3.75 Months On 5% Min - Time To Give Up?

[Red October]

Here is my update as promised. I've been taking Dutasteride 0.5mg every day instead of Finasteride for about 4.5 months. Overall I'd say my hair quality got a little better. I think I'm seeing some new vellusy hairs at the corners of my hairline. No crazy miracles compared to finasteride so far. No side effects except for occasional increased libido. Overall I like dutasteride better than finasteride.

Here is an update photo, not much has changed since the last update, I just want to make myself feel a little better. Compared to my baseline photo from the previous page (5/30/17) you can see I have recovered a decent amount of hair (although in this photo I have minoxidil foam in as a styling product and that makes my hair look a LOT better).

So that's about a year and a half's progress? Brilliant. Thanks for posting. When you compare with your earlier photos it's amazing how much things have improved. You don't have any sides from dutasteride? I think what we can take from your story is that we have to be consistent, take photos and that progress won't happen overnight. Sometimes, when you see fast responders you think everyone should be the same and as per your OP, you feel like giving up long before allowing treatments to take effect. Slow and steady can get there too. Your point about photos is good too as I find going by the mirror is torture isn't it? One day you're convinced your hair's worse than ever. The next day you think it's really improved! Nuts.

 

[Red October]

One additional thing about perception regarding recovery.

Obviously by my first post, I couldn't tell from the mirror or even photos that I was getting better. But the first clue was when I'd catch the outline of my head in the reflection of random things like say the glass door of my microwave. I used to be able to clearly see the outline of the back\middle of my scalp in the reflection. After a few months I stopped being able to see that anymore.

It's a nightmare isn't it? It's so hard to be objective. You can either fool yourself into thinking you've got loads of hair or conversely despair at the baldness. Lighting makes a massive difference too. My hair is still quite thin under strong lighting. However, in softer light it doesn't look too bad. I'm gonna start taking biotin tablets to help my hair grow faster and hopefully thicker.

 

[Red October]

Also @shadowcast do you have bigger versions of your photos? Would be nice to be able to see them a little closer. thanks.

 

[Red October]

Something I forgot to mention. Either the minoxidil or anti-androgens is making my hair, beard, and nails grow a lot faster! Like crazy fast!



I kept the photos small on purpose. I notice that photos from this board sometimes turn up on Google image search. I'm not comfortable with big photos of my head being that visible on the internet. Sorry. Happy to answer any questions though.

Fair enough. I can understand that. I would have liked to scrutinise them a bit more! My hair is looking a bit like your last pic. I like your story because I think it's quite a realistic one. As per previous post, the super-responders can be a bit hard to relate to. Yours has been slow steady progress so is something I could see working for many. I had a comment yesterday from a colleague saying I seemed to have more hair!! She's been eyeing my hair suspiciously for a while. That's gotta be a good sign eh?

 

[Red October]

Something I forgot to mention. Either the minoxidil or anti-androgens is making my hair, beard, and nails grow a lot faster! Like crazy fast!



I kept the photos small on purpose. I notice that photos from this board sometimes turn up on Google image search. I'm not comfortable with big photos of my head being that visible on the internet. Sorry. Happy to answer any questions though.

Another question @shadowcast , what month did you start finasteride? Thanks.

 

[ihatebackstabbers]

@shadowcast - lol. To think that you considered quitting after 3 months. Congrats on the growth.

 

[Pixie]

Woah... You literally regrew a full head of hair. f*****g beautiful.

 

[Red October]

I don't think I mentioned this but my baseline picture is over TEN YEARS of steady hair loss. I don't consider myself an amazing minoxidil responder either. I think the stuff just straight up works, as long as you keep at it. I'm still very unhappy with my current hair but considering everything I have to be pretty happy with what minoxidil has done.

Thanks again. Your story is encouraging for those reasons. Maybe you could look at adding other things to the regimen to boost the results you've got? Have you tried any supplements? Shampoos? You're in a great position now as you've seen regrowth. the treatment works. Just a question of maximising the gains now as per @Somebody . He says the biotin supplement helped to strengthen his hair.

 

[Pixie]

Excellent results nonetheless. Been super on the fence about minoxidil, but this convinced me.

 

[transam]

Just a quick update for people who are scared of anti androgens, I've been on dutasteride for like a year now and still no sexual sides. Only really annoying side effect from everything so far is that my nails grow so fast, and I like to basically have no nails.

Hair's still about the same, just stabilized at this point. I'd kill for another regrowth boost. Considering a transplant. Cheers.

a pic would be great. congrats on the regrowth

 

[JWM2]

Awesome!!!!

Couple of questions, if you don't mind:

Where do you get your Dutasteride from? And how much foam do you use per application?

 

[transam]

Dutasteride is from Medical Wellness Center. How much foam do I use? A LOT. However I'm starting to use it only once a day rather than twice. Will let you all know how that goes.

Okay. This is interesting....
Do you get your script from Medical Wellness Center, then pickup the prescription locally?
Or do you get the dutasteride delivered to you from the website?

 

[Red October]

It gets delivered. Very simple process. Please note I don't think dutasteride has done anything amazing for me compared to finasteride. My hair continues to very slowly get better, I guess that could be the dutasteride, but also it might just be the minoxidil, no way to know at this point. I do like that dutasteride boosts my libido more than finasteride.

You're making good solid progress. Amazing when you look back at your first photos. I've recently added Dutasteride weekly while continuing finasteride daily. Initially I took it every three days to build it up in the system and then back to once/week. Can't afford to take it more often. Also a little apprehensive about sides. I'm just trying to get a little boost where I can. Also, now using Morr F which has topical finasteride as well as minoxidil. Like yourself, I'm using it only once/day now. Thanks for posting the updates.

 

[Me Vs DiffuseThinning]

It gets delivered. Very simple process. Please note I don't think dutasteride has done anything amazing for me compared to finasteride. My hair continues to very slowly get better, I guess that could be the dutasteride, but also it might just be the minoxidil, no way to know at this point. I do like that dutasteride boosts my libido more than finasteride.

You're still making progress after 2 years. Nice.

 

[E-nC]

I've been on finasteride and minoxidil for a year and five months and still only have wispy hairs. I might quit.

 

[JWM2]

How has once a day foam been treating you?

 

[Derelict]

How has once a day foam been treating you?

Topical minoxidil has a 22 hour half life, no need to apply it twice a day imo. Makes my hair look like sh*t so i only apply at night.