Hi, I am a 25 year old male and over the past 7 months i have noticed an increase in the shedding of my hair. I first noticed that it looked as though the hair at my temples pushed back a little, so I saw a derm who said maybe mild MPB or telogen effluvium in either case he recommended Rogaine. I held off on starting the rogaine because I wasn't ready to commit to rogaine for life as I read was necessary for success. the shedding persisted for another 3 months so i saw another derm who when i described my situation basically said that my hair loss was a temporary condition because it started about 2 months after a very stressful time in my life and there was no distinct pattern he prescribed biotin supplement and nothing else. I took Biotin for a while with no real regrowth and no noticeable thickening although my fingernail grew very rapidly. After another couple months of shedding I saw a third derm who said it could be either early MPB or some stress related hair loss as at that time I was also noticing increased shedding of eyebrow hair.
I have now been shedding for 7 months, and it doesn't seem like anything i do helps slow or stop this shedding. I am taking biotin, a garlic supplement, MSM, and b complex but these dont seem to be really helping. I also wash my hair 5 times per week using revivogen shampoo and nioxin conditioner. Each time i shower I count my hairs after conditioning and I consistently get 20-30 hairs ( I realize 50-100 is typical but for me 20-30 is way higher than typical), also throughout the day sometimes i run my hand through my hair to see if any hair is loose and it seems like everytime I do I get at least one hair. Almost every shed hair has a white bulb at the end about 95% I'd say. I feel strange feeling on my scalp at the front occasionally, it feels like tightness and sometimes like a pin *****. After showering I notice some small bumps through hair that seem to go away after a little bit, so I am not sure if this is just goosebumps as I have been using cold showers due to a faulty hot water heater. At the 5.5 month mark of shedding I started using rogaine but after 2 weeks this increased my shedding greatly and noticeably so I tried to ride it out but it persisted for about a month and became too much for me to continue I still use about a drop or two at my crown but it is a very small amount.
I would definitely classify my shedding as diffuse, I think i first noticed at my temples and crown because these were the thinnest areas to start, but I can now see individual strands of hair along my hair part which i never had before. My scalp is slightly itchy and when i do itch I get an accumulation of whitish material sometimes I get hard little balls of whiteish material. None of the derms i saw mentioned any problems with my scalp when i saw them. I had my iron levels tested and they were slightly high, also my thyroid tests came back fine. I have to older brothers, neither of which has any hairloss so while I know there is exceptions to everything I find it hard to believe that my hair shedding is a purely genetic thing but I really have no clue. I am hesitant to start on medicated shampoo because I dont want to irritate my scalp further but Nizoral is becoming more tempting as nothing seems to be helping so far.
I have a fine fringe of hairs at my hairline now but they seem to have came in quickly and then just kinda stopped growing where they were and they really dont add any density to my hair as they are so short and thin. I also use coconut oil on my hair to try to add density, so in all I am on, garlic, biotin, b complex, msm, I wash hair 5 times per week using revivogen and Nioxin conditioner, about a drop of rogaine on crown twice a day, as well as twice a week coconut oil application as an overnight conditioner.
What does this sound like to you, I would appreciate help I know best would be to see a derm but i have tried this extensively and doesn't seem like any real advice besides wait it out? Do you know of past patients who exhibited hair loss temporarily to recover later, it doesn't seem like there are any recovery stories? Any tips to cope with this, to lessen its impact, or just encouragement would be greatly appreciated, I really feel like I am running out of options and I really dont feel like this hair loss is typical genetic hairloss as it has came out of nowhere and progressed fairly rapidly, I will also note that I have been living almost stress free for about a month now and haven't noticed any real improvement thus far.
Thanks for whatever insight you can give, I look forward to hearing back,
Craig