2 Months Into Regimen - Am I Just Grasping at Straws at this Point?

Otaku

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Hello, guys. I've been a dedicated 1.5-year lurker to these forums; however, I never envisioned posting my story until I realized that I had nothing to lose by doing so just today. I'd first like to acknowledge that the wealth of information regarding the aspects and treatments for hair loss garnered by all of you guys is just insightful and second-to-none in value. I can frankly say that this board trumps other male pattern baldness-focused forums overall, as the testimonials are just so intricate, lively and inspirational.


My History of Hair Loss


The texture/color of my hair is wavy, black and thick. For the entire time I was in high school and prior, I had an abnormal hairline. When I say "abnormal," I mean in the sense that it did not fit it any of the Norwood scale categorizations. It more or less resembled the notorious feminine hairline, with the signature inverted U-shaped look. If I had to classify this hairline on the Norwood scale, I would give it a Norwood -1; with the zero classification being a straight horizontal hairline. Here is a picture back in 2001 to describe this:

0321151706.jpg

When I reached the age of 17 around the year 2006, it matured into a Norwood 0 hairline. Even though most people would not consider this significant, this really altered my looks in my opinion. I felt as if a bigger forehead was not suited to my facial cosmetic appearance. Fast forward to 2009, and my hairline began maturing to a Norwood 0.5. I took notice of this; however, I did not do anything to combat the loss as I totally felt it was part of the normal cycling of hairs. Then, when 2010 came, the hairline began to mature more, reaching Norwood 1.0 by the Spring. Again, I did nothing because I thought this was perfectly normal.

However, in 2011, my parents began commenting about my receding hairline and stated that I was starting the process of balding. This was a crucial moment in my life, as I got the infamous confirmation that my condition was to worsen as time went on and was destined to become bald. My father is a Norwood 6 and my mother's father was a Norwood 7. I became really self-conscious about my hair and started to research potential treatments on the Internet. The most promising treatment I read about at that time was Rogaine; however, since I was in college and had no job at that time, financial issues were a factor and I decided not to invest in it. Thus, I settled into covering my receding temples with styling as it was easy to accomplish as my hair is thick.

In 2012, my temples further degraded to a Norwood 1.5. I was getting more and more depressed at this point. Again, I did not counter my a hair loss because of a lack of a permanent job. Towards the end of 2013, my right temple degenerated to a Norwood 3 and my left temple slightly receded more to Norwood 2. Since I had a better job at this point and read about the efficiency of finasteride on these forums, a dermatologist prescribed my generic Finasteride and 2% Nizoral in December 2013.

From December 2013 to January 2015, I can safely say that finasteride virtually halted my hair loss; however, I experienced no regrowth unfortunately. As such, I was disappointed and wanted to lower my hairline at an appreciable level to both temples, preferably back down to a Norwood 1 or below.


Current Regimen

So I decided to dedicate myself to this complex regimen everyday starting on January 17, 2015, in addition to the finasteride and Nizoral I was already taking. I want to throw the entire kitchen sink at male pattern baldness:

Topical Regimen:
2% Nizoral
5% Generic Minoxidil Foam
Saw Palmetto
Taurine
Biotinoyl Tripeptide-1
Acetyl tetrapeptide-3
Apigenin
Oleanolic Acid

Internal Regimen:
Finasteride - 1.25 mg/day
MSM - 2 g/day
Biotin - 5 mg/day
Vitamin B6/B12 Complex
Niacin
L-Arginine/L-Lysine Complex
Flavonoid/Polyphenol Complex


The Results:


Baseline - January 17, 2015.


First pic of frontal shot shows how I can style my hair to cover the temporal recession. Vertex pic is a normal shot with no styling whatsoever.

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Here is a true baseline shot of my frontal recession. I have such a horrific hairline now:

startrighttemplerotated.jpg0824141248.jpg
 
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Otaku

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About Two Months In - March 20, 2015:

0320151947.jpg0320152018.jpg




I would like to ask you guys if I am seeing results or if I am truly only seeing degrading miniaturizing hair. I really cherish my hair and would not mind spending hours in the bathroom each day styling it, so long if I have a meaningful head of hair like I did a few years ago. I regret not going on finasteride a few years ago, as that was probably crucial to my cosmetic facial appearance.
 

TD500

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Kitchen sink in all lol. I think you could have just added minoxidil. Hair looks thick all over minus the temples if you don't get the desired results your probably a good candidate for a hair transplant to fill those in.
 

kuca

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I m just wonderign how old are you now? I had relly low hairline just like yours when i was 17 and than it started to reced now i m 19 with nerwood 1 and some diffuse thining(relly minor duffus

)and 2.5 months with generich finesterid( with my docthor prescription)
 

BiqqieSmalls

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Dude, nice regrowth. Stick with the minoxidil. I definitely see a lot of regrowth especially at two months. Forget a hair transplant. You won't need it. I can't wait to see the results at 6 months. :punk:
 

Otaku

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Kitchen sink in all lol. I think you could have just added minoxidil. Hair looks thick all over minus the temples if you don't get the desired results your probably a good candidate for a hair transplant to fill those in.

Thanks for the comment about my thick hair. However, I would probably not get a hair transplant in the near future unless regeneration of donor hairs becomes a reality. I might then consider it.

I m just wonderign how old are you now? I had relly low hairline just like yours when i was 17 and than it started to reced now i m 19 with nerwood 1 and some diffuse thining(relly minor duffus

)and 2.5 months with generich finesterid( with my docthor prescription)

I am 26-years-old but look much younger than my actual age. Your hairline should stop receding in about 2 months and hopefully get some thickening since you started to take Finasteride.

Dude, nice regrowth. Stick with the minoxidil. I definitely see a lot of regrowth especially at two months. Forget a hair transplant. You won't need it. I can't wait to see the results at 6 months. :punk:

Thanks for the encouraging comments; I thought I was observing false hopes in my temples. I just wish the regrowth would propagate lower towards my lower temple area further away from the current hairline. I heard from various hair count studies that I am at the peak results of Minoxidil now at 2 months; so that's kind of a bummer. *sigh* Thus, should I soon consider Fluridil or Spironolactone to promote additional regrowth? I still see scattered microscopic vellus hairs that outline my juvenile hairline; these hairs have been there ever since the hairline matured several years ago.
 

Raz

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Stick to it, you seem to be responding quite well. Good luck, profiled for future updates.
 

Otaku

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I don't recall; however, I think I read it from a few private in-house studies from online institutions a couple of years back. It particularly said that most patients should not see any new hair growth after two months; thereafter, maintenance is the primary rule until a steady decline after four months. Of course, I would be glad to stand corrected. XD

When do you think peak results of minoxidil generally occur, according to your experience?
 

Raz

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minoxidil gains peak at about 10-12 months into the treatment. Thereafter, it's just plateauing for a few years and then gradually lowering hair counts. This, according to the studies I've read.

However, of importance is that these studies I've read have been conducted on people on minoxidil alone. If one suffers from male pattern baldness, one is going to need a DHT-inhibitor. Even if you get good regrowth, you'll likely lose hair elsewhere over time without a DHT-inhibitor, hence the lowering hair counts and progressing baldness, even if minoxidil doesn't lose its efficacy per se.

If someone can link me to a study wherein the participants were on both Finasteride & minoxidil, I'd be interested to read. However, from various minoxidil-only studies and poking around, most seemed to have agreed that 10-12 months was the peak.
 

rogerackroyd

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Well I have been using minoxidil on my temples for 6 months now, and even though the small hairs I have regrown are now getting a bit thicker, I think my temples have receded further. I'm hoping that the small hairs will turn terminal later, and if they do not, I'm gonna just stop using minoxidil since the hair I have regrown with it don't seem to make much visible difference at all.
 

Raz

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Don't worry about it dude, 2.5 months is nothing. Many people start seeing minoxidil results later than that. For me, I pretty much shedded or had no gains for the first 2 months (speaking about minoxidil's addition only, having been on finasteride before that), but then a sudden explosion of hair happened after the 2.5 month mark, having gotten tons of regrowth thereafter. On the other hand, I've seen guys who've had their minoxidil kick in at around the 4-5 month mark and even some dudes who've stably improved up to the 1-year mark on minoxidil.

Give it more time, dude. I would give it at least 6-8 months on your current regimen. If you haven't gotten any gains at all by then (minor or otherwise), then I don't think it's likely you're a good minoxidil-responder. For now, keep going consistently, it's very early days. Even if it seems like nothing is happening now, minoxidil can change your hair at such a radical speed that it feels like night and day. I remember waking up to seeing my hair being better like literally every day, after a certain point, and the differences between my pics of then and the pics from month before that point were like 1.5 norwoods apart.
 

Otaku

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Don't worry about it dude, 2.5 months is nothing. Many people start seeing minoxidil results later than that. For me, I pretty much shedded or had no gains for the first 2 months (speaking about minoxidil's addition only, having been on finasteride before that), but then a sudden explosion of hair happened after the 2.5 month mark, having gotten tons of regrowth thereafter. On the other hand, I've seen guys who've had their minoxidil kick in at around the 4-5 month mark and even some dudes who've stably improved up to the 1-year mark on minoxidil.

Give it more time, dude. I would give it at least 6-8 months on your current regimen. If you haven't gotten any gains at all by then (minor or otherwise), then I don't think it's likely you're a good minoxidil-responder. For now, keep going consistently, it's very early days. Even if it seems like nothing is happening now, minoxidil can change your hair at such a radical speed that it feels like night and day. I remember waking up to seeing my hair being better like literally every day, after a certain point, and the differences between my pics of then and the pics from month before that point were like 1.5 norwoods apart.

Dude, your hair looks great. Chill out

Thank you both for your words of encouragement. I will update the thread every month instead of every two weeks in order to not stress about seemingly "very slow" results.
 

Otaku

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Hello again, everyone. I'd just like to update everyone with a 3.5-month report of my progress.

I can definitely confirm that I've had some nice progress in the past month. My left temple has improved from a Norwood 3 to a Norwood 2; and my right temple has improved from a Norwood 2 to a Norwood 1.5.

Here are the before/after pictures to demonstrate. These were taken on May 5, 2015:

Left Temple:
picisto-20150508211255-551684.jpg

Right Temple:
picisto-20150508213117-950531.jpg


Side/Back View:
0505151821.jpg
 

Raz

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Great stuff, dude! You can definitely see the success - here's hoping for some more! Keep at it. Happy for you.

Your hair from your second post shows growth. It's probably the minoxidil, and it will give you back a few years, at most.
He's on finasteride as well. I know minoxidil-hairs are independent of that and thriving on minoxidil only, but his hair counts should be fine, dude. Further balding when inhibiting DHT is unlikely. minoxidil doesn't lose efficacy over time either, per se. So yeah.
 
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