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Doctors Discouraged 19 Year Old From Using Propecia

Im a 19 year old male,and for the past year and especially the past 3 months my hair has thinned and receded almost an inch. Ive always been told i just have a large forhead so i shrugged it off, now im scared because i am afraid to go out without my hat on and i dont like this. Ive started rogaine but i feel like its gonna be pointless cause of how much ive already lost, im not ready to suck it up and shave my head yet. Both my docter and dermotoligist told me its just bad genes and i got male pattern baldness and discouraged propecia and vitamins. Ive died it 5 times in the last year, and i plan on dieing it again, because the darker color makes it seem as though i hav e more hair, both docters told me this doesnt affect it. Ive always had long hair and im not ready to lose it, am i to young for a hair transplant.

If you have genetic hair loss, you should be on Propecia, so I disagree with your doctors. Without a doctor / patient relationship, I can not make a diagnosis, but 19 is not too young for Propecia treatment in genetic male patterned balding. You need to have your hair mapped out for miniaturization to determine the diagnosis. You are clearly too young to think about hair transplants, particular without getting some doctor first to take care of your hair loss with appropriate medications.


2006-11-17 10:26:46Doctors Discouraged 19 Year Old From Using Propecia

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Rapunzel! Let Down Your Long, Golden Hair

How long can the human hair grow?

RapunzelI was once told a story about a beautiful princess (Rapunzel with golden hair, of course) who was imprisoned in a high tower for many, many, many years. Maybe someone will remember the fairy tale better than I, but to the best of my memory (I am now 64 years old) I seem to recall that she was saved by a prince who climbed up on her long hair to save her. There were missing pieces in the fairy tale that my age now brings into focus, like how she got food up there, possible toilet facilities, showering or general cleaning for many years (any prince who climbed up her long hair must have lost his ability to smell, for there were no perfumes in the story to hide what must have been a smelly lady). Sorry, I’ll focus on the original question…

The human hair growth cycle is believed to be between 2-7 years. As I have mentioned in the past, there are three phases to hair growth cycles, telogen (falling out), catagen (about to fall out) and anagen (the growth phase). Each individuals hair cycle is impacted by genetics, hormones, stress and any medications the person takes. You can imagine the difficulties of plotting the growth of individuals hair in different parts of the hair cycle and documenting the factors that address growth rates (impossible) so much of the research is either conjectural or taken from animal models that are not really compatible.

Now I remember my great grandmother (age 114) when I was a young man. On occasional Sundays, the granddaughters would take her hair out of a bun and wash it. I remember it went to the floor and beyond. There was great care in managing the hair wash. Now as a hair surgeon and expert in the hair field, I have to reconcile my memory of her hair with what I know about hair cycles. Could her hair be greater than 5 feet long. The answer I believe to this conundrum is that the hairs that fell out, weaved themselves into the remaining hairs (like dreadlocks) and that although the hair appeared to be greater than 5 feet long, had the granddaughters really brushed the hair when they washed it, most of that long hair would have come out simply because it was not attached at the root.

To really answer the Rapunzel story tale with academic precision, one would have to find a woman (men’s hair usually does not grow the length of women’s hair) who actually washed and brushed her hair so that all of the broken and loose hairs were brushed out. This would have to be on a few hundred women to make the data statistically significant. That would tell us how long a female hair can actually grow. The average hair grows at about ½ inch per month and for 7 years which means that the longest hairs should be no more than 42 inches (a bit over 1 meter) long. Can any of my readership tell me a ‘reality based’ Rapunzel type of story where the actual hair length exceeded 42 inches?

Now that was a bit long winded, but I guess I do get carried away with a form of ‘love’ for this growing baldingblog readership. Thanks for feeding this ‘young’ blog with your questions.

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Does a mature hairline lead to balding?

When my hairline matured/progressed to NW2 in like 2015 the hairs around my hairline also became very thin and they still are today but with not a single sign of recession since. I literally have not lost any hair in 4-5 years but my hairline is thinned out.

Is this just a mature hairline/normal stuff? It seems really strange because it kinda looks significantly thinner at the front but as I said I haven’t lost hair in years. Thanks in advance.

Mature hairlines do not lead to balding in many men (easily 50% of the male population) who don’t have the balding genes; however, you can have balding present by detecting (1) a receding hairline that is more than a mature hairline, (2) thinning in the hairline, (3) balding elsewhere on your head. These are variations of genetic balding.


2020-08-14 09:40:08Does a mature hairline lead to balding?

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Reader Says He Discovered the Hair Transplant Miracle-Gro!

Hello! I’m a 55-yr-old guy who’s had several HT procedures over the past 20 years. My last two were performed by different surgeons (both well-respected in this field), and both times I was surprised and delighted to note astounding growth of newly-grafted hair which I believe resulted from my coincidental use of a unique nutritional supplement. At six weeks following surgeries, I already had a solid half-inch crop of thick, colored new hairs which continued to grow like crazy. My current HT doc is starting a small trial with this supplement next week. Would you be interested in hearing about this? I think I accidentally discovered HT Miracle-Grow!

Sure, please keep me in the loop. I try to keep an open mind.

Update:
The person that sent me this email has told me that he’ll send me updates when he can, so I’ll post more information as it becomes available. In the meantime, take the above for what you will. Anyone want to wager a guess as to what this supplement could be?


2008-04-10 08:46:47Reader Says He Discovered the Hair Transplant Miracle-Gro!

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Does Couvre Cause Hair Loss?

Hi Dr. Rassman
Great site…thanks for helping out so many concerned men and women. I am a 42 year old male, with Norwood class III hair loss. I had 2 hair transplants about 10 years ago at the temples, and was happy with the results(they have taken me back to a norwood class I or II look). Now my hair is thinning more in the centre. I use a scalp covering paste (couvre) applied with a sponge, that does a great job of helping to cover the thinning area…but I am wondering if using this will cause my hair to fall out even more? Also, I read that most men slow down or stop their hair loss in their mid 40’s..my hair loss is starting to pick up again over the last year. Can I use products like minoxidil with products that colour the scalp?
Thanks for your help.

CouvreI highly doubt Couvre causes hair loss. You can use minoxidil with scalp coloring agents. For more on Couvre, see their site here.

I suspect you are losing hair due to general male pattern hair loss as it is a progressive process (something we do not like to admit). Hair loss should slow down as we age, but it still happens in men at all ages. There is no rule or exception if it is happening to you. You may consider seeing a doctor for a good diagnosis and you may be a good candidate for finasteride (Propecia/Proscar).


2007-08-31 13:33:50Does Couvre Cause Hair Loss?

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Recent hair loss acceleration

So I’ve recently been noticing my hair looks way thinner, and is much more oily (which probably makes it stick together and look thinner). My scalp shows way much more on the sides, and its just wierd, feels like I aged 5 years in a month. I’ve always been a heavy drinker, but things that can have an effect:

• Drinking more often
• Smoking ALOT more

•Using this Hemp shampoo, which is very oily (pretty sure this is the main cause)

Sounds like your stressed and stress tends to accelerate the hair loss process in men who have the genes for balding

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Does Estrogen Protect Women from Developing Male Pattern Hair Loss?

Doctor, I was thinking of something today. Females lose hair genetically too like female pattern baldness, but how come its not as common like men to lose hair? I mean there are females with bald fathers, grandfathers, uncles and brothers, but they never lose hair genetically?

If a man has so many bald relatives, there is a strong chance he will lose hair too, but the women tend to still keep their hair when the men in their family are all bald. Is it the estrogen that protects the hair?

There is no evidence that estrogen protects women from developing hair loss in the standard male patterns. The reason for female pattern baldness is not well understood.

Male pattern baldness is just what it says — it is a male problem and it occurs in patterns that can be visually seen, as graded on the Norwood scale. Women with genetic hair loss do not generally develop patterned balding, or if they do, the patterns do not usually follow the Norwood scale for men. Genetic hair loss in women, also called female androgenic alopecia, can at times be seen in a pattern that is graded on the Ludwig scale. Other times, the hair loss is diffuse.

Fortunately for men, finasteride is a good medication… but for women, the only decent medication is topical minoxidil.


2013-07-02 17:30:58Does Estrogen Protect Women from Developing Male Pattern Hair Loss?

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Reddit Reader Comments on a Baldingblog Post

The post he commented on is the following: https://baldingblog.com/new-report-that-finasteride-does-not-cause-sexual-side-effects/

Comment: This survey method is so flawed that its ‘findings’ are not just unhelpful, but actually misleading. It’s really quite simple actually.

They just surveyed a bunch of guys who had been taking Propecia for hair loss and compared it to presumably random guys who were not on Propecia. If you develop side effects from Propecia, which often happens fairly early on, you are going to stop the drug quickly. 85% of the guys surveyed had taken Propecia > 12 months so you can be sure they didn’t have side effects. Even the other 15% would have likely filtered out most of the guys with side effects.

That’s why the authors erroneously conclude finasteride use resulted in no connection to sexual dysfunction. Their own data doesn’t even show that. Their data shows the finasteride group had a lower incidence of sexual dysfunction but that is only after you naturally exclude people who quit due to side effects. To say this study is controversial would be to give it way too much credit. It’s just flawed.


2019-11-05 10:13:16Reddit Reader Comments on a Baldingblog Post

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Does finasteride lose effectiveness over time?

Some people say that finasteride looses effectiveness over time, some say 4 years while other say 10 years or even 15 years, is that the case usually ? Because I’M 24 with a NW2 and if I start finasteride now and have hair transplant and it looses its effectiveness in next 10 years when i’m 34 would that be a problem if the hair loss starts again ? and I’m aware that we have a limited donor hair

Finasteride remains effective over time. What changes is your balding pattern which progresses as you age. Without finasteride, it will progress faster.