About "wait a year for finasteride to work"

[whatevr]

I started Finasteride in May 2015. My hair slowly went down the tub for the next few months. I kept reading all this advice on how you have to give finasteride a year to work and for your hair loss to "stabilize".

My hair kept getting worse so in December I decided to add minoxidil so I get a bit of a boost before Finasteride "works". minoxidil gave me some pretty nice gains and in February-March this year I had the best hair I had in the last 2 years. I let my guard down for a bit and after a haircut now I noticed just how much my hair has again gone to **** since March where my temples have receded further and the front has thinned out to nearly as bad as pre-minoxidil thickness.

Due to this bull**** advice I am now stuck taking minoxidil without almost any improvements from it whatsoever. Now, I am taking minoxidil, just to have the same ****ty-*** hair I had in December before I even started taking it. All this because in that time span my hair still got destroyed by DHT while waiting for the miracle day when Finasteride will start working that will never come!

This is very very dangerous advice that keeps being parroted here. If I knew what I knew now I would have started dutasteride IMMEDIATELY and just jumped straight over finasteride. And saved way more of my hair. If you don't notice for sure that your hair loss has stopped in the first 6 months (and even that is a long time span since your DHT goes down immediately) then play it safe and just get on dutasteride or add RU. Don't wait and let another year of hair loss play out, there's no going back.

 

[GoldenMane]

Fair point, I would argue, based on your experience, that perhaps it's best to use finasteride alone for 8 months before adding minoxidil so you can first determine whether it is halting hair loss. If it's not then you should add dutasteride and consider minoxidil for additional growth. It's the safest option, though not for the impatient who want results as fast as possible.

 

[davesmith420]

I had good regrowth/halting of hair loss for the first 4-5 months on finasteride, now at month 6 I'm shedding again. Should I switch to dutasteride?

 

[GoldenMane]

I had good regrowth/halting of hair loss for the first 4-5 months on finasteride, now at month 6 I'm shedding again. Should I switch to dutasteride?

I don't know, but I can tell you that I've been shedding 100+ hairs for the entirety of the almost 3 years I've been on finasteride and minoxidil and one month I've been on dutasteride and haven't been losing ground afaik. Are you losing ground? If you had a good initial response then I doubt finasteride has stopped working after just 6 months.

 

[davesmith420]

I don't know, but I can tell you that I've been shedding 100+ hairs for the entirety of the almost 3 years I've been on finasteride and minoxidil and one month I've been on dutasteride and haven't been losing ground afaik. Are you losing ground? If you had a good initial response then I doubt finasteride has stopped working after just 6 months.

My hair still looks better since I started treatment, but seeing 20-30 hairs in the drain compared to 5-10 during the "good months" is making me worried that it isn't going to last. I have read your story before and you have gotten great results. Would you say that you ever go through more "increased shedding (like seasonal shedding)?

 

[whatevr]

I don't know, but I can tell you that I've been shedding 100+ hairs for the entirety of the almost 3 years I've been on finasteride and minoxidil and one month I've been on dutasteride and haven't been losing ground afaik.

I'm the opposite. Even when I had a full head of hair I always shed a lot, probably because I had a lot of follicles and a high rate of hair turnover. So when I started to visibly bald there wasn't much noticeable change in the shedding since I was used to having a lot of hair fall out. Thus, for me shedding is a complete non-measure of whether a treatment is or isn't working, I can't use it to gauge anything. I can only use the mirror. And that one tells me it's quite a bit worse.

 

[GoldenMane]

That's not the opposite at all, I shed like crazy before and after treatment too... I've noticed most of my shedding is from the back and sides, the safe zone rather than the top where my hair is thinner, which leads me to believe the shedding is just normal for me.

I agree, I'm not sure that shedding is the best indicator of male pattern baldness, I'd argue that hair becoming lighter and obvious thinning of hair shafts is a better indicator. Pluck a hair from the topm pluck a hair from the back and compare.

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My hair still looks better since I started treatment, but seeing 20-30 hairs in the drain compared to 5-10 during the "good months" is making me worried that it isn't going to last. I have read your story before and you have gotten great results. Would you say that you ever go through more "increased shedding (like seasonal shedding)?

Yeah I have periods of increased shedding for sure... Last April, almost 2 years into treatment I had an awful shed, lost a lot of density, but bounced back. I do worry that minoxidil may be masking the effect of finasteride, that my hair follicles may be in worse shape than they appear, but minoxidil is masking the effect. For that reason, i've recently added dutasteride to my regimen, better safe than sorry...

I can't recall the last time I saw less than 20 hairs in the drain after a shower. Shedding is worrying, but I think it's more important to look at the bigger picture.

 

[Illusions]

I've currently been on finasteride for 3 months with no results, should I consider switching to dutasteride?

 

[buckthorn]

I started Finasteride in May 2015. My hair slowly went down the tub for the next few months. I kept reading all this advice on how you have to give finasteride a year to work and for your hair loss to "stabilize".

My hair kept getting worse so in December I decided to add minoxidil so I get a bit of a boost before Finasteride "works". minoxidil gave me some pretty nice gains and in February-March this year I had the best hair I had in the last 2 years. I let my guard down for a bit and after a haircut now I noticed just how much my hair has again gone to **** since March where my temples have receded further and the front has thinned out to nearly as bad as pre-minoxidil thickness.

Due to this bull**** advice I am now stuck taking minoxidil without almost any improvements from it whatsoever. Now, I am taking minoxidil, just to have the same ****ty-*** hair I had in December before I even started taking it. All this because in that time span my hair still got destroyed by DHT while waiting for the miracle day when Finasteride will start working that will never come!

This is very very dangerous advice that keeps being parroted here. If I knew what I knew now I would have started dutasteride IMMEDIATELY and just jumped straight over finasteride. And saved way more of my hair. If you don't notice for sure that your hair loss has stopped in the first 6 months (and even that is a long time span since your DHT goes down immediately) then play it safe and just get on dutasteride or add RU. Don't wait and let another year of hair loss play out, there's no going back.

I am in a very similar situation... the thing is - do you really know what is doing what? All this could be a coincidence. How do you know it wasn't finasteride just starting to give you gains in dec, jan, feb, and after a few months on minoxidil THAT'S what started to f*ck you? You could be experiencing a shed from either or that may come back, or a bad reaction to either or that may just repeat itself.. treating hair loss is tricky as f*ck, especially when you respond in weird ways to different treatments.

I would ask your self the following questions

1) how did you scalp feel pre-finasteride?

2) did you compare pics pre-finasteride and after 6 months? really, how much worst was it

3) how does you scalp feel after adding minoxidil?

4) what kinds of hairs are you shedding? does it seem you shed an equal amount every day, or does it fluctuate weekly, monthly, etc? because it could be a synchronized shed from the minoxidil

- it was definitely finasteride that f*cked me, no doubt and I am still trying to recover. 4.5 months on RU and things are worst than ever. Just sh*t diffused thin hair all over the top of my head. In the past year, it literally looks like i went through chemotherapy.

- adding dutasteride/RU etc could help... OR, lets be realistic, could make your situation drastically worst.

-IF you truly feel minoxidil is f*cking you, you need to either stick with it and see if it's a synchronized shed and if minoxidil is actually working to equilibrate the anagen ratio, or drop it and see how you respond (useless advice, I know)

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I've currently been on finasteride for 3 months with no results, should I consider switching to dutasteride?

absolutely not. you need to be patient and see if it actually works for you.

 

[Illusions]

I am in a very similar situation... the thing is - do you really know what is doing what? All this could be a coincidence. How do you know it wasn't finasteride just starting to give you gains in dec, jan, feb, and after a few months on minoxidil THAT'S what started to f*ck you? You could be experiencing a shed from either or that may come back, or a bad reaction to either or that may just repeat itself.. treating hair loss is tricky as f*ck, especially when you respond in weird ways to different treatments.

I would ask your self the following questions

1) how did you scalp feel pre-finasteride?

2) did you compare pics pre-finasteride and after 6 months? really, how much worst was it

3) how does you scalp feel after adding minoxidil?

4) what kinds of hairs are you shedding? does it seem you shed an equal amount every day, or does it fluctuate weekly, monthly, etc? because it could be a synchronized shed from the minoxidil

- it was definitely finasteride that f*cked me, no doubt and I am still trying to recover. 4.5 months on RU and things are worst than ever. Just sh*t diffused thin hair all over the top of my head. In the past year, it literally looks like i went through chemotherapy.

- adding dutasteride/RU etc could help... OR, lets be realistic, could make your situation drastically worst.

-IF you truly feel minoxidil is f*cking you, you need to either stick with it and see if it's a synchronized shed and if minoxidil is actually working to equilibrate the anagen ratio, or drop it and see how you respond (useless advice, I know)

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absolutely not. you need to be patient and see if it actually works for you.

How long should I wait?

 

[whatevr]

How do you know it wasn't finasteride just starting to give you gains in dec, jan, feb, and after a few months on minoxidil THAT'S what started to f*ck you? You could be experiencing a shed from either or that may come back, or a bad reaction to either or that may just repeat itself.. treating hair loss is tricky as f*ck, especially when you respond in weird ways to different treatments.

From left to right: 1 month after starting finasteride. After 7 months finasteride. After 10 months finasteride and 3 months minoxidil.

Here's April with longer hair, almost a fullhead when combed right:


And now it seems to be down the tubes again (July):

I would ask your self the following questions

1) how did you scalp feel pre-finasteride?

Same as before, I don't feel itching.

2) did you compare pics pre-finasteride and after 6 months? really, how much worst was it

See above.

3) how does you scalp feel after adding minoxidil?

Itchy in the beginning, now just dandruff.

4) what kinds of hairs are you shedding? does it seem you shed an equal amount every day, or does it fluctuate weekly, monthly, etc? because it could be a synchronized shed from the minoxidil

I think I do have this synchronized shedding to a degree. But I always used to shed a lot and it's the same length hair everywhere.

- it was definitely finasteride that f*cked me, no doubt and I am still trying to recover. 4.5 months on RU and things are worst than ever. Just sh*t diffused thin hair all over the top of my head. In the past year, it literally looks like i went through chemotherapy.

IDK what to say to that. I am considering RU because finasteride made my nipples grow lol, I am still hoping they will go back to normal ( I quit it one week ago and still not 100% normal)

- adding dutasteride/RU etc could help... OR, lets be realistic, could make your situation drastically worst.

I know that. dutasteride would be a nightmare without aromatase inhibitors. Still not sure if I want to go that route. Also $$$.

-IF you truly feel minoxidil is f*cking you, you need to either stick with it and see if it's a synchronized shed and if minoxidil is actually working to equilibrate the anagen ratio, or drop it and see how you respond (useless advice, I know)

Around March - April during my "hair peak" I felt the best and had so much relief from hair loss. It really was the minoxidil. I could pass by a mirror and feel happy about what I saw. I think it was mostly entirely beneficial. I still use it. But it still feels like just grasping at weak branches along a steep downhill drop cause the finasteride isn't holding.

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[tooldude]

you have so much more hair than baseline in all of those pics. Why would you think finasteride didn't help?

 

[whatevr]

you have so much more hair than baseline in all of those pics. Why would you think finasteride didn't help?

Because those were minoxidil gains, I'm losing ground again particularly in the temples.

 

[tooldude]

Because those were minoxidil gains, I'm losing ground again particularly in the temples.

i hear you, but between months 1 and 7 was a huge gain without minoxidil. Perhaps the minoxidil is giving you a shed like someone posted earlier. finasteride helped you a ton though, imo

 

[davesmith420]

You're still waaaaayyyy above baseline man.

 

[whatevr]

See here I just took this:



Point is I'm losing the minoxidil gains again cause finasteride can't stop the DHT. Maybe I can hold it back with RU?

 

[tooldude]

If i were you, i'd stick with the big 3 and see how it plays out. Many people would kill for your results. I'm no expert though. i'm just judging by your pics

 

[buckthorn]

See here I just took this:

View attachment 40923

Point is I'm losing the minoxidil gains again cause finasteride can't stop the DHT. Maybe I can hold it back with RU?

yeah, that's a tricky situation. Before considering RU or dutasteride, i would consider increasing finasteride dosage, and possibly adding 10% minoxidil.... idk. you could always order a small batch of RU and mix it with your stemox

 

[Swoop]

Seems you started late. You lost a ton **** of density already.

 

[whatevr]

Yeah I was losing it for nearly 4 years before it became bad enough that I really noticed and hopped on finasteride, I guess it could be a lot worse considering that.

Problem is finasteride gives me gyno symptoms so if I continue finasteride I will have to be on an aromtase inhibitor and I don't know if that's possible long term. So it's either that or RU.