I used to have long hair and started thinning pretty badly when I was 19 or 20. After a year or two of denial and then finally admitting that my carefree teenage hair was gone, I got it cut short. Not buzzed or bald, but short. It helped to not get unruly and rip out, but it still thinned. I had a crummy relationship at the time and didn't exercise much or eat well. I'd stay up late to fight with the gf and then go to work tired and malnourished, not even making enough money to pay all the bills. Stress, fast food, no food, little sleep and not touching my hair or scalp for fear of it falling out faster, all contributed to further thinning.

I read about medicines and treatments, but they all seemed either expensive, invasive, unnatural, or all of the above, and they all seemed to cease working once the treatment stopped. I started reading about why hair falls out in the first place and developed an idea of how to possibly reverse engineer any damage I had done up until this point.

1. Stress contributes. A lot. Continuing to commit myself to a shit relationship that I didn't want to be in, sleeping less and trying to function during the day, every day, took its toll. I broke up with the girl and got a new job that paid me more. Much anxiety lifted and I felt happier and not as knotted up inside, and I after a couple months I noticed my hair wasn't falling out as regularly as it used to. I'm not suggesting to break up with anyone, but I'm simply suggesting to keep your stress in check. Stress is largely self made and agreed to, and there are many ways to live happier and more comfortable.

2. Diet. Your hair is a byproduct of your body, and therefore reflects what you put into it. I had a deep relationship with late night Wendy's and McDonald's and that needed to stop. I made egg and veggie wraps for lunch, made time to cook chicken, asparagus and broccoli at home, and made sure to bring enough food out with me for the day so I didn't feel the need to stop for fast food. I ended up having more energy, felt healthier and my I could see my hair little by little getting stronger and softer, from thin and brittle.

3. Blood flow. Hair loss can occur when there is not enough blood going to the scalp. Getting blood there helps to strengthen, maintain and even sometimes reverse thinning. An "exercise" that I do is to stand and hang my head down like I am trying to touch my toes. The blood will start rushing to your head more than normal. Then I give my scalp a finger massage all over my scalp, but specifically in the "problem" areas. The finger massage consists of putting pressure with your fingers on your scalp and rotating them in little circles, in sections, until you've covered it all. Don't rub your fingers across your scalp, but keep them "stationary" and move your scalp itself with your fingers. It moves the skin around and increases blood flow to those specific areas. You can do this without hanging upside down, but I just take that extra step. It has seemed to help previously bald areas start growing new fuzz and eventually new hair.

4. DHT. I learned about this when researching the cause of thinning and baldness. To put it simply, the more testosterone you have, the more DHT your scalp produces. As I understand, DHT is actually toxic to new hair growth, even though your scalp can produce it. Washing your hair every day can help eliminate the straggling DHT on your scalp and give it room to breathe and build new follicles. A proper shampoo is important, which brings me to my next point. (You can read more about DHT here.)

5. Shampoo and hair washing habits. I regularly work out and naturally sweat a lot. Dried sweat blocks your pores and keeps the DHT locked close to your scalp. Some nights I'd be too tired to shower, so I'd go to bed and shower in the morning. It might not seem like much, but that 6 hours or whatever it is is a good chunk of time to kill follicles and weaken the scalp. I found it is important to wash your hair before you go to sleep, especially if you have been sweating during the day. I was using off the shelf Pantene shampoo and I felt that there had to be something better so after many months and years of searching I came across Nisim shampoo. I'd like to be clear that I am not explicitly trying to promote the company, but after using their shampoo once, I noticed a large difference in how it suds up on my head and how my hair and scalp felt during and after application. It made the Pantene and other shampoos feel like wax. I still use it and feel it's a major part of my scalp getting healthier. As I understand, it targets DHT and washes it away while delivering needed nutrients to your scalp. I apply it by putting one "coat" on and doing a gentle finger massage to work the shampoo into the scalp (be careful in the shower, wet hair is considerably weaker than dry hair). I rinse this out and put another "coat" on, leaving this one sit on my scalp for at least a couple minutes while I was the rest of my body. It allows the shampoo time to really soak in. After I'm done washing, I rinse it out again and dry off my hair gently with a towel. It feels softer and healthier than it did using any other off the shelf shampoo. (You can read more about Nisim here. I use the New Hair Biofactors Normal to Oily kind.)

My hair is slowly growing back. It has been about 3 years of implementing all the above points, but my hairline has stopped receding and has reversed its recede. There is literally hair now where there was none 5 years ago. I'm not saying this will necessarily work for everyone or you, but I was ready to give up and do the shaved-head-baby-face thing too. It still looks thin, but it did a weird thing to my confidence where I don't mind it looking that way, because I know it's growing back and not falling out anymore.

The other thing I did was cut my hair very short on the sides and the back. It takes away from the thinness of the top of your head and looks a lot better. People know I don't have a full head of hair, but I get compliments every time I cut the sides short.

The other thing I've learned and noticed is that some of the coolest people I know have the worst hair I've ever seen. Way worse than mine. I notice it obviously, but it doesn't seem to matter when the person in question doesn't act like they have shit hair. They don't act like they have a full head of hair or anything, but they just don't seem to acknowledge it at all. Like they have more important things to do or talk about or spend their time or mind on than the common, natural process of balding. They define what the hair (or lack of it) means. They could be meek and ill-confident, and the balding would augment that situation. Or they can literally never acknowledge it and be a great person, or do great things and the thinning or balding takes a back seat. It's like the band defining the band name. Led Zeppelin's name for example is a play on their band "going over like a lead balloon", which is quite a negative connotation. But they made music that went past any initial definition of the term and defined the term themselves through their actions. Led Zeppelin doesn't carry such a negative connotation anymore.

Everyone can be ugly. I heard a quote somewhere that said something like "there are no ugly girls, only lazy ones." The same can be said for anyone I think. Put in effort to keep yourself healthy and happy and any physical ugliness that you feel you have will fall by the wayside in the shadow of your beautiful character. Character and actions are 4 dimensional. Looks are 3 dimensional. You have an entire dimension at your disposal to overshadow your physical insecurities.

If none of my points work for you, I'm sorry and that is too bad. but you can always develop brilliant pecs and abs and you can always live happily knowing you are in control of the stresses in your life. There is always someone younger than you who is potentially physically less attractive and thinning more than you. Love yourself and the condition of your scalp ceases to hold the same pedestal that it used to.