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i'm a guy with very short hair, which is starting to fall. i would like to let it grow long but i don't like to see my hair fall; by having it short this is less noticeable. I would like to know if i should wait till i'm half bald to let my hair grow and look like one of those men with long hair on the sides and back, or should i let it grow now while it stills keep falling. Is it nice for a half bald man to wear his hair long?
Also if you know of any product that stops hair from falling, please let me know
You don't say where it is falling most, but if you are losing it from the crown near the back, then long hair on the top of your head can easily cover that when combed back. If you are losing it from the top, then long hair combed over from the sides can help for a while, but if the loss from the top is really severe, then it would be probably be better to have a bald top than cover it with a few wisps from the side. In any event, I find personally that a shoulder-length hair or a medium length ponytail looks great for bald men but that really long (waist length) hair seems disproportionate. Myself, I have a 12-inch ponytail with thinning hair (but still adequately thick) on the top.
Another possibility is to try minoxidil (Rogaine) which I have been considering. Do any of you men out there have experience with Rogaine? Should men with long hair use Rogaine for women?
In any event, with long hair, you won't 'see it fall', the other hairs will catch the ones falling out but one needs to comb them out at least once a day or otherwise the fallen hairs will tangle up with the ones that are still in!
Help is on the way!!! First of all, Rogaine has been out there about 8 years now and is successful in several ways but surely is NOT a miracle drug by any means. It does help with baldness in the crown area mostly, but in some cases, it also helps to keep hair from falling out that would normally have fallen out. I've used it for 9 years approximately and it has helped to restore almost a full head of hair which in 1984 was falling out by the droves. It is normal to lose between 25 and 35 hairs per day. NORMAL. However, Rogaine does little for frontal hair. I would say the overall success rate is about 35% for Rogaine with another 35% kept at an even keel without any significant growth. Then the rest are just miserable failures. To boot, it costs anywhere from $300- $700. per year for the medicine. Now, there is another form of medication which is coming out in the next 6 months from Merck called "Propecia"- they are not allowed to talk about it yet because it hasn't gotten FDA approval; however, I know that the trials are coming in with about an 80% success rate. I can not discuss in this forum the exact medical details since this is not an approved form of the medication, but I would suggest that you speak with your doctor since the medicine is available for other uses and just has to be cut in 1/4 to meet the dose for treating hairloss- it is a form of hormone like therapy and I do not have information whether it will affect males and females or if this is just for males at this time- this is why I suggest you speak to your doctor. I will only say that I've been on it for three months and it is unreal- I now have more hair in places on the head than I did when I was 18! Everyone tells me I look about 15 years younger as well- so there HOPE on the way- be patient...now if they can find a magic treatment to lose weight OVERNIGHT!
I just found a site that rates many products on effectiveness in hair growth. Also included are instructions for use, what to do to prevent side effects, and links to related studies. This appears to be an excellent site. However, I have not yet reviewed it in detail.
Thanks for the advice.
you should know that there's a history of baldness in my family. My dad is bald, my grandads where bald. I'm told that this is all genetic, and that i will end up bold. i'm actually using a hair lotion, i hope it stops hair loss.
i'm told that if you apply rogaine you cannot stop using it cause hair will begin to fall again. Also that there are some side effects such as heart disorders.
That's all for now. i'll keep in touch
There are treatments for thinning hair, e.g., minoxidil which works in about 30% of men. In addition, there is a new drug which soon will be approved for hair loss (although it may be associated with such side effects as testicular atrophy). Minoxidil now is available over the counter and is MUCH cheaper than when it first came on the market. There is no reason not to give it a try and see if you are one of the responders.
There are some mechanical things you can do to keep your hair, too. First, (although I'm a long hair fan) do NOT grow your hair. The rate of hair loss increases with hair length--this is a simple physical phenomenon related to weight and stress on the hair (thinning hair has weak follicles and the hair--when pulled--comes out more easily and is not replaced as rapidly as it comes out. Second, keep it very clean (washing daily, at least--and it must be washed after sleeping when oils are produced from the scalp touching the pillow/bed). This is another reason for keeping it short. Washing long hair pulls out a lot of hair--especially if the follicles are "weak." The washing removes the oil around the follicle. This oil contains the androgen that causes hair loss in men. (The new drug, when it is released, blocks the enzyme that synthesizes the androgen.)
This is my advice. The purely "mechanincal" things will slow hair loss dramatically--but probably will not prevent the inevitable (although I have had guys with long hair who cut it and washed it frequently tell me their excessive hair loss stopped).