It may still be too late at that point. In my experience people who care about a man's hair (women, mostly) see hair loss as a binary thing - you either have a full head of hair, or you're balding. They don't see a guy in the earliest stages of hair loss and say "Oh, he's got a pretty decent Norwood score!", they say "he's bald".

I've known two women that mentioned they'd rather date a man with a full head of hair who shaves his head than a balding man who shaves his head. I pressed it as far as asking "Well, what if they keep shaving it for life?" Same answer.

It also depends on your head shape, I see a lot of men who are very good looking still with a fair amount visible recession, and they do quite well with their dating life.

Personally I just felt like the relatively small amount of recession I had looked terrible on me because I already had a tall forehead to begin with, and I'm still in my 20s.

To be honest: most women care way less than you think. Personality trumps hair 95% of the time. A good barber can make you look good even with thinning hair, fine someone you like, stick with them, and tip well.

Keep in mind Finasteride isn't for recession, but for loss at the crown, though it is known to work elsewhere - it isn't approved for that.

That is not true at all. I have been taking finasteride for years, since I noticed a little recession around my temples and a small loss of density around the front. I noticed it because I know my hair well.

The only other people that might actually be able to tell it are my parents. Except for that, every other person to whom I mention I use finasteride and minoxidil says something of the sort: "wtf, you have a full, dense head of hair, why would you take anything?".

I think it's more likely that if someone's in the earliest stages of balding, people are more likely to say "he has a widow's peak" than "he's bald". Until someone hits Norwood stage 4, there's no visible bald spot, just recession around the temples.

I don't think that's true. Nicholas Cage in Con Air is pretty obviously balding, but no one would say he's bald.

He's been wearing different hair pieces for years.

For some reason actors get a pass.

Keven Smith was tired of Bruce Willis talking about his weight. So, in a friendly guy's banter, he started calling him Cue Ball on a set.

Everyone said Bruce can make fun of us, but never mention his hair.

Whomever did Elon Musk's hair line did a good job.

> For some reason actors get a pass.

Being able to spend a lot of time and money to look good does wonders to help take the sting out of whatever physical flaws one might have.

Not to mention most of them are generally attractive which also helps in a similar way.