r/FTMOver30 • u/Selfcentred-Deer • 1d ago
VENT - Advice Welcome Wtf kind of nonsense is this?
I started T 9 weeks ago and my hair has been doing funny stuff since then. I know that the hairline changes - I’ve shed a lot of hair from my head overall and still do, it’s wayyy thinner than before (it was really thick, so it’s not a problem yet and I don’t think it’s male pattern boldness so much as hormonal shedding, which I had after pregnancy too). But the baby hairs that have been growing in my upper corner are stubbornly growing FORWARD, meaning they also kinda stick out if I push my hair back, which is how I usually wear it.
Did anyone experience something similar and when did the hormonal shift hair loss calm down?
Edit: I think I need to clarify because so many people are talking about the corner thinning. The opposite is the case. Those baby hairs have started growing there when previously there was just empty space basically or very thin blonde baby hairs. The shedding happens more over all, there‘s no particular spots that are going bald or becoming thinner, just generally a little less hair.
Topical minoxidil is in fact not an option btw because cats :)
I‘m getting my levels checked in November, I’ll ask about the hairloss then.
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u/squishybloo 1d ago
It's odd that it would start happening already if you've only been on for 9 weeks. It takes some time for DHT to build up in your system to the levels that would cause hair loss or significant changes, and it takes time for hair to fall out and be replaced by finer hairs. This looks like hair that's about 4+ months old based on how long it is, so it would have begun growing before you started T?
YMMV, but I'm 44 and my hair started experiencing changes like this at about a year. 9 weeks seems really really early for stuff to have progressed this fast.
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u/Selfcentred-Deer 1d ago
My hair started falling out 2 weeks on t - like I said it’s probably the hormonal shift itself, estrogen lowering or sth, not necessarily DHT related. No male pattern baldness in my family anywhere. And unfortunately that’s not 4 months for me. It literally started growing around the same time the rest started to fall out and my hair just grows like weed. I have to get my perm renewed every three months because it has grown out 6-8 cm by then 😭
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u/tonyisadork 1d ago
You’re developing a male hairline. Totally normal. The other shedding may be hair loss but this generally is normal though 9 weeks is super early. Have you had your T levels checked?
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u/Selfcentred-Deer 1d ago
Nope not yet, they usually do it after three months on t gel for the first time here. But my voice already dropped pretty significantly too 😅
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u/Embarrassed-Order-83 1d ago
If your voice is already starting to drop it could very well be that your hairline is changing too.
It took about a year or so for my voice to drop & facial hair started around year 2… and now that I’m approaching 5 years I’m covered in hair and have a full beard 🧔🏻 I definitely thought that it would never happen but the body works in mysterious ways!
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u/Splendafarts 1d ago
Hmm, this is how baby hairs always grow in, in my experience. On me and all my friends who have fine hair. Same as how they grow in on kids. I like it because it covers the little bald spot. If you don’t want them - I accidentally shaved my baby hair off in that exact spot many years ago, before T, and they’ve never grown back.
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u/Mostlyghostly234 1d ago
Ok a few things
1. It’s FINE if your hair thins or even if you maybe go bald. It’s better than the life you lived pre T trust me yku can be hot and bald
2. It’s probably more likely your hairline is masculine now. It’s following a more male pattern, my hair went from a U shape to a V shape if that makes sense. But I have hair down to butt and still have hair up top
3. Hair care is essential if you don’t want to risk more thining. Talk to your doc about finastred or minoxidil ( BE VERY CAREFUL WITH CATS IF YOU HAVE THEM IT WILL KILL YOIR CATS)
If you want a more gentle “natural” path, try hair oiling, look up how don’t just slather oil in your hair. Rosemary oil, and caffeine hair oils all great. For me I also started taking pumpkinseed oil orally and I use a bonet as well as an oil regimen and a dandruff shampoo that promotes hair growth and is really great at helping my edges re grow.
All in all you have options, stress about it and it’ll get worse. Learn to live with it because sometimes that’s what yku got. I’m happy I’m on T, I’m hairy more smelly I gained weight and my hair changed, I’d much rather be like this, like myself. You’ve got this!
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u/AK88Ev1 1d ago
I hear you, I been looking for answers to a lot of questions you've answered, thank you. I'm particularly curious about the dandruff bit because I didn't have that before and now I do (2 years on T) and the hair loss, does that starts to happen on the 3-4rth year I'm guessing? Is it unavoidable? Or it happens to the majority of Trans men?
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u/Mostlyghostly234 22h ago
I would say it depends on you! The men in my family are bald and I’m fine. Turns out it’s not just based on family patterns but you and how your body takes to the T. The shampoo I use is called niazirol forgive my spelling! It’s in a blue bottle!
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u/Selfcentred-Deer 1d ago
I know you mean well but that’s highly presumptuous.
First of all: you don’t even know the life I lived pre T.
Obviously I knew going in that that was a thing that could happen, doesn’t mean I’m just going to be FINE with it. Just that I still considered it the better option.
Also, yes, I‘ll keep an eye out and talk to my doctor about it but DHT related hairloss is highly unlikely this shortly after starting T AND my family doesn’t have a history of it: my dad and both my granddads have a head full of hair and not even bald corners. My annoyance was more about the stubborn hairs growing forward than the overall hairloss. Because like I said: it’s likely the hormonal shift itself, I experienced the same thing after pregnancy and then it grew back tenfold. 🙈3
u/Mostlyghostly234 22h ago
I mean all the happier for you! It’s on the the ftm after 30 Reddit so you’ll have to forgive some assumptions here. But in general if your not happy or comfortable talk with your doc
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u/Selfcentred-Deer 21h ago
Yeah, valid. I tend to forget I’m over 30 lol but yeah I don’t wanna instantly panic about the hair thinning when my body is doing so much at once currently and might just be shedding and regrowing (there‘s also baby hairs across the rest of my skull)
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u/Artistic_Reference_5 1d ago
I did experience this and if I recall correctly I spent some months just shaving those hairs off. But my hair was short overall so
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u/Selfcentred-Deer 1d ago
Ah yes, mine‘s more Chalamet length when he was still an artsy French boy😅 but I might be able to shave that corner anyway. It’s just so weird
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u/plutopsyche 1d ago
My thick, curly hair also got much thinner, and my hairline reshaped into a widow's peak, which it looks like you're starting to see the beginnings of.
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u/Selfcentred-Deer 1d ago
Yeah could be it. My corners have been bald and full of hair in phases throughout my life though. Even on estrogen.
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u/jamfedora 1d ago
See, this is why I shave my corners/square off, mine have always grown kinda forward. It’s wild you developed a cowlick on T lol, though I guess getting curlier is pretty common and I’m already curly so that might be why mine always have done that.
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u/Selfcentred-Deer 1d ago
Yeah my cowlick there always went more to the side lol. It was basically where my hair naturally split a bit to the sides, but now it decided to just grow straight forward.
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u/Glum_Bedroom_4955 1d ago
First few months on t, then it calmed down
Recently (a little over a year on t) I started losing hair again, not sure whether it’s “just” stress and/or genetic.. my brother went bald in his 20s and I’m 31 now, so I knew this might be my fate after all
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u/Selfcentred-Deer 1d ago
Oh yeah 🙈 I guess it’s always a possibility, especially if it runs in the family. Might be worth going on Finasteride sooner rather than later though if it’s probable. (Just read someone say they‘d done it earlier)
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u/number1catdad 1d ago
You're gonna be alright. This is what happens. Your baby hairs will all fall out over time. It can be a shock at first, but it is inevitable if you continue hrt. Finastride will block dht from further thinning an balding. Talk to your doc about getting a prescription.
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u/HelpfulSetting6944 1d ago
Omg I noticed that one side of my hairline is growing lots of baby hairs and the other side isn’t 😭 my best guess is that, that’s the side I lay on when I sleep, and I probably lay on my gelled-up arm (I apply gel before bed). At any rate, yes, hair and hormones are cool and weird
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u/thambos 15+ years T/post-top 1d ago
I don’t recall anything like this happening when I started T, but my hair does sit differently than it used to and it didn’t occur to me that it might actually be growing differently than it used to!
Can you slick these back with some pomade or gel?
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u/Selfcentred-Deer 1d ago
Nope, their actually pretty thick at their base and stubborn af wanting to connect with my eyebrows or smth 😭 when I slick them back best I get is an antenna in the front
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u/Flashy-Yogurt-Dance 1d ago
Have you been more stressed than normal lately? Lots of reasons for hair loss.
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u/r00dnragged 1d ago
wait how does topical minoxidil affect cats? im about to start t and male pattern baldness runs in the family so ive been thinking about minoxidil as well. but i have 2 cats, so now im confused, please inform me?
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u/ThrowawayTheOmlet 1d ago
It will kill your cats. Like, very easily. You put it on and they lick your skin, dead. Ive wanted to use it on my face for years to try and grow a short beard, but I’m terrified of killing my dog so I haven’t. I also just saw a guy on tiktok post a warning because his cat just died from licking him and he put it on
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u/r00dnragged 1d ago
thank you for this! maybe I'll talk to my doc and figure out other options if i start balding
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u/ThrowawayTheOmlet 21h ago
For sure. You can also take it in pill form, but you can’t target specific areas that way. And you’d have to look into if it’ll still make your skin toxic just in case.
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u/Selfcentred-Deer 1d ago
It’s toxic to cats even in small doses. As in deadly toxic. So never use topical minoxidil around cats.
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u/ConfidentAd9164 1d ago
Yes I experienced the same thing. Unfortunately for me I take after my mother's side and am going bald very slowly. Ive been on T for 10 years and it's honestly started kicking in hard the past 2 years. I am 35 though at this point so I expect something. My one cis brother actually got lucky and took after my father's side and has strong hairline. It's not all bad and I have been growing my hat collection!
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u/ciggiebuttbrainz 1d ago
Just gonna chime in and say hormonal changes of any kind can trigger telogen effluvium, which causes a lot of hair to go into the dormant phase, then shed, then grow back again. It’s a bit stressful but happens to me when I’ve changed my dose significantly. My hunch is along with the changes of the hairline masculinising, it freaks a lot of guys starting t into thinking they are immediately going bald. Which they may or may not be? I usually have a bit of a tingly sensation, 6 months of shedding then strong regrowth and it itches like crazy when it’s coming in again.
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u/Selfcentred-Deer 1d ago
Thank you! That’s very helpful actually. Yeah my hair has always been prone to hormonal fluctuations aswell, I remember faintly when I stopped taking the pill that it first became thinner and then grew back so much thicker aswell.
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u/_Glenn_Gould_ 1d ago
Those hair are going to fall, I had long hair when I started T and I just shaved them and connected them with a small undercut.
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u/Selfcentred-Deer 1d ago
😳 I am NOT shaving my curls. I promised Instagram when Connor Storrie got a buzzcut that I’d still be available to help with the curl shortage lol
But yeah I might shave those corner bastards off
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u/goldengraves 1d ago
Looks like that corner might be thinning out as your hairline changes and that's why it lays that way?
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u/Selfcentred-Deer 1d ago
The opposite. There was no hair before and now it started growing 😅
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u/goldengraves 5h ago
That's so odd (cool!) ? It looks like it wants to form a curls like the rest but stopped at just being baby hair instead - alternatively, do the men in your family have a lot of cowlicks?
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u/Selfcentred-Deer 4h ago
Hmmm I dunno tbh I remember my dad complaining about one once but not to the extent of „I have lots of them“
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u/Natural-Hamster-3998 1d ago
Welcome to the CLERB! Also, this may not be a signal for hair loss. Your front hairline is masculinizing into the classic w shape. Mine did that at first, then it stabilized. THEN it started falling out LOL