Please don't give up in general, but please give up with apps. It's obviously doing your head in.
If you just read the comments in this thread, the general consensus is that they (apps) don't work for the majority or they don't work for HN'rs.
If you profiled the HN community, you'd probably won't be surprised we're (on average) not that good looking. We hack too much code, we're generally overweight (well there are some here that are REALLY into fitness), some have crazy or no hair, some have way too big ears, or even too many heads (zaphod beeblebrox).
But a lot of us have SO's. wtf? How can that be?
Think about this. Everyone on TV is so bloody good looking with shiny teeth and great hair. How can we (HN'rs) compete with that?
Answer: A lot of people out there are boring as fuck and don't know anything of the world. They talk about sports, how crap their job is, the problems with their front lawn and about owning the other political party. That's it. Yawn.
We're reading about some cool nuclear reactor type or how to bake bread, or reading about some benedictine monk seeing strange lightning.
We generally still love to learn about cool stuff and can generally have a good conversation with above average IQ people. We can see the funny side of life and often are quite funny (which is very attractive to potentials).
TLDR: Don't knock yourself down too much. We all have strange things going on and still get by. There's lots of good looking people that are SUPER dull.
One could say we might even have an advantage! ;-)
It sounds like you, and your mindset, are your own worst enemy right now.
[0] https://imagecdn.handitv.com/KDqbG-1644609552-816-blog-picar...
I've also started balding since I was 20 and it puts that much more pressure on me to find someone through these apps. It's so unhealthy but I don't know what to do anymore. Male pattern baldness is a horrible disease especially since it is genetic and not something that can necessarily be stopped, just slowed down by medications that aren't even effective for me, lol. I hate to think like this but it makes me mad that there are unhealthy and overweight individuals out there with great genetics and I'm just sitting here losing my hair at an unfair age even though I'm very health-conscious and fit.
I know for a fact I will have no luck with dating apps if I shave my head and go bald in my early 20s and I might as well give up now. At least when I know that when I go bald by 25 or 26, I can at least delete the apps and maybe I will feel relieved?(probably not)