Balding Blog

I also have a history of having Gynecomastia when I was 15, and it was surgically removed. Will my risk be high if I start Finasteride?

Before staring the drug Finasteride, I always perform a HAIRCHECK, which accurately shows the amount of hair lost at the time the drug is started. If no hair is lost, I advise against the drug.

However, if hair is lost, then I remeasure the patient one year later to see what happened to the balding process and if the drug (1) was started, and (2) the value and the benefit, if any, of taking the drug. For young men with a history of Gynecomastia, the drug Finasteride is not any more of a risk in your situation compared to other men of your age.

Young men rarely get Telogen effluviums. When it does happen, it goes away by itself. If it does not go away, it is likely early genetic hair loss. If it is early genetic balding, it will not reverse. You might want to see a doctor and get a HAIRCHECK test for a good baseline measurement to compare with future measurements so that you know what is happening with your balding pattern.

To learn more about HAIRCHECK tests, see here.

You are likely to get thickening of your hair, highly likely as finasteride (Propecia) works well for young men your age.

I start college next fall, so stress is very evident in my life. Other factors: I take birth control pills, there might be some underlying black mold issues in my new apartment, and I used to take antidepressants.

You have many reasons to have hair loss. Start with your family history since it may be genetic. See a good doctor to get a proper diagnosis. The various factors you mentioned all contribute to hair loss, and for women, it is even more complex. Get out of that apartment and find another one since black mold is deadly for hair and is not good for your health.

You should see a doctor who specializes in hair, get a diagnosis which looks like early male pattern balding, and get treated for it with two drug options that work well for someone of your age (finasteride and minoxidil).

I’m an 19 year old male and I think that I am starting to have early stages of balding, similar to that of broadcaster steve hartman but at a smaller alot smaller level. Is my hair going to continue to bald until it looks like steve hartman’s or is there a chance that it will stop? Also whats steps can I take at this young age?

You need to have a diagnosis, so get your hair mapped out for miniaturization to determine if that is what is happening to you. Why play guessing games? You need a Master Plan for your long term management and a good doctor to do it for you. I just can’t stress these things enough. My apologies to the regular readers that think I’m sounding like a broken record, but there’s just so little I can do to help via the internet without examining your hair loss, so I must keep recommending the same things over and over.

99% of men with hair loss have genetic causes for it. The best way to deal with it is to develop a Master Plan ( https://baldingblog.com/exactly-master-plan-going-look-like/ ) with a good doctor who is caring and understands you and the process that will keep the hair on your head for life. This is what I do. Find that doctor, get a HAIR CHECK test to get a baseline for your hair loss ( https://baldingblog.com/haircheck-test-how-it-is-done-video/ ), and then you and your doctor should work out just what will be done to keep your hair.

At the age of 18, it is not advisable to do anything surgical (like a hair transplant) to address the uneven hairline. You will not know if you are balding until you are at least 26 years old.

First of all I would like to thank all the contributors to this site which has been really informative and has helped me to understand baldness better. However, I am still unsure about my own balding. Firstly I am an 18 year old male and I have noticed that my hair has been thinning from the crown since I turned 17 or so. What perplexes me is that my hair line is quite consistent, the thinning is occurring in the crown area only.

So I have two questions. What Norwood pattern would this qualify as since the hair line is still consistent? And is it possible that perhaps this is unnatural balding? My barber suggested that my hair loss might be from excessive dandruff that has been present for quite a while but haven’t been able to quite cure despite my best efforts. I should also note that my father and paternal grand-father are both bald especially my father who at the age of 41 has very little hair left.

If you see a doctor, you can get a definitive diagnosis concerning if you are balding or not. Balding men will have miniaturization of hair and reduced bulk measurements, so the diagnosis is scientific as well as clinical. Crown balding with a strong hairline isn’t “unnatural”, and dandruff does not cause hair loss like your barber suggested.

The good news is that the drug Propecia (finasteride) works well in crown balding in young men, so if the diagnosis is made you will most likely reverse the hair loss process in the crown.