Last Updated on August 15, 2023 by Robert Price

It’s a sad reality.

Many young men start losing their hair before they lose their virginity.

This can cause severe emotional distress, social isolation, low self esteem, and an array of other soul and confidence-crushing effects. For some, certainly not all! If you’re going bald and you accept it, more power to you! I think that’s enviable, I really do.

And, I have a whole category of articles dedicated to you, my young Jedi, available in the embracing hair loss section of my site.

But for the rest of you who are struggling, I’m going to educate, inspire, and motivate you on your journey. I’ll review the basics of balding, the top treatment options for teenagers, and give you some practical, no-BS advice that will help you stay happy, healthy, and sane, in spite of your hair loss.

Keep reading; you won’t find this information on the hair loss forums, or from your parents, or even from your shrink.

Part I – Keeping Your Hair

I’m not going to lie to you. The odds may be stacked against you.

Most aggressive cases of male pattern baldness start when young men are in their teens or early 20s.

Maybe it’s coming out in clumps in the shower. Or maybe each time you put your fingers through your hair, it starts falling out like you’re on chemo. That’s not uncommon. Perhaps your scalp is now visible through your hair. This leads me to my first piece of advice:

Know Your Enemy, Know Yourself

As Sun Tzu famously said in The Art of War, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”

Winston Churchill knew his enemy: Hitler! And he won. Without him we all might be living under Nazi rule. There were no hair loss treatment options for Sir Winston then, there are now, for you.

Of course early-onset male pattern baldness is the enemy here. Picture yourself as a young, balding man. Now imagine yourself as an older, 35ish bald man. It won’t be as bad as you think!

But if you know yourself, and you know that you don’t want to accept baldness, then you should view it as an enemy and try to combat it to the best of your ability, without getting obsessed.

After you finish this, head up to the main menu and read my hair loss 101 and top treatments articles. They will help you get familiarized with your enemy and how to fight it.

A Bit on My Story & Why It Matters

Look, I’m a 32-year-old dude and I’m not balding. But I can relate to you, I promise. Both my grandpas were bald. My dad wasn’t. I recently had a balding scare, and until very recently, I was absolutely terrified of losing my hair. That’s why I researched hair loss like Tom Hanks researched AIDS in the movie Philadelphia. And thus, this hair loss blog was born.

More: I had the worst case of acne in my high school. Is horrendous acne worse than hair loss for a teenager? Depends on who you ask, and probably on the severity of the hair loss and acne, respectively.

But the acne destroyed my confidence, my social life, my self-worth, and more. I could sense people’s disgust when they looked at my massive cysts and pus-filled face.  It took me years to fully recover, and I still have to make an effort at times to look someone in the eye when they’re talking to me. I still feel the presence of my severe acne on occasion, all these years later, even though it’s largely disappeared and all that remains are little scars and pockmarks.

I was so depressed, I avoided going on accutane for well over  a year, even though I knew I needed it.  I just checked out completely. The result was additional scarring and misery. It was one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made. Now, back to you….

Early male pattern baldness is similar to acne of the severe, disfiguring variety in this regard: If you don’t get it under control fairly quickly, it can do some serious damage. If you see an older bald guy with a classic horseshoe, type 6 or 7 balding pattern, chances are he started losing his hair when he was about your age. This isn’t fear mongering; it’s just meant to let you know what you’re up against.

You could get lucky, too! Hair loss does stop for some people. Former US President George HW Bush started losing his hair in his late teens or early twenties during WWII. His hair loss never got much worse after that, at least not until he was an elderly man. And his story is not necessarily uncommon either. But if severe baldness is in your genes, and you want to keep your hair, I wouldn’t advise you to count on getting lucky.

Put a Fire Under It

Treating Your Hair Loss

Early intervention is the key! If you have aggressive hair loss as a teenager, it would be wise to act quickly. Thinning is only visible to the naked eye after extensive loss has already occurred. So I’d suggest reviewing your treatment options here, and seeing a dermatologist or hair loss specialist ASAP.

The Top Four Hair Loss Treatments for Teens (18+)

Check with your doctor of course, especially if you’re under 18. Based on my extensive research, these are your best four best treatment options for teenage hair loss.

1. Finasteride

Finasteride or Propecia is only approved for men 18 years and older. It can stop hair loss in its tracks and promote regrowth, often for a decade or longer.

The drug works remarkably well for 9 out of 10 guys.

That’s an outstanding success rate.

It comes with some risks, though, there’s no doubt about it, namely the possibility of sexual side effects. This is the only treatment that will effectively address the cause of your hair loss, DHT. There’s a decent chance your doctor will recommend Propeccia to you, although many doctors are hesitant to prescribe the drug to teenagers. Before your appointment, I’d suggest doing some research on Propecia, its side effects, benefits, etc.

As a hair loss researcher and consumer advocate, I took a long, hard, and honest look at Propecia.

2. Minoxodil

Minoxidil gets a bad wrap sometimes, but it often does a great job helping men maintain the hair they have. Regrowth is more appealing, I realize, and that’s possible with minoxidil too. But maintenance is absolutely critical if you want to win the war against early-onset hair loss, so if I were you, I’d probably take a serious look at minoxidil. It’s only FDA approved for men over 18, but many doctors recommend minoxidil “off-label” to their younger patients. Talk to your doctor first.

3. PRP

PRP is a new and exciting treatment option in the hair loss field. Not sure if this is available for minors or not. Some say it’s the best-kept secret in dermatology.

PRP treatments contain the patient’s own blood platelets, which are packed with seven growth factors and other healing properties. The results can be pretty outstanding to unimpressive, at best.

Finding an experienced doctor who specializes in PRP may be a challenge, however, and it’s not a cheap treatment, nor is it permanent. $400 is about the minimum for basic PRP sessions — and you’ll probably need at least 3-4 rounds per year if you go that route. Some practitioners offer PRP+ACell treatments which are more expensive and can last longer (up to 1 year or so). This could be a possible stopgap option for you, again, if you can swing it financially.

4. Laser Therapy

Low-Light Laser Therapy is another option if you can afford it. It’s unlikely to work as well as minoxidil or finasteride, in my opinion. But there are no major side effects to speak of, that’s the main benefit.

Studies have shown that laser therapy can help treat hair loss in both men and women.

My in-depth laser therapy review features more information about the treatment.

More Good News

Within the next 10 years,  hair loss treatments are likely improve dramatically. They should get safer, better, and more effective. Additionally, hair transplants are often undetectable, but that’s probably not going to be a viable option for you for awhile. Most doctors advise young men to get their hair loss under control before considering a transplant. 25 is often regarded as the minimum age for a transplant, some doctors will go a bit younger (source).

Part II – Increasing Your Confidence & Staying Sane

First, you need to be realistic. And you need to…

Get comfortable with the worst-case scenario.

Like I said earlier, it’s a good idea to really imagine what life will be like for you as a bald man. Because you could go bald. So could I, so could anybody. Be practically pessimistic.

You could go bald, like Bruce. And it may not be so bad, after all!

Look, it may suck. It may really suck, but it’s not going to be the end of the world. You’ll get over it. There are plenty of bald, successful, good-looking, happy men out there you can look to for inspiration — and there’s no reason you can’t be one of them. Once you accept your baldness, assuming you go bald, nobody else who matters is going to care or think less of you for it. That I can pretty much guarantee you.

Bald men still get hot chicks. Most gay guys won’t care if you’re balding, either, if that’s your thing. And the shaved-head look is more acceptable now than ever before — hell, it’s celebrated!

You can hit the gym and get ripped; you can grow an awesome beard (probably, eventually) you can get a sick pair of frames and learn Brazilian ju-jujitsu. The possibilities are endless. Life will go on, and you’ll be OK either way.

Have a Plan

This section is critical. I mention the importance of planning in my How to Beat the Balding Blues article, if you’re interested. You need to know yourself, you need to know your enemy, and you need to have a plan if you want to combat your hair loss without becoming obsessed or crazy.

That should be the goal. You don’t want to go nuts over this, or lose any self-esteem in the process.

You could lose the battle, that’s why it’s a good idea to be prepared for baldness by visualizing yourself as a bald man. What will it feel like? What will you wear? How will you interact with others? 

Winning your war against hair loss is the objective, obviously. And if you have a plan, you’ll have an excellent chance of emerging from your baldness battle with your hair (or at least most of your hair), your sanity, and your confidence in tact. It will keep you focused and at peace.

Your Hair Objective

First, we’re going to devise a plan that will help you achieve your hair goal — and this goal needs to be realistic. If you’re 19 and you’re already working on Norwood class six balding pattern, it’s unrealistic to expect miraculous results overnight. It could take you years and multiple hair transplants to achieve your desired hair thickness and coverage — and frankly, you may never get there. If you’re earlier  in the process and just starting to recede a little bit, you can aim higher.

Look at your hair loss battle as a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t expect instant gratification.

I want to keep my hair until….

Your goal may start something like that. Fill in the blank. Some men just want to keep their hair through college, others want to keep until they’re 30, others until they’re married. Some are greedy and want to retain thick, healthy hair forever.

Don’t get too ambitious here. That’d be my only advice. In 10 years, like I said, there should be better, safer, more effective treatments available than there are now, so if you can just maintain until then, hopefully you’ll be in pretty good shape at that point.

The Treatment Plan

So let’s say, as an example, your goal is to keep most of your hair until your 30th birthday.

Next, you’ll create a step-by-step plan to achieve that goal. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but I’d encourage to write out your plan in your own words. It could go something like this:

1. Educate myself on the basics of hair loss.
2. Track my family’s hair loss history (If one of your close relatives starting balding when they were about your age, there’s a decent chance you’ll follow a similar hair loss “trajectory” so to speak).
3. Review my hair loss treatment options thoroughly
4. Schedule an appointment with a surgeon or dermatologist, and have my hair loss evaluated professionally.
5. Choose a treatment course that fits my budget and goals, with help from my doctor.
6. Evaluate my progress (hair losses or gains) once per month, and once per month only.

Your “Stop Obsessing” Plan

Let’s create one more action plan that will focus on your your mental and emotional health. This is just as critical, especially if you’re struggling with depression, self-esteem issues, or anxiety because of your hair loss. At the very least, you should want to stay sane and not get obsessed.  Ambition is fine here!

It’s good to learn about hair loss. But once you’ve educated yourself on the subject and started a treatment regimen, you should shift your focus elsewhere. More on that momentarily. Writing out your own action plan is encouraged, again.

But here’s another example for you. Also, after you list each step, try to explain why that step is important. So if the first part of your action plan is to stop evaluating your hairline constantly, the second part could go something like this: because constantly evaluating my hairline is a total waste of time, it depresses me, and it drains my energy. 

Make sense?

I’ll give you an example.

So if your objective here is to simply stay sane and not get obsessed with your hair loss, your step-by-step action plan could go something like this.

1. Stop evaluating my hairline constantly, because that does me absolutely no good. 
2. Avoid looking in that mirror in the downstairs bathroom, because it triggers obsessive thoughts and behavior. 
3. Only allow myself to evaluate my hair loss once per month, for no more than 10-15 minutes, because evaluating my hair loss more often than that would be counter-productive. 
4. Start working out more often, so I can have a physical outlet be more confident about my body.
5. Find another goal I can pursue with dedication and passion, so I can replace my negative thoughts and energy with something positive. 

Shift Your Focus

You have more control of your thoughts and emotions than you realize. When you find yourself feeling envious of your more follicly blessed buddies, shift your focus to other guys who are losing their hair too. They can be older or the same age.

I assure you, you’re not alone here! 70-80% men have the balding gene, and about 30% of your male peers will be balding by the time they’re 30. So even if you lose your hair, it gets easier (and a lot more common with time), I promise.

Your buddy who’s already shaving his head at 19 is probably balding. It’s his way of dealing with it, and that’s perfectly fine! Just keep that in mind. You can shift your focus away from your emotional triggers, too, like the unflattering mirror in the downstairs bathroom I mentioned earlier.

You can also shift your focus anytime you choose from your hair to other, more important things. Like getting rich! There’s a world of opportunity out there, but the job market sucks. And most jobs suck. College doesn’t prepare you for shit, in most cases, except a life in your parent’s basement. That’s unless you get an engineering or accounting degree or other degree along those lines.

Choose a practical major if you go the high-education route, that’s all I’m saying. Don’t get yourself a damn English degree and start out 30K in debt like I did! Moving on…

A basement-dwelling millennial. I say it’s better to be bald than live like this at 25. Just embarrassing.

Yeah, now’s actually the perfect time for you to focus on starting a business, whether it’s online (probably the best option) or in your community. People have low expectations of you right now.

But you probably have no major debts or children or other distractions to worry about. Focus, that’s all it takes to succeed. Surprise your doubters and critics. Prove them wrong. Give up the balding obsession, start your treatment program and forget about it, and put your heart into something you care about. Then you’ll get what you want in life — and you’ll get it faster than you think.

30 is the New 20 (For Most People)

But you don’t need to accept that reality and keep living in mom’s basement for the next decade. Don’t fall 10 years behind. You’ll regret it. I wish somebody told me this stuff when I was your age — so even though I feel uncomfortable giving advice, I think you may thank me later.

Some Inspiration for You – Elon Musk of Tesla

Elon is proof that you can have it all.

Elon Musk started his first software company, Zip2, in 1995 while still in his early 20s. He sold it and collected a cool 22 million a few short years later. His balding was already extremely obvious by that point. He likely got a hair transplant (or multiple transplants) later.

Now he runs Tesla and is worth over 11 billion dollars. One of his many goals is to colonize Mars. He didn’t let early male pattern baldness stop him from being successful or from eventually getting his hair back. You can probably have it all too if you apply yourself: money, hair, cars, beautiful women, etc.

Go out and get laid. That’s fine too. It will help you assert your masculinity in a meaningful way and minimize your stresses and frustrations. Join Tinder, do whatever you need to do, and try to go a little easy on the porn.

Having other hobbies or interests will help. Even if you go the business route, which I think would be a wise move, you need to have balance in your life. You could get into fitness, mountain climbing, surfing, chess, whatever. Having at least one physical outlet is advised.

Former US President Teddy Roosevelt suffered from severe depression. Getting action was his way of coping with it.

Accept Your Hair As It Is, For Now

Your hair doesn’t define you.  You can buzz it off if you want, even just temporarily if it’s becoming more of a hassle than it’s worth. The point is: if you’re feeling insecure about your hair loss, other people will sense it. Your social interactions will suffer, and your overall quality of life will diminish.

I know, I was the guy with the worst acne in high school, remember? And I let it ruin me for a few years. Maybe more. You don’t need to make that same mistake. Consider the mental, emotional, and social costs of your hair loss obsession. It may help to write them all down. My acne negatively affected every aspect of my life, and maybe your hair loss is doing the same thing to you.

If it’s really bad and bothering you constantly, shave it. Go ahead. It could be a liberating experience, and the bald-head look is fashionable right now. Maybe embracing your hair loss is the right course for you, at least for the time being.

People pay far less attention to your hair than you realize. Your personality is what counts. That’s not bullshit, either. Women are mostly interested in your personality and social status right now.

I knew plenty of ugly dudes who got laid like crazy in high school, because they were cool and popular. Actually many were jerks too. Go figure. Your career and financial status will also start mattering to women in the near future, but that’s not a factor yet. Your hair doesn’t interest them much, if at all, either, I assure you. Women are way less superficial than men are — that’s one of the many perks of being a man!

Balding in Your Teens – How to Keep Your Hair and Stay Sane, A Summary

1. Know Your Enemy, Know Yourself – Try to learn the basics about hair loss, and do a self-inventory of sorts so you can understand your own goals.
2. Review Your Treatment Options – Evaluate the pros and cons of minoxidil, Propecia, laser therapy, and PRP.
3. Consider Letting it Go – You want to imagine what life will be like for you as a bald man, assuming you do go bald. Embracing hair loss is the best course for many men, and it’s something you should think about at the very least. Undoubtedly, lots of men look good bald.
4. Take Care of Your Body – As comedian Bill Burr says, staying in shape is the great equalizer for balding teenagers and young men.
5. See a Doctor – Whether you’re balding at 15, 16, 17, 18, or 19, you should try to see a doctor if you can. It’s most likely you’re dealing with male pattern baldness, AKA androgenic alopecia, but other factors or conditions could also be playing a role in accelerating your hair loss.
6. Make a Two-Fold Plan – You want to create both a treatment and an emotional wellness plan, so you don’t become a slave to your hair loss.
7. Shift Your Focus – Try to find a new, positive outlet (or multiple outlets) to replace your hair loss obsession, if applicable. You could join a gym, take up surfing, start a new a business, or all of the above. The choice is yours.
8. Accept Your Hair as It is, for Now – You don’t have to love your hair, but you need to accept it for what it is, at least for the time being. Wear a hat if you need to. Use concealer products like Toppik. Do whatever you need to do.

Closing Thoughts

Hang in there. Going bald as a teenager isn’t easy, but it’s a challenge most men overcome successfully. You’re going to overcome it, too. Hair loss is ultimately a first-world problem, so consider yourself lucky that it’s a concern of yours. Does that sound overly condescending? I hope not.

I started writing this article months ago..

I knew what I wanted to say, but I understand hair loss is an emotional, raw topic for many teenagers. I didn’t want to sound patronizing or unsympathetic, nor did I want to provide a sense of false hope.

There are effective treatments for hair loss, all of which have benefits and risks, but there’s no cure. And early hair loss is often aggressive, so it’s critical for you to act quickly if you’re considering the treatment path. It’s also important that you start getting comfortable with the worst-case scenario — i.e. being the bald guy.

Feel free to leave a comment or question; I’m happy to try and help you out if I can. I’ll also provide links to a few more, hand-selected articles you may find enlightening.

You May Also Like

• The 10 Things You Absolutely Must Do When You Realize You’re Balding
• The Top 7 Hair Loss Treatment Options of 2017
• Hair Loss 101 – Everything You Need to Know About Balding
• The Top 7 Benefits of Embracing Hair Loss
• 12 Steps to Dating Success for Bald and Balding Men
• Beat the Balding Blues – How to Overcome Your Hair Loss-Related Stress, Depression, and Insecurities in Two Weeks or Less

Robert Price

Robert Price is a writer, consumer advocate, and hair loss researcher with thousands of hours of experience in the field. His goal is to keep you out of the hair loss rabbit hole, underworld, or whatever you want to call it. He founded Hair Loss Daily, the unbiased hair loss blog, in 2016. You can learn more about Robert in the my story section of this website.