Alternatives To The Big Three? Looking For Recommendations For A Compounded Treatment

Paulie777

Member
My Regimen
Reaction score
6
40-year-old male. Thinning on top.

On these forums, I've seen people talking about getting their own hairloss remedy / treatment at a pharmacy that does compounding.

I've been thinking about trying this, but I'm not sure what people put in them. Is it just minoxidil and finasteride? Is there anything else that anyone would recommend looking into?
 

JaneyElizabeth

Banned
My Regimen
Reaction score
2,032
40-year-old male. Thinning on top.

On these forums, I've seen people talking about getting their own hairloss remedy / treatment at a pharmacy that does compounding.

I've been thinking about trying this, but I'm not sure what people put in them. Is it just minoxidil and finasteride? Is there anything else that anyone would recommend looking into?
Maybe Retin-A and latanoprost. Some try spironolactone (dubious about the efficacy of topical), RU or CB, etc.

Janey
 

Paulie777

Member
My Regimen
Reaction score
6
Thanks for the response, Janey.

Is Spironolactone the one that affects hormones and can have significant side effects?

I’m not familiar with RU or CB. Could someone give me a quick summary?
 

JaneyElizabeth

Banned
My Regimen
Reaction score
2,032
Thanks for the response, Janey.

Is Spironolactone the one that affects hormones and can have significant side effects?

I’m not familiar with RU or CB. Could someone give me a quick summary?
Yes, spironolactone is used mostly by females for acne and hair improvement at very low doses and XY's on hormone replacement therapy for either feminization or hair improvement at much higher doses. Many argue that spironolactone is only effective after a liver pass which seems to be a reaonable conclusion. I don't recommend RU or CB as we have very little to indicate that these two do anything except maintenance and finasteride and min appear to do that better.

Topicals of all of the above are typically used by people who can't tolerate finasteride/min or with the thought that they are only minimally feminizing on the scalp as well as theoretically having few side-effects. We don't have much evidence that throwing in the kitchen sink provides synergy and some of these meds might work at cross purposes; hopefully, the effects are additive. RU and CB are also hard to procure and one or both of them is quite expensive as add-ons.
 

JaneyElizabeth

Banned
My Regimen
Reaction score
2,032
There's a new hair product coming out in June. I was a test subject and I can tell you that it works very well all without side effects. Go to ekloniahairgrowth.com and you can read more about this great product.
This is just an advertisement for a product that doesn't even state its ingredients. The growth shown is faintly disgusting but certainly not cosmetically significant which a lot of guys don't get. Beyond maintenance, very little save oral min perhaps regrows cosmetically significant amounts of hair.
 

JaneyElizabeth

Banned
My Regimen
Reaction score
2,032
The ingredients are Baicapil, 3Hc Stimulation Complex, dieckol and phlorofucoeckol A. These 4 ingredients all have clinical research that have been associated with regrowing , thickening and no more hair loss. There are photos on how the product has worked over a period of 5 months on the site. ekloniahairgrowth.com
Sigh. Stimulation complex and I can guess what's in there, probably biotin, L-cysteine, extract of some plant like Palmetto, placental factors, something harvested from the ocean with ocean-y goodness and probably if lucky, something similar to minoxidil but not nearly as good.
 

JaneyElizabeth

Banned
My Regimen
Reaction score
2,032
INGREDIENTS: Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Propanediol, Polysorbate 20, Aqua, d-alpha-tocopherol (Natural Vitamin E), Denatured Alcohol, d-panthenol (Natural Vitamin B5), Allantoin, Arginine, Vitis Vinifera Fruit Meristem Cell Culture, Lactic Acid, Phenoxyethanol, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Germ Extract, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Extract, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Hydrolyzed Eruca Sativa Leaf, Ethylhexylglycerin, Hydrolyzed Walnut Extract, Acacia Senegal Gum, Xanthan Gum, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Ecklonia Polyphenol Extracta
Ha. Arginine and polysorbate were my next two guesses and yes, it is full of extracts. $60 bucks a month seems pretty steep. Minoxidil is otc and only ~$30. I am sure you are a nice guy but this is basically what people were using in the early 80's when there were few options. Polysorbate might be effective but probably only in larger amounts than used here.
 

JaneyElizabeth

Banned
My Regimen
Reaction score
2,032
No, I don't have my own product, yet! I am working on Janey's Formula X with castor oil, caffeine, polysorbate 80 and a couple of proprietary things. Right now we finished round 2 of testing with an expected release date of May 5, 2028, if round three pans out. However, neither of the first two rounds showed statistically significant improvement but I think we just chose the wrong batch of guys hanging outside the Plasma Donor center.
 

JaneyElizabeth

Banned
My Regimen
Reaction score
2,032
Do you have a marketing plan for your product?
I was in jest. I think that the lash and brow enhancers might be a better choice for everyone. We all have limited resources and your product for the well-heeled person could help with the anti-oxidants and all but I don't think it is likely to belong with the Big 3 in the same category. But proceed, at least you are a real person, it seems and not a bot but hmm, I haven't completely given you the Turning Test.
 

Norwoody

Banned
My Regimen
Reaction score
1,793
Paulie, can you please provide us with more info? Approximate norwood, pattern, personal history and timeline of hair loss, family history, etc. Send photos if you can, you can always discreetly DM them to me and I will not share to anyone.

One method I find that can be maintained is simply flipping the typical oral finasteride + topical minoxidil combo to something like oral minoxidil + topical finasteride or another topical AA such as dutasteride, RU, CB, fluridil, Proxiphen, or estrogen. Microneedling/dermarolling is always a good idea too.
 

StayPositive

Established Member
My Regimen
Reaction score
177
I am going to try this protocol :

Topical etoricoxib
Topical setipiprant
Topical melatonin
Topical caffeine
Topical L carnitine l tartrate
Topical taurine
Topical zinc
Topical dexpanthenol
Topical ascorbic acid

I think inhibiting Cox-2 without affecting Cox-1 is the key.

Taurine, dexpanthenol, l carnitine l tartrate, caffeine and melatonin all reduce Cox-2, lower cox2 means lower PGD2 level.

Zinc reduces DHT a little

Ascorbic acid probably reduces DKK-1

Setipiprant partially blocks PGD2
 

JaneyElizabeth

Banned
My Regimen
Reaction score
2,032
Hi, thanks for answering
i don't have pics right now but im diffuse thinner my hair now look great i could say with some temples but soon you can aprreciatte the loss of density. I have tried finasteride, that give me sides ball ache and mental problems. Also, topical finasteride topical dutasteride, and the last thing was cb, and the same sides all with antiandorgens anfd in the first days. Minoxidil give me palpitations in the heart, and i dont like it. Right i'm using nothing because i dont know what else i can do. Im spanish sorry for my english!

I mean, give me something to work with here in Gilbert Gottfried's awful voice for some reason.
 

Jeju

Experienced Member
My Regimen
Reaction score
455
Hi, thanks for answering
i don't have pics right now but im diffuse thinner my hair now look great i could say with some temples but soon you can aprreciatte the loss of density. I have tried finasteride, that give me sides ball ache and mental problems. Also, topical finasteride topical dutasteride, and the last thing was cb, and the same sides all with antiandorgens anfd in the first days. Minoxidil give me palpitations in the heart, and i dont like it. Right i'm using nothing because i dont know what else i can do. Im spanish sorry for my english!

I mean, give me something to work with here in Gilbert Gottfried's awful voice for some reason.

I don’t like finasteride but you can’t blame that drug for your state of mind, Janey.
 

Jeju

Experienced Member
My Regimen
Reaction score
455
I only blame finasteride for keeping me with great maintenance and I recommend it to anyone who can tolerate it. To the extent that I have had mental health issues, well, transitioning is stressful but nothing in my cocktail makes it more stressful. I am currently not even needing AA's, just dutasteride, finasteride, estradiol, Estrogel and progesterone at 200mg daily and I have lowered oral minoxidil to ~20mg split into two doses, daily. I microneedle twice a week, once with 2.0mm or above and the other time at say 1.0 or .75mm. Everything has seemed to work for me once I switched to the "high dose estradiol track" similar to Bridge. One thing that Bridge and I have in common is that transgender or "just in it for the hair", neither one of us has ever tried to avoid physical sides by lowering dosages say. If larger than normal breast size came to pass, then neither Bridge nor I have sweated it. Like me, he preached the rejuvenation values of estrogen on life expectancy.

I am nominally a transfemine MtF and Bridge was nominally, a straight heterosexual guy who looks completely transfeminine say in pics and in person. So there must be some sort of "bridge" between us. We both stayed strictly chickly; HRT at least for older folks appears to have little effect on previous sexual preferences. Younger MtF's in the olden days, would have tended to be "gay bottoms" but now there is something that at least approximates being born female and therefore not being gay at all. We use the terms gynephilia and androphilia, here, to indicate essentially, an MtF who is "lesbian" or conversely, interested in "guys".

Many XY's though, are going to struggle with what it means to be on estrogen or HRT. I have mostly resolved those providing I get cooperation from my family. I will say that at times, I feel less transgender than I do as just a person on HRT like a cancer patient. Regardless of name, my femininity has "taken" and I have a different personality now. Where I am in life, only Janey can propel my future forward.
This is hairlosstalk not an LGBTetc support group.
 
Top