can advice or something be given here

[jinst138]

Hello I am Jamie. This is the hairloss question again so I dont waste your time. Sorry if i have trouble finding the right place but I am also new. I am pre transition mtf that has put off transition from a young age (wont get into here) and I have honestly tried looking around and reading about this (thats how i found this place. Though i feel ive stumbled here many years ago or it was a similar place.)

I feel that the immediate issue for me is if I can treat heretitary hairloss without negative affects on hormones. For example how some treatments raise testosterone I think would be negative. Then again age may be part of it. I am already 26. Recently a lot of hairloss is causing me serious problems mentally. Ive read some bits and the different names. I feel lost. If you have advice about transitioning for someone who is poor with no income nothing and a complete mess is alright. I dont know what to do about anything. Im just starting to think about stepping up and doing something. But i really think my current concern is the hairloss effecting me physically or mentally. Although i should be concerned about transition beginnings or getting money. Theres no excuse for this ongoing self neglect. Time feels like its forcing me forward with this.
Sorry again. Any response I am grateful for.

[Kendra]

Hello Jamie, welcome to Susan's! 

I think you're asking great questions and you definitely landed at the right place.  No need to apologize at all!  First of all don't stress out - the reason I can say that is through my own experience. 

I am MTF and have been working on my transition.  When did I start?  I can't exactly say because transition isn't a single thing, and (most important) I have found transition isn't just hormones or hair or other items.  Transition began from within - in my brain - when I asked questions and started to realize who I really am and identified things that were getting in the way.  Some things I have found easy to change, some more difficult and some impossible (genetics for example).  If something is impossible to directly change there are often workarounds or other ways to compensate or simply accept an item and work on the rest.  The most important outcome is realizing what we experience in this world goes through our brains - and I was already better off once I started accepting myself.  I won't go into my long history but the quick description is there was a period of time (starting with puberty) when I increasingly disliked myself and it showed - the way I became careless with my own health and habits and the way I interacted with other people.  That can lead to a spiral in the wrong direction and I had a lot to fix.  I have found the rewards of identifying and tackling this to be amazing and only wish I had known this earlier. 

Your questions show an interest in HRT - a Hormone Replacement Therapy prescription.   I started HRT three weeks ago.  HRT needs to be a prescription because it is customized and monitored to fit each individual's medical baseline - a combination of physical and mental factors.  I previously misunderstood HRT as being all about physical changes and it isn't - HRT brings a surprising amount of the mental characteristics of gender and for some people that can be a missing link.  I was astonished at how strong the emotional impact was for me and I love it. 

MTF HRT normally decreases testosterone and increases estrogen-related hormones.  There are other hormones as well but T and E are the main two going up or down for FTM or MTF.  Many members of Susan's who have been on MTF HRT experienced a halt in male pattern baldness and depending on age had a slight or significant reversal.  In some cases physical solutions (hair transplants) are necessary - we have forum sections focusing on these topics. 

Money.  Depends where you live - because some countries consider transition to be a medical necessity covered by national health care and some countries do not.  In countries that don't, you might have options depending on which private health care insurance plan you are on if you have that.  I have known people who study to claw their way into a job with an employer with the goal of obtaining better health care.  A few employers offer extensive transgender coverage as a way of competing to hire a better, more diverse pool of employees.  It is also possible to pay out of pocket, I know that might be very difficult but the cost of an HRT prescription is less than other things.  The main thing is get this done the right way.

We all face choices and set priorities.  Some things are temporary and don't matter as much in the long run.  Some things I get only one of, and need to take good care of for my entire life.  I wish I understood that when I was your age - one reason I have a great amount of respect for the questions you have asked. 

We always provide information and guidelines to all new members, and I will add it here for you.

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Jamie I know it took courage for you to register and post here and I am so glad you did.  I did the same previously and found jumping in opened so many doors for me.  I want the best for you.

Kendra

[jinst138]

Thank you Kendra. I cant tell you how I appreciate that. Your brief early history sounds the same as mine. I actually began to feel like I was accepting myself on some level in about 2011 and told one supportive person close to me that I was trans. They are no longer with me. I felt a change right from then but I since continued to hold off going any further and back to neglecting in a way I assume like depression. I already have felt strong regrets and dont want any more and I have other physical problems due to neglect. Some since I was a kid. And I have possibly severe I guess social issues that I dont have an understanding of. I feel like theres overwhelmingly so much to be done and Im easily overwhelmed.

[Kendra]

A gender therapist or counselor can be very helpful but requires money or may be covered by insurance.  Something else to consider is a transgender support group, those are free and generally operate on donations.  The key is finding a good group if one might be available in your town.  Note the word "good" - most transgender support groups are good but I've heard of cases where a group isn't managed well or just socializing without a goal of providing support.  If I find a meeting isn't productive I would immediately bail - or if it's good, consider becoming a regular.  But you also have access to a great group here at Susan's.  We have members from all over the world and we are all in the same place online. 

You don't have to solve everything at once.  I used this place to gather information and make better decisions, to arrive at my own definition of where I want to go.  Some of this takes time - that's why it's called a journey.  I have discovered some parts of the journey are actually quite nice. 

Kendra

[Dena]

Welcome to Susan's Place.  As hair loss is your primary concern, you might want to make starting HRT your primary concern. If you need a therapist, many will give you a letter in three or four appointments if there are no other problems. Part of the HRT package normally includes a blocker which will suppress testosterone and in turn stop hair loss. The good news is hair that you have recently lost can regrow given some time. Unfortunately hair that has been missing a while will not regrow. Another possibility is there are several medications that your doctors can prescribe for hair loss. They don't need a therapist letter and your personal doctor may be able to prescribe it for you.

[V M]

Hi Jamie 

Welcome to Susan's Place    Glad to have you here, join on in the fun

Hugs

V M

[Rachel_Christina]

The question is when it come to hair loss is, where is it? And how long has it been at it? The corners at the front of the hairline can grow in depending on... We'll probably nothing other than luck. I think even the crow areas can regrow, to someone extent.
Good scalp massages help too, they increase blood flow which nurish the hair.
Don't be afraid to do things like this. I do lots of things for my hair, and sometimes a few hairs come out doing that, the thing to remember is unless you feel snagging and hair pulling out, those wher just dead hairs nothing to worry about.
Hair is very very important for us women, not just trans women. It's something that means so much, so we must look after it. I feel so sorry for anyone who has the dreaded hair loss D:
But ther are ways and means to minimize it and maximize hair strength and quality.

[jinst138]

Its hard for me to tell yet on hairline receeded. I dont really see it. I always had weak hair and a high hairline. I had only noticed in the last couple months more ammounts of loose hair and it seems evenly thinned out around the whole top. Not sure when it really started.
I also am sure I have had a lack of vitamins and nutrients. I was sure that I would not start actually balding from genes because my father and brother went very bald at a younger age. Although i did have a not good hairline and look similar to them.

[Kendra]

I was sure that I would not start actually balding from genes because my father and brother went very bald at a younger age.

I know this is counter-intuitive, but male pattern baldness is primarily inherited through the X chromosome which was provided by your mother. 

[Felix]

I have no mtf experience, but a lot of the ciswomen in my blood family had bald spots. They got by with creative combing, and some of them used wigs. Hats work too. A bunch of my family had breast cancer and got bald that way, and most of them used hats. Some of them went punkrock/hardcore/whatever and were proudly bald.

I'm broke as all getout and going bald, and I know as a man it's okay to lose hair, but I've been thinking about it and that's the best info I have for you.

[jinst138]

Another thing about my situation. One of my biggest issues also is that I have a protruding chest deformity and I just searched the words "Pectus Carinatum transgender" and was surprised to see a few posts online about it from trans women getting corrective surgery and one result from here of someone with a similar deformity. Also interesting to read that the deformity is uncommon for women so I likely wouldnt have had it if I was cisgender.

I actually managed to hide it for some reason as a preteen. Later my parents took me to a doctor when i was a teenager and said they did not recieve a call after my x rays. So somehow that went back to it being ignored until my mother would say its  probably too late to fix. It was psychologically damaging growing up with. I have a nephew I suspect might also have the exact type of deformity and I have been trying to speak up about it to make sure he gets properly checked. I at this point will need to have surgery. Back then i would have been able to wear a brace.