| Author | Message | ||
     Anonymous |
Hi Tom, I've been doing your exercise for about 9 months now and I still can't tell If I should be excited or discouraged with what I'm seeing. I started doing your exercise when I was 19 and at that time I had decided to do something about my hair loss; this is how I found your website. Fast foward to today. I look at my hairline in the mirror and can't tell exactly what I'm seeing. The temporal regions of my hairline seems much more defined, but at the same time I still see what I believe are vellus hairs. The frontal part of my hairline also seems more definite, but here I see a lot of light hairs that are all about 1 - 1.5 inches long. My hair is very blonde which makes it tough to tell if these hairs are pigmentless or blonde. I also have a few definately terminal hairs growing about a half inch off of my hairline, but I don't know what to make of those. | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Anonymous: I wish I knew exactly what you meant by defined. You wrote that the temporal regions of your hairline seem more defined as well as the frontal hairline. Do you mean by this that there is a clear pattern forming here which might indicate an early stage of male pattern baldness? Vellus hairs grow to a length of a quarter to sometimes a half inch but not beyond that. Vellus hairs lack pigmentation but if you're blond, it might be hard to tell if the hair is pigmented or not. Many dermatologists think there are intermediate hairs. These are hairs that are not vellus and are not terminal. They will not "turn into" terminal hairs, but may indicate that the hair follicle in its next cycle is on it way to becoming larger - large enough to produce a terminal hair. A terminal hair is thick in diameter and has full pigmentation. Are you going to continue with the scalp exercise or are you becoming discouraged? Have you made any dietary changes? Have you thought about brewer's yeast or flaxseed oil for the omega-3? I haven't read any convincing scientific evidence that these nutrients are beneficial to the hair, but I strongly suspect that they are. | ||
| Anonymous |
Let me explain what I mean by defined. Before I started doing the scalp exercise I remember looking at my hairline, especially the coronal region of my forehead, and my hairline seemed to fade into the rest of my hair. I particularly remember looking at my hairline right at the middle of my forehead and being able to see into my hairline, by that I mean I could see through my hairline about an inch and a half or so until I couldn't see any further. Now when I look in the mirror I see an all around more defined hairline. I can still see into my hairline in the middle, but it takes a much closer look and I don't find my self worrying about it much anymore. On the temporal regions, I also see a more defined start to my hairline, but I was a child who had a lot of fuzz surrounding my hairline and I wonder if it just appears more defined because that fuzz is now gone. I will continue to do the scalp exercise since I have nothing to lose and I do believe the exercise may be working. The problem is I just don't know what to make of what I'm seeing. Also, within the last 2 or 3 weeks i've started sheding a lot of hair which I hadn't been loosing up till this point. I don't know if this is normal or what is going on, but I think it may have to do with my more immediate concern about my hairline. | ||
| Tom Hagerty |
Anonymous: Now I know what you mean. That's a good description of what's happening. You're probably right about the temporal hairline - the fuzz is gone. I doubt if that increased shedding is due to your immediate concern about your hairline. Stress is overrated as a trigger for hair loss unless the stress is really intense and prolonged. There is seasonal shedding and this is often more pronounced in the fall. From your description the scalp exercise my be doing you some good. Your progress is not dramatic, but progress in hair stabilization or regrowth usually never is - unless you read the testimonials for the scam hair-growth products. |
