18 year old son is going bald

[Seeallusernamehistory]

DS is Yr 13. Just before his A levels started he mentioned that his friends were joking about his receding hairline. I looked at his forehead and they’re right. I tried to downplay it, DH laughed and said good luck mate, look at me. I have since given DS daily omega 3 capsules which, strangely, he likes.

But today he was on the sofa and I noticed that his hair has started to go at the crown as well. Poor lad, he’s only 18.

I know it’s genetics and there is baldness on both sides of the family, plus there’s the current stress of A Level exams, but short of a holiday to Turkey (joke. DH is first in the queue - not even sure if that’s a joke TBH) is there anything we can do? Diet? Lifestyle? Supplements? Special shampoo and conditioner l? Can we help pause it?

He has got such a lovely mop of hair. 😢

Is it worth him trying a skin and hair supplement OP? I take one from Amazon that’s in gummy sweet form (delicious!). I do think my hair is better as a result. I had a lot of hair loss and am noticing new hair growth now.

Go to the GP. Or the pharmacy. You can get prescription strength stuff nowadays.

Or he embraces it and gets its all shaved off?

Here's hoping he isn't upset, because anything to do with your appearance changing can be upsetting. My son started to go grey at 17. He's 20 now and has a smattering of greys throughout his very dark hair. Not quite the same as balding, I know.

You could try rosemary oil which supposedly promotes hair growth and my DP has had some success with it after noticing thinning on his crown. Boots sell it for £8 a bottle.

I would say though as it's genetic and highly unlikely to be stopped or delayed. I had a friend in college who was almost completely bald at 18. His dad went bald at 21.

Knowing he's likely to be bald from a young age I'd try to help him feel more confident in himself, being bald isn't unattractive.

I know of a few young men who were at school with my dcs who have had the trip to Turkey (and a couple of older ones too) and my friend's 20yo is seriously considering it.

Help him embrace it. it's honestly not so bad!
He'll look much better with it very short - he doesn't have to go all the way shaved just yet.

Supplements won't do anything, one of my best mates went bald at 18. I think he did find it pretty traumatic and got teased. Less so after he shaved it off and owned it. He has had plenty of girlfriens, partners over the years too . I think hair transplants were more expensive and looked a bit bit crap back then. We are all in our 50s now and all the blokes are either receding or bald, but it's not a nice thing for a young lad to go through. The shave it off advice is probably the best but easier to take at 30 plus

Ask the GP. Also have a look at red light therapy - this may help.

The only thing that will work is minoxidil. That will stop the “hope the hair comes out from” narrowing further and thinning the hair.

I saw a Philip Kingsley trichologist only prescription drugs (drops you put on the scalp every night) are going to work

I take fish oil and have noticed a difference in my hair’s thickness - but I’m not sure if this would stop hair loss, sad to say.

Thanks for your responses. Won’t the GP think I’m wasting their time for what is, effectively, vanity?

PK do their own blend - your son would need their 5M+ range.

To help the hairs that remain, have him on iron supplements

But the hair that’s already gone can’t be restored by any drug or supplement

I'm male and I started to go bald in school too. My school nickname was 'old man'.
A couple of benefits - as a youngster when I started working, people took me more seriously because they assumed I was older. I also never got asked my age in pubs 😁
Now I'm an old git, I regularly get told (by people I've not met for a while) that I haven't changed a bit because the hair loss happened so long ago.
I hope you son embraces it - it really hasn't caused me any issues at all.

My DH's hair loss started at that kind of age. Luckily he has a lovely head, so shaved looks good on him. Saved a fortune in barbers!

I know two people who went bald early. One was really self conscious about it and really let it affect his confidence and relationships with women. It was sad to see because he's lovely. The other embraced it, shaved his head and is super confident and rocks it.

They are both attractive men, their lack of hair doesn't matter to other people, it's their confidence that seems to make the difference.

In both cases it was genetic. Not much they could do.

Two of my oldest sons are graying very quickly. My oldest had his first gray hair at 8! They have great hair but it will be very gray by the time they are 30!

I doubt the GP will dismiss your son as just being a vanity issue. It can affect his confidence and mental health too.

I think because of his age the doctor won't dismiss it as vanity, it's not as if he's a 40yo man worrying about it. I think as pp said the only thing proven to work are minoxodil/nioxidil products which can be bought over the counter but you have to commit to using them daily I believe.

The only thing I would say is there's nothing wrong with going or being bald but once it reaches a certain point, hiding it looks worse than embracing it.

@Seeallusernamehistory you can get him this stuff: https://www.boots.com/strength-scalp-foam-5-ww-cutaneous-foam-3-months-supply-10295522 which can stop or even to some extent reverse the hair loss. There's a good podcast on effective baldness remedies like this on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0025l23

I feel awful saying this; but please keep a close eye on him for buying any so called treatments online; I know of a young man who took his life this year from taking them as they caused extreme suicidal ideation 😢

link to BBC article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05p1pnvymvo.amp

DS is 21 and his is receding, he started using this shampoo and taking these supplements and his hair has grown really thick and there is some regrowth.

The UK Lash hair growth serum could be worth a try. I use their eyelash serum and it works like magic. I was sceptical, but it works. Haven’t tried the hair stuff though.

At the end of the day it's male pattern baldness - A-Level "stress" isn't causing it! And all the lotions and potions are just a money-sucking distraction.

Best thing is for him to overcome the (very understandable) insecurity over it. I get that it's not ideal to be balding as a young man, but he can either go with it, or fixate on it.

I knew a chap who went the latter route - always brought it up at every opportunity, I suppose to get in there first in case others joked about it. I saw him sabotage his own chances with women, because of his own insecurities. The women weren't bothered by his hair loss, though they might have found it annoying that he kept bringing it up, just like men get annoyed by women who are always asking "does my bum look big in this".

Remind him it's caused by testosterone, v manly 😆

My wonderful and beautiful husband lost most of his hair when he was a teenager. He was prescribed some medication which had the side effect of making his hair fall out in one go and it never really grew back. He still has a bit of hair at the back of his head, but he chooses to shave that off as he thinks it looks much neater to be completely bald. I know it can be difficult for a teenager to come to terms with, it's such a tricky and self-conscious time of life anyway and having a physical feature that makes you stand out from your peers can be hard, but honestly, bald men are just as attractive as men with hair.

My hair has gone very thin since I hit menopause. So much so that you can see my scalp in places. I’ve been using UK Lash serum for hair and it’s actually working! My hair is starting to grow back. I’ve got lots of new growth coming through. Maybe he could try it?

If you want to give him an example of someone famous. Prince William started going bald not much older.

Men recede and go bald because of testosterone so not really much you can do there. Spin it as he's obviously more of a man than his mates😂