Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with balding

Sudden mysterious spreading of old bald spot (scar)!?

debbie_ann — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:16:25 -0800

I'm a healthy 26 year old female, who suddenly has a spreading bald spot from an old chemical burn. I haven't found much googling and I'll see a dr. in about a month. About four years ago I got two chemical burns from a home perm. Both let to coin sized bald spots. The dime sized one grew back white, and the quarter sized one grew sparse white hairs. A year or two later I stopped taking birth control and the big spot on my cowlick fell out completely. A year after that I became pregnant and white hair filled the spot. After the baby's birth (I was on the mini-pill and nursing) the hair fell out again.

I stopped taking the mini-pill about two or three months ago. Today I looked in the mirror and noticed that since I looked a few months ago, the spot has TRIPLED in size. Why is it spreading? It makes sense that pregnancy hormones could cause new hair growth, and that the end of those hormones would make the new hair fall out. I can't imagine why it's spreading. A friend has suggested stress. I wonder if the edge hairs are being pulled out when I brush my hair, but that doesn't add up.

What can I do? The baby is almost one and I am considering weaning him so I can try rogaine. I've looked into surgery and that would cost at least $4000. Going back on the pill, or having another baby right now are off the table.

Any ideas?

How can I darken my scalp where I've gone bald?

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 09:58:10 -0800

Is there any way to darken the scalp to give the appearance of hair stubble? So the long and short of it is, I started losing my hair many, many years ago when I turned 18. I went through most of the ever-shortening-haircut stages that most guys in my position do until I arrived at simply shaving it all off. This worked for many years too. Unfortunately you can definitely see the light-dark difference between where hair would still grow and where it wont ever again.

So my hope is to find some sort of scalp darkening or perhaps even mild makeup alternative to , at the very least, make the shiny hairless area as unnoticeable as possible in relation to the 5-oclock shadow that covers the rest of my head. Yes I realize how superficial this whole thing is, but I still want to see if it's possible. I would hope for a solution that can withstand some wear, is waterproof, etc.

So I dunno, citizens of Metafilter. Anyone got any suggestions for me?
Henna? Shoe Polish? Sharpie?

What can cause very rapid thinning and receding hair other than genetics? Is this unusual for my age?

Askr — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 07:50:51 -0800

Did your balding/receding kick into high gear at some point after a lifetime of very very slow loss? Is this unusual? Is something other than genetics causing this rapid loss? I'm trying to figure out whether my particular balding/receding/thinning scenario is unusual or cause for concern because it has kicked into high gear this year and is going scary fast. The line has receded quickly, and more alarmingly has gotten so thin on the whole top so quickly.

I'm blond and look exactly like my dad and granddad, both of whom receded most of the way back but never went the male pattern baldness route (that stuff about maternal grandfathers is a myth, given my maternal grandfather's glorious head of hair in his 70s). So I've always known I wouldn't keep all of my hair. It's been receding at a glacial pace since high school, but so slowly that nobody would ever have noticed. Until February you'd have said I had a normal full head of hair.

Now I'm 35 suddenly it has gone turbo. Did you ever reach such a tipping point?

I moved to a new town this year for a new career. So there was stress involved in that and in getting up to speed. There was definitely some anxiety there. But I live at the beach now in a sleepy little town and work is great. So I'm actually less stressed now, so that wouldn't seem to be a cause for ongoing hair loss if indeed stress really has anything to do with it. When I got my first haircut here, the lady said something about "...because it's so much thinner up here than everywhere else." And I was like, "What?" Sure enough, she was right. That was definitely a new development. I could see my scalp! (when wet). And putting hand to head felt different, no padding.

My doctor was like a parrot, just saying brrrrock, genetics, brrrrrock, genetics. Yeah I get it, but this fast, this sudden? He did a blood test for thyroid function and that came out fine. He said that aside from thyroid, it really is genetics and very little else aside from some medications (I'm not on any). I've just never been aware that it could happen this fast and wonder if something might be exacerbating it. Are the Russians poisoning me? The Ukranians?

I made sure to exercise regularly to clear out any stress, got a filter for my shower because the water is hard here (just in case, who knows?), and am taking a multivitamin. And still it goes. I'm eating a mostly vegan diet 5 days per week now, backsliding to omnivore on the weekends, but I wasn't when this all started, so it wouldn't seem to be diet-related. Back then I was eating a pretty balanced omnivorous diet. Now I'm eating lots of healthy stuff including plenty of beans and soy for protein.

Ideas? Concerns? Your experience? I know it'll go eventually but I want to eliminate anything other than genetics that may be making it go faster.

Coping with balding at 19.

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 06:59:52 -0800

I'm losing my hair at 19 and I'm becoming an emotional wreck. A different person. How do I cope with this and become my old confident self again? My hair started to slightly thin at 18 but I was never overly concerned about it. I had a girlfriend who thought I was the best ever and I managed to not let the issue really bother me. However, during and after the stressful breakup of this relationship it rapidly picked up the pace (it really did speed up all of a sudden, it wasn't just a change in perception because I was suddenly without someone to tell me I was cute all the time) My hairline receded slightly and it just generally thinned out on top a lot. I used to have very thick hair and now it is more stringy-like. Judging from a few people in my family, most of it will probably dissapear. I'm the only one I know of though that started so early.

I started using Rogaine, not with the hope of anything growing but just in an attempt to slow it down a bit. I'm aware the only other thing that might work is Propecia, but I'm not about to use that stuff. Too many weird side effects. The long term ones aren't even fully known. I just don't want to go there. Wigs and transplants and all that weird stuff are out of the question.

Unfortunately, I really started to think about it. I constantly look at my hair in the mirror. Worry about it. I absolutely hate it.

I began searching for support online. Found all the advice of "just shave it when it starts looking weird and be confident!" All the girls that said bald men could be sexy. Confidence and personality matter. I felt relief. But only for a second.

The truth is, I'm one of the guys that the "shave it, but only if your head isn't a weird shape" comment applies to. I have a big ridge at the top of my head. It's basically pointy. My past girlfriend noticed it by touch and would lovingly joke about it. People always go "woah, weird..." when I comment about it and they feel it.

I cut my hair down to a 4 just to try to judge the shape of it, convince myself it wasn't as bad as it felt. I put a bunch of gel in it and matted it down just to judge the shape (I know, I know) And, sure enough, I resemble a conehead. On top of that I'm a skinny white guy.

That brings me to where I am now. I feel uglier than I ever have and I feel hopeless about the future. The fact is I will become less and less attractive through thinning and if I shave it off I have a good chance of looking pretty weird.

I've always felt reasonably attractive other than the times I was suffering some bad acne in highschool. I know I'm a decent looking guy. I was never the perfect 10 hunk, but I've always been attractive enough to draw some attention from the occasional lady and then win them over with my personality. All the girls I've dated have been decently attractive, with the last one especially being just absolutely gorgeous. I'm not shallow either. I value personality a lot and I'm aware that looks can only get people so far.

However, I feel that looks DO matter and thats why this is distressing me so much. Especially at my age. I know people will say "everyone is different and likes different things and find different people attractive." This is only true to a degree though and I feel its naive to deny this. I know I've heard of research that shows people usually end up with those that are of similar general attractiveness. Yes, theres some leeway to account for personality and circumstance. Yes, some people have fetishes for 400lb women. But in general, I feel its accurate to say people usually bat within their own league. And I've also heard, and found, that in general, NOT EVERYTIME (I really hope I don't piss people off), that more attractive people are often better adjusted, more comfortable in their skin, have healthier relationships etc. I'm talking in generalities, I definitely don't mean everyone. I'm not a shallow person. I just want to attract girls I find attractive, but I feel I have to be able to attract them somewhat physically before they can find out I'm a great guy and before I can judge if they're good people themselves.

I feel like I wont be able to attract the caliber girls I'm used to; both personality and look wise. At least it will be A LOT harder. I feel like my youth is being stolen from me. And I feel like theres absolutely nothing I can do about it. Almost every other guy I know has a full head of hair and is free of this burden. I remember how it felt to be like that. I should be enjoying my much clearer skin and working out and becoming MORE attractive, not slowly spiraling downward. What the hell happened to my prime? I'm also pissed about my head shape. At least if I had a normal attractive looking head I could go gracefully and probably not damage my look too bad. I really just want to fall in love with someone who I'm physically attracted to and who I think is the coolest person ever and have the feeling be mutual. I feel like this is going to be a lot harder to find and that really bums me out.

I know there's nothing I can do about the hair. But how do I cope with this? How do I feel attractive again? Most importantly how do I feel hopeful for the future? I know I don't look too bad now but I feel like my clock is ticking. I don't want to be that guy who freaks out every time some hair falls out. I also know that since I'm losing some looks I need to be even more confident and charming and funny and whatnot, but how can I be confident when I don't feel attractive or desirable? I'm not proud of the way I look anymore. I've tried positive talk but I just feel like I'm lying to myself. In all honesty I'm becoming very obsessed about this and I can feel myself becoming very depressed. I'm not usually a sad depressed person. I don't want to be this way at all.

I know this is a common problem. I would love to hear some stories from people who have gone through this at a similar age. I've just never felt so shitty about myself in my life and I can only see the tunnel getting darker.

I'm sorry this is so long. And I'm sorry if I sound like an insecure whiny wussy man. I'm not usually like this. Every hardship I've encountered in my life I've pushed through full throttle and with optimism. My acne. I had some bad social anxiety in dating situations that held me back for a bit. But I knew these were things I could overcome and I eventually did. With this though my rational brain is telling me, "this is the rest of your life buddy, say goodbye to the great times and hello to some major hardship and romantic difficulty."

How does natural selection account for male pattern balding?

airguitar — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:28:50 -0800

How does natural selection account for male pattern balding?

Is propecia worth it?

prentiz — Wed, 24 May 2006 13:10:37 -0800

I'm beginning to go bald (AAARGH), how useful is propecia, what are mefites experiences of using and where can I get me some in the UK? So, I'm not really looking for advice on shaving my hair off just yet and I'm looking for alternatives. Googling about a bit seems to indicate Propecia is scientifically the best bet - however, it seems blinking expensive. Some online pharmacies offer grey market generics for much cheaper - but how can I find one that is reliable and won't just sell me really expensive asprins / take my money and run? Particularly interested to hear about people using online pharmacies to get stuff sent to the UK, but any other words of wisdom on the subject gratefully recieved...Ta!

Should I get a hair transplant?

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 21:44:42 -0800

I'm 25 and going bald. Should I get a hair transplant? I have been losing my hair ever since I was 17 years old. Now I'm in my mid-twenties and my hair is at what they call a NW5. Which means that I'm, well, bald.

I've been using a Rogaine/Propecia combination for the past two years which has worked wonders for stabilizing my hairline.

But still, I want more hair. Not for the usual reasons - I already have a healthy sex life and, physically, already look damn good otherwise.

I just want to feel what it's like to be in my twenties and have hair again.

Should I spring for it?

How do I know if my hairline is receding?

Edible Energy — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 10:28:01 -0800

My dad's dad had hair till he died in his 80s. My mom's dad was bald as a cue-ball by his 40s. Are there ways to know if your hairline is starting to recede before it's obvious?

How do I slow down going bald? What does "male pattern baldness" mean?

thebwit — Thu, 28 Oct 2004 05:57:49 -0800

My hair is thinning. This really sucks. I knew it would happen (uncle on mom's side has it) but what can I do to slow it down? Rogaine is out of the question as it is bad for my wife if she gets near it when trying to have kids. I have been using this "hair thickening" shampoo which doesn't seem to be doing much. Also why is it called male pattern baldness? Where's the pattern?