After 2 months of Nizoral 2%

[hitmeback28]

4+ times a week as prescribed by the derm my hair looks much worse! The question I have is why? Is it most likely extremely fast male pattern baldness, shedding from the nizoral (which would be a good thing meaning it's working), or overuse? I never had any skin reaction, redness, or irritation.

I caught on to my thinning very early. In fact if i hadn't cut my hair short I wouldn't have even seen it. Perhaps I was overaggressive too soon, and nizoral made everything worse? Should I cut back, or ride it out? Very frustrating not knowing if the medicine you take it helping or making things worse! BTW, I ONLY use nizoral for now, though I do have Propecia on script.

 

[Quadzilla99]

Could be using it too often? 2-3 times a week is standard. Its best to stick with any treatment for a full year to see if it works. In one study best results from nizoral were seen starting at six months:

http://inhumanexperiment.blogspot.com/2009/03/2-nizoral-shampoo-increases-hair-growth.html

(see the graph in there?)

 

[Benjamin36]

At what rate were you thinning before you started with the Nizoral? Was your hair thinning quickly, or was it a slow progression?

 

[hitmeback28]

At what rate were you thinning before you started with the Nizoral? Was your hair thinning quickly, or was it a slow progression?

Not really sure....there was always one spot in the front that for years seemed a little thin, but didn't notice diffuse thinning until i buzzed my head down.

 

[Benjamin36]

I have come across more than a few posts lately of people claiming the Nizoral caused a shed, even when they were only using Nizoral.

 

[hitmeback28]

I have come across more than a few posts lately of people claiming the Nizoral caused a shed, even when they were only using Nizoral.

I'm strongly hoping that is the case here.

Nizoral is such a tricky thing to evaluate b/c on the one hand you often have the party line as being "it doesn't do much but calm the scalp", but i assume using rogaine only once a week wouldn't do much either.

It's been shown in a more than one study that used around 4 times a week it causes increase in density and diameter of the hair. Unfortunately those studies aren't very large, and we can't with confidence go with a 4 times a week Nizoral regimen.

As a result you have people like me who are trying that regimen, and either A) my male pattern baldness is progressing as normal thus worse hair B) Nizoral 4 times a week is damaging the hair C) I'm going through a shed meaning the regimen is working. How to know which one is the real case, I have no idea!

 

[Benjamin36]

I'm going through a shed as well, have been since March. I'm taking finasteride as well as using Nizoral 2% twice a week (I'm thinking about laying off the nizoral for a while though)

It's really frustrating not knowing what is going on. Am I actually shedding because of the finasteride or Nizoral, or am I losing more hair? I'm more inclined to believe it is a shed, because my hair was pretty thick up until March, but the longer it lasts the more worried I become. At least if I knew it was hair loss I could start using minoxidil or something as well.

 

[hitmeback28]

My hair before buzzing it again two-three weeks ago looked fine. It's when I buzz it that I can see whats begining to take place, and I wanted to get on top of this. I have a Propecia script, but wanted to try nizoral 2% first since i am at the early stages. Will wait the 6 months and if it worsens, then Ill jump on the Big 3. Good luck.

 

[Quadzilla99]

My hair before buzzing it again two-three weeks ago looked fine. It's when I buzz it that I can see whats begining to take place, and I wanted to get on top of this. I have a Propecia script, but wanted to try nizoral 2% first since i am at the early stages. Will wait the 6 months and if it worsens, then Ill jump on the Big 3. Good luck.

If you look at the graph here the best results were from months 6-15:

The circles were people without male pattern baldness who used the shampoo in case you were wondering (its all in that article I linked).

Here's a link to some more nizoral studies: http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interac...ampoos-and-Conditioners?p=1093964#post1093964

I tend to go more by science than by people's personal experiences...in my experience weightlifting people (myself included) thought things worked for years in terms of muscle building/recovery and then later found out that study after study showed they didn't do jack ****...glutamine is one example...myself and countless others convinced themselves that that **** worked but at this point the science is clear it does nothing in terms of muscle. Why do I say this? well between the placebo effect, other psychosomatic ****, and not counting for other variables people's anecdotal reports can be confusing/misleading. If it was me I would just stick to the fact that we've got 6 studies (if you include that small scale japanese nizoral cream one plus the ones in that link) showing this **** is beneficial for male pattern baldness.

 

[fml]

My hair before buzzing it again two-three weeks ago looked fine. It's when I buzz it that I can see whats begining to take place, and I wanted to get on top of this. I have a Propecia script, but wanted to try nizoral 2% first since i am at the early stages. Will wait the 6 months and if it worsens, then Ill jump on the Big 3. Good luck.

You are just hurting yourself in my opinion. You are no way going to be happy with just the "effects" of nizoral. I know you feel you have time to experiment, but personally I think it is time wasted. Unless you are significantly anti-finasteride, I would put money on you eventually starting it. And probably wishing you started it earlier. I think a lot of people new to hair loss stuff dont realize that even finasteride is, on average, rather underwhelming. And that is a recognized, proven treatment. nizoral, or any of those readily available finasteride-free alternatives, do not perform nearly as well as the "underwhelming" finasteride. Many would tell you they are a waste of money.

 

[Quadzilla99]

You are just hurting yourself in my opinion. You are no way going to be happy with just the "effects" of nizoral. I know you feel you have time to experiment, but personally I think it is time wasted. Unless you are significantly anti-finasteride, I would put money on you eventually starting it. And probably wishing you started it earlier. I think a lot of people new to hair loss stuff dont realize that even finasteride is, on average, rather underwhelming. And that is a recognized, proven treatment. nizoral, or any of those readily available finasteride-free alternatives, do not perform nearly as well as the "underwhelming" finasteride. Many would tell you they are a waste of money.

This is total nonsense. finasteride stops hair loss cold in most people...especially males in their 20s or early 30s. If thats "underwhelming" then anything short of total regrowth in a few weeks must be underwhelming to you.

 

[fml]

You quote the entire post and call it total nonsense, but it sounds like the only thing you object to is the use of the word underwhelming. Something that is subjective. But with that less relevant info manage to draw attention away from the underlying point of the OP and my post. Getting back on track, in my opinion he is not going to be satisfied with nizoral and if he is not significantly anti-finasteride, he will get on it at some point not too far away. And will probably wish he started it earlier.

 

[bigdawgfoxx]

I notice a shed with nizoral too I think...I have been on Propecia for around 4 years and everytime I have tried to use nizoral I feel like my hair starts to get thinner and thinner on the top. Any thoughts??

 

[Beingbaldsucksass]

Nizoral is for oily scalp, that's how I got it from my doctor, not even mentioned hairloss

 

[Benjamin36]

Nizoral is for oily scalp, that's how I got it from my doctor, not even mentioned hairloss

My doctor recommended it. He said it's like fertilizer for your scalp.

 

[ryder]

so i've now tested this for two months... when i dont use nizoral and just use a regualar shampoo, my hair does not itch or tingle..

when i use nizoral, the same day i get itchy/tingly feeling.

i have oily hair, so i've assumed nizoral os a must to remove the excess oils.. but if it irritates my scalp.. is it helping or hurting?

i'm starting to think and irritated scalp (itchy/tingly)is bad no matter what.. so if nizoral causes irritation, i should stop... what do you guys think?