11 Month update

[ajax]

Well I posted some pics of my success at 9 months, now after about 11 and a half months I thought i'd add another update. Heres my pics...

Before starting any treatments

After about 9 months of Dutas 0.5 everyday and nizoral every other day

About 3 months on minoxidil 5% +Retin A and MSM for about a month.


The last 2 pics look a bit different in terms of quality as they were taken with a digi camera with the flash on. I was thinking these would look terrible as the webcam shots were less high quality and so maybe hide the state of my hair loss a bit, but i'm shocked at how good they look! my crown has filled in loads since starting minoxidil+retin A. My hair is soo thick compared to 11 or so months ago!

Hope these pics help anyone thinking of starting on any of the treatments I am using. Still not much movement on the hairline, but theres some velus hairs there... hopefully they will turn terminal eventually, but if not i've achieved excellent results I think.

Oh all these pics were taken when my hair was soaking wet and combed forward to try and seperate the hair as much as possible.

 

[KR78]

Congrats your crown looks very improved

 

[ajax]

Thanks KR78! Yeah i'm only using the minoxidil+retin A once a day and didnt really think it was doing a great deal as I was focusing on my hairline, but realised last week the crown was sooo much better. I dread to think what my hair would be like now if i'd not started my regimen! Anyone not on any medication at the moment i'd reccomend u start asap and save your hair (at least for a few years anyway!)

 

[Aplunk1]

You're results are going to improve greatly now that you're 3 months into minoxidil w/ Retin-A.

Give it another 6 months, and you're going to boast even greater results.

I'd say cut your hair, though. That's just my opinion. Nothing mean!


Goodluck

 

[ajax]

You're results are going to improve greatly now that you're 3 months into minoxidil w/ Retin-A.

Give it another 6 months, and you're going to boast even greater results.

I'd say cut your hair, though. That's just my opinion. Nothing mean!


Goodluck

Haha nah i'm actually growing it at the moment, i know it looks terrible when wet, but once its been dried and styled it looks cool. I got my hair cut by a new hairdresser the other day and after she washed my hair she laughed at it cause it looked so funny wet.

So would you say minoxidil is a bit like dutasteride & finasteride, in that it takes maybe a year to see the full benefits of it? I've seen people posting saying they had great improvement in a couple of months, then nothing after that.

 

[Aplunk1]

Some doctors, like Dr. Lee, suggest that the most regrowth from minoxidil is seen from 2-3 years of consistent use, then maintenance after that.

Goodluck

 

[Guest]

Great results man. dutasteride is awesome.

 

[ajax]

Some doctors, like Dr. Lee, suggest that the most regrowth from minoxidil is seen from 2-3 years of consistent use, then maintenance after that.

Goodluck

Wow really?! Thats excellent news! Roll on the next 2-3 years lol!

 

[1PunchBob]

Ajax..... Those are some great results! I am on quarter tablets of fincar and minoxidil twice daily with the odd occassion of revivogen. But after seeing you results i am thinking of getting dutas but also i would like to try Retin A but i don`t know anything about this product. So hopefuuly you can me something about this and where to get it, cheers

 

[ajax]

Thanks bob!

I buy my Retin A as part of mixture from dr lee. So its basically quick drying 5% minoxidil with Retin A in the same container. I've seen some people debating whether the Retin A has any effect when added to minoxidil in a pre-made solution as the minoxidil dissolves the Retin A (or something like that) so i'm not sure how much my improvement is from the Retin A, it could all just be from the minoxidil. Anyone know much about this?

You can only use this solution once a day, so you would still need to apply your regular minoxidil for the other application. I dont do that though, I just apply once a day, so I think i'm pretty lucky i've responded so well!

For dr lee's products go to http://www.minoxidil.com

 

[1PunchBob]

Cheers mate, i will go onto dr Lee`s site soon. Did you start on finasteride of any sort before you started on dutas? Where do you get it from and how much is it as i am in the UK? Thanks again

 

[Felk]

Congratulations, excellent results.

In regards to using minoxidil only once per day, I would like to point out that one study found minoxidil + Retin-A once per day was equivalent to minoxidil twice per day. So that's a possible reason

Have you had any sides from minoxidil such as changes in heart rate, body hair, etc?

 

[JWM]

Excellent results Ajax!!!! Congrats and I wish you future success!

 

[ajax]

Cheers mate, i will go onto dr Lee`s site soon. Did you start on finasteride of any sort before you started on dutas? Where do you get it from and how much is it as i am in the UK? Thanks again

Yeah I used finasteride for about 7 months when I very first started to lose some hair but then stopped for about 2 years before getting on dutasteride due to a doctor asking why I was putting that 'crap' in my body. So I stopped and my hair loss got much much worse! Very annoyed as he obviously didnt know what he was talking about and I lost more hair in the time since then i'll ever be able to grow back!

So all the results you see here are for dutas and minoxidil. I get my dutas from http://www.drugdelivery.ca/ and it cost about £160 for 6 months supply. I too am in the uk.

 

[ajax]

Congratulations, excellent results.

In regards to using minoxidil only once per day, I would like to point out that one study found minoxidil + Retin-A once per day was equivalent to minoxidil twice per day. So that's a possible reason

Have you had any sides from minoxidil such as changes in heart rate, body hair, etc?

Thanks! Yeah i've heard that but also heard conflicting info, still its working for me so I guess that it must be at least partially true in some cases.

I usually apply about 1.5 mg(?) every nite, and this seems fine.... occassionaly i've applied 2mg and i've experienced a large increase in heart rate and it felt quite unpleasent! Think as long as u dont exceed the recommended dose of 1mg too much then theres no sides (in my case anyway)... Havn't noticed any increase in body hair or any other sides except for an itchy scalp sometimes but nizoral sorts this out

 

[logia]

Great results you have there, congratulations.
Obviously the dutasteride is very important here, but what other product(s) do you think helped you to obtain these results?

Im curious about this as im pretty much in the same boat as you, but can't use them oral DHT blockers as finasteride/dutasteride due to massive sides.

Thanks.

 

[ajax]

Great results you have there, congratulations.
Obviously the dutasteride is very important here, but what other product(s) do you think helped you to obtain these results?

Im curious about this as im pretty much in the same boat as you, but can't use them oral DHT blockers as finasteride/dutasteride due to massive sides.

Thanks.

I think the next biggest contributing factor to dutas is the minoxidil+retin A. I believe the Dutas had made my hair much thicker and healthier, but the growth of new hair has come from the minoxidil+retin A. I'm not sure that there would be a great deal of benefit using it without the dutas as well though as you'll continue to lose hair without a DHT blocker

 

[hurricom]

Retin A

Isn't retin a a cream? DO I have to buy a special kind of retin a shampoo. Sorry. I'm a bit confused. Can somebody clear this up for me?

 

[AussieExperiment]

Great Results

Mate congrats on the results. As people on this website know, it takes alot of effort and commitment to get these kind of results.

Remember hairloss is a turbulent beast. Shedding comes in cycles. You are obviously a fairly good responder and will most likely always bounce back from any shed. Just keep up the good work.

 

[ajax]

Well I posted some pics of my success at 9 months, now after about 11 and a half months I thought i'd add another update. Heres my pics...

Before starting any treatments

After about 9 months of Dutas 0.5 everyday and nizoral every other day

About 3 months on minoxidil 5% +Retin A and MSM for about a month.

I thought it was about time I updated my story... its only been about 5 years since the last update!!!

I've experimented a bit over the last 5 years and dropped from dutasteride every day to 3 x a week... I lost a little ground over a year or so, so got back on every day and things thickened back up nicely.

I dropped minoxidil + retin A as thought the foam would be just as effective... It wasnt! In fact it doesn't really do anything in my opinion, however I still use it just in case, but have added minoxidil + Retin A back in to the mix about 2 months ago, and am already starting to see regrowth in the frontal regions and crown. I wish i'd stick with it all along, but thanks to a lot of thickening through dutasteride it didn't bother me too much that the foam wasn't as effective. However I feel I missed an opportunity to get some really good growth by dropping it for a couple of years!

I recently dropped dutasteride and moved to finasteride as looking to start a family in about 12 months, and wanted that out of my system by then... however I experience a bad shed and haven't recovered yet... not sure I will? Not really sure how these things work as never really been much of a shedder.

On 1mg of finasteride my sex drive went through the roof! It was ridiculous lol! Never had a low sex drive on dutasteride, but this was just ridiculous! Also got a lot more scalp sebum.

I've bumped up to 2mg of finasteride a day now, no sides, but sex drive back to normal and less scalp sebum... hopefully this should at least maintain what I have, but would be pleased if it thickened up again a bit (not sure if thats a little ambitious tho?).

Anyway enough background, here's the 6 year update pic vs baseline:

6 years

Baseline

Obviously not as good as my 11month update pic, but I think i'm above baseline still, so all in all not a bad result for 6 years I think?