I'm a 28 year-old male.  In early December I had a haircut, and when I was home later on the computer, my wife noticed a bald spot.  I had never heard of Alopecia or known that such a condition even existed, so I was 100% sure that the barber had accidentally pressed too hard on the electric clippers and put a dent in my hair.  I just laughed and thought it would be invisible after a few days of regrowth.  I completely forgot about it, but my wife would mention to me every so often that it wasn't regrowing.  I somehow didn't believe her until I looked at it in the mirror and saw it was completely bald. 

I went to the dermatologist and they confirmed it as Alopecia, measured the patch as 4cm, ordered bloodwork, then gave me steroid injections directly into my scalp.

That was around close to three weeks ago, and I have noticed the patch is significantly larger already.  There is some light growth of fine hairs in different parts of the patch, but nothing approaching stubble or any significant regrowth.  My hair is long enough that it's not too visible unless you're looking for it, but as you can see from the photo on my profile, there is only a few centimeter border left on the left side.  If that "border" is gone, it will become very visible. 

I never really thought I would go bald based on looking at older family members and my style of hair.  I always decided if I did start having male pattern baldness, I would cut it to a fairly close-cropped look.  I also figured that if this happened I would just shave it when I noticed it receding, and it would feel like a more or less gradual process; it would be a gradual transition that I could slowly get used to.

Now--if this bald patch expands a little bit more, I've decided--I think I am just going to shave all my hair and try leaving only the smallest hint of stubble.  If the patches get really bad, it feels like I would need to basically shave every other day or so with a razor, because stubble with giant patches wouldn't look too good.  I'm not considering a wig or anything like that; I'd rather just be bald.  

It has helped me to see all the photos of people on this site, especially the women for which this is probably much more difficult to deal with.  I think just owning the condition and not being ashamed of losing your hair tends to show in your face and confidence.  The hardest thing for me--and again this patch may just regrow and I may not lose my hair--would probably be having to tell people that I'm okay and don't have cancer, or worrying that people might mistake me for a white supremacist or something like that.  My wife is being supportive and tells me it will probably just grow back, but that she doesn't care if I go completely bald.  I still do kind of worry that she might find me less attractive, even if she doesn't say it.

I'm really not interested in pursuing alternative medicine or even keeping up with steroid shots if they aren't working.  I have been meaning to get in better shape, and doing weight-training would be a good way to fit into the bald look better.  Losing my eyebrows and eyelashes, if it goes that far, would probably be the hardest thing for me to deal with, but I could probably get used to it.