Hi Venkman .... Photos can be very deceptive .....clarity and definition can be skewed [my own digital cam. isn`t the greatest for getting good pics. with ! ] From what I can see .... and the photo there showing your front-view in the mirror, it appears that you have more recession in the temples area really ..... yes there`s a bit of thinning on the crown and the crown-point itself but that`s kind of normal ... I know you`re still quite young, and naturally it`s a freaky thing to ` deal` with when you notice it, but it`s normal to begin to thin a bit at some stage..... some guys are SO lucky, and suffer little, if any, thinning, but most suffer some degree of it....just varies as to what age it sets in.
I`m glad ``EarlyTwenties`` gave his opinion too .. guys, please don`t take everything I say as literally ``it`` --- yeah I`m wearing hair about 15 years now, and have a lot of experience of it, but honestly, I`m not any type of ` Guru` .... I`m not too experienced in certain areas, such as these new thin-skin units ..... I used to wear all -poly toppers when I first started wearing ..they were functional and sure , I looked /felt a lot better than when looking at a big shiny area on my crown, but there were issues too ..such as these hair-clubs coating my head with glue, sticking the system on and leaving it there for up to a month at a time !! [no time to go into it now ! ]
Going back to your situation and the photo I refer-to: I`m wondering if you kept your hairline as it is now , shaved a little hair off just behind it, and slotted-in, a partial system which would restore your temple area ..... it`s just that I still think it`s a little too soon to shave the top of your head .... you could even use a little hair-thickener product ---``Concealer``, such as ` Toppik` [Google it]..this would help ` hide` or mask any thinning which you can see now ..it`s a temporary thing ...it can buy you time before you finally go to wearing a topper......you can monitor your thinning /hairloss over the next number of months and see if it`s getting worse.......
The trick with concealers is to know when to stop using them and transition to wearing..... a lot of guys use it way beyond what they`re ` designed- for` .......you wouldn`t need much of it as your hair`s not too thin .......concealers can have ` negatives ` ----can stain pillow slips, and in heavy rain , they can ` run` ....
Have a think about things before making a final decision .... come back and let us know what you want to do and I`ll be happy to mark a suggested outline of a template, on whatever photos you want, if that`s your decision [ to go for a topper] ...
Template-making can be tedious and time-consuming / frustrating at times ..most of us have had to make multiple ` stabs` at it at first ... it`s harder when you have a lot of hair in the way, like you do ! It`s a lot easier to make the shape /curve of a bare scalp !