Balding in IB - what do I do?

Currently 29 but realized been somewhat balding on the corners of my head - not a good look when I put on my jacket and tie only to have patches of emptiness on some areas of my head
 

This has kind of impacted my self confidence, and it’s somewhat distracting when I feel a light breeze of wind every time the air conditioning blows wind to my forehead. 
 

Is this something people care about or would look at me oddly for or am I overthinking 

86 Comments
 

Lol relax man, you’re talking about this as if you’re going into a client meeting with a coffee stain on your shirt or something. 
 

There’s treatment too and know a few guys who have grown their hair back. Just focus on doing your best for yourself not on your hairline 

 

Larry David on Jordan Spieth: "He's going to be a bald man. He's going to be wildly bald. This makes him way more appealing to me. It's one thing to handle the pressure of the back nine at Augusta; let's see how he does when he sees all that hair in the tub. That's pressure. I'll be watching him very carefully. He's 22. He's got three years, maybe four. He's done."

Gives you perspective, huh? Every bald guy you walk past in the street has gone through exactly what you are going through right now and said f*ck it, this is who i am now, bald guy. You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villian. Own that villian stage and you'll find it liberating. 

 

Is that why he fell off so hard? Balding really affects a guy. Thought he’d have 5+ majors by now, at least when he was tearing it up way back then

 
Ari.Gold

Flight to Turkey ASAP

This is the way.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

While the above comments about accepting yourself and not worrying that anyone will notice are an ideal to strive for, unfortunately most of us look in the mirror and do care about how we look. Being more attractive translates into being more confident which will affect the way you confront the world. For example I used to have bad acne and after going through accutane, my confidence has significantly improved. It might be selling myself short to attribute much of my later professional and dating success to this, but it certainly had an effect. There are basic treatments you can pursue to prevent and reverse this that are perfectly safe for your health. You make good money in IB; i wouldnt feel guilt about making a small investment in this, the same way you might make an investment in nice clothes.

 

You’re 29 and probably have a lot of success in your life, yet you’re here on an online forum worrying about some hair like a 15y.o.
I know what you’re going through. I had to shave my head at 19. Just embrace it and shave it off or don’t give a flying fuck and keep it like that. You don’t have to waste your energy and loose your confidence for something like this. You can either start taking meds (you will delay your problem, spend more money, damage your health, and still be insecure) or stop caring and live your life free of this problem. I promise you you don’t have to be some Harvey Specter type of shit. Clients and colleagues won’t care about your hair problem.

 

99% of males lose hair or can't regrow it over time.  You are pretty much like everyone else.  This starts in the 20s and could even start in the teens.  You could do something about it or embrace it.   I doubt your decision will have an impact in IB.

 
Most Helpful

Do what you can to improve it internally, unfortunately many men bald early due to genetics - but it doesn’t make it any easier on your body if you’re also Vitamin E, Vitamin A and biotin deficient, dehydrated, under chronic stress and or don’t have a good healthy hair regimen.

Before you jump into all the “treatments” take holistic view of your health. Do you exercise regularly and are physically fit? (I.e can you run a mile under 8 minutes?) Do you drink at least half your body weight in water a day? Do you sleep at least 7 hours most nights a week? Do you care too much about what your seniors think of you that it gives you anxiety? Do you take your multivitamins? Eat enough healthy fats (avocado, nuts) and eat more Whole Foods than processed foods? Finally, do you have a high quality natural shampoo / apply castor / rosemary oil or whatever hair oil blend to the regions where you are showing balding?

The point is - you could be doing all the above and STILL bald a little early bc you have shit genetics, oh well. But genetics are not 100% determinant factors alone - your overall health can really influence how they play out in your life. Plus if you genuinely are doing the above, i bet your overall wellness and self confidence will increase that a slight bald patch here or there won’t actually fuck with your confidence (hard to not feel attractive when you’re ripped - 29 is still a prime age to start building muscle). If i were you, I would just try to get my overall shape up, and I’d imagine the health of your hair should also improve.

 
Les Grossman

Only a matter of time before the "vitamins and shampoo!" guy shows up in these threads. Finasteride/Dutasteride or go bald is the only answer. Ignore anyone who says anything regarding anything else.

Tacking good care of your hair with natural products and vitamins can help but only if you have good hair genes.  If older family members have good hair, you should try the natural approach 

 
liquidiot



The point is - you could be doing all the above and STILL bald a little early bc you have shit genetics, oh well. But genetics are not 100% determinant factors alone - your overall health can really influence how they play out in your life. Plus if you genuinely are doing the above, i bet your overall wellness and self confidence will increase that a slight bald patch here or there won’t actually fuck with your confidence (hard to not feel attractive when you’re ripped - 29 is still a prime age to start building muscle). If i were you, I would just try to get my overall shape up, and I’d imagine the health of your hair should also improve.

You probably would need to have an extreme deficiency for a lack of a certain vitamin to cause balding.  I would think that a multivitamin would fix an extreme deficiency. Aside from genetics which is the main cause of hair issues, I think a more likely cause of hair issues would be the kind of products you put on your scalp.  Most people do not read the labels on products but they should.  The chemicals in most of these products are likely very bad for the scalp.  Using natural products can't fix genetics but they can help people who do not have bad genetics.    

 

I can assure you nobody meeting you will care.  It's more about self-image and how you personally want to look.

I believe there are topical formulations of finasteride/dustasteride that allow you to apply it to your scalp.  This might be better than the pill form because the enzyme blocked by those drugs exists throughout the body.  So when guys take a pill, they block the enzyme in other places where it plays a role in hormone production.  Ideally you'd want to just block it at the scalp. 

I've at least heard some hope that applying at the scalp would be somewhat less systemic.  Not totally un-systemic but maybe would tip the scales a bit where a small dose at the scalp could possibly have the same hair-protection effect as a larger dose in pill form.

 
Dr. Rahma Dikhinmahas

I can assure you nobody meeting you will care.  It's more about self-image and how you personally want to look.

Girls care 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

I don't think girls care.  Sure, all else equal they'll take the exact same guy with hair than without.  But all else is never equal.  And it's a really minor thing.

Easy for me to say, I've been lucky to keep my hair.  But I've never heard of a being meaningfully less interested in a guy for being bald.  Just as I've never heard of a girl actually wanting a guy for being nice.  There's what they say, and what they do.

 
nordicland

If you eat more turkey, you grow hair

I think the secret is to eat more Turkey in Turkey. 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

You should do your best to not give a shit. There’s no panacea here, embrace it, keep your hair short, someday you’ll want to shave it all off. If it’s confidence you lack, who do you think feels better, the guy on 10 different pills for his hair, hemorrhoids, and ED, or the guy with a receding hairline who’s in far better physical shape? Seems like a no brainer to me, granted it’s not the easy way out.

 
SpinbastianVettel_5

Stop masturbating / reduce sex and eat olive oil.

Masturbation / ejaculation = hair loss.

People are so sex obsessed they can't admit this basic fact. 

Source? Sounds like you just made this up.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Shave it off and make the gym your number one hobby. Rocking a clean bald head gets a ton of respect from men and women. Holding on to a receding hairline lowkey looks ridiculous and everyone knows you’re insecure about it, but they don’t have the heart to tell you to let it go. Shaved my head at 23 and it’s the best thing I ever did. If you can grow a decent beard that helps as well.

 

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