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Male pattern bald by choice
Over the last 3 years I have been tweezing, pulling and epilating my head to gradually achieve a male pattern baldness. My hairline is permanently moved back about 3 inches and I have created a very visible bald spot at the crown while thinning out the remaining hair on top. My goal is to eventually have a MPB comb-over with just a few thin, whispy hairs draped across my bald dome.
So there is at least some MPB in your family, as there was/is in mine. My hair did recede a little in my 20s. When it stopped receding I was very disappointed and when I got to age 50 without further balding I all but gave up hope of ever going bald. Then suddenly I began balding very fast and I was 'over the top' excited and thrilled. But also scared. I was afraid my wife would hate it. Instead, she was as thrilled as I was about it. She begged me to just let myself go bald. The first thing I did was go for a medical checkup to make sure there was nothing physically wrong with me. There wasn't. Next I made an appointment with a hair restoration 'expert', not for advice on preventing or curing badness, but for confirmation that I was 'suffering' from male pattern baldness. They gave me a short list of things I should avoid or avoid doing that would stress my hair and accelerate balding. I took careful notes, intending to do as much as possible to damage my hair follicles and accelerate hair loss.
I switched to shampoos with extra conditioning for dry hair, as that would make my very oily hair even oilier, which would increase DHT levels in my hair follicles. DHT (didydrotestosterone) is responsible for MPB. After my daily shower, I made sure I was extra rough using my towel to dry my hair, as this would stress my hair and lengthen the dormant stages of hair follicles. This would allow DHT more time to shrink my hair follicles before each new hair began to regrow. All this worked, and I began to find a lot of hair on my pillow every morning and in the shower drain and in my towel after every shower.
One thing I did not do was take anabolic steroids, the kind body builders use to build muscles. Those are almost like testosterone and DHT and are notorious for accelerating male pattern baldness. But they can be dangerous and I was not willing to take the risk. As it turned out, they were not necessary. I quickly went bald anyway.
That is good info! I will be shampoo shopping here soon!
I hope my experience turns out to be helpful to you. Time is on your side, so Don't lose hope. When I was your age (late 40s) I almost lost hope of ever going bald, even though I had a high forehead and my hair was very receded at my temples. I kept checking the back of my head, hoping for the appearance of a bald spot. I started thinning there about my 52nd birthday. Two years later I was Norwood 6 bald. I'm not sure my choice of shampoos had anything to do with how fast I went bald. At least I can't prove it helped, but it didn't hurt.
When shopping for shampoos, be sure to read labels carefully and avoid shampoos that promote hair regrowth. I used 'Pert Plus Shampoo Plus Deep Conditioner for Dry Hair'. It's the conditioner that tends to clog hair follicles, especially if you already have oily hair. This helps DHT to build up in hair follicles that are dormant between growth cycles. As hair weakens and becomes finer and finer, it makes it more difficult for new hairs to emerge and grow, further weakening hair follicles. This is what the hair restoration 'expert' explained to me.