u/saggitormented

I joined a subreddit looking for a referral and ended up getting permanently banned. The ban message literally just said "Bye."

I replied because I genuinely wanted to understand what happened, and instead of explaining anything, I got mocked. It honestly amazes me how some moderators treat random strangers over something so insignificant.

I get that moderators have to enforce rules, but if you're going to permanently ban someone, at least explain why instead of treating it like a power trip.

Has anyone else had an experience where a moderator seemed more interested in being rude than actually moderating?

I've been smoking heavily, every single day, for over 10 years.

Today I finally smashed my bong because I genuinely can't keep living like this. Weed has become my entire life. I don't know who I am without it anymore. I feel like I've spent my twenties escaping everything.

The problem is that about an hour after smashing it, my brain completely flipped.

Now I'm trying to convince myself to go buy joints because I leave for a 2-day work trip to Cancun tomorrow. My brain keeps saying, "Just smoke today, then the trip will force you to be sober for two days and you can start when you get back."

Part of me knows that's probably just my addiction bargaining. Another part of me is terrified that sober life is going to be miserable. I've quit before for a few months after bad breakups, but I was still depressed and felt like I had no motivation, so I'm scared my brain is permanently messed up or that I'll never enjoy life without weed.

I'm honestly sitting here going back and forth every few minutes about walking to the dispensary.

For those of you who have actually quit after years of daily use:

- Did your brain bargain with you like this?

- If you had gone and bought weed "one last time," do you think it would've changed anything?

- What got you through the first few days when every part of you wanted to give in?

Please be honest. I don't need motivation. I need reality from people who've been where I am.

I could really use some outside perspective because I'm not sure if I'm overthinking this.

About a year ago, I became the first sales hire at a startup. At the time, there really wasn't a sales function, so over the past year I've helped build it from the ground up. That has meant everything from creating outreach strategies and messaging, building relationships from scratch, running demos, attending trade shows, opening new accounts, developing partnerships, helping shape how we position the product, and seeing deals all the way through to execution.

One of the things I've loved most is that it never felt like I was "just doing sales." It felt like I was helping build the business.

Recently, we hired a Director of Growth.

I think it's a great hire and I genuinely believe he'll bring a lot of value. My concern isn't that he was hired. It's that I'm struggling to understand how our roles fit together.

He's now involved in many of the opportunities and relationships I've spent the last year building, and he's joining a lot of the meetings with those clients. At the same time, I know he's leading strategic partnership conversations and other growth initiatives that I'm not involved in.

My manager has said we're one team and there's no hierarchy, but he also recently made a comment that the original team got the product to where it is today, and the new hire is here to really scale it. I know it was probably meant as a positive comment, but it made me wonder where I fit in the next stage of the company.

Long term, I don't just want to be the person who generates opportunities. I want to own relationships, build strategic partnerships, work on larger deals, and continue helping shape where the company goes.

I'm happy to collaborate. In fact, I want to. I just don't want my role to slowly shift from owning relationships to simply creating them for someone else to take further.

Am I overthinking normal startup growing pains, or is it reasonable to have a conversation with my manager about how he sees my role evolving and what ownership looks like as the company grows?

I'd really appreciate hearing from people who've been early employees at startups that started bringing in more senior leadership.

My hair is extremely fine and low density, and I'm definitely in the thick of a shedding phase right now.

The biggest struggle (aside from the hair loss itself) is that my hair gets greasy so quickly. I can wash, blow dry, and style it, and it looks great for maybe 30 minutes before it starts falling flat. By the end of the day it's fully greasy and limp.

I'd love recommendations from other women with fine/thinning hair for:

• Dry shampoo
• Shampoo & conditioner (I use Nizoral once a week but need an everyday option)
• A volumizing spray for nights out that doesn't make hair feel sticky or crunchy
• A lightweight leave-in conditioner that won't make my hair greasy
• Heat protectant

Also, what order do you apply everything?

Right now I feel like every product marketed toward damaged hair just weighs my hair down even more 😭

(28f) AGA and TE - I’m honestly really struggling and would love insight from anyone who has gone through something similar with switching from topical to oral minoxidil.

For context: I had been using 5% topical minoxidil foam consistently for about a year for diffuse thinning/female pattern hair loss, and while it wasn’t perfect, I did see noticeable improvement.

Because applying foam every day was exhausting, stressful, and something I didn’t want to rely on forever, I decided to transition to oral minoxidil in hopes of eventually stopping topical completely.

My timeline:
• Started oral minoxidil March 20 at 0.2 mg for about 2 weeks
• Increased to 0.625 mg after that
• Stopped topical foam during the transition because my goal was oral-only treatment

At first, I actually felt hopeful. My hair seemed like it was still growing, I noticed some short regrowth hairs, and I thought things were going well.

Then around 6 weeks after starting oral (and about 4 weeks into 0.625 mg), I suddenly began experiencing what feels like an extreme shed.

I’m talking:
• huge amounts of hair every time I brush
• tons coming out in the shower while shampooing/conditioning
• noticeable ponytail thinning
• way more shedding than I’ve ever experienced before
• significant panic because it feels sudden and dramatic

This is what’s mentally destroying me:
I genuinely cannot tell if this is:

1. Normal oral minoxidil dread shed
2. Shedding from stopping topical too soon
3. My oral dose being too low to maintain my previous gains
4. Temporary synchronization before regrowth OR
5. Actual loss of progress

I’m terrified that 0.625 mg may not be equivalent enough to 5% topical, and that I may have lost density by stopping foam before oral fully stabilized.

At the same time, I’m scared restarting topical will:
• trigger another shed
• create more chaos
• force me back into the exact routine I was trying to escape

I feel stuck between:
• Staying on 0.625 and waiting it out
• Restarting topical as a bridge
• Increasing to 1 mg
• Potentially overreacting and making things worse

Other notes:
• I’ve also had some side effects like dizziness, cold extremities, bloating concerns, and brain fog, though many symptoms have improved
• My biggest emotional struggle is the hair shedding itself
• I have severe anxiety around my appearance, so this has been mentally devastating

My biggest questions:
• Has anyone experienced a major shed 1–2 months into oral after switching from topical?
• Did your density come back?
• Was 0.625 enough, or did you need 1 mg+?
• Did anyone bridge with topical before tapering off?
• How long did stabilization/regrowth realistically take?

I know hair cycles take time, but right now it genuinely feels like I’m watching months of progress disappear in real time, and it’s extremely hard not to spiral.

Would really appreciate honest experiences, especially from women who transitioned from topical to oral.