Hi guys, been mostly lurking here for 6 years or so.
Skip to the bottom for the imgur link and comments inside.
First noticed I started losing my hair at 19 or so when a girl said she'd kill herself if she started losing hair as early as me! I think it was because my crown thinned first and temples started to fade.
Around 19 or 20 I'd read about finasteride and was terrified of the 'permanent side effects'. While I can't say for sure if they are real, and I don't believe science can yet - I know that being extremely worried about this side can definitely make you experience sides! I decided to go for it and straight away experienced wierd sides - basically had a panic attack and insomnia the first night, tight throat, anxiety off the charts and the lot.
I pussied out and stuck to minoxidil and s5 cream throughout uni and managed to hold ground well.
The hair loss was slow and I managed to stay in good shape, happy and fairly fullhead until 21/22 I noticed I could only wear 1 hairstyle which was a bit of a combover, and I started to worry. I tried finasteride on and off with varying side effects, which I now know 99% were down to my anxiety around it, being a pussy and the depression of my life situation at the time combined with hair loss.
At 22/23 I bought into the 'just shave it bro' ideal and lived a year with a shaved head. I stopped all meds and lost A TON of ground (shown in picture 1). It felt liberating for a few hours, but soon I was miserable, tired, anxious and lost a lot of weight. I hated being young and bald, as much as my gf insisted she loved it. I felt a big piece of me missing - my identity, self expression and my youth. I tried to grow it back out a few times (e.g. pic 1) but it was obviously too sh*t and I wore a hat a TON.
Soon after I decided to commit. I wanted my hair back and I wasn't going to accept an alternative. I hopped on 0.5mg finasteride, daily min, keto shampoo and inconsistent dermarolling. I took a month off min at one point and felt like I set myself back with a big shed, but shrugged it off and continued.
The sides I think I've had on finasteride are slightly more anxiety and some apathy, although I have suffered a lot with depression the last years so it's hard to tell what is from what. I'm starting to have many more positive days where I feel great and optimistic with the hair situation, and life is good in other areas so things are bright again
.
As shown I still have a thin strip across the top of my scalp, but it's definitely shrinking. My temples also still fairly suck, but they're narrowing in with lots of small hairs slowly making their way in. I pass well as a full head with some hair fibers. For the record, my hair is shorter in the final pic than the first. God damn it had gotten bad.
Next up is consistent weekly rolling and upping to the full 1mg finasteride and maybe dutasteride. I'm going to try and keep this log updated.
Wishing you all success, life is short don't give up.
https://imgur.com/a/QljMgWx
Skip to the bottom for the imgur link and comments inside.
First noticed I started losing my hair at 19 or so when a girl said she'd kill herself if she started losing hair as early as me! I think it was because my crown thinned first and temples started to fade.
Around 19 or 20 I'd read about finasteride and was terrified of the 'permanent side effects'. While I can't say for sure if they are real, and I don't believe science can yet - I know that being extremely worried about this side can definitely make you experience sides! I decided to go for it and straight away experienced wierd sides - basically had a panic attack and insomnia the first night, tight throat, anxiety off the charts and the lot.
I pussied out and stuck to minoxidil and s5 cream throughout uni and managed to hold ground well.
The hair loss was slow and I managed to stay in good shape, happy and fairly fullhead until 21/22 I noticed I could only wear 1 hairstyle which was a bit of a combover, and I started to worry. I tried finasteride on and off with varying side effects, which I now know 99% were down to my anxiety around it, being a pussy and the depression of my life situation at the time combined with hair loss.
At 22/23 I bought into the 'just shave it bro' ideal and lived a year with a shaved head. I stopped all meds and lost A TON of ground (shown in picture 1). It felt liberating for a few hours, but soon I was miserable, tired, anxious and lost a lot of weight. I hated being young and bald, as much as my gf insisted she loved it. I felt a big piece of me missing - my identity, self expression and my youth. I tried to grow it back out a few times (e.g. pic 1) but it was obviously too sh*t and I wore a hat a TON.
Soon after I decided to commit. I wanted my hair back and I wasn't going to accept an alternative. I hopped on 0.5mg finasteride, daily min, keto shampoo and inconsistent dermarolling. I took a month off min at one point and felt like I set myself back with a big shed, but shrugged it off and continued.
The sides I think I've had on finasteride are slightly more anxiety and some apathy, although I have suffered a lot with depression the last years so it's hard to tell what is from what. I'm starting to have many more positive days where I feel great and optimistic with the hair situation, and life is good in other areas so things are bright again
.As shown I still have a thin strip across the top of my scalp, but it's definitely shrinking. My temples also still fairly suck, but they're narrowing in with lots of small hairs slowly making their way in. I pass well as a full head with some hair fibers. For the record, my hair is shorter in the final pic than the first. God damn it had gotten bad.
Next up is consistent weekly rolling and upping to the full 1mg finasteride and maybe dutasteride. I'm going to try and keep this log updated.
Wishing you all success, life is short don't give up.
https://imgur.com/a/QljMgWx
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