Just feels hopeless at this point. Been balding pretty badly and I'm only in my early to mid 20's. In a world where 1/2 of the female population says they won't date bald men and 2/3 of women in singapore says the same (which is the highest number I found). Being bald, or balding is like "dating suicide", especially in the context of online dating.

How are you guys dealing with it? Have any of you been trying to prevent it in any way? I don't know how true this is, but from what I've seen is that propecia (finasteride) is like the only thing that really works, only issue is that I'm afraid of it. The side effects are very well established, and while I haven't talked about it with a doctor, I'd assume this would be a really serious talk since the side effects are so well established, and you're actually fucking with your hormones and shit. Reading this straight from a study, this is what I found about the side effects (finasteride): 2.1-3.8% chance of experiencing erectile dysfunction (ED), which is the one that is the most common, followed by ejaculatory dysfunction and loss of libido. They also found that finasteride is infrequently associated with problems of ejaculation (2.1-7.7%), erection (4.9-15.8%), and libido (3.1-5.4%)

In my personal opinion, these numbers are pretty high and pretty scary. Obviously some of the side effects went away with continued use, or when they stopped the treatment all together, but in some cases (I'm unaware of the percentages), the damage is permanent. And I'd rather have a working dick than a hairline, especially considering that my hairline already is kinda dogshit at this point. Obviously I'd prefer not going bald, or keeping my current hairline as long as possible. Do any of you know of anything that works but that also doesn't fuck with your hormones / have insane side effects?