5 months on the Big Three - Results ---9 MONTH UPDATE
Hello everyone. I'm a 24 year old guy who has always been a bit OCD about my hair, as I'm sure some of you are as well (I mean hell, we're on a hair forum). Anywho, my father has close to no hair on the top of his head and my older brother has a pretty drastic receding hairline, so needless to say I saw my future and didn't like it. In the past, as in a few years past, I tried Rogaine/Lipogaine and had minor success with Lipogaine on just the hairline, which is my only problem area. About a year ago it was starting to noticeably recede at the temples and began to at the frontal hairline.
After some lurking on forums such as these, I decided to get a prescription to finasteride April 2, 2014 (about 5 months ago). For the first three months or so I split a 5mg finasteride tablet into 4ths, thus taking 1.25mg daily. I combined Nizoral a couple times a week & have been applying Rogaine foam in the morning and Kirkland's minoxidil at night, largely just in the temple area. Granted I haven't been 100% faithful on the minoxidil cause it makes my hair an absolute mess, so occasionally I'll skip it in the mornings. I've also recently mixed in daily Zinc, Saw Palmetto, and Biotin to try help hair regrowth and combat the sides, which I'll get to now.
Side effects are real. Little to no morning wood anymore & it was a daily occurrence in the past, almost no random erections (also a daily occurrence in the past), watery semen, and definitely lower libido. HOWEVER, everything still works when there's the occasion for it. It does mess with my head a bit, but I try my best to keep any sort of psychological effects, as in worrying too much about it, at a low. That being said, about two months ago I started cutting the pills into 5ths to result in 1mg doses to try and combat the sides, & I'm thinking of cutting them into further smaller doses. I do worry that a not consistent dosage (I can't perfectly cut the dang pill every time) would have negative effects, but that may not be true.
So I'm posting all this to a) give y'all another story to read to help in the decision, and b) to get some advice moving forward. Results in terms of hair: it's hard to say, I definitely notice less hair in the shower after shampooing (almost none) which in the past I'd have 5-10 hairs in my hands afterwards. But, I also haven't really seen any new hair growth, & I'm almost positive the hairline is still slowly moving in the less desired direction. I feel like it's gotten worse with the shift to 1mg dose, but this could also just be a perception thing. When I apply minoxidil, I have really only been putting it at the temples and the very front of the hairline where there is largely no hair left. I feel like it may be causing some breakage of the hairs that it comes into contact with. Anyone notice something similar? Also, I am thinking i'll start putting more of it and deeper, although I don't want a shed because of the new exposure to the minoxidil.
I'm hoping I'll be one of those guys that sees results at 8ish months and all this hasn't been for nothing. Anyway, here's pics: before, then after.
July 14 ,2014
September 8, 2014
April 7, 2014
September 8, 2014
April 7, 2014
September 8, 2014
Hello everyone. I'm a 24 year old guy who has always been a bit OCD about my hair, as I'm sure some of you are as well (I mean hell, we're on a hair forum). Anywho, my father has close to no hair on the top of his head and my older brother has a pretty drastic receding hairline, so needless to say I saw my future and didn't like it. In the past, as in a few years past, I tried Rogaine/Lipogaine and had minor success with Lipogaine on just the hairline, which is my only problem area. About a year ago it was starting to noticeably recede at the temples and began to at the frontal hairline.
After some lurking on forums such as these, I decided to get a prescription to finasteride April 2, 2014 (about 5 months ago). For the first three months or so I split a 5mg finasteride tablet into 4ths, thus taking 1.25mg daily. I combined Nizoral a couple times a week & have been applying Rogaine foam in the morning and Kirkland's minoxidil at night, largely just in the temple area. Granted I haven't been 100% faithful on the minoxidil cause it makes my hair an absolute mess, so occasionally I'll skip it in the mornings. I've also recently mixed in daily Zinc, Saw Palmetto, and Biotin to try help hair regrowth and combat the sides, which I'll get to now.
Side effects are real. Little to no morning wood anymore & it was a daily occurrence in the past, almost no random erections (also a daily occurrence in the past), watery semen, and definitely lower libido. HOWEVER, everything still works when there's the occasion for it. It does mess with my head a bit, but I try my best to keep any sort of psychological effects, as in worrying too much about it, at a low. That being said, about two months ago I started cutting the pills into 5ths to result in 1mg doses to try and combat the sides, & I'm thinking of cutting them into further smaller doses. I do worry that a not consistent dosage (I can't perfectly cut the dang pill every time) would have negative effects, but that may not be true.
So I'm posting all this to a) give y'all another story to read to help in the decision, and b) to get some advice moving forward. Results in terms of hair: it's hard to say, I definitely notice less hair in the shower after shampooing (almost none) which in the past I'd have 5-10 hairs in my hands afterwards. But, I also haven't really seen any new hair growth, & I'm almost positive the hairline is still slowly moving in the less desired direction. I feel like it's gotten worse with the shift to 1mg dose, but this could also just be a perception thing. When I apply minoxidil, I have really only been putting it at the temples and the very front of the hairline where there is largely no hair left. I feel like it may be causing some breakage of the hairs that it comes into contact with. Anyone notice something similar? Also, I am thinking i'll start putting more of it and deeper, although I don't want a shed because of the new exposure to the minoxidil.
I'm hoping I'll be one of those guys that sees results at 8ish months and all this hasn't been for nothing. Anyway, here's pics: before, then after.
July 14 ,2014
September 8, 2014
April 7, 2014
September 8, 2014
April 7, 2014
September 8, 2014
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