So, a lot of research and stuff has led me to a decision-I'm probably going to be non-T. I'll write more about this on a later date (more likely on FTM Livejournal than here, though), but in the meantime, I need to know some of your experiences with T and hair loss.
One of the major influences in my decision is that in my observations, it seems that the majority of transguys go bald on T, usually somewhere around the 2-4 year mark, but sometimes earlier (I read about one guy who started having pretty extensive loss at a month). And it seems transguys go bald younger than cisguys-I know that quite a few cisguys start balding around their late teens or early twenties, but that seems to be pretty rare, while I've heard of heaps of transguys who that happens to, whether they have the genetics for it or not. While it's certainly not a 100% thing, it seems that more transguys go bald, and at younger ages.
I'm guessing that this is because of the different ways that T would affect a CAFAB person's body to that of a CAMAB person.
What're your personal experiences with T and hair loss?
Quote from: Stealthy on May 05, 2012, 01:34:41 AM
One of the major influences in my decision is that in my observations, it seems that the majority of transguys go bald on T, usually somewhere around the 2-4 year mark, but sometimes earlier (I read about one guy who started having pretty extensive loss at a month). And it seems transguys go bald younger than cisguys-I know that quite a few cisguys start balding around their late teens or early twenties, but that seems to be pretty rare, while I've heard of heaps of transguys who that happens to, whether they have the genetics for it or not. While it's certainly not a 100% thing, it seems that more transguys go bald, and at younger ages.
If being bald is enough to keep you from starting testosterone, you probably need to reconsider why you considered transitioning in the first place anyway - at least in my opinion. You need a pre-disposition to male pattern hair loss to start going bald either way and they do have DHT blocks & plenty of other products out there to help with this issues.
I'm sorry, but this is sort of a silly reason not to transition if you ask me and insulting towards everyone who is.
You don't have to be on HRT to transition necessarily, but hair-loss should not be a reason to not start Testosterone; at least not a sole reason.
There are a lot of factors that contribute to male-pattern baldness. However, I've been on T for nearly 7 months and I haven't experienced any baldness(it's early, yeah, but my hair is actually THICKER than it was before). There's a lot of herbs and medicine that combat hair loss as well.. therefore, it's seriously a small issue
I'm not judging, and I know that everyone is different but I can't fathom not wanting to have a more masculine body for the fear that I MIGHT lose some hair. But that's me- that's not you. Everyone's transition is different
I just think you should weigh everything.. definitely don't go on T if you don't feel it is right for you, and don't think that it makes you less of a male... I mean, its whatever you want to do.. HRT is something that should be taken VERY seriously and thought about. For me, the decision was very simple.
Your hair loss on T will be similar to what your genetic male relatives have. Same as for MtF our boob growth is is similar to our female genetic relatives.
If your maternal and paternal grand fathers are bald so will you be in most likelihood.
That is how guys look.
Cindy
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2008%2F10%2F13%2Farticle-1077021-03BB07750000044D-181_233x329.jpg&hash=dbd46d39aac3e180c61e508e356ee2296b83e689)
The "Comb-over" is an artform.
Quote from: JasonRX on May 05, 2012, 05:06:06 AM
If being bald is enough to keep you from starting testosterone, you probably need to reconsider why you considered transitioning in the first place anyway - at least in my opinion. You need a pre-disposition to male pattern hair loss to start going bald either way and they do have DHT blocks & plenty of other products out there to help with this issues.
I'm sorry, but this is sort of a silly reason not to transition if you ask me and insulting towards everyone who is.
Not starting T =/= not transitioning. I often wonder why they're considered one and the same.
A fear of going bald is just one of the many things that prevent me from going on T. I'm non-binary identified, and while my appearance is young (which has made me mistakenly think I look quite feminine in the past, but looking closer shows that's not accurate in the least), I'm very androgynous looking without T so long as you ignore the hips. Taking T would probably swing the scales from 'very androgynous' to 'very masculine', which isn't what I'm going for.
Also, I'm kind of concerned about health risks.
Heh I very rarely hear of transguys going bald, no more often than cis guys anyway, it sounds a bit of a false panic, besides, while I'm basically in love with my hair, I'm happy enough that there's many hot looking balding dudes, and that really its not the end of the earth. The end of the earth was pre-transition for me. When life looked like ->-bleeped-<- and wasn't worth living because I was stuck in this ->-bleeped-<- house body. HRT for me (and I assume a lot of people) a life saver, life wasn't worth having when you hate your body so much. Hair or life.. Hmm. The last bit of my ramble was mostly directed at health risks.
I'm half asleep! So sue me!
homones or not is all on your dessision for what you want or dont want.
Personally I also fear getting bald, manly cause my face is one of the most femenine part of me, and I look very ugly without hair. I totally love my hair..
I dont know any ftm who got complitely bald.
luckyly I havent got bald, not yet, I am 1 year on T, maybe it will happent in the future, in that case I will try seach out threatment to see what I can do. but I thank my genes so far.
My father is over 50 and even thought his hair is thin and he got bald patterns his not complitely bald.. Mixed with my grandmothers team who got very strong hair..
So hopefully it would help me.
@Geek: Yeah, I get that. And the thing is...transition is a life-and-death thing for me. Definitely. In my current 'unable to transition' position, I'm borderline nonfunctional. I have horrific dysphoria, and I wonder why I bother to get up every day. But for me, transition doesn't involve taking T. It does involve top surgery, but T isn't a part of it for me.
Occassionally I wish I had the genetics to pull off androgyny while on T (and have substantial clit growth...during a time when I was considering a low dose of T, I considered having meta if it grew enough for such a thing to be worth it to me, because I'll NEVER be able to have sex in this body, I can't even look down there, but eventually I figured it probably wouldn't grow enough and that I'd be stuck with the freakily high sex drive while unable to even look at it and it'd be a bit of a hellish situation), but I know I don't and being non-T is basically the only transition option for me.
Also, I'm obsessed with my hair :P I don't really register people's faces, but I do register their hair, and baldness...nope.
I tend to be pretty simular, not noticing there face only there hair...
but I got alittle more used to look at peoples face as I got to japan. Its very hard looking the diffence on japanese people if you only see there hair...
--
also I tend never be interested in anyone bald or so,
but well, had to meet up someone bald who seams cool like I could date him if I wanted,
I still prefern someone with a good hairstyle thought.. and something to fuss
I think it depends very much on the person, what suits people.
Don't generalize. There is no research data saying "the majority of trans men go bald". If you are genetically predisposed to baldness you will go bald. Also are you perhaps confusing baldness with a male hairline pattern?
Quote from: Andy8715 on May 05, 2012, 09:46:05 AM
Also are you perhaps confusing baldness with a male hairline pattern?
Sooooooooo happy mine is changing!
Yeah I get that HRT isn't for everyone, I just don't think about it sorry :/ I guess for me it was a must so I don't really think about other scenarios, I guess it isn't helped because so many of us want it - post counts for the subject ;D
4 months on T and no hair loss to report.
Quote from: Andy8715 on May 05, 2012, 09:46:05 AM
Don't generalize. There is no research data saying "the majority of trans men go bald". If you are genetically predisposed to baldness you will go bald. Also are you perhaps confusing baldness with a male hairline pattern?
I guess its very likely..
I seen many places that the pattern is decribed as "male baldness".. well its not nessesarry like your getting bald, just your hairline who is chaning from a female to male pattern.. like the fat changes, and it dosent nessesarry makes your fat either..
I hope not.. I dont wanna get bald and fat XD
I've been on T a while and my hair line has changed but I don't know if it's stopped changing or the front of my hair is thining. I don't want to be bald but if I go bald it would be worth it because of all the other changes T has given me.
Quote from: Andy8715 on May 05, 2012, 09:46:05 AM
Don't generalize. There is no research data saying "the majority of trans men go bald". If you are genetically predisposed to baldness you will go bald. Also are you perhaps confusing baldness with a male hairline pattern?
Yes, thank you. I'm been on T since Dec '09 so that's...28.5 months for me. I'm definitely not bald, but my hairline is in a male pattern. My stylist actually told me my hair is getting thicker (I've always had thick hair) and asked what I was doing to it! Far from a majority of guys go bald on T. No offense, but if you're only a month or so into transitioning, I seriously doubt you've seen enough trans guys to be able to say whether a majority go bald after being on T for 2-4 years.
My best friend who started T this year started going bald within a few months, but Rogaine and thickening shampoo have put a stop to it. His hair is actually thicker than before.
He knows another trans guy who was put on blockers for going bald and they worked.
Since we live in a patriarchal society a cis-guy problem like balding is something we can actually solve, medically.
You know, Stealthy, you could stop taking T after a little while, if you were worried you were losing your androgyny.
I will be five months in in a few days and my hairline has changed in a way that makes me think I might be one of the dudes who loses his hair..
I know another transguy who this is not really the case for.
I knew this was a possibility before starting T but went for it anyway, it's something I need. I recently buzzed my hair to a 2 and take pride in my masculine hairline even if it's somewhat further back. In the event I lose my hair, so what, lol? I'm a bald dude, there's tons out there. Many of my role models in my community are bald, balding, thinning out, etc but they're confident, successful men nonetheless.
Quote from: Adio on May 05, 2012, 12:41:02 PM
No offense, but if you're only a month or so into transitioning, I seriously doubt you've seen enough trans guys to be able to say whether a majority go bald after being on T for 2-4 years.
I could not agree more.
A month into OFFICIALLY transitioning-that counter starts at April 5th, which is when I had my first therapist appointment. I've been in the trans community for quite a while, starting well before then.
Quote from: hurts2sayshalom (Call me Cal) on May 05, 2012, 04:23:41 PM
I knew this was a possibility before starting T but went for it anyway, it's something I need. I recently buzzed my hair to a 2 and take pride in my masculine hairline even if it's somewhat further back. In the event I lose my hair, so what, lol? I'm a bald dude, there's tons out there. Many of my role models in my community are bald, balding, thinning out, etc but they're confident, successful men nonetheless.
That's a great attitude to have, Cal.
Based on the science of what is happening, trans men should go bald in the same proportions as cis men. I can't think of any reason why it would be different.
Most men have a masculine hairline which might be just a tiny bit of balding that makes a more squared hairline instead of a rounded one. Most guys don't even notice it, it's so common. It can actually be more attractive to people who are attracted to men.
Quote from: Stealthy on May 05, 2012, 01:34:41 AM
So, a lot of research and stuff has led me to a decision-I'm probably going to be non-T. I'll write more about this on a later date (more likely on FTM Livejournal than here, though), but in the meantime, I need to know some of your experiences with T and hair loss.
One of the major influences in my decision is that in my observations, it seems that the majority of transguys go bald on T, usually somewhere around the 2-4 year mark, but sometimes earlier (I read about one guy who started having pretty extensive loss at a month). And it seems transguys go bald younger than cisguys-I know that quite a few cisguys start balding around their late teens or early twenties, but that seems to be pretty rare, while I've heard of heaps of transguys who that happens to, whether they have the genetics for it or not. While it's certainly not a 100% thing, it seems that more transguys go bald, and at younger ages.
I'm guessing that this is because of the different ways that T would affect a CAFAB person's body to that of a CAMAB person.
What're your personal experiences with T and hair loss?
This is something I worry about on T a lot. I'm loosing hair in the middle of my head and it bother's me a lot. My hair has thinned out a lot on T. But When it gets to the point where I can't stand it, I'll be getting a wig.
@Marion: I gotta say, I find it funny in a weird way how when considering T but not liking most of the effects I'm told not to take T if I can't deal with most of the common effects, but when deciding to be non-T because I can't deal with those effects I'm told to take a low dose/stop early...Catch-22?
@Andy: *shakes head* I'm not mixing up general hairline M-shaping with baldness. Pretty much all guys have an M-hairline, I know that, but it seems that for transguys who take T, they go bald more often than the general population.
@dalebert: Yeah, I'm honestly not sure why either, but it seems more transguys go bald than cisguys. If I had to guess why, I'd say it's because of CAFAB bodies being used to lower amounts of T than CAMAB bodies, which makes stuff like that happen more when T's taken.
@Dominick: Well, so long as you can find a GOOD wig :D
Hi,
The rates for baldness in ftm's compared to cismen is about the same and is obviously dependent on length of time on T. There are a whole bunch of studies done male pattern baldness in both cismen and ftm's.
If you're interested in reading more here are two journal articles that give statistics:
http://joe.endocrinology-journals.org/content/180/1/107.short (http://joe.endocrinology-journals.org/content/180/1/107.short)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9865198 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9865198)
If you want to read more than the abstract PM me and I'll grab a copy of the full text.
Quote from: Stealthy on May 05, 2012, 08:32:20 PM
@Andy: *shakes head* I'm not mixing up general hairline M-shaping with baldness. Pretty much all guys have an M-hairline, I know that, but it seems that for transguys who take T, they go bald more often than the general population.
You say things like "through my observations" and "it seems that..." not "here is a link to the research that has been done on trans men vs cis men and balding."
Quote from: Raneth on May 05, 2012, 09:32:55 PM
Hi,
Sorry to intrude on the ftm boards but I thought this was something I could shed some light on (I've got a degree in molecular genetics).
The rates for baldness in ftm's compared to cismen is about the same and is obviously dependent on length of time on T. There are a whole bunch of studies done male pattern baldness in both cismen and ftm's.
If you're interested in reading more here are two journal articles that give statistics:
http://joe.endocrinology-journals.org/content/180/1/107.short (http://joe.endocrinology-journals.org/content/180/1/107.short)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9865198 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9865198)
If you want to read more than the abstract PM me and I'll grab a copy of the full text.
Thanks for this. Probably dependent on their genetics too I'd think. Haven't read the articles yet.
Very cool, Raneth. Thanks for sharing! For those wanting a quick comparison:
Study with 81 trans men age 21-61 found "that 31 of 81 (38.3%) F-->M transsexuals had MPB [Male Pattern Baldness] type II-V [some loss to total loss]. Thinning of hair was related to the duration of androgen administration and present in about 50% of F-->M transsexuals after 13 years."
The study of cis men (not sure how many) ages 18-49 found that "the proportion of men with moderate to extensive hair loss (type III or greater) was 42%. The proportion of men with moderate to extensive hair loss increased with increasing age, ranging from 16% for men 18-29 years of age to 53% of men 40-49. Twelve percent of the men were classified as having predominantly frontal baldness (type A variants)."
So basically, based on these two studies (which isn't a ton, but still some actual research), the risk of MPB might be the same or lower for trans guys on T.
Call me vain, but I like my hair and it's staying where it is ;)
Quote from: insideontheoutside on May 05, 2012, 10:48:05 PM
Call me vain, but I like my hair and it's staying where it is ;)
I've got a jar of super glue ready to roll when i go bald
A few things. Sometimes I will echo what someone else has said.
First, everyone has his own reasons for going on T or not going on T. If hair loss is the main reason someone doesn't want to go on T, then that's his reason. It's not our place to judge.
Second, as someone else pointed out, you can take T for six or eight months, get the vocal changes, and then stop. Some guys do this. My therapist counseled a guy who did this and is apparently very happy that way.
Third, as a few people have pointed out, just about every trans man will get changes to head hair and will have a male hairline after a while. This is not the same as hair loss or balding. I don't think I know a single trans guy IRL that this hasn't happened to.
(Oh, stop with the numbers.) I know a BUNCH of trans guys IRL, and a few have experienced true hair loss and look fine--they're just regular guys. Only one guy has really lost a huge amount of hair. So saying that most trans guys go bald seems like a gross overgeneralization based on what I've seen in person and heard on Susan's. Unless you want to jump forward in time and predict that when we're seventy, we'll all have thinning or nonexistent head hair. I have no opinion on that because I don't know any seventy-year-old trans men.
I wasn't sure whether my own hair changes were hairline shifts alone or incipient balding, so I started taking Finasteride. I stopped about five weeks ago, and I can definitely say that it was helping to at least slow down the loss. I could go back on it, but I'm more worried about my hematocrit at the moment. We'll see.
I started T at 46, I'm 49 now, and my hair still looks great. I did look in the mirror yesterday and think, "You know what? If I lose it, I lose it. I'm not going to stop T. And, you know, I look pretty damn good with this hairline." I like my current hairline, and so far my marginal hair loss seems to be mostly all over--no bald patches and no obvious thinning that I or anyone else has noticed. The only real difference is in the hairline. In fact, I have my father's hairline, my brother's hairline. I actually like that. I'm also getting used to the idea of losing my hair, period, because, for me, T is necessary--and because I look like my male relatives. (Plus, my therapist has commented that my hairline looks really good, and he just corroborates what I think myself.)
Thus endeth my peroration on my personal observations and experiences with T and hair loss.
If T isn't for you, even for a short period of time, then more power to you. It's always there if you change your mind.
Quote from: Arch on May 06, 2012, 12:16:08 AM
First, everyone has his own reasons for going on T or not going on T. If hair loss is the main reason someone doesn't want to go on T, then that's his reason. It's not our place to judge.
This.
I think bit of hair lose happens when we get on T as a part of the process just like other body changes. As far as I know females tend to have more hair on the head