another treatment down the line which means more expense and time off work. Do i go for filling in the crown, or the frontal region which would give me a better look as I think this is why I look so bad with my hair shaved having no hair at the front. I could then shave down if I wanted to ( i just hope it looks better than it does now when I shave down ). Would I be happy with the job only half done.
I am reluctant to take meds after the procedure due to the past experiences, which means maybe FUE is best as if then if I get further loss and cannot afford another procedure I can shave down.
I know ive rambled on and probably no-on gets to this point, but I must say it has made me feel a lot better telling someone, as I have suffered in silence for so long, and lost a loving girlfriend and nearly lost my family from all this.
Thanks for "listening"