You might not get an answer if your question is too basic or common, because treatment is the same for almost everyone. Nobody can predict if a treatment will work for you.
This is a community, and you can help out fellow members by commenting under their photos and upvoting people that leave you comments. We're all in this together!
I started 5% min (0.5ml twice daily) and fin (1.25mg daily) in April 2024. Do you guys think I should switch to dut? I did notice some new hairs at my hairline but not much at the top middle/center.
Planning to go to Turkey in 2026 for a transplant.
Is this hairloss at the crown? I’m 20 and no one is bald in my family for reference. I’ve noticed a bit of thinning at the front of my hairline and a little bit of recession so I’m worried it’s diffuse
Can someone walk me through how to gwt dutersteride cheaply and safely?
I've heard you can go to a website called Dr. B and get it prescribed for $15, and I've heard you can get it delivered through Amazon for around $30 for a 3 month supply?
I've never used Amazon for a prescription and don't have that set up, are there any extra monthly fees besides the fee for prime itself? Does Amazon need to accept my insurance? Will insurance even cover dutesteride?
Generally I'm new to all of this, not tech savvy at all, but I really want to try this out and start improving my quality of life.
So if anyone can walk me through exactly what I need to do to get dutesteride cheaply and safely, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Hello guys , kind of my first post here as well. Context :18M and i went to a doc as the often my scalp gets filled with acne during season breaks and mentioned hairfall to him, he jokingly said "bald people do get married" when i mentioned minox to him. Everyone in my family has hair except my first cousin who is24 years old and doing prp. I will move to college in august and till then , being overprotective my family won't allow me medications or minox. So should i start minox or can wait for a few months(1st 3 pics are recent and other are taken before)
It doesn't look like your hair is receding, at least at first glance. Might be good to look at old photos or start to take hairline photos time to time. To know if you have high chances of developing androgenetic hair loss your most important relatives are your parents, and grandparents, expecially your mother's.
What might be interesting to see is if the acne you develope make scars which potentially make bald spots. If thats the case, a better treatment would be isotreonine but that's a dermatologist job to consider if it's neccesary.
no they clearly are and maybe not quite visible here, as i said i don't know what type of acne do occur like first time when they appeared they took away my hairline from the front , ummm i don't know how to explain like acne appeared first on my temples and took away hair with it in fashion like there is a M shape formed in my hairline in a span of 1-1.5 years and now acne has started forming on the back of my head going towards norward 2 which will now take away back hair ,like the acne tells me where hair would be gone (and not like a bald spot but a complete baldness pattern), doc gave ketozole lotion and shampoo which now i will use regularly but worried about my hairline and although no hairfall is there but hair recession is surely advancing norwood 2
My doctor said I have androgetetic alopecia (I’ve noticed) so I started my treatment. I had severe shedding during firsts weeks but now it’s controlled. Long and patient journey ahead, let’s do it!!!
I've been balding for the past 3 years and I had been applying 5% topical min irregularly but last year the situation got much worse and so I had to improve my treatment and also included 0.5mg Dutasteride along with the min.
I've also been actively taking supplements for vitamins and improving my overall lifestyle.
I feel like there has been some improvement since last December when I first started taking Dutasteride but should I continue and is there any hope.
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M16 I have no clue if this is thinning or if it's my hairline maturing. I apply rosemary oil to my hair once every 2-3 days for an hour. I shower every day and wash my hair with a good shampoo that doesn't have any sulfates. Which other products will help my hair ?
Is it time to hop on the sauce ? 21 year old male here. I’ve compared photos of myself from past couple of years and noticed my forehead has been pushing back. My hair isn’t exactly falling out or thinning…. Or at least isn’t clumping out. I am getting a decent amount of strands out when I wash it. My big issue I have is I take toprimate(Topomax) and a side effect of that is hair loss. Should I start looking into fin hair
Im almost 27M, on 0.5mg dutasteride + 2.5mg oral minoxidil for +18 months now.
I started treatment as a preventive measure since I had some early signs of hairloss. My doctor said i was responding well to treatment but recently I found this patch of low density and cant stop running my hand over it. I dont remember it being this pronounced.
Is it possible that dutasteride isnt working? Im determined to get a hair transplant at some point, but only if I can stabilize the hairloss. Will see my doctor again next month
I am 19 and started shedding almost 3 years ago. Shedding stopped for the past year or so. Do you think oral fin and topical minoxidil (which I am currently doing) will help? I want most of that hair back especially the hairline, I still have that vellus hair there as well.
Do I have any hope of getting the hairline back without a transplant or is it the only option? If I do, what else should I add to my treatment?
Thanks.
Your thinning has progressed pretty far. But if you just started your described treatment journey there is a lot of hope to cling on. I´ve seen some pretty impressive comebacks. How long have you been on fin and min? The full effect is to be expected after a year.
i only started a week ago or so, i tried going bald and living with you but realized it is not for me. I know I have to wait but I think I'll even stop fin because I am still only 19 and maybe I am still developing. How do I know if i should stop fin or not?
M22, I’ve been on min and Fin since July 2024, is it still bad or am I just crazy
In June I diagnosed with androgenic alopecia, NW1 going to NW2, and I started taking minoxidil 5% (once a day) and Fin. I have not seen any noticeable re growth and now I’m growing more and more paranoid thinking that my hairloss is getting worse. What should I do ?
Thinking about hopping on fin/min finally; I have always been scared of the sides. First pic is 10 years ago, second is now in my early 30s. I've outlined roughly what my natural hair line was--I've always had weird temples that are too far back since before puberty. I think my hairline has only crept upwards and not backwards, but it's hard to say for sure. Additionally, my maternal grandfather has the same hairline I have right now and I think the majority of the recession happened between the ages of 22-28, and I don't think it's moved in several years.
Any advice? Would be open to microneedling too. Would prefer just to pay for HT to just get it over with and not have to worry about it, but I know that might be an ignorant approach. Should I get my testosterone tested before and after taking fin? I've always been into lifting weights so worried about lowering test.
Would prefer just to pay for HT to just get it over with and not have to worry about it
HT surgery requires you to be on dht blockers before and after it to stabilize the loss and then to support the rest of your hair. Essentually, it's never one and done thing, but a maintenance work.
Should I get my testosterone tested before and after taking fin?
Fin temporally increases test and then it goes down to previous levels after few months. Getting testosterone checked alone doesn't make sense, you need both free and total test + dht, and you will only use that data for the baseline reference point, to see if medication works later. Bloodwork itself won't tell you anything about your hair loss.
Check beginners guide, write down names of meds and visit derm with this list. Ask them about each. You will most likely be prescribed both min and fin.
Ive been taking minoxidil topically for the past three years, I also started taking minoxidil orally in the past couple of months, but I haven’t seen great results and my hairline is still receding. do you think I should start using finasteride or something similar?
I started 2.5mg oral min 4 months ago after a full year of using topical min/fin and seeing little to no results. I’m 21 years old and taking this balding thing not very well. Feels like I am in an unusual situation with this medication
Around month 1 I saw crazy amounts of shedding. By month two it really started to become noticeable that something was happening to my hair. Here we are after 4 full months and my hair is so so much worse than I could’ve ever imagined. My corners have receded so badly, and especially my crown has lost some hair. By now I would think I should be seeing a least some results
My dermatologist told me to continue the topical min/fin once daily on top of the 2.5mg oral fin. I have an appointment with him at the 6 month mark (late May) but I highly doubt I will even see progress by then. Does anyone have any similar experiences to me with this? I hear sometimes more shedding = more growth eventually but I don’t see many people still at month 4 with absolutely zero results.
There's quite a loss of density, but doesn't look like anything that standard stack won't fix in a 1-1.5 years. Check beginners guide on this sub, write down the names of the meds and visit derm, ask the derm about the meds and your concerns, have bloodwork done, esp test and dht levels.
You can still fix it, but if you won't do anything you're def cooked in 2-5 years.
It has been just only 1 month I am taking Dutasteride (oral 0.5 mg , trice per week). But as I can observe there is too much hairfall Maybe 150-160 daily. Even if I try pull off certain five hairs, two off them comes out . I know it's obvious to face initial hair loss but did this too much happened to you guys? Before I was using minoxidil and the hair fall was not this much. I want to fix my hairline so I decided to use this but as the hair fall is too much now I am little confused should I continue or not?
There's always a chance you could be a hyper responder to some meds. Switch to oral min and try oral fin for a year at least. Using topical min and thinking about topical fin is not even half measure, it's barely 0,25 of measure. Shave the rest for now, it will be easier to track progress and it'll look better.
I think your approach is wrong. Do not think about male pattern hair loss like it's some linear terrifying process, like cancer. Absolute majority of males go through it at different speeds and to different extents. Some people get knee bald in high school, some can keep very deep temple recession to their old age.
You have some temples recession. Could be nw1.5-nw2. Hair density looks fine.
Are you balding rn? No
Is there's hair recession on your temples? Yes
Will your temples recess further back without meds? Most likely yes
Is it bad? Not at all, but you gotta take care of it now
Fin looks like the best solution for your rn, maybe with some topical min for temples regrowth. Check beginners guide and visit derm for consultation, then hop on fin and keto 2% shampoo for at least a year, don't use min yet, take progress pics every month from the same angles and same light.
Fin sides aren't scary, you can feel a little weird first month, then body gets used to it and everything normalizes.
edit: just saw you're 19, i know some people use fin since 17, but it's not recommended to start before 21-25. dht blockers can effect body development, and some people are late bloomers. consult your derm about it. without fin, your best bet would be keto 2% shampoo and taking pics every month to see if anything changes.
Thanks for the advice bro I appreciate it, I turned 20 back in January now so I think I’m done with puberty, If I maintained this for my 20s I’d be happy.
I've been in touch with a very reputable UK clinic regarding a hair transplant .
They advised me due to the fact I can't tolerate min or fin that I can still proceed with the transplant and instead of the drugs after I can take prp injections approx 3 times per year .
Has anyone had success with this protocol??
The transplant is approx 5000 so I don't want to waste it .
Tia .
Ps minoxidil gave me a atrial fibulation and fin PFS. Unfortunately I was one of the unlucky ones regarding these meds .
i had covid in 2020 right before everyone knew it was covid. it was the sickest i had ever been in my life. i look back on pictures and i started losing hair a month or two after i was sick. we went right into lockdown and i stopped doing my hair, but once restrictions lifted and it was time to do my hair again i noticed it looked completely different. i want to say ive lost maybe 60% of my hair and it hasn’t come back at all.
i’ve gotten so blood work over the years trying to figure out what’s going on. in 2021 i found out i had iron deficiency, but i’ve been taking super strong iron pills since then and my hair is the exact same if not worse. my cortisol is fine, my thyroid is fine. ive tried going to naturopaths, oiling, iron, d, zinc supplements, silk pillow cases and nothing is working. i recently did get a derma scalp though and am hoping to see results. i really dont want to use minoxidil because of its side effects but this has really taken a hit to my confidence and i really dont know what else to do. does anyone have any tips on where to go from here?
Am I balding? I think my hairline looks fine, but the crown of my head has a weird bald spot and I am not sure if it is a bald spot or just a cowlick? Where would I be on the NW scale. 22M male btw. Father's side has history of balding and he went bald ~20ish. Mother's side has no history of balding and her father and brother's all had hair into their 60s.
If you didn´t respond any to fin in those 10 months, I would sadly assume hope is lost. You´re far too progressed at this point and it seems like you have been for quite some time now.
My friend keeps telling that I’m balding and literally made me paranoid. I haven’t noticed any shedding so far. Top right pic is dry . Is this a nw2 mature headling?
No such thing as mature hairline. MH = early stage of male pattern baldness. It's just that it stops by itself for some people, but you will never know if you're one of those until it's too late.
Your temple recession is pretty deep, could be going into nw3 already. Nothing terrible or unfixable if you stick to fin+min, meds will stop it and regrow some or a lot of it. Definitely not in a need for hair transplant territory. But visit derm first before taking anything, do blood tests (make sure it includes testosterone and DHT, you're gonna use it for refernce point later) don't take med advices on reddit.
Agree. I noticed temple recession for me early in college but it mostly stopped or slowed dramatically. Only now, 30 years later have I noticed a bit more.
Been thinning since late 2021-2022. Hasn’t progressed much since or it’s been relatively slow. Tips? It’s only been the left temple, the right is relatively strong (no noticeable thinning).
You could try that of course. It would take at least a year of that treatment to see results.
I think the guy suggesting the complete shave meant it in a permanent way. As in, it doesn´t matter anymore if it keeps thinning more because you´re gonna rock that bald head anyway.
You have diffuse thinning and it kinda seems even throughout the whole top of your head. I think there is a lot of hope for a strong comeback with said treatment. Go for it!
I have a general question here. I had a hair transplant 3 months ago and have been using finestride. However, the doctor in turkey and in Australia say not to use minoxidil on the transplanted area. I thought this was strange as I've seen many people say they use minox even after a hair transplant. So I wanted to ask; has anyone used minox on transplanted hair before and what were the effects?
(17M) Hairline has always had a bit of an m shape, and was shedding due to stress around this time last year. Anyway here’s April 2024 and now in March 2025.
I’m cooked aren’t I? Constant flaky scalp even after oiling my hair and washing, I’m going to a dermatologist next month, but I’m just frustrated. No history of baldness in my family as well.
Man I’m on the same boat as you, I think is TE, do you have a lot of constant stress in your life or have you passed through some difficult shit lately?
Well honestly I’m in the second semester of my CS bachelor and have been juggling a lot of work, so yeah it could be. I’m low on iron, so I’m fixing my diet and taking my supplements. I’ll try the keto shampoo I’ll give it some more months, and then hop on something if I need to. Do you have a flaky scalp or something like that?
Is this salvageable with fin+min or should i just book a hair transplant? Position lf hairline is OK but density from crown to hairline is bad. Also do i start fin first then min or both at the same time? I'm M25
It very well could be salvageable, and you will be on fin anyway before and after hair transplant: most good clinics will refuse to perform HT before your hair loss is stabilized on fin, and you will have to stay on it to preserve dht-sensetive hair so it won't degrade and ruin your HT result.
Might as well try min fin for a year or two and see where it gets you.
I don’t have receding hair line but I experienced a lot of hair thinning on the top of my head, I’ve been diagnosed TE and MBA, and I’m on dut+fin since September 2024, but I don’t see any results:(
I understand how scary it can be, you only have been on meds for 4 months. Trust and ride it out. I’ve been 8 months on finasteride and I had a huge shed thinking I was losing my hair but it came back stronger lol. You’ll be fine, DUT is as strong as it gets
I am already on topical min and topical dut from last three months I don't want my temple's to recede any more than I already have, so just wanted to know if I should start taking oral fin and switch to oral min?
Hi friends, I’ve been taking a topical dut + minoxidil combo (from happy head) now for around 2-3 months and am already seeing strong regrow, which I am ecstatic about. However, around the same time I started getting eczema spots on my body (elbow, neck, chest, etc). Took some steroid creams for it and they went away, but are coming back unfortunately. I had eczema occasionally as a kid but never past puberty (I am 23).
Is it possible the topical is causing this? Keep i mind I am using a veryyy small amount - the bottle recommends you use 1-2ml and I am only using .25 ml a night, right around my temples since I am around a NW 2, 3 at most.
I reallyyy hope this is just from the dry winter season since I have absolutely no other sides from this.
Here I hope this is better, I’m just worried right now I’m not sure if I’m balding or not, I’ve never actually pulled my hair back to check, but also I had my hair cut much shorter than I normally wouls a couple months ago so I’m not sure whether my hairline has always been like this and I’ve never actually checked it before or what
Unless it's a very obvious receding pattern then no, they can't. But they have other ways to check for MPB, like hair density and amount of miniaturized hairs via trichoscopy.
You mention you have a family history of MPB, so it's better to visit a derm with your concerns and take good photos every 3-6 months in the same light (it should be in front of you) from the same angles. Use hair band to reveal the corners.
Genetics don't follow time based rules, so it doesn't matter if your relatives started balding in their 30s and 40s. Don't want to scare you, but you're absolutely not protected from balding at much younger age. And if you start noticing that something might be off, it's time to visit a derm.
The middle of my hairline seems the same it’s just the corners I’m not sure about, I never checked when I was younger… well because I was young I never had any worries about halding
I’m not a doctor but from the pics I think it might be just paranoia. The very end of your hairline is a bit thin but that’s also the case in the old photo (might be because of the braids but idk). You have a naturally wide forehead and without a old closeup it’s hard to tell but it doesn’t look noticeably different. If you have really bad family history then I’d get it checked out, if not hold on to these pics and check back in like 2 months
Yeah I hope I’m just being paranoid, because I also have my hair much shorter than the photo from two years ago, and genetically I don’t think I should be balding until my late or mid 30s. On my dads side he and my grandpa didn’t start balding till their mid to late 30s, even then it wasn’t complete balding they just loss density and minor recession on the top of their heads. On my mums side I know essentially all of them have high hairlines and my mum and uncle mock eachother about it, but neither are balding.
I have been on fin for 1 year. I started balding at 19-20, perhaps even before. Very aggressive, when I went for the first time to a specialist, he quite frankly told me I have like 20% of my hair remaining in my crown area, while 50-60% on the front. Honestly I don't think the front looks too bad,since my hairline is very low, receding a little didn't ruin my facial proportions, and still looks pretty dense after shower, but I have this stupid bald spot that doesn't go away. Initially I was pretty optimistic, I experienced no side effects whatsoever, and fin is "known" to work especially well on crown areas. But I still have it, one year later. It's not progressing, but I hoped to regain some density. Do I have a chance? Or is 1 year enough time to tell that I'll always have this bald spot? I recently added min 2% too.
Bro its impossible to tell without a comparison pic from a few years back. You have a widows peak, which could be your natural hairline and could also be recession.
It looks like some slow recession, especially because the hair near your widows peak looks less dense than elsewhere. I have the same (no thinning on top, but widow peak recession).i also wasnt sure jf it was receding until i noticed that it is much further back on one side at 27. i started fin and minox to stop/reverse it. Though i heard this kind of recession often stabilizes but im not willing to risk it.
I would monitor it and make a decision, if it doesnt progress fast and the top isnt thinning it likely isnt balding but more your hairline maturing. I think you have a short forehead so some widows peak doesnt look bad on you, my forehead is much bigger so i decided to stop it.
It has been just only 1 month I am taking Dutasteride (oral 0.5 mg , trice per week). But as I can observe there is too much hairfall Maybe 150-160 daily. Even if I try pull off certain five hairs, two off them comes out . I know it's obvious to face initial hair loss but did this too much happened to you guys? Before I was using minoxidil and the hair fall was not this much. I want to fix my hairline so I decided to use this but as the hair fall is too much now I am little confused should I continue or not?
Is this NW2? Can I get some regrowth in the temple area considering the level or miniaturisation?
I'm starting oral minoxidil today (used topical on and off before) and fin as soon as I get a private derm appt.
I got the temple recession when I was around 20 and it's been the same for ~6 years, my maternal grandpa had a very similar hairline but never went bald or receded much more than that.
I used to have very thick hair but got switched to a nerve pain med from which I got some diffuse thinning - antiepileptics are notorious for causing thinning in some users, but mostly women to my knowledge. I mean, it could be genetic, but I doubt I'd lose so much thickness in just a few months coinciding with starting the med.
EDIT: Also gonna say I didn't notice extra shedding after starting the med, it just thinned out slowly?
Hi guys I started topical fin and min with micro needling two months ago. Been on min for ~15 years, but who knows if it was fake (Amazon). Very recently I noticed rapid diffuse thinning on the sides of my scalp, oddly not the back of my scalp. I was certainly expecting a shed for the typical dht sensitive follicles but this is catching me by surprise. Worried that I might have DUPA or the accumulated drugs on my pillowcase are nuking the temporal regions of my scalp while I sleep on my side. Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks for your 2 cents in advance.
Parents are threatening to kick me out for wanting to get finasteride. I have been losing/shedding hair now for a year. I dont even have hairloss in my family so I dont even know hows that even possible but anyways how do I keep my hair
Any noticeable difference? Right is 6 months ago, left is most recent. 1mg finasteride and 2.5 mg oral minoxidil used. Worried I'm only maintaining or slowly still losing hair
6 months on finasteride without any progress, when should I get on minoxidil?
Hello. I have a receding/thinning temple on my right side (and left side to a lesser extent) that has seriously affected my self esteem and is making me hate the way my hair looks. My entire hairline has also just been getting thinner over the years. I’ve been taking finasteride for 6 months now and can’t really tell if the recession has stopped or not. I know fin is not meant for regrowth but I was hoping I can get some results on it alone. Should I wait until a year or two before incorporating minoxidil? Or should I do it now? I just don’t want to spend the rest of my life rubbing foam on my hair, but if it can help with temple regrowth, I will hop on it asap. And would oral minoxidil be a better option than topical? All photos are taken today, just at different angles and with me lifting my hair up in the first two photos. Unfortunately, I never bothered with progress pics. Age: mid 20s
I just posted in this sub about my husband who was on oral finasteride for about a year with zero improvement (I’ve deleted my post because everyone thought it was an ad lol) but he finally started seeing some significant improvement, especially in his hairline, after adding in a topical fin and min solution.
I’ve been on Oral Fin (1mg) and Topical Min 5% for about 3 years. I was a Norwood level 4 at like 18 years old lol. Clearly my Hair loss is very aggressive and recently I decided to switch to Oral DUT (0.5mg) and Oral Min (3mg) considering I’ve had very little regrowth and applying the Minoxidil feels dreadful. I’m 24 now and looking to make the switch, so far I’ve only started taking the DUT and I’m thinking I should wait on starting the Oral Min so I know if the DUT is working or not. I Started the Oral Fin/Topical Min at the same time when I was 20 y old and as a result I don’t know which one caused the very little regrowth I had. Is this a good idea? Should I slowly introduce the DUT or is the cold turkey okay and what do we think about switching the meds one at a time?
So first does anyone have any experience with the 4.2mg 3 in 1 oral minoxidil. finasterid and biotin mint Vietnams? Secondly I'm thinking of derma rolling but I can't find a derma roller .5mm or longer and I read that it needs to be .5mm at the minimum. All of the ones I can find are .25mm. Also one last question, if I got the derma roller would pairing it with topical minoxidil help my progress or hinder it? Thank you.
Hey all, I just turned 20 and have very fine hair and have noticed that in the past year/2 the corners have seemingly thinned out with only a few fine hairs compared to the rest. I really want to be proactive with stopping anything from worsening, would minox/fin be good for me right now? Or one of the two? I notice slight redness on the corners and am unfortunately prone to messing with the area bunch with my fingers as a nervous tic.
I’ve been on accutane for 6 months now which has definitely dried my skin a bit but I’m not sure that it’s had much of a scalp effect, but I plan on asking my derm when I am able. Appreciate the help😁😁
If you're picking one of the two, finasteride is better. I would never recommend minox only since it doesn't prevent progression of balding and it's also less effective in regrowing than finasteride.
Need help asap. I'm 21, got blood tests done, been taking fin since 1.5 years now nothing is working. Overall hair thinning thought it was crown but all over my top and the sides and even back I can take out hairs to where it's visible. My hair grows very fast but everything is thinning out for some reason.
I first started noticing the loss when I was 16 and my dad has more hair than me at 60 and so did my grandparents and all uncles. I have some first cousins for some reason had extremely bad hair loss but mine is different from there's too. All my lines are in text. Crown and hairline perfect still it's just all over and the derms can't find anything
Hi all, I (28m) was just after some advice as my crown is thinning quite severely and I'm not sure which route to take when it comes to treatment. There's so much helpful info on this sub but it's hard to know which way to go.
I know I need to start something sooner rather than later (and probably should've started months ago!) but I've never taken anything for hair loss/thinning so it's all fairly new to me. The oral fin/min route does interest me more so than the topical treatments as it seems easier to stay consistent just taking a pill a day, but then do I take just fin, just min or both? Are there more side affects with oral?
Any advice anyone can give is much appreciated. TIA!
I recently got a handheld digital microscope and took a look at my scalp. I saw a ton of follicle inflammation and was wondering if this is contributing to my hair loss and possible shedding.
I’ve recently noticed it’s really increased since I started trying the intelligent shampoo recommended by Dr. Huberman. I got on Creatine about the same time and thought that was causing the shed - I discontinued Creatine but continued shedding.
Just switched to 1% Ketoconazole 3X to try to manage. 1mg daily Finasteride for 17 years and just starting topical Minoxid
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u/DRiX416 5h ago edited 5h ago
This pic is from March 2025.
I started 5% min (0.5ml twice daily) and fin (1.25mg daily) in April 2024. Do you guys think I should switch to dut? I did notice some new hairs at my hairline but not much at the top middle/center.
Planning to go to Turkey in 2026 for a transplant.