What made you go bald?

[Magoo]

was doing the  #2  cut most of my life. found this site and went shorter and shorter.
 shaved or no guard cut is most natural now.

[Razor X]

I'm kind of bald by choice.  I do have a receding hairline, but no MPB.  If I wanted to grow a full head of hair, it would be high on the head, but a full hair nonetheless.

I hate to break it to you, but if you have a receding hairline, you have MPB.  Whether or not it progresses to a completely bald top surrounded by a horsehoe is anyone's guess.  But recession at the hairline is how it usually starts.

[stemikger]

hate to break it to you, but if you have a receding hairline, you have MPB.  Whether or not it progresses to a completely bald top surrounded by a horsehoe is anyone's guess.  But recession at the hairline is how it usually starts.

Not necessarily.  A receding hair line is not male pattern baldness.  It is simply a receding hairline.  MPB is exactley that a pattern that starts at that the crown of the head and can also recede.  You get the gene for baldness from your mother's father, so if your grandfather on your mother's side was bald there is a very good chance you will be bald.  I have the exact hairline as my grandfather.  He was receded but never did get MPB.  Also I'm 45 and usually by that age you may thin a bit, bt as you grow older, but you would know if you started getting MPB by then.  I used to be a barber and in barber college, we went over all the different types of MPB. 

The ironic part is I could care less if I did go bald, but what I have at this point is probably what I will die with. 

[D.A.L.U.I.]

hate to break it to you, but if you have a receding hairline, you have MPB.  Whether or not it progresses to a completely bald top surrounded by a horsehoe is anyone's guess.  But recession at the hairline is how it usually starts.

Not necessarily.  A receding hair line is not male pattern baldness.  It is simply a receding hairline.  MPB is exactley that a pattern that starts at that the crown of the head and can also recede.  You get the gene for baldness from your mother's father, so if your grandfather on your mother's side was bald there is a very good chance you will be bald.  I have the exact hairline as my grandfather.  He was receded but never did get MPB.  Also I'm 45 and usually by that age you may thin a bit, bt as you grow older, but you would know if you started getting MPB by then.  I used to be a barber and in barber college, we went over all the different types of MPB. 

The ironic part is I could care less if I did go bald, but what I have at this point is probably what I will die with. 

You may be smarter than a Fifth Grader, but you're in disagreement w/ every major medical site on MPB on the web, for example, Mayo Clinic--a little place you may have heard of defines it as:
Male-pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia). For men, pattern baldness can begin early, even in the teens or early 20s. It's typically characterized by a receding hairline at the temples and balding at the top of the head. The end result may be partial or complete baldness.

Nothing there about the "crown" or vertex being the start.  Actually if you look at the Hamilton Norwood Scales, loss of hair at the vertex does NOT occur in all mpb patterns.
I say this to help you understand and avoid what I thought--that it would stop, that it "wasn't so bad".  That's delusion, that's just wrong.  If I had faced this 10-15 years earlier I would have saved myself so much embarassment.  Don't delude yourself, if your hairline is receding you have mpb, how far it will go, what pattern it will take is the only unknown at this time.  But, you do not have a full head of hair when you have a receding hairline--face that fact.

[stemikger]

Posted by Saintc
You may be smarter than a Fifth Grader, but you're in disagreement w/ every major medical site on MPB on the web, for example, Mayo Clinic--a little place you may have heard of defines it as:
Male-pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia). For men, pattern baldness can begin early, even in the teens or early 20s. It's typically characterized by a receding hairline at the temples and balding at the top of the head. The end result may be partial or complete baldness.

Nothing there about the "crown" or vertex being the start.  Actually if you look at the Hamilton Norwood Scales, loss of hair at the vertex does NOT occur in all mpb patterns.
I say this to help you understand and avoid what I thought--that it would stop, that it "wasn't so bad".  That's delusion, that's just wrong.  If I had faced this 10-15 years earlier I would have saved myself so much embarassment.  Don't delude yourself, if your hairline is receding you have mpb, how far it will go, what pattern it will take is the only unknown at this time.  But, you do not have a full head of hair when you have a receding hairline--face that fact.

You are right, I stand corrected, I was always under the impression that MPB had hair loss in the crown.  However, there are many, many people who have receding hairlines that still have very thick hair until very old age.  My grandfather receded, but never lost any hair on the crown and the rest of his head remained full.  He was just thin in the front.  So would that be considered MPB if it never progressed?  He never had a combover because his hair was all there, just a receding hairline in the front.

Here is a definition I found on the web also.

i]Male pattern baldness is the most common type of hair loss in men. It usually follows a typical pattern of receding hairline and hair thinning on the crown, and is caused by hormones and genetic predisposition.[/i]

[D.A.L.U.I.]

A standard used by many dermatologists & frankly some of the hair "restoration" hucksters is the Hamilton-Norwood classification.  http://www.dermweb.com/hairnailsmucousmembranes/diagramofheadspage.htm

As you will see, many of the classifications of mpb aren't the horseshoe, there are extremes of receding hair line etc. But, anything other than a I is mpb.  That's just what it is.  Believe me, I had a receded hairline, as as one wise brother here once said his was not a forehead, it was a fivehead.  Frankly mine was two hairlines at the end, and island and a strip that I tried to coach into a hair style everyday.  I could really kick myself in the a$$ for avoiding the truth for so many years, just an f'ing waste.  It really still makes me mad, really mad, when I think about how stupid I was. 

[Argyle]

I can testify that it happens in many different ways.  I have no idea how much hair I have left on the top of my head now.  Before I shave in the morning it feels kinda fuzzy but I suspect I would get nothing more than peach fluff if I grew it back. 

Mine disappeared almost uniformly and at the same rate along the top leaving me with the classic MPB shape and horseshoe.  Not sure how much more there is to go, but at the moment it has been pretty much the same for 3 years or more (i think)

[D.A.L.U.I.]

MPB can be really early, mid to late teens--by the time I started law school, two of the guys in the class were total maxed out bald!  This is early 70's so no sly they just endured the rim. 

My daughter had a crush in college w/ a guy and he was going bald as a 1st year, and skin by 4th year.  He never, but never, went anywhere w/o a hat.  The mid to late 90's still weren't friendly to the sly look as a general matter, particularly in a relatively socially conservative school like UVA. 

I work w/ one guy whose hair loss is pretty much unique, at least to my experience in seeing it happen-and when it happens to you, somehow you look at every bald and balding head around.  This guy's hairline is still there, but there is a relatively even thinning so that under the right light and if he's buzzed it to the right length the bozo ring is clearly delineated.  He's very careful about the length of the buzz to avoid that, but I see it clearly.  The time is not that far off, and he's acknowledged it, that the blade will be his solution.  He's in his late 40's. 

MPB is a stray bullet, it has no direction--but it sure hurts when it hits, and the only sane cure and remedy is Sly. 

[Stormin Norm]

LOL  I reckon I got most of you beat.  I started losing my hair at 15.  Sorta slow process.  The benefit at that age though was Friday nights when I was 16, I'd slick my hair back and get beer for everyone without getting ID'ed.lol  I tried every horse potion out there at the time (70s) to get it to grow back.-all junk.  Probably the same junk is being recycled today under different names.  Fact is, if there was something out there which could legitimately grow back hair, the manufacturers would be billionaires.  Too bad they take advantage of people still today with the crap that is sold.

One day ya wake up and say screw it and not care about it falling out.  Wished though that I would have shaved it off several years ago though.

[Morthen]

Right around age 18- early 19 I was growing my hair out, it was about collar length when i noticed something when my hair was wet, when i pulled it back i had a very bad receded hair line, and it was obvious when my hair was wet or blown back in the wind. So i got it caught to a #3 buzzcut, I kept this for a couple of months, when I cut again I went to a #1 buzzcut, then a #0 cut, Shortly after I shaved it. However, I only stayed shaved for a day and hid it under a hat until it grew back. I agonized with my MPB hairline for over a year while lurking on this site until just two days ago I shaved again, refused to wear hats. Went to a party and Had one of the best times in forever I got barraged with compliments and girls were telling me how much better I looked.

Ive been shaved for about 3 whole days now and I'm thinking its going to stay that way for a very long time

[kenny57028]

My haIR started thinning out so I decided to shave it versus make it obvious that im balding.

[balddaniel]

I am bald by choice.  I love being bald, it so much easier than having hair.  It only takes me 4 minutes to shave every morning.  What could be easier. 

[InProgress]

I was getting tired of watching my hair recede without the power to change it.  MPB in an even pattern me made feel like my appearence was not kept clean.  I clean shaved head has changed that and I am starting to get used to the money I shave.  I also look forward to a clean head shave with my Mach 3 and headlube each morning.  It just feels like a great way to start the day.

lol nice slip 

[Snakehandler]

I got tired of combing & blow drying my memories

[Jazz]

i did it because i wanted to get my life back. when you wake up and the 1st thing you think about is your thinning hair and how it looks is no way to live. applying toppik everyday was so depressing and pathetic. i couldnt go on like that. as i said in my intro post this site helped e an awful lot.

i shave with a number 1 guard (will start without the guard soon) and am so glad i did it.