Getting over the bald?

[Paige]

Hi All,

I'm in my mid 50s and about 3-4 months on low dose E.   Even though it's low I have some feminized features now. 

But the thing is I keep looking at the top of head.  I'm bald at the top, probably between 4 and 5.   I've been on dutasteride for a couple of years now and I'm using 5% minoxidil.  I've also tried the dermaroller.   So has some come back?  Yes, but not nearly enough.

Besides my family, this is the largest obstacle for me transitioning.  I hate wigs.  I have had lots of people tell me lots of women wear wigs but it just doesn't feel right. 

I think about hair implants, but I doubt I have enough donor hair.  I guess I should ask a hair transplant specialist.

Anyway, if I ever transition, I'm going to have figure something out.  How do others get over this issue?

Thanks,
Paige

[JoanneB]

I've been balding since 14. Mostly genetics on my dad's side. I got Mom's hips and boobs. Almost a fair trade off. I went from baby hair to no hair. So a wig has always been my reality. As in most things in life, you get what you pay for. Cheap wigs tent to look cheap. I've had surprised people that what you see isn't my own hair. I swear it is my hair since I did pay for it 

I know the family, job, holding your world together as you know it thing all too well. Life is about balance. Balancing the many competing and often conflicting needs and desires. I need to present as male. Inside I live and am female. Thankfully, I... most of the time, do not feel I NEED to live and present as female. I am thankful for that.

Most days I feel I do not need to fully transition. If that balance changes I will, in order to survive. Needing to wear a wig, in the grand scheme of things, is nothing compared to fully transitioning.

[KathyLauren]

Like you, my hair has suffered the ravages of genetics and testosterone.  I knew when I was 25 that I would be bald by the time I was 45.  As it turns out, I didn't lose it quite that fast, but it is now, in my 60s, mostly gone.

I don't have enough left to restore.  What little regrowth I might get from blockers will not fill it in.  So I can either shave it all off and claim that I am on chemotherapy, or I can wear a wig.  I am a lousy liar, and that is an unsustainable lie anyway, so I am out of options.  A wig it is.

[LizK]

Hi All,

I'm in my mid 50s and about 3-4 months on low dose E.   Even though it's low I have some feminized features now. 

But the thing is I keep looking at the top of head.  I'm bald at the top, probably between 4 and 5.   I've been on dutasteride for a couple of years now and I'm using 5% minoxidil.  I've also tried the dermaroller.   So has some come back?  Yes, but not nearly enough.

Besides my family, this is the largest obstacle for me transitioning.  I hate wigs.  I have had lots of people tell me lots of women wear wigs but it just doesn't feel right. 

I think about hair implants, but I doubt I have enough donor hair.  I guess I should ask a hair transplant specialist.

Anyway, if I ever transition, I'm going to have figure something out.  How do others get over this issue?

Thanks,
Paige

I have just finished my final round of hair implants. This round was to change the shape of my hairline and thicken it up. Forget out being bald when looking from the top...be more concerned about what it looks like from front on...with me I have the horseshoe balding around the top with a bit of hair through the middle. How thick is your hair at the back of your head? This is where they took my donor from. My Dr also told me that my head was a wasteland as far as getting any new hair growth from HRT goes....wrong...very wrong. I don't know but maybe the implants themselves helped stir things into action because I have a reasonable amount of new growth. He was astonished when he saw me.

I will post the pictures very soon I am just waiting to take the last shot at 3 months to complete the series so you will be able to see the difference.

When you look down on my head you may notice I am a little thin but looking directly front on, it doesn't look thin at all ....that is before the second round of implants have even grown in properly, in fact the first round implant are only just now 4-5cm long...so from here on it will just get thicker.

I took have a real thing for wigs...they make me really dysphoric...as to prosthetic breasts...I still have toi wear the wig but not for much longer and I don't wear the breasts as I have a couple of me own now that with the right encouragement look okay and improving all the time.

I hope to post some pics in the next week

Liz 

[Paige]

Hi All,

Sorry for the slow response.

Most days I feel I do not need to fully transition. If that balance changes I will, in order to survive. Needing to wear a wig, in the grand scheme of things, is nothing compared to fully transitioning.

Hi Joanne,
It's funny, I think if I had a full head of hair transitioning wouldn't be as hard.  Maybe I just can't see past the hair and it would be something else. 

Like you, my hair has suffered the ravages of genetics and testosterone.  I knew when I was 25 that I would be bald by the time I was 45.  As it turns out, I didn't lose it quite that fast, but it is now, in my 60s, mostly gone.

I don't have enough left to restore.  What little regrowth I might get from blockers will not fill it in.  So I can either shave it all off and claim that I am on chemotherapy, or I can wear a wig.  I am a lousy liar, and that is an unsustainable lie anyway, so I am out of options.  A wig it is.

Hi Kathy,
You do look good in your picture and others with wigs look quite good too.  It's just I can't past this.  I keep hoping the new work in hair cloning will be available soon.

I have just finished my final round of hair implants. This round was to change the shape of my hairline and thicken it up. Forget out being bald when looking from the top...be more concerned about what it looks like from front on...with me I have the horseshoe balding around the top with a bit of hair through the middle. How thick is your hair at the back of your head? This is where they took my donor from. My Dr also told me that my head was a wasteland as far as getting any new hair growth from HRT goes....wrong...very wrong. I don't know but maybe the implants themselves helped stir things into action because I have a reasonable amount of new growth. He was astonished when he saw me.

I will post the pictures very soon I am just waiting to take the last shot at 3 months to complete the series so you will be able to see the difference.

When you look down on my head you may notice I am a little thin but looking directly front on, it doesn't look thin at all ....that is before the second round of implants have even grown in properly, in fact the first round implant are only just now 4-5cm long...so from here on it will just get thicker.

I took have a real thing for wigs...they make me really dysphoric...as to prosthetic breasts...I still have toi wear the wig but not for much longer and I don't wear the breasts as I have a couple of me own now that with the right encouragement look okay and improving all the time.

I hope to post some pics in the next week

Liz 

Hi Liz,

Thanks for the information on your hair transplant.  It sounds like you really have had a lot of success, I'm really curious to see your results.

Yes that's the best way to describe my issue.  The wigs make me feel terribly dysphoric perhaps more than anything else.


Thanks for all for the responses,
Paige

[Rambler]

I'm only about to turn 26 and I'm so aware of my balding, I haven't even started a transition process. On my father's side my brother, father, and grandfather were all bald by 18, so while I consider lasting this long a victory, I'm also very self conscious of it. I take minoxodil myself and have for several years with little results, but every time I've stopped I feel like the balding accelerates. Recently, I've started to work unfiltered apple cider vinegar into my scalp in the same way as minoxodil for 3-5 every 2-3 days before showering in lieu of shampoo and take daily biotin and trace minerals. I've been adhering to this added regimen for about a month and my hair loss seems to have slowed significantly. I barely see any strands in the sink anymore and I can pull at it without coming back with a palm full of hair. I can't comment on how growth has been affected, it might take some time to tell, but given the improvement of what's already on my scalo, I'm hopeful!

[jentay1367]

How do others get over this issue? Thanks, Paige

I've found that when your choices are limited to one, you take it or choose to be unhappy.

[Michelle_P]

I've found that when your choices are limited to one, you take it or choose to be unhappy.

Yup!  It'll do.  Beats suffering in my old presentation, that's for sure.  Maybe someday follicle cloning or stem cell magic will happen and I can have hair that grows from my scalp, but just because my hair comes in a box doesn't mean I'm not going forward.

Besides, it is kind of fun to totally change my hairstyle and appearance in 5 minutes!

[jentay1367]

Yup!  It'll do.  Beats suffering in my old presentation, that's for sure.  Maybe someday follicle cloning or stem cell magic will happen and I can have hair that grows from my scalp, but just because my hair comes in a box doesn't mean I'm not going forward.

Besides, it is kind of fun to totally change my hairstyle and appearance in 5 minutes!

See! If you're going to be a woman, you want to be a pragmatic one, like Michelle!

[izzy]

Im in your same boat. Im 33 and have strong male pattern boldness that started all the way back in my teens. I have been plagued by the the thought I be stuck with a wig forever too. I dont know if there is much hope about growing my hair again.

[LizK]

Got a lovely hour of Electrolysis ahead of me but when I get a chance later today I will post my Hair implant photo's...so you can see the kind of results you can get..I had the classic shoe horn MPB with the skunk strip thinning down the middle everywhere on top was very thin and mostly receded. My Dr told me my scalp was a follicle wasteland and I would never get any new growth from HRT...wrong...very wrong and he was very surprised.

I will never have the same head of hair I had In my 20's but wearing a wig is pretty much a thing of the past for me. Even though the second lot of implants I had done 3 weeks ago have not grown in properly I can still style my hair so you wouldn't know. Anyway will try and at least get the photo's up

Liz

[Paige]

Got a lovely hour of Electrolysis ahead of me but when I get a chance later today I will post my Hair implant photo's...so you can see the kind of results you can get..I had the classic shoe horn MPB with the skunk strip thinning down the middle everywhere on top was very thin and mostly receded. My Dr told me my scalp was a follicle wasteland and I would never get any new growth from HRT...wrong...very wrong and he was very surprised.

I will never have the same head of hair I had In my 20's but wearing a wig is pretty much a thing of the past for me. Even though the second lot of implants I had done 3 weeks ago have not grown in properly I can still style my hair so you wouldn't know. Anyway will try and at least get the photo's up

Liz

Thanks Liz. 

Paige

[Eva Marie]

I have dad's bald spot on the back of my head but HRT has helped to fill it back in a bit over time. There is still not enough hair there to work with though. I can't afford hair transplants so I worked with my beautician and we identified a couple of ways that I can style my hair up and it will hide/cover that spot.

On days where no matter what I do with my hair the scalp still shows through there is a root color product that I spray on and it hides the scalp pretty well. Kind of like spray painting the back of my head but it works.

If the bald spot is to far gone another option might be hair pieces that cover the back of the head and use an elastic band to hold them on. The band hides in your remaining hair and you can't see it. Another option might be clip on hair pieces.

The bottom line is that if you have some hair left to work with check with your beautician to see if there are alternatives other than a wig that might work for you. Older cisgender women have this issue all of the time and she will most likely be aware of some options for you to try. If you are mostly bald I think that a wig is going to be your only option.