I am a man who started losing my hair at 17 (though I didn't know what it was at the time..just that something looked off. I had a normal late teens and twenties, with the usual normal stuff - girlfriends, holidays, football - but my gradual hair loss did bother me all the time. At 29 I bit the bullet with a grade 2 cut which was very liberating and after that I wasn't bothered any more. Not long after, I shaved my head and that has been the way for 30 years. I don't believe it has ever impacted me.
However, now my own lovely son, who has just turned 18 is receding at the temples, and has been for a year – it is getting slowly worse.. He knows something is going on, but doesn't equate it with baldness! But I know where this is going...and it really bothers and saddens me that he will have to go through it young like me. I’m surprised by how much it pains me.
It bothers him slightly - for now - because he still doesn't equate it with baldness, but he says he does not want to lose his hair.
I would like to help him delay it until his late twenties if possible, so he can deal with it as a man, not a boy. There are options now that weren't there when I was young. We went to see a trichologist who, recommended a combination of topical finasteride and monoxidil. I have done a lot of research, and it does seem that there is a great chance to stop or severely slow hair loss with finasteride. Minoxidil is a bit of a booster but it doesn't attack the core hormonal issue.
Apparently topical finasteride has a much lower incidence of side effects than the pill form. But, I don't know what to do! He has a big mop of hair and he loves it, so it pains me to think of it slowly falling out, so I feel I should do something - and it is true in the case of hair loss - prevention or at least severely slowing down is better than cure (because there is no growing it back). but equally, I don't want to push him into a medication that might harm, even if only a small chance.
My son is still a long way from the buzzcut and headshave, but it will come!
I would like to hear from anyone who has taken topical finasteride though. It does seem like a reasonable option - very good chance of success if taken consistently and very low chance of side effects. I think I would have tried it if it was there when I was young. It doesn't have to be lifelong, just to get through youth and then stop and let nature take its course.
My boy is generally considered to be a very handsome lad, and he has a good growth of beard, so I suspect he will 'rock' the shaven head and trimmed beard look a lot better than me! But still, that looks more appropriate on a man in his late twenties or thirties than a kid, so delaying the necessity to do if possible is worth investigating. Hard to get real world evidence though.