20+ years old and starting to thin out

[joerogaine]

will rogaine foam 5% maintain the hair i currently have? That is all I am trying to accomplish. No need to be greedy, unless it is possible for me to regrow some hair. Thanks.

 

[Deccles]

I'm 19 with a similar hairline to you; you seem to be okay right now with your hairline. My advice would not be to use Rogaine. Finasteride works as a maintaining drug to keep your hair as it is, and then even thicken out some thinning hairs. All I can say is that you may experience one or two side effects if you do take finasteride, but then you could also get side effects if you use minoxidil. The only side-effects I've had from finasteride after a week of using it is a decrease in libido, which is now picking itself up again - in a month I'll be fine, and for the grand majority of people who do get side-effects will see them go after a month. Wait for your hair to get worse before you actually start taking decisive action though, right now it seems thick and full.

 

[joerogaine]

Any reason why you're against rogaine? I'm a little nervous of the shedding early on

 

[anonymous]

Meh, don't worry about the shedding IMO. It's not even guaranteed and you have LOTS of hair at this moment in time, it won't be noticeable. It's noticeable when you're already thin/bald and you're fighting for every strand, but you have good hair.

I'd get on finasteride and just not worry about it ever again. Yeah, you'll probably get some sides for the first week or two, maybe more. It goes away.

 

[Deccles]

It's not that I'm against Rogaine, I'm just recommending Finasteride as down the line that could do more of the job you want than Rogaine. Rogaine contains Minoxidil which is an agent to regrow hairs that have been lost. Finasteride maintains what you have and thickens it - which seems to be what you want.

 

[joerogaine]

I have read terrible stories about people who use rogaine and shed badly, resulting in worse hair than before. What are the chances that will happen? I have a bottle of rogaine in my possession. I'm just nervous about starting it because of the shedding.

 

[Heyman]

Rogaine won't help you long-term. Rogaine adds some hair in the beginning, but the hair loss continues at the same rate after that. Which means you just "offset" your hair loss situation by a few years. Since your hair looks fine now (it does not look thinned out or anything) you don't need Rogaine. As soon as you stop taking it, you lose all the hair you gained, so you'd need to take it for the rest of your life.