A few other ways to confirm the effectiveness of the meds are to look for the amount of lost hair on your pillowcase each morning. Be sure to clean off all of the hair on the pillowcase, and then repeat each morning. Once you notice less hair being left on your pillow, consistently, that's a good sign. Don't expect to see any changes until three months or so after initial use of the meds. I'll explain why in a moment.
Also look in the palms of your hands after lathering up shampoo on your scalp. Again, a noticable decrease in lost hair is a good sign that stabilization is taking place.
Remember one important thing. Many patients can realize sudden and high levels of shedding resulting from the initial use of finasteride or dutasteride. IMO, that's a good sign because it's verification that your hair follicles are responding to the inihbiton of DHT from the meds. They are beginning to cycle more normally again which equates to growing follicles entering telogen (shedding) and the ones in telogen back into the growing phase. So even if considerable shedding begins, there's more hair beginning to kick in.
Now and then I receive contact from men, especially the younger guys, who experience this increased shedding from the meds and their tendency is to bail out immediately. I always recommend that they listen to their doctor and give it adequate time to fulfill the inhibition period which is normally ninety days. Meaning, one can hardly fairly evaluate the efficiency of the med until the active ingredient has begun to effectively inhibit DHT.
That's just the beginning. Wait until at least six to nine months to begin to see the fewer hairs lost on the pillow or when shampooing or grooming. IMO, too many guys bail out after using finasteride or dutasteride after just a couple of months. They always say, I didn't notice anything. Or they may forget to use the meds they way it is prescribed by their physician. Probably because it is an elective decision to take the drug, not something they are required to take.
One last piece of advice on this subject. The more younger guys should never, ever decide to just start buying finasteride or dutasteride on the internet. YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELVES TO FIRST BE PHYSICALLY EVALUATED AND GET A FORMAL DIAGNOSES FOR male pattern baldness. If your hairloss is unrelated to male pattern baldness you do not want to start using hairloss meds. Or, you may potentially have other medical issues whereby these hairloss meds would not be recommended by your Doctor. :roll:
I am hearing and reading about more and more younger guys and even middle age men just suddenly decide to buy hairloss meds online without being formally diagnosed. Not a good thing. But as many of us know, there is a proliferation of drugs being pushed on the internet. Buyer beware. :freaked:
