Hey guys, I really need some help figuring out what’s going on with my hair. I’ll post pictures so you can take a look.
I’ve been noticing my hairline receding since I was about 15 (I’m 20 now), but the extreme shedding started last year. I started using minoxidil around that time but stopped after a week, and that’s when my first major shed began. Back then I had thick, curly hair (you’ll see that in the last slide).
Later on, I used minoxidil again — but this time only for my beard, not on my scalp — and after a while, I still noticed increased shedding from my head, even though I wasn’t applying it there.
I also started noticing low density on the top right and top left sides of my head from around age 11 onward. It wasn’t too bad at first, but over the years it’s become more noticeable, especially under certain lighting.
The weird part is that the first time I used minoxidil was while I was on vacation. When I came back to the Gulf country (where I live), the shedding got really bad. Ever since then, I’ve been having on-and-off periods of crazy shedding — some months it’s not too bad, other months it’s just brutal.
I’ve done all my blood work. I had a vitamin D deficiency before, but I fixed it, and now everything — vitamin D, ferritin, thyroid, etc. — is in the normal range.
What’s confusing is that the second I land in the Gulf country, the extreme shedding starts again. When I’m back in my home country (which has the cleanest water), I barely lose any hair.
Another strange thing: when I wash my hair with water from the Gulf country, my curls pop and it looks fuller, but I shed some hair. When I wash it in my home country, my hair looks flatter and less dense, but it actually feels healthier and I barely shed.
I also have seborrheic dermatitis, and my scalp gets inflamed pretty often — I lose a lot of hair whenever that flares up, too.
At this point, I honestly don’t know what I’m dealing with — whether it’s androgenic alopecia, diffuse thinning, retrograde alopecia, telogen effluvium, or maybe even all of them combined. I’ve lost a lot of density and my curls are basically gone.
Would really appreciate if someone could look at my pictures and help me figure out what type of hair loss this could be, or what might be triggering it.
