/balding/ and /finasteride/ general - hair is love, hair is life!Sticky: http://tuxbell.com/index.php/BaldingReminder that if you can clearly see down to your scalp when your hair is wet, your hair is thinning, lots of small new hairs sprouting at the hairline or crown is a sign of hair recession.Holy trinity:Tabs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FinasterideLotion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MinoxidilShampoo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KetoconazoleFinasteride/Dutasteride are 5-alpha reductase inhibitors that prevent free T from being converted to DHT, a byproduct of testosterone that serves no purpose after puberty but to choke out your hair follicles and make them thin out and die in a few short years, a condition known as androgenic alopecia.5ar inhibitors prevent your hair from getting any worse, mild regrowth is expected, rapid onset diffuse thinners see a significant recovery on fin alone. Can be taken orally or topically.5ARIs are not dosage dependent, taking as little as as 0.2mg daily fin can reduce serum DHT by 68%, while 5mg reduces by 72%.0.5mg daily dut reduces serum DHT by 95%, but is considered a second line treatment, and can be more expensive and harder to get prescribed. Start with fin.Fin has been used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) for 30+ years, it's very well studied and is tolerated well in almost all men, however, there's a 1-2% risk of erectile issues in controlled studies.These can be avoided by reducing dosage, spacing out dosage, or stopping the drug. Fin takes days to fully bio-accumulate, the half life of fin is about 8 hours, adverse effects occuring within minutes of starting fin or persisting long after stopping fin are not real and have no basis in reality. Please note that dut has a much higher half-life of 5 weeks, if you're prone to fin sides, dut may cause them for far longer.Refer to https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3481923/ before responding to PFS trolls.
Minoxidil (liquid and tabs) is a vasodialator that opens potassium channels and widens blood vessels bringing nutrients to your hair follicles, stimulating them into thickening, accelerating growth and elongating the growth phase. Min is taken with fin to restore your hair to it's original hairline, thickness and vigor when hair loss is caught early enough, (pre-NW2). Can be taken orally or topically.Topical min does not work in 1/3 of men because they lack the required enzymes in their scalp, all men have this enzyme in their liver so the oral route is a good fallback.The FDA formulation for 5% liquid minoxidil is food safe (vape juice, ethanol and water) and can be safely taken orally if oral min tabs are expensive or rarely prescribed where you live. As a general rule, ~4 drops (0.1ml) = 5mg minoxidil.There's a 1-2% risk of fluid retention with higher oral dosages, start with the lowest dosage possible and work your way up when you're sure it's well tolerated.Ketoconazole is an anti-androgen and antifungal that inhibits DHT on the scalp and used to treat fungal infections of the scalp that may be making your hair loss worse such as seborrheic dermatitis, a condition where you exhibit severe greasy, flaky large dandruff flakes with dried yellow crystals (blood plasma) embedded in the scalp. Some people may only have traction alopecia (hair loss from scratching or friction), but it will not cure androgenic alopecia on it's own. Can only be taken topically.Do not use spirolactone. Spirolactone is a diuretic which, in large doses, inhibits testosterone and, by extension, DHT.It is regularly prescribed as an anti-androgen for male to female HRT, and thus, comes with an astronomically higher risk of sexual side effects in men including ED, gynecomastia, and can cause potassium toxicity.Previous thread>>18735049
Day 94 fin micro needlingOnly get an erection a couple times a week. Sex drive completely gone. Mostly the same lifestyle as before except I've cut out alcohol and reduced junk/fast food. My gains are good, but I'm worried about these sides. Im considering downloading grindr to see if these meds are making me asexual or if I'm just gay and never realized it. Anyone else experienced this?
>>18752058Yes but not because of DHT blockers. Alcoholism ruined my sex drive, death grip didn’t help either but I still get hard when I kiss a girl so I’m good I guess. The sexual side effects from DHT blockers usually cling off after some time from what I’ve read.
I cut my hair to a number 3 length. I have Norwood 1.25-1.5 hairline and I can't cope with it. I have a naturally widows peak, and when I grow my hair out, and slick it back I look like dracula :D I've learned that juvenile hairline is life. Maybe I'll grow my hair out when I'm 25-26, but as a 22-year-old, I want to stay young. And yes, strangely enough, I look younger with a number 3 haircut.>Why not hop into fin/min?That's why >>18752058
>>18752120>That's whyNever happened
>>18752127>Never happenedI wasn't joking my sex drive is pretty much dead and I don't really mind it after years and years of gooning. I was half joking about grindr.
>>18752058I'm maybe 10 days behind you and haven't noticed any changes like that. Also taking oral min so I have to shave my unibrow twice a week now kek
>>18752058I unironically was hoping fin would kill my sex drive, I fap too much. It honestly mightve made it worse
>>18752020I wish that everyone reading this comment have a full thick head of healthy looking hair.
>>18752020started min and dutasteride (both oral). hairline is slightly fucked but not therrible. the main issue is my thinning crown of the size of my hand. 2 months, too soon to see changes I believe, but if this does not work ill prob stop the treatment and buzz. did not notice any side effects yet. any tips?
Been wondering if for balding men have they ever consumed MSM and saw any results
>>18752216Patience and consistency. Good news is thinning areas respond especially well to treatment and regrowth is basically guaranteedHairline however takes a lot of luck to dramatically lower once you've receded. You've maximized your chances for a full recovery.
>5 months of topical min and a year of fin>temples look like this (under flash)Can these hairs get any thicker or longer? I’ll look like a sasquatch with hairs growing out of my forehead if they do, but I’d rather that than my old NW2.
>>18752256Norwood negative 1
>>18752257I wish. You can only see the center hairs with flash. And my eyebrows are growing higher up on my forehead from the topical min spreading lol.
pic rel is how it looks like for me now.Norwood 3 vertex, I guess.I don't want to bother with medication or transplants.is it time to shave already or can I still let it stand like this for a while?
>>18752340Have you done a trial run of how you look bald yet? Personally I find it crazy how people can decide on something so permanent without even testing it before. Imagine if you look like complete shit and realize you should have saved it instead... that could be you forever. Anyway you still have enough density, doesn't look obviously bad from a glance but the clock is ticking.
>>18752347I had a 5mm buzzcut before and it looked fine imoI simply don't want to take prescription medication permanently for something that is not health related
Took fin for 2 or 3 years, didn't do anything. Been taking topical min for over 10 years, don't know if it works because I've been on it so long. Still balding but not completely bald. But my libido is lower than it was before I started, which is a bummer.
>>18752350Live long enough and you’ll get BPH anyway m8.
>>18752370what's BPH?
when does minoxidil shedding usually start and stop?
I'm convinced that duta is a meme. You start taking but you don't see any results, and they tell you that you need to wait the same exact amount of time as you've already waited>I'm on dut for 3 months when do I see gains?>That's a shedding phase you'll see gains on 6 month>I'm on month 6 no result. What do? >The results of the dut are viewed in a year>I'm 1 year on dut. Went from NW2 to NW5. Gains?>Yeah just wait another year bro just one more year>2 years. I'm bald>Bro just wait bro on year 4 you'll get all your hair back
Had to take a 3 week break from Fin and my hair legitimately feels so thin and my corners pushed back noticeably. I’m fucking freaking out, will it come back? I was 5 weeks into Fin.
>>18752256Dark haired men cannot suffer wtf
>>18752256You greedy fuck, get on 5mg of dut why don't you.
>>18752390For most people, fin and dut will lead to very little regrowth and mostly on the crown area, not temples. Usually the people who experience regrowth with DHT blockers caught their balding very early on. Their actual purpose is stopping your alopecia from progressing. Do minoxidil if you want regrowth.
>>18752436Kek, you likely had just gotten started on your first shed. Yes it should be recoverable but don't do this again, your hair follicles only have so many hair cycles to go through before senescence alopecia kicks in.
>>18752390If your hair is progressively getting worse after a year on dut you don't have MPB.>>18752381Depends but on average week 1 to a month for the initial shed. It shouldn't last more than a week, it's just your hair will take a while to fill back in, especially if you're working with more than a buzz cut.>>18752363Some people are extra sensitive to DHT and finasteride can only slow down progression, switch to dutasteride if you are concerned. If you haven't been taking the fin daily or are messing with low doses that could also be responsible regardless of what others will tell you.>>187524365 weeks is too early to have results from finasteride. Your hair is worse because you stopped taking it during the initial shed. 3 weeks is also not enough time to lose gains, the natural hair cycle allows you around 3 months of clearance though I wouldn't push it either way. Expect initial results in 6 months minimum.>>18752350How is it not health related? It is by definition a health issue which leaves your scalp physically disfigured.
>>18752350A buzzcut isn't the same thing. You will lose the "shadow" effect which frames your face.Left is the true final form of balding, not right.
>>18752496>switch to dutasteride if you are concernedNah I think I'm over it. Not worth it tanking my libido just to keep some hair when it's already half gone.
>>18752492>>18752496I have identical photos taken1. 3 weeks into Fin2. Yesterday, 3 weeks off of FinThe first photo is much thicker and healthier looking. As soon as I stopped taking Fin, hair started to fall out again. (It stopped falling out 3 weeks into Fin)Don’t sugar coat just give to me straight. The corners are fucking with me.
>>18752720The fin shed is common, happens with min too. It gets worse before it gets better.
>>18752731No i’ll give you the timeline to make it clearer.Before Fin: SheddingMonth into Fin: No shedding, hair looked healthy3 Weeks after pausing Fin: Shedding, hair is thin, corners recedingWhat’s the diagnosis?
>>18752780Fin shed. Its biologically impossible for your hair to improve in 1 month due to the length of the hair cycle. Once the drug has sufficiently built up in your cellular tissue (~1 month of daily dosing) it will be able to continue inhibiting DHT for a few months before depleting and your DHT levels return to baseline, this is when you would return to pre-fin hair, not worse off like you claim. The thing is that since the medication had sufficiently built up in your system it continued to work the entire time, not as effectively but still. Because it was still working, albeit to a lesser degree it was enough to suppress enough DHT to signal to your damaged hair follicles to re synchronize itself with the other healthy hair cycle. For a lot of people this is accomplished by an initial shedding of that hair, giving the impression of a rapid loss and worsening hair than baseline. The hair that was lost will grow back thicker in diameter than the previous cycle, in which DHT was inhibiting the size. Its not uncommon to have multiple sheds during the first year or so. This is what happened.
How far along am I? Is it salvagable?
I stopped worrying about balding last year when I went to college at 25. I look like an unc anyway. Why bother? Just gain some muscle and embrace the dad mode. I even started dressing like an middle-aged man, and now people mistake me for a professor all the time. The only matter left is finding an unfortunate mindbroken young woman who is wholeheartedly into this thing. Otherwise balding is fine.
>>18752932Why do you want to be mistaken for an old man at 25 lol. Next level cope
>>18752921Norwood 2 range. Yes
>>18752020Is this normal? I've been growing my hair out and recently my scalp itches so much it keeps me up at night, especially after washing my hair. My hair also falls out by the dozens. I'm thinking about just cutting it short and trying out whatever zinc or iron or vitamin D supplements with rosemary oil or whatever. Or is it better to just hop on 1mg fin as per the meme?
>>18752937There is something known as the "DHT itch" which happens to some people who start balding. I've never experienced it so I don't know if it's meant to be as severe as in your case.It sounds more like maybe some kind of dermatitis or fungal infection though the lack of red discoloration/dandruff looks more like diffuse thinning hair loss.I would try a ketoconazole shampoo and switch out whatever shampoo you use regularly with one made for use on babies for a month. If it doesn't improve see a dermatologist and get diagnosed.
>>18752796Look i’m not saying you’re lying but you have to hear me out. When I was on Fin my hair felt full, the itchiness when away, etc.But now I am have constant itchiness on the scalp and corners specifically, i’m waking up with rock hard erections again (I had softer morning wood on Fin), and hair is falling out (it stopped a month into Fin). My head is now itchy all day (only the top where it recedes, 0 itchiness on the sides or back. What is happening?
>>18753105I guess you're right and your hair is just gonna fall out. Get ready to shave it off.
>>18753123I’m just trying to understand what happened. 3 weeks of such regression fucking sucks man.
>>18753123>>18753138Also the roughness of my hair I got while on Fin (really enjoyed it actually) disappeared too, it’s completely soft now. I just hope I haven’t done significant damage in 3 weeks.
>>18753156It really seems like you do want to have done damage regardless of what anyone tells you
>>18753181Man, when you live so long stressing about your hair, it really gets to you. The hours i’ve spent depressed about my hair is enough to end a man. So things like hairline itches and feeling thin hair, triggers me hard man.
>>18753258You shouldn't even be looking at your hair until at minimum 6 months on fin. If I had to do it all again I would have buzzed it off for the first year and let it grown in after
been on fin for 4 years. minor regrowth however I am not satisfied, there is a thinning spot on my crown which shows I am balding that I want to fill in.My plan is to either go to oral minox 2.5mg or dutasteride in november, take a month off work for the dread shed to happen, then proceed with life. Is this a good idea? Should I do oral minox or dut for crown regrowth? I hesitate with minox because of heart risks and a less forgiving dependency on the drug.
>>18753471If your hair loss has stabilized on finasteride then you should add oral min. Switch to dut if its still progressing
if you were to take fin but stop taking it during the fin shed, will that hair grow back? or have you just accelerated hair loss
>>18753523You will shed again when your DHT levels return to normal after quitting. That combined with the initial shed phase will be like 6 months of your hair being fucked. The quitting shed will accelerate your hair loss 1 full hair cycle which could be really bad if you're balding was aggressive.
>>18753527that sounds BRUTAL, so when your dht levels return to normal and shed again, will restarting fin fix this mess? or is stopping fin during the fin shed a death sentence
>>18753529Assuming a timeline where you took it long enough to induce the initial shed (The good one) and then quit some time during that phase long enough to completely allow your DHT levels to return to baseline (2-3 months max) and induce a second shed (The bad one) then you would effectively be starting new and "fixing" it would entirely depend on if your balding was aggressive enough to cause any perceptible damage to your baseline hair. Technically you would be starting at a worse off position than before in that case and it will always be ever so slightly worse. Unless it was super aggressive prior to fin I doubt you would even notice once regrowth kicks in.
>>18753489are you on oral min? the issue i am having is there is thin hair covering my scalp, i would imagine a hair transplant doctor would tell me to kick rocks. would oral min thicken up all the thin hair I have or is it just to stimulate growth in dormant follicles?
>>18753534You can transplant a thin scalp and results are usually very good because there is a lack of technical aspect to it like rebuilding a natural looking hairline. Yes I'm on oral min. There is a very high likelihood that it would thicken existing hair, working particularly well in that regard actually so long as your hair loss has stabilized with fin. Start on 1.25 mg and up to 2.5mg after a couple weeks and stay on 2.5mg for at least 6 months. Evaluate your hair after that and go up to 3.75 or 5mg if you are not satisfied.
Anyone here experienced hairfall related to statin? I've been taking rosuvastatin of the lowest dose daily for last two months and couple of weeks ago my hairfall has gone bonkers. its not just falling from one spot, even on the sides and on the back where generally hair doesn't go bald. im kind of confident its not malde pattern baldness but TE. I'm going insane. i had to start statin because my LDL is genetic and now im losing hair. How do i deal with this? btw my mom take Avrostatin and she too has started having crazy hairfall ( yes i get my genetic high LDL from her )anyone here got any idea? or its not gonna stop till i stop the statin ( which means i risk the chances of heart attack and stroke )? I was taking min 5% + fin 0.1% lipid solutions for my temples and wasn't really having hairfall this bad even during my shedding phase
Considering hopping back on fin. Was on it for a couple years but stopped due to a mental health crisis. I’m like 90% sure the side effects I experienced (low libido, dead dick) were due to antidepressants and alcoholism. I def had the watery semen though. I’m kinda torn because I’m at the last few months where taking fin would still be worth it. I’m leaning towards no because my face is pretty good looking, I could pull off the buzzed head/short beard look. Am I being a hypochondriac or is fin actually poison?
>>18753837Might as well try one last time then proceed with your plan if it doesn't work out since there is no going back once your hair goes past the point
>>18753866Can’t get a derm appointment for a couple months. Is Keeps/Hims legit?
>>18753921Yeah but Dr B is a lot cheaper. Amazon pharmacy gets an honorable mention too
been on fin and recently hopped on dut for close to 6 years now. i want to get on min but i have a cat that i don't want to die because of some bullshit. what do? oral min is kind of hard to find.
You people that say you are taking oral min, are you just drinking topical min?
>>18753964I put like 9 drops in a glass and add water a few times to make sure I get all of it.>>18753951just oral the 5% topical liquid, no chance your cat will lick your head
>just passed the 2 month mark after my HTfucking GROW already AAAHHHHHH
>>18753964Yeah you can perfectly safe as long as you measure properly
>>18753398Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe I was seeing things but my hair genuinely felt thicker and looked thicker after 4 weeks of Fin. Before I started, my hair was a brittle mess. Everything was thin and itchy.But after 3 weeks of not being on it, it returned to the brittle, itchy, thin mess. Also I have photos. Not going to post my actual head, but 4 weeks of Fin my hair resembled more of a U shape. The corners receded. But 3 weeks of pausing Fin turned my hair into a god damn V shape. The corners aren’t just receded, they’ve become the majority of my head! Anyway i’m back on it now. I’ve stressed enough. I hope I can look back on this in a few months and laugh that was I stressing for nothing. Can’t even leave the house without a hat on at the moment. :(
What Ive still got is shoulder length, but its obviously thin on top, does that prevent me from using topical stuff? Not willing to buzz it all down just to pray the stuff works. Ive never bought cosmetic oral drugs online, do I need a doctor for this stuff? Am I over thinking this and can I just get whatever the top result on amazon is?
anyone else notice a lot more women balding these days compared to the past?
>>18754052maybe but maybe because they rarely have bangs anymore
>>18754052no. it's about the same. they just always hid their temples with longer hair covering the side burn completely. ponytails are more common i gues.s
>>18754052women won't get generationally humiliated for wearing wigs
>>18754049You need a perscription for finasteride topical or oral. You don't need one for topical minoxidil in most countries, oral you do. You can get prescribed in 24 hours using a telehealth service, just Google for one that serves your country. You can still use topicals with long hair though it will be unnecessarily annoying to apply with longer hair when oral exists. Anything claiming to treat hair loss which does not contain finasteride or dutasteride is a scam. Minoxidil works but is more of a supplementation with the above 2 and will not treat your hair loss long term.
I'm 31, Norwood stage 2. Not that bothered with it but I do not want it to progress further either, and so would minoxidil be useful for that? (I can add nizoral too probably). Fin and duta are prescription only so I'll skip it
>>18754161no, it's fin/duta or bustenjoy your further hair loss
>>18754161no. minox will only get you density but the follicle itself is still dying. getting fin is extreemly easy because of how harmless it is just give a couple of shekels to the online doctor. they dont' give a fuck.
The wife’s boyfriend recommended i try this on my hairline.So i let him rub it onto me and my hairline has never looked better. But the issue is i got smeg in my eye.
>>18754161No. The preventative stage is literally the ideal scenario for fin. There are no shortcuts, take it now or regret it forever when you're working with a NW4 and desperate.
I would take a nw2 with a thick head of hair over a nw1 with thin, weak, diffused hair any day of the week desu
I regrew my hair from nw5 to nw2 while on steroids with this stack. I refuse to believe you can’t achieve full growth as a natural with it>dutasteride daily>oral min daily>multi w/biotin + k2/d3 daily>RU58841 daily>oral castor oil before bed daily >keto shampoo + light micro needle/massage/let sit 20 min 3x week>extra: if using AAS, let e2 run a *little* hot. E2 is lifeblood to hairI’m on pace to have my high school hair at 33 WHILE ON 750 TEST AND 500 EQ
>>18754379How long were you balding for to reach nw5? Was it a rapid onset from roids?
how cooked am I? Diffuse thinning caused by chronic seb derm and androgenic, so both have been fucking in the ass for a lot.This is photo 1
>>18754481this is photo 2...there is a third set thats easily the worst ever....but ok, window so natural light, pics of the top of my head have to be the most honest, middle part too, right? if so set 3 is the truth
