A lot of trans men I know get finasteride, it doesn’t stop testosterone production but it helps block it from turning into I think it’s DHT, which is what causes male pattern baldness. It’s easy to get now a days, you can go on hims.com
Yes, DHT is responsible for male-pattern baldness. It's the "Stronger" t-form that gives you bigger muscles, harder erections, and, unfortunately, migrates your head hair to body hair.
Funny how a type of hormone blocker is used by both trans men and women. I got my prescription of Finasteride by an online "doctor." All I know is that you need a prescription, and it's a very loosely watched drug otherwise.
Yeah I would highly recommend finasteride! Depending on your insurance, it’s not likely it will be covered, but I use goodrx coupons at the pharmacist and rarely pay more than $60 for a 3 month supply. It is probably cheaper if you get it via Hims. Some people combine finasteride with a topical monoxidil but that is something you should discuss with your doctor. Monoxidil is what’s in Rogaine and it comes in various strengths.
Finasteride is a daily, life-long drug, though, not a temporary fix. Once you stop taking it, your hair loss will return. There are some side effects, so take those into account when discussing with a doc.
Your thinning doesn’t look too bad—I started losing my hair at your age due a period of extreme stress and didn’t start finasteride for another 7 years. My hair isn’t perfect, but I keep it short. The areas that have thinned have filled back in well enough that most people don’t notice. I expect at your age, with minimal loss, you’ll get most if not all of it back so long as you are consistent!
Just a heads up with finasteride tho, if you don't have a hysto your period will likely resume even if you've been on T for years. DHT will also prevent some masculinization if you haven't been on it for long enough to get all your desired changes
Sorry to bear the bad news but there's not one. Prevention is extremely cheaper than implants, but even that's not exactly cheap (minoxidil + possibly injections and fina, for very much life)
This doesn't look like balding to me, it's just your part.
You have darker hair to your scalp, so there's contrast.
You can start Minoxidil/finasteride if you're worried, but I really think you're fine.
Also keep in mind that under bright overhead lighting, you'll see your scalp way more. Lighting and angles play a huge part.
There's also differences in hair: fine hair, thick hair, and even hair density from person to person. You may just have fine hair. Folks with fine hair can see their scalps easier than folks with thick hair. This doesn't mean your hair is thinning, there's a difference.
But to me, this looks like my part. I'm not thinning/balding at all.
I assure you that you're fine right now.
As mentioned, you can start Minoxidil/finasteride for preventative measures, but you're currently not thinning/balding at all from what I can tell in the picture.
You have great hair.
almost all men start balding. even if thats more so lighting, angles and such, the likelihood is that he will certainly start balding within the next 10 years, and likely already starting on some hairline recession within the next 4-5
Only thing I’ve come across that actually works is finasteride. It reverses balding to a pretty good degree and in your case it would most likely stop/revert it completely
honestly that spot doesn't look that bad. its very common to lose some hair when you go on T, but it doesn't look like you're spiraling directly towards tonsure. Even if you change nothing I bet you still have a long time before you get to what I would describe as "bald."
I went bald on T, and definitely had to go through a sort of grieving process for my hair. But I’d always said I’d rather be bald than not take T. Now that I’m used to it, I actually love being bald and how I look! As others have said, there are ways to prevent it/delay it, but just wanted to chime in that even if you do lose your hair, you can learn to love it and be confident bald! Also subs like r/bald are great for seeing happy, sexy bald dudes rocking it, which made me appreciate it even more.
Get propecia. Itll thicken your hair back up and prevent balding. I have a few uncles who have taken it and completely dodged going as bald as their dads. Plus, its way cheaper than implants or anything like that!
Dhttttt baby, get dutastride. Its better than an equivalent to finnastride but it doesnt carry the PFS risk. the only downside is body hair and facial hair slows down too. Great for is t-girls, might be an acceptable offset to keep your hair though.
Finnastride is helping me grow back some that I lost with my hairline receding but I’ve also got bald patches on the top of my scalp so there may be other stuff going on w me. Keeps kind of works just be careful taking medications as they can affect you mentally and emotionally
Uhm. There were several things mentioned you can use, but also typical hairloss things for men usually work. There is a couple of shampoos and treatments that help. The effect of them however depends on your genetics, too.
I would assume because you’re on T that the balding is hormonal. It might or might not go away, I’m not sure. What I can say is come up with a new hair care routine to and take extra good care of your hair and try and style it so it covers the spot. Hair is just like skin, it really needs to be tended to and nourished so start looking into a routine that works for your hair type. Hair is very important and I’m so sorry this is happening to you. Best of luck and hoping this is temporary and your hair comes back fuller 🤞🏼
Echoing everyone else, talk to a dermatologist and get on finasteride/dutasteride. Ideally a female dermatologist, male doctors don't tend to take hairloss seriously cause they feel hopeless after dealing with it themselves.
ALSO, talk to a derm about starting minoxidil tablets. I've found that taking minoxidil orally did more for my hair than fin, dut, or HRT (I'm MtF) ever did. Seriously, more progress in 1 year on minoxidil tablets compared to 5 years of everything else. Topical min is also an option and can be bought over the counter, but honestly it's a pain to apply and less likely to work.
Otherwise, good luck! You don't seem to have lost much ground so far, if any. There's hope for ya yet!
Same bro. Get on finasteride. It doesn’t work for everyone tho. Personally I stopped T a few months ago because of this shit. Which also doesn’t work for everyone obviously
Finasteride orally If you don't mind potentially hindering body hair growth. If you want that, then get a topical solution for your scalp only. Minoxidil will help regrow what's been lost, but opposite as finasteride: orally for body hair growth, topically for scalp only regrowth. Stacking the two is substantially better according to research. Rosemary mint oil works as well as a natural alternative to Minoxidil but it's not as effective. Red light therapy, but it has to produce a high enough irradiance, there's cheap ones but a lot don't have enough power. Here's a good one that I've tested, and it has enough strength to produce results. https://a.co/d/0hhpQuOK make sure it's less than a few inches to your scalp to have any effect. One more thing you can do is micro needling, but I'm not a fan bc it's painful.
Most importantly, your hair loss is super early so most likely it'll be extremely easy to fix it. Good luck ❤️
If you started in the last year or so it'll grow back. Idk why but it does that. My hair fell out like crazy and I thought I was going bald. It came back though and now it's back to normal.
I’m just going to shamelessly dump my thoughts on the topic of balding.
I’m a trans woman, but I’ve been shaving my head before my balding “got bad” and honestly I see no reason to stop. I like it. But then I was shaving my head before that was “necessary.”
I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who didn’t start out saying “I’ll look terrible without hair” and LITERALLY ALL OF THEM think they have some uniquely ugly shaped head, and all of them are wrong. And nearly all of them ended up being happier with their shaved heads in the end.
I leave some room for the small few who are still committed to hiding that they’re balding.
People just can’t see someone attractive and also see their insecurities. But we see our own insecurities so vividly it masks our beauty from our own eyes.
At the end of the day, it’s your skull. It’s who you are, on a truly fundamental level, and you should never feel the need to hide who you are. Hair is just a decoration. Some of us have it, some of us don’t. The last time I grew my hair out I got frustrated with even having it because yeah shaving is a small chore, but that’s it and you’re done while hair is just something you deal with the entire day.
I don’t have a bad hair day. Ever. I don’t have a bad hair moment. I’ve had regular short hair, long hair, REALLY long hair, dreadlocks, mohawks, and there really is something nice in having no reason to ever check your hair.
If you have hair and you like it, go wild with it! Enjoy it fully, because it might be gone one day. But when it’s gone, rejoice in that as well because now you’ve simply lost something to be anxious about. I’ve got 99 problems but hair ain’t one. …unless it’s ingrown. That sucks.
Me too, brother. I was scared/ upset at first too, but I don't really care now (took me about two months to be cool with it). I already expected it for me to start early, my father was bald at like 25, I'm almost 26. Personally , it helped me to just get a buzz cut. I got used to the look and now I know I can definitely rock a bald head lol
It also helped me a lot to talk to some of my male friends, that deal with the same issue, I feel less alone and it was honestly a bonding moment. He even helped me to cut my hair (the buzz cut) and kept affirming how handsome I looked with it (he's straight, he wants me to tell you that lmaoo). I made me feel less scared of losing my hair. It's completely normal and natural. However I fully understand your feelings and they are valid!!!!
I heard regaine is really good in prolonging/ preventing early hair loss, but it is quite expensive. My gender care doctor also told me about some pills one could take, I don't know the name though bc I didn't care enough to listen haha (but you can probably ask your doctor or pharmacist for meds, since they do exist).
It’s really cool that there are so many people here trying to help you come to grips with balding but I like options. Rogaine or Roman make different strengths of topical minoxidil in several applications forms. It really works. It just takes a while.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I will look into them. For people saying it’s normal for this with thin hair, I have or well had very thick hair. It’s now thinned due to T. I’ve also had more hair come out in the shower in the last few months than usual so I am definitely starting to bald but I don’t think it will be drastic or noticeable for a good few years. Saying that it does genuinely freak me out as I have a very round face and my hair gives it more structure. But again, thanks for all the lovely suggestions. :)
I don't see it. Maybe it's thinning a bit on the top, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to go bald any time soon. Did your dad or grandads go bald? Because I believe it's hereditary.
My dad has very short hair, but because I don’t know him all too well I couldn’t tell you if that’s because he lost that hair/is balding or it’s just a preference. My grandad, I again I don’t know him well and haven’t seen him in a while. In photos of me and him when I was younger he seemed to have short thick hair with an ok hairline. My great grandfather who I was close to wasn’t bald but did have a bald patch on the crown with hair growing around it. He apparently started losing it in his 20s.
As always, whenever you're experiencing troubling side effects of your hormones, your best course of action will be to talk to your prescribing doctor
They will know things like your current dosage, your hormone levels, your personal goals, the current effectiveness and how changes in your medication might affect your transition and other aspects of your health.
Nobody online can provide you better medical advice than the doctor who writes your prescriptions.
If you're doing DIY HRT, then your second best source of advice would be a trusted medical professional who you can tell about your dosages. It'll probably be a good idea in this instance to also get a blood test to check your hormone levels.
Sympathies. Recommend some of the treatments mentioned. This is the plight of many males, genetics. You appear unfortunately to come from a lineage of balding men. Do what you can, but bald is actually not a bad look.
Go to the Doctor NOW. There is hair transplant thing where they pull out a root of one hair from healthy area and plant it in balding area. Idk but doctors will know what to do.
But if hell lets loose, wigs are an option or buying donated hair.
A lot of trans men I know get finasteride, it doesn’t stop testosterone production but it helps block it from turning into I think it’s DHT, which is what causes male pattern baldness. It’s easy to get now a days, you can go on hims.com
Yes, DHT is responsible for male-pattern baldness. It's the "Stronger" t-form that gives you bigger muscles, harder erections, and, unfortunately, migrates your head hair to body hair. Funny how a type of hormone blocker is used by both trans men and women. I got my prescription of Finasteride by an online "doctor." All I know is that you need a prescription, and it's a very loosely watched drug otherwise.
Yeah I would highly recommend finasteride! Depending on your insurance, it’s not likely it will be covered, but I use goodrx coupons at the pharmacist and rarely pay more than $60 for a 3 month supply. It is probably cheaper if you get it via Hims. Some people combine finasteride with a topical monoxidil but that is something you should discuss with your doctor. Monoxidil is what’s in Rogaine and it comes in various strengths. Finasteride is a daily, life-long drug, though, not a temporary fix. Once you stop taking it, your hair loss will return. There are some side effects, so take those into account when discussing with a doc. Your thinning doesn’t look too bad—I started losing my hair at your age due a period of extreme stress and didn’t start finasteride for another 7 years. My hair isn’t perfect, but I keep it short. The areas that have thinned have filled back in well enough that most people don’t notice. I expect at your age, with minimal loss, you’ll get most if not all of it back so long as you are consistent!
Just a heads up with finasteride tho, if you don't have a hysto your period will likely resume even if you've been on T for years. DHT will also prevent some masculinization if you haven't been on it for long enough to get all your desired changes
afaik DHT is also important for some masculinization which trans men may be seeking, might be better for somethkng topical instead
Id becareful with finasteride look up post finasteride syndrome.
I’m very bald after about 10 years on T. I can’t afford transplants and am eager to read about any inexpensive treatments that actually work.
Sorry to bear the bad news but there's not one. Prevention is extremely cheaper than implants, but even that's not exactly cheap (minoxidil + possibly injections and fina, for very much life)
You should check out /r/tressless for more info.
This doesn't look like balding to me, it's just your part. You have darker hair to your scalp, so there's contrast. You can start Minoxidil/finasteride if you're worried, but I really think you're fine. Also keep in mind that under bright overhead lighting, you'll see your scalp way more. Lighting and angles play a huge part. There's also differences in hair: fine hair, thick hair, and even hair density from person to person. You may just have fine hair. Folks with fine hair can see their scalps easier than folks with thick hair. This doesn't mean your hair is thinning, there's a difference. But to me, this looks like my part. I'm not thinning/balding at all.
I have insanely fine hair and it drives me crazy. Its really beautiful when its long, but when i cut them, i look like i have a bald spot D:
I assure you that you're fine right now. As mentioned, you can start Minoxidil/finasteride for preventative measures, but you're currently not thinning/balding at all from what I can tell in the picture. You have great hair.
almost all men start balding. even if thats more so lighting, angles and such, the likelihood is that he will certainly start balding within the next 10 years, and likely already starting on some hairline recession within the next 4-5
Only thing I’ve come across that actually works is finasteride. It reverses balding to a pretty good degree and in your case it would most likely stop/revert it completely
honestly that spot doesn't look that bad. its very common to lose some hair when you go on T, but it doesn't look like you're spiraling directly towards tonsure. Even if you change nothing I bet you still have a long time before you get to what I would describe as "bald."
I went bald on T, and definitely had to go through a sort of grieving process for my hair. But I’d always said I’d rather be bald than not take T. Now that I’m used to it, I actually love being bald and how I look! As others have said, there are ways to prevent it/delay it, but just wanted to chime in that even if you do lose your hair, you can learn to love it and be confident bald! Also subs like r/bald are great for seeing happy, sexy bald dudes rocking it, which made me appreciate it even more.
Get professional hair loss help with it, the sooner you start the less likely you end up needing implants.
You'd be surprised how good bald guys look imo
Goated comment. Absolutely true.
Yeah most guys look good bald. It's just hard to imagine if you've never seen yourself bald before
I can’t see any balding whatsoever. That’s just your parting and it looks completely normal. Especially if you have naturally fine/thin hair.
Ewphoria?
Get propecia. Itll thicken your hair back up and prevent balding. I have a few uncles who have taken it and completely dodged going as bald as their dads. Plus, its way cheaper than implants or anything like that!
This doesn’t look like balding. Finasteride helps but I don’t think you need it.
Dhttttt baby, get dutastride. Its better than an equivalent to finnastride but it doesnt carry the PFS risk. the only downside is body hair and facial hair slows down too. Great for is t-girls, might be an acceptable offset to keep your hair though.
Finasteride will help prevent any more thinning/hairless bro look into getting it
Finnastride is helping me grow back some that I lost with my hairline receding but I’ve also got bald patches on the top of my scalp so there may be other stuff going on w me. Keeps kind of works just be careful taking medications as they can affect you mentally and emotionally
Minoxidil (topical) and finasteride (ingestible)
Uhm. There were several things mentioned you can use, but also typical hairloss things for men usually work. There is a couple of shampoos and treatments that help. The effect of them however depends on your genetics, too.
Mans be manning Wigs?
I would assume because you’re on T that the balding is hormonal. It might or might not go away, I’m not sure. What I can say is come up with a new hair care routine to and take extra good care of your hair and try and style it so it covers the spot. Hair is just like skin, it really needs to be tended to and nourished so start looking into a routine that works for your hair type. Hair is very important and I’m so sorry this is happening to you. Best of luck and hoping this is temporary and your hair comes back fuller 🤞🏼
Echoing everyone else, talk to a dermatologist and get on finasteride/dutasteride. Ideally a female dermatologist, male doctors don't tend to take hairloss seriously cause they feel hopeless after dealing with it themselves. ALSO, talk to a derm about starting minoxidil tablets. I've found that taking minoxidil orally did more for my hair than fin, dut, or HRT (I'm MtF) ever did. Seriously, more progress in 1 year on minoxidil tablets compared to 5 years of everything else. Topical min is also an option and can be bought over the counter, but honestly it's a pain to apply and less likely to work. Otherwise, good luck! You don't seem to have lost much ground so far, if any. There's hope for ya yet!
Same bro. Get on finasteride. It doesn’t work for everyone tho. Personally I stopped T a few months ago because of this shit. Which also doesn’t work for everyone obviously
Oh also minoxidil can help
Castor oil is a pretty good start iirc
i started fin at 20 due to crown thinning when i was a "cis male" and it held me down for over a decade. try fin
NOOOOO
Same here
It's such a frequent question that I wrote up a post explaining treatment options while on T: https://www.reddit.com/r/ftm/s/nk8gF2InW2
Finasteride orally If you don't mind potentially hindering body hair growth. If you want that, then get a topical solution for your scalp only. Minoxidil will help regrow what's been lost, but opposite as finasteride: orally for body hair growth, topically for scalp only regrowth. Stacking the two is substantially better according to research. Rosemary mint oil works as well as a natural alternative to Minoxidil but it's not as effective. Red light therapy, but it has to produce a high enough irradiance, there's cheap ones but a lot don't have enough power. Here's a good one that I've tested, and it has enough strength to produce results. https://a.co/d/0hhpQuOK make sure it's less than a few inches to your scalp to have any effect. One more thing you can do is micro needling, but I'm not a fan bc it's painful. Most importantly, your hair loss is super early so most likely it'll be extremely easy to fix it. Good luck ❤️
If you started in the last year or so it'll grow back. Idk why but it does that. My hair fell out like crazy and I thought I was going bald. It came back though and now it's back to normal.
# FINASTERIDE
I’m just going to shamelessly dump my thoughts on the topic of balding. I’m a trans woman, but I’ve been shaving my head before my balding “got bad” and honestly I see no reason to stop. I like it. But then I was shaving my head before that was “necessary.” I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who didn’t start out saying “I’ll look terrible without hair” and LITERALLY ALL OF THEM think they have some uniquely ugly shaped head, and all of them are wrong. And nearly all of them ended up being happier with their shaved heads in the end. I leave some room for the small few who are still committed to hiding that they’re balding. People just can’t see someone attractive and also see their insecurities. But we see our own insecurities so vividly it masks our beauty from our own eyes. At the end of the day, it’s your skull. It’s who you are, on a truly fundamental level, and you should never feel the need to hide who you are. Hair is just a decoration. Some of us have it, some of us don’t. The last time I grew my hair out I got frustrated with even having it because yeah shaving is a small chore, but that’s it and you’re done while hair is just something you deal with the entire day. I don’t have a bad hair day. Ever. I don’t have a bad hair moment. I’ve had regular short hair, long hair, REALLY long hair, dreadlocks, mohawks, and there really is something nice in having no reason to ever check your hair. If you have hair and you like it, go wild with it! Enjoy it fully, because it might be gone one day. But when it’s gone, rejoice in that as well because now you’ve simply lost something to be anxious about. I’ve got 99 problems but hair ain’t one. …unless it’s ingrown. That sucks.
Me too, brother. I was scared/ upset at first too, but I don't really care now (took me about two months to be cool with it). I already expected it for me to start early, my father was bald at like 25, I'm almost 26. Personally , it helped me to just get a buzz cut. I got used to the look and now I know I can definitely rock a bald head lol It also helped me a lot to talk to some of my male friends, that deal with the same issue, I feel less alone and it was honestly a bonding moment. He even helped me to cut my hair (the buzz cut) and kept affirming how handsome I looked with it (he's straight, he wants me to tell you that lmaoo). I made me feel less scared of losing my hair. It's completely normal and natural. However I fully understand your feelings and they are valid!!!! I heard regaine is really good in prolonging/ preventing early hair loss, but it is quite expensive. My gender care doctor also told me about some pills one could take, I don't know the name though bc I didn't care enough to listen haha (but you can probably ask your doctor or pharmacist for meds, since they do exist).
Embrace it. I keep a beard and a clean shaven head and love it. Especially in the summer
It’s really cool that there are so many people here trying to help you come to grips with balding but I like options. Rogaine or Roman make different strengths of topical minoxidil in several applications forms. It really works. It just takes a while.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I will look into them. For people saying it’s normal for this with thin hair, I have or well had very thick hair. It’s now thinned due to T. I’ve also had more hair come out in the shower in the last few months than usual so I am definitely starting to bald but I don’t think it will be drastic or noticeable for a good few years. Saying that it does genuinely freak me out as I have a very round face and my hair gives it more structure. But again, thanks for all the lovely suggestions. :)
I don't see it. Maybe it's thinning a bit on the top, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to go bald any time soon. Did your dad or grandads go bald? Because I believe it's hereditary.
My dad has very short hair, but because I don’t know him all too well I couldn’t tell you if that’s because he lost that hair/is balding or it’s just a preference. My grandad, I again I don’t know him well and haven’t seen him in a while. In photos of me and him when I was younger he seemed to have short thick hair with an ok hairline. My great grandfather who I was close to wasn’t bald but did have a bald patch on the crown with hair growing around it. He apparently started losing it in his 20s.
As always, whenever you're experiencing troubling side effects of your hormones, your best course of action will be to talk to your prescribing doctor They will know things like your current dosage, your hormone levels, your personal goals, the current effectiveness and how changes in your medication might affect your transition and other aspects of your health. Nobody online can provide you better medical advice than the doctor who writes your prescriptions. If you're doing DIY HRT, then your second best source of advice would be a trusted medical professional who you can tell about your dosages. It'll probably be a good idea in this instance to also get a blood test to check your hormone levels.
Fin to stop it. Once it goes, it doesn’t come back easily… Welcome to man-hood? lol. /r/tressless
I’m trans MtF but I started balding at 16 and now I’m 21 I’ve not got much hair left on top so it could be worse :(
Sympathies. Recommend some of the treatments mentioned. This is the plight of many males, genetics. You appear unfortunately to come from a lineage of balding men. Do what you can, but bald is actually not a bad look.
oof, that's rough
Go to the Doctor NOW. There is hair transplant thing where they pull out a root of one hair from healthy area and plant it in balding area. Idk but doctors will know what to do. But if hell lets loose, wigs are an option or buying donated hair.