1 week finasteride, 3 Months minoxidil & Nizoral

[Cincinnati Kid]

Okay, so about 3 months ago I made a post wondering if I had anything to worry about with my hair. I met with a guy at Bosley who could see I was slightly losing hair at the temples and corners, and thinning in the back. After about a month and a half of having my appointments cancelled, I went to a local specialist in male pattern baldness and hair transplant. He confirmed that I was forming a 3V pattern, and could definitely thicken my crown up to what it has been in the past with the addition of finasteride to the minoxidil and Nizoral that I was already on. He said my follicles in the front weren't completely shut down, and perhaps could get some minor regrowth in the front, but not to hold my breath (which I'm not). I had to go for blood work before he wrote me a prescription for Proscar, and I finally started this past week adding the finasteride to my program which was already seeing slight improvement in the back from the minoxidil. Got some Toppik for the time being until my hair hopefully thickens up and I'll no longer need it. No side effects from the finasteride so far. Sex drive is still very high and semen quantity and viscosity are normal. I've attached some pictures for a timeline with some explanations below. Hopefully with due diligence I will be able to stabilize the thinning, and maybe in 3-5 years get 800-1000 grafts put in around the hairline.

Age 22


Photos 2 & 3 are from age 23

Photo 4 is age 25

Photo 5 is also age 25 - I buzzed my hair to see if the dude from Bosley wasn't just blowing smoke up my ***

Photo 6 is from today (age 25) with 1 week Proscar, and 3 months minoxidil & Nizoral

 

[Notcoolanymore]

Give the meds a full 1.5 years to 2 years to work before doing anything. If it thickens up what you have, it will look pretty good. I am sure you know this, but most of us aren't great responders who go from NW5 to NW1 in 3 months. For most of us, regrowing hair is a long process. Be patient.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Thanks for the response. I ignorantly never thought I would start thinning at such a young age because most of the men in my family, albeit hair loss sufferers, didn't suffer losses until their forties or fifties. My dad is 58 and he's probably a full norwood 4, but didn't lose a single hair til age 50. Both of my grandfathers are Norwood sixes. My older brother, although he has some gray hairs at 28 (to which he attributes to heavy smoking and an unhealthy lifestyle), has very thick, straight hair. He's probably a Norwood 2 right now, his temples moved back slightly from when he was a kid, but otherwise no losses to be found. My hair has always been thinner and wavier (and even downright curly on really humid days), but I ignored the earliest signs of hair loss and chalked it up to my hair texture. My only regret is that I didn't start medicating sooner. At least the dermatologist said that 25 is right around an ideal age for finasteride to be highly effective. The days of my rocking the Gerard Butler or Bradley Cooper brushed back wavy hair are probably over, but if I can at least keep a manageable shorter style that can conceal my minor frontal loss, I'd be very okay with that. I appreciate any and all advice, anecdotes, comments, etc. Outside of my mom, who is a wonderful woman but doesn't understand my plight (she's a member of the "So what!? Shave it! It's just hair!" club), I have been suffering in silence.