Can't tell if my hair is thinning.

• Can't tell if my hair is thinning.
  

  

  Paranoid

  
  

  Hey guys. Love the board. Hopefully I can post a pic later, or this weekend for verification.

  Anyway, I started growing my hair out back in June. I'm 25, and this is the third time I've grown it out. I grew it out at 16, and 21 also.

  Anyway, I've noticed a lot of short, fine hairs where my bangs used to be. I never noticed this before when I grew my hair out. My bangs always seemed to be just as thick at the rest of my hair. Now when I comb that area forward, it's almost a V shape, and not thick at all.

  The problem is complicated by the fact that, when I started growing it out, I used Bioxin. It promised to shed bad hairs, and regrew new, stronger hairs. Instead, it shed way more than it should have, and regrew approximately none. I discontinued using that in January, and immediately noticed the hairs I shed in the shower to be about half.

  So really, I can't tell if the thinning at the temples, and bang area is just a lingering result of that (there are lots of unruly short hairs in the area now), or if it's a permament thing. The problem is, it can look REALLY thin, because the new hairs there are too short to do anything with. When I comb my hair back (or pull it into a pony tail), and look at the top of my scalp, the front fifth of my head is very thin on the sides, with a thicker band right down the center.

  Anyone have any thoughts on this? Will it look thicker once the shorter hairs are more uniform?

  Thanks guy.

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  • Probably not much reason to worry (plus tips)
    

    

    Hans-Uwe

    
    

    Hi,
    I think it was probably a wise idea to stop Bioxin - this seems to be an antibiotic (generic name: clarithromycin), and without infection, there's hardly a reason to take an antibiotic. I have not found any relationship between Bioxin and hair growth in the literature.
    Whether you are indeed suffering from a very mild case of MPB, a photo would tell. The way you describe it, it doesn't seem to be really bad at all. What is / was the hair situation of your grandfather on your mother's side?
    It's probably very helpful for your hair to avoid active AND passive cigarette smoking, to eat healthy, to get enough sleep, and to avoid undue stress. You also can try vitamins, eg one tablet of B-100 (a combination of several B vitamins, dosed at 100 mg) combined with Biotin 5-10 mg, Zinc 40-60 mg, and iodide 200 micrograms (NOT milligrams), all that twice a WEEK. - Avoid iodide if you have overfunction of your thyroid gland.
    Uneven hair growth does happen as you grow it out, usually, it'll even out all by itself as time goes on.
    In any case, don't let it discourage you if your hair doesn't quite grow the way you want it, you probably still look really cool with long hair. There are several board members with super-long hair AND MPB, and they do look impressive.
    Wishing you happy hair growth,
    Hans-Uwe

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    • Re: Probably not much reason to worry (plus tips)
      

      

      Paranoid

      
      

      Hi,
      I think it was probably a wise idea to stop Bioxin - this seems to be an antibiotic (generic name: clarithromycin), and without infection, there's hardly a reason to take an antibiotic. I have not found any relationship between Bioxin and hair growth in the literature.
      Whether you are indeed suffering from a very mild case of MPB, a photo would tell. The way you describe it, it doesn't seem to be really bad at all. What is / was the hair situation of your grandfather on your mother's side?
      It's probably very helpful for your hair to avoid active AND passive cigarette smoking, to eat healthy, to get enough sleep, and to avoid undue stress. You also can try vitamins, eg one tablet of B-100 (a combination of several B vitamins, dosed at 100 mg) combined with Biotin 5-10 mg, Zinc 40-60 mg, and iodide 200 micrograms (NOT milligrams), all that twice a WEEK. - Avoid iodide if you have overfunction of your thyroid gland.
      Uneven hair growth does happen as you grow it out, usually, it'll even out all by itself as time goes on.
      In any case, don't let it discourage you if your hair doesn't quite grow the way you want it, you probably still look really cool with long hair. There are several board members with super-long hair AND MPB, and they do look impressive.
      Wishing you happy hair growth,
      Hans-Uwe

      I mistyped....I meant NIOXIN. Which is a shampoo/conditioner for Chemo patients that is supposed to strengthen the hair. My maternal grandfather has, as far as I can remember, a fairly full head of hair for being in his 70s. Maybe thin, but I'm not sure because it's been 15 years since I've seen him.

      Thanks, and hopefully I can get a couple photos up in the near future.

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