If you’ve read My Story then you’ll know age makes no difference when it comes to losing your hair, it’s all to do with genetics.
Don’t be fooled by what you read, there is no miracle cure or any treatment to help ‘cover up’ those bald patches. There’s lots of false claims out there that will to cost you, now and probably for the rest of your life.
If you are worried that you might be losing your hair at an early age then the best thing to do at first is visit your local GP just to make sure there is nothing else medical causing the problem.
If, however, it’s down genetics then there’s no need to worry. You might be thinking the opposite but trust me, it’s not the end of the world.
If you think I don’t know what you’re going through, then you’re wrong; I was 17 when I first noticed my thinning hair, a young man in the prime of his life thinking about getting a hair transplant.
Looking good, being attractive to the ladies was important to me. I wanted to be popular and flirt with the girls at college, just like any other teenage boy reaching manhood would.
The thought of losing my hair young was heartbreaking, especially when all the cool guys in my year were showing off the latest haircuts every other week which made me feel even more insecure.
So now to the positives
You are not alone, many young men have been through the same thing as me and have come out feeling better about themselves, much better.
These days bald style is pretty much normal, look at all the movie stars, sports stars, TV hosts, musical artists, reality contestants and adult movie stars that sport the bald or shaved head look – it’s pretty cool actually.
Do you think Vin Diesel was turned down for having a bald head, or Jason Stratham? Look at them now!
You may think why me? But so do millions of men every single day of the year when they notice hair loss.
In some cases, it can take years but in my case (and I’m sure quite a few of you reading this), only a few years.
Again don’t worry, things get better.
Razor’s Edge YouTube Channel
On our Razor’s Edge channel, we’ve created a video detailing further how I dealt with going bald at 17! Take a look below if you’re interested.
Back on to the positives…
I can remember what an older female friend of mine said at the time, “Look at it this way, if you go bald now at least you’ll deal with it at an early age, find your style and anyone that meets you, falls in love with you will because of how you look now.”
“You have nothing to hide or be worried about, and you know what, lots of women love men with bald heads”.
Coming from an older and rather sexy woman was a massive confidence boost, and you know what, it’s true, you will meet other men or women and you will fall in love, you will have a successful career and you will be happy, it just takes time to adjust and build your confidence.
Dealing with things when you’re young can sometimes be easier than when you’re older, I have some friends in their 40’s and 50’s that have really struggled with losing their hair, they think that without it, their world is going to fall apart, they are going to lose their wife, girlfriend boyfriend etc… it just not true.
If the person you are with truly loves you then they will continue to love you – all I would say is embrace your new look, get some style and build your confidence – no one likes a snivelling wreck!
Great article Paul!
Pretty inspiring and to the point! Confidence matters more than losing your hair. Shaving my hair was a great assistance for my confidence, because anyone who can stand hair loss at a younger age, you can be unstoppable! 🙂
Thanks again for your article! Nice pics btw!
Many thanks Costas, agree completely with you, I felt unstoppable too, still do 😉
Thanks for the comment on the pics – more to follow soon
Cheers
I regret that I didn’t go bald back in my late 20s, immediately after my wife and I got married. All my life my secret wish was to go bald like my grandfather and my uncle, but I didn’t dare to openly admit it, for fear everyone would think I was crazy. When my wish suddenly began to come true 20 years ago, in my early 50s, I panicked, afraid my wife would disown me. Instead, to my delight, she was thrilled and begged me to just let myself go bald. It was a most delightful experience to watch my hairline rapidly recede, a bald spot develop in the back and finally, the last remaining bridge of hair on top of my head thin out and disappear. And best of all, it took less than two years to bald to Norwood 6. Every morning I found a lot of my hair on my pillow and clogging the shower drain. The hair would grow back in, but finer and finer and shorter and shorter until all that was left on top of my head was almost invisible short fuzzy hair. It was the normal male pattern baldness sequence, only super fast. I was shocked at how fast I went bald, but I couldn’t have been more pleased, as I couldn’t go bald fast enough. My wife loves it too and she loves kissing me on top of my bald head. What a turn on!
The only downside is sunburn in summer and freezing the top of my head in winter, so I wear a hat when I am out in the weather.
The search for a ‘cure’ for male pattern baldness continues, but I am not interested in a cure. For me, male pattern baldness is a gift, not a disease in need of a cure. It is a normal, natural inherited trait and I am lucky it was programmed into my DNA. Going bald was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I just wish I had gone bald 25 years earlier.
Hi Eric, thanks again for your positive comments, really appreciate them and so will our readers.
Agree with you on the sunburn, it’s important to wear a hat for protection and not to hide – but when it comes to sunburn, cover up as burning the top of your head really hurts, trust me I’ve done it!
Totally agree on it’s not a disease, I’m sick of companies saying they have a cure – nothing, absolutely nothing is a cure. As you say, it normal, it’s natural so embrace it gents
I tried shaving it ALL off, but that didn’t work out for me. It made me look like a cancer patient: bald from chemo, ‘death warmed over’. Besides, the classic male pattern baldness look is what I wanted. I love the ‘horseshoe’ fringe of hair around the sides and back of my head and shiny bald across the front and top of my head. I keep the fringe neatly trimmed and short enough to prevent any ‘comb-over’.
I’ve been to most of the male pattern baldness sites on line, so Google knows I’m bald. And Google tells: I get far too many unsolicited advertisements for hair restoration ‘cures’ and hair transplant shops. It’s not enough to just click them off, so when one of my wife’s advertisements for bras and ladies fashions show up, I click them often enough that those ads crowd out the baldness cures and assisted living ads. It’s so much more pleasant to see pretty young ladies in their lovely fashions (and bras) 🙂 than to be reminded that I’m getting older and need a ‘cure’ for my MPB.
Am I the only guy out there who wanted to go bald and was thrilled when it happened? I’ve seen few if any comments from others like me on the chat rooms admitting they love going bald. Everyone fights MPB and even those who accept it seem to do so only reluctantly. Now and then I see a bumper sticker that says “Bald is beautiful”, but I wonder, how sincere is that statement? I absolutely LOVE male pattern baldness and after 20 years am still thrilled I finally went bald. But even I don’t dare tell anyone else how I feel, for fear they would think I was insane. When I finally admitted to my wife how much I love it, she said she was relieved and told me she thinks going bald was the sexiest thing that ever happened to me. She loves sneaking up behind me kissing me on top of my bald head. What a turn on!
I’m in my early 20s and starting to notice my hair thinning pretty drastically, reading this and a few other articles promoting baldness confidence has really helped me come to terms with it.
Thanks for posting your comment Will, this is exactly why I started the site and shared my experiences with you all. Stay strong and true and you’ll be fine my friend, you’ll be fine
Will, you have no idea how lucky you are to be already going bald in your early 20s. I’m in my 70s and have been bald for 20 years and still, I envy you. As I mentioned above, I had to wait impatiently to my 50s to finally go bald. Back in college several of my classmates were already balding. By my senior year, one of those classmates was almost totally bald on top and I was insanely jealous of him. Not only that, he was dating the most attractive girl on campus, so I guess even back then there were girls who found bald men attractive, or at least didn’t mind if their boyfriends were bald. I would have gladly traded places with him.
I have no idea why I love male pattern baldness so much, but it sure makes life more enjoyable, now that I’m bald. It also helps that my wife loves it, too. When she noticed I was going bald, she was thrilled and begged me to just let it happen. She confessed to me that she has always thought male pattern baldness was sexy and secretly wished that I would go bald. Going bald was a dream come true for me. If only it had happened to me when I was your age.
I hope you wake up one day and realize (like I did) that you love male pattern baldness and can’t wait to go bald. Then I hope it happens to you as fast as it happened to me. I went bald in about two years, so fast, is was scary. I had a physical checkup to make sure I didn’t have a serious medical condition (I didn’t). Then I made an appointment with a hair restoration ‘expert’, not to try and save my hair, but for a diagnosis and for a prognosis. The ‘expert’ confirmed that I was ‘suffering’ from MPB and that I was likely to go bald very quickly. He then tried to sell me remedies and refer me to hair transplant surgeons, but I politely and firmly declined his ‘help’. I was thrilled with the diagnosis and prognosis. And my wife was as thrilled as I was. I couldn’t believe my good fortune! We went out and celebrated my good fortune, then over the next few years I relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed the fast transition from an almost full head of hair to shiny bald on top with just the usual ‘horseshoe’ shaped fringe of hair remaining on the side and back of my head. I really love that ‘horseshoe’ fringe. And I love it when my wife kisses me on top of my bald head.
No, going bald is not the end of the world. For me, it was the beginning of the best time in my life. It’s been 20 years since I finally went bald and I love it now more then ever. Am I crazy? Or just lucky.
Eric – once again thanks so much for your comments – you’re a lucky man 😉
I’m the mother of a 15 yr old son who’s hair is receding. I took him to the dr. They did nothing. I’m taking him to a naturalist next. Maybe I can find a way to slow it down until he graduates. I’m trying to stay positive for him, but he’s devastated!! He hasn’t even learned to drive, yet. What do I tell him? Thank God you’re going through this now? I don’t think so. Because my son is depressed, I’m severely depressed. What’s the saying…you’re only as happy as your saddest child? Would appreciate some advice. Thanks.
Hi there, thanks for reaching out. OK this is not an easy one for me to answer but I hope I can offer some advice. I started losing my hair at a similar age, so I can imagine what you’re going through with your son. At the time I was still living with my parents and they were really supportive, they listened to my concerns, my ideas on what I could do to try and stop the loss and ultimately gave me as much love and support as I need.
They could not, however, take away the pain and the anxiety of starting to lose your hair at such a young age. They couldn’t be with me all day to offer the support or to have my back when having to listen to jibes and digs from others, but knowing that when I got home they would look at me with the same loving eyes no matter what I thought I looked like really helped me. They never patronised me, they just offered support, a shoulder to cry on and also space when I needed it.
Thinking back to those times I can remember the feeling of desperation, one that leads to looking for mircle cures, or cover-ups! Back then there weren’t as many so-called ‘cures’ so it was a much harder place to find support or facts about my hair loss. I would strongly recommend NOT going down the route of looking for cures with your son, I would, however, recommend talking to him about the facts, is hard but it’s sometimes the best way to face the fear of losing your hair. Talk to him, reassure him that there will be hard times but it will get better.
Do you know of any guys older than him that have lost their hair, or guys that have started shaving their heads to avoid the ‘bad hairstyles’ some men to adopt? If so could you get one of them to talk to him, they will have been through similar worries, depression etc but have come out the other side.
You say his hair is ‘receding’, it could be many years before he needs to think about shaving his head. Have you thought about how he styles his hair, has he visited a ‘good’ barber, one that can be sympathetic to what he’s going through and can offer some styles that will help manage the hair loss process? A good barber can really help bring confidence back, they can either be your best friend or worse enemy when it comes to hair loss. If you do know a good one ask his advice or if he could see your son out of the busy periods. If he’s at the early stages of hair loss there are some really cool and simple styles he could find – some he may never have thought of.
I’m not sure what your son is like for his style or grooming but these are really important to any man, at any age, again maybe looking at this too along with how he styles his hair might give him a renewed confidence or at least a better outlook on managing his hair loss.
I think it’s worse to give false hope by looking for miracle cures, quick fixes or medications (unless there is a temporary reason for the loss), try to help him manage the process of hair loss, it might take years or it might be quite rapid (as it was in my case), either way sometimes the hardest things to do are face the things we are most worried/scared about! If you can talk to him about the facts but also give him the support then you’re going to be on the right path to making him feel better himself and how to manage losing his hair (now or gradually). Remember, he’s not alone. look around you and you’ll be surprised how many guys his age are dealing with the same issues.
Hey your website is pretty interesting…
I have seen signs of my receding hairline yet i am just 18 years of age as of now… i try to hide it with my medium sized dark curly hair but i do not know how long will i be able to do this.. i can’t go fully bald as of now as I’m a bit too young for that … so what do you suggest…. the best part though is that i can grow a beard at this age but will my beard get better too as i age considering i am just 18?
Regards
Hi I’m a 17 year old male and I’ve been thinning on top for about 2 years now, when I first noticed my thinning my confidence went down massively I had a girlfriend and I didn’t want her to recognise but she didn’t care. Funny enough I’m still with her now. My confidence has got better but I still struggle and worry if my mates will mention it (they have a few times) and it just knocks my confidence down again. I have recently moved to a new college and the guys their seem much better and don’t really really care. I think leaving school was a big part of battling my hair loss at a young age and being able to drive and feeling like an adult. Thankyou love your website 🙂
My son’s bald spot started at 16 and is now pretty significant at 18. He told me he has embraced it and will shave his head when the time comes. He keeps it super short and stylish now, he has blonde hair and it just sort of fades. Thanks for your positive article because sometimes I think it upsets me more than it does him!
I believe that the main reason going bald is so traumatic is our culture pretty much despises it. We need an ‘attitude adjustment’. After all, male pattern baldness is not a disease in search of a cure. It is a normal, natural inherited trait. It’s in our DNA. I realized this very early in life, when I discovered that I wanted to go bald as soon as I became an adult. One of my grandfathers was bald and I watched one of my uncles go bald in his late 30s, so I became aware that I might also go bald someday. That idea thrilled me, but it also terrified me. I was aware of all the ‘bad press’ male pattern baldness got and I was afraid that if I went bald before I got married I might remain a bachelor my whole life. But no matter how hard I resisted it, my desire to go bald only got stronger as I became an adult. Back in college several of my classmates were already bald by our senior year and I was insanely jealous of them. After my wife and I were married I began to pray to go bald, but it didn’t happen until my early 50s. As I already mentioned in a previous post, when my wish finally began to come true I panicked, fearing my wife would hate it, but as it turned out, my wife loved it and begged me to just let it happen.
My point is, there are women out there who actually love male pattern baldness. Lucky me, I’m married to one of them. I wish MPB were socially acceptable and even a rite of passage and something a young man could look forward to. That would remove all the trauma from going bald. When I see a young man who is balding or already bald, I envy him and wish I had gone bald in my 20s instead of having to wait until my 50s. Luckily, when I finally went bald, it happened quickly (less than two years) and almost completely, like I was making up for lost time.
It is really helpful and reliving when you know that you’re not the only one who suffers from that… I’m almost 24 and my hair is thinning out , it’s not receding , but the whole hair is thinning with time that anyone can notice and leave their comments as ; “ omg, you’re getting bald! “ and I try to respond as cool as I can and show them that I’m am okay with it . Meanwhile I’m not 💔 . Thank you for the great article tho. Greetings from Egypt 🇪🇬
This is soo inspiring. I’m so glad I came across this article. It means allot to me because I am 17 now and also realized that my hair is thinning out. Both my dad and grandpa are bald. It made me realize that it is not that bad. This made my whole life better