18 months on finasteride and minoxidil, update

[GoldenMane]

I had a topic on here ages ago in the success stories section after 4 months on finasteride and minoxidil but it seems to have been purged. I think most of my recovery happened in the first 4 months, after that it's fluctuated a bit but remained fairly stable. I'm 28, closing in on 29, not sure when I started going bald, but I just turned when the first pictures were taken. I think the temple recession may have happened much earlier. My maternal grandfather went bald in his mid 20s, my dad held on to most of his hair until his 40s but then started receding a lot, currently has an island. I can't grow thick facial hair so I'm definitely not one of those high testosterone guys, so I guess I must just have very DHT sensitive follicles.

The three thumbnail pictures were taken in the first month of finasteride, before my shed, but things were pretty bad. It has since thickened up considerably. I'm about the same norwood level (norwood 2 I suppose?). My temples never really recovered but I think my hairline may have lowered a bit (it was always unusually high). Much thicker and darker hair now. Still looks less than ideal when wet and thinner on top than I would like. I'm considering trying dutasteride, see if it improved my temples. When my hair is wet it does look worse, and it is still definitely thinner on top than on the sides/back, but it's a significant improvement over what it was before.

 

[Raz]

Great hair man. Rocking that long style, and it looks good with your current hairline and thickness. I seem to have a vague of recollection of seeing your earlier threads and how your hair looked a bit thinner there (as I sort of started updating my threads at around the same time in fall of 2013 ). Definitely some improvement there over time. Seems like it's good enough if you can maintain for now as you're hovering in the NW2ish range.

 

[GoldenMane]

Cheers Raz. I'm actually quite jealous of your success, it was a really remarkable recovery! Sometimes you just see stories like yours of incredible regrowth that makes finasteride look like a miracle drug (it kind of is). My own regrowth was much more modest, more thickening than hairline recovery, but it has still made a huge difference. I'm living in Japan at the moment so I can't get my hands on dutasteride (very strict about drugs here, I could get jail time for buying online) but when I move home later this year, I'll try it and see if it makes any further improvements. A little more temple recovery and I'd be quite happy. If this is it though, then it's still a decent result, maybe not the hairline I hoped to have at 28, but it cold have been far worse if I hadn't discovered finasteride!

Couldn't fit these pics into my first post, hair as it is usually worn and the last pic is the crown when wet.

 

[Raz]

Yeah, these drugs do work, just luck of the draw how well they actually do work on an individual basis. I did get very lucky in that department. That being said, your story seems like a success to me too, but still hopeful you can boost those temples a little bit and maintain. dutasteride is something like a last resort to me, assuming my male pattern baldness takes a turn for the worse whilst on finasteride.

Offtopic: Interesting to hear you live in Japan, lived there for a bit myself (+ few trips as a tourist) and have a Japanese GF. Currently combining business studies with my Japanese studies which are done with, but dunno if I will wanna go back to Japan permanently unless I can find a good firm with western working conditions.

 

[GoldenMane]

You REALLY did get lucky man! I don't subscribe to the idea of dutasteride as a last line of defense. The way I see it, blocking more DHT can only mean longer lasting and better results. I don't know, I would like to try it anyway. I wouldn't recommend moving to Japan permanently unless you speak Japanese, even if you do find a western company, the standard of living here is a little lower than I'm accustomed to, though in other ways it's quite good. I am debating staying here longer, recently started dating someone and quite enjoying the change of scene, but proper career opportunities here are limited, most jobs are a bit dead end.

 

[Raz]

Well, you might be right about that. Fair enough. It's just that for me, the current regimen works so in that sense I don't see a reason to upgrade as much as some others, but I wouldn't discourage your use of dutasteride anyway.

Also, yeah, I speak fluent Japanese and I've been there to see the whole 残業 -issue which seems to be hellish unless you find a good company, which would mostlikely translate into working for a western company at the very least. Most of my Japanese friends (early to late 20s) are working or about to start working post-graduation and they are all really tired of their lives, lol. Finland's standard of living is also higher than that of Japan, so if I can get some job related to my studies in here (such as working for the embassy of Japan in Finland), then I'd be set. But we'll see.