Davesmith420 Story - 22 M

[davesmith420]

Hey guys,

I thought I would make a new thread to post updates instead of using my "Am I balding" thread. Now a little background about me. My name is Mike (Davesmith420 was just a generic username I used so none of my friends would find me) and I am a 22 year old male from the United States. Around when I was 20 I started to notice that I was shedding a lot of hair. I never really noticed it in the shower but I would notice it on my desk and in my car. I asked my hair dresser that I have been going to for years about it and he said "You're not going bald you just have a long hair so you notice it. Someone like you can lose up to 150 hairs a day no problem." This made me feel a lot better. I looked it up online that the average person loses 50-100 hairs a day and with no true aggressive hair loss in my family I just blew it off.

Around May last year a buddy of mine made a comment "Hey Mike are you going bald?" about how much of my forehead was showing. Having a high hairline and big forehead all of my life I just blew off the comment. However I did decide to take a picture of my hair for reference. Over the next few months I started to notice a lot of my hair everywhere. I work tutoring younger students and one of the students I worked with made a comment "Wow there sure are a lot of hairs on your computer, do you have a cat?" about all the hairs that were on my MacBook when I opened it up. When I was taking showers, I was losing up to 40-50 hairs. Around then I started to notice that my hair started to look "dull" and not as full so I decided to take another picture of my hairline and compare. These were the results:

Although not that much difference, you can see that some recession had taken place from May to December. When I was getting my haircut my same hairdresser told me that he notice my temples were thinning out and changed his tune about how much hair I should be losing ("150 hairs a day? That's way too much you should just be losing 50 max"). With this I started to panic. I went on Google and typed in "How to save your hairline" or something to that matter and found these forums. I read about treatments (The Big 3) and like most people got a little scared about the possible sides of Finasteride. But I read some thread about how users' biggest regrets were not starting treatments earlier, so I decided to bite the bullet. I got a appointment with a dermatologist and he wrote me a script for Finasteride.

My regimen has consisted of:
1.25 mg of Finasteride daily
Rogaine Foam on my temples and Rogaine liquid on my crown. Both twice a day (for the most part)
Nizoral 2% 2-3 times a week
Regenepure Dr once a week if Nizoral dried out my hair too much
Multivitamin (I used to take Biotin supplements but I stopped as the multivitamin contains Biotin)

Here is my current hairline and my hairline when I first started treatments in early December:

Although the lighting and angle are slightly different, I think it's clear how fuller and healthier my hairline looks just a little less than 3 months into treatment. I would even go to say that my current hairline looks better than it did in May. As long as I can maintain my hairline like this for 10 years, I'll be a happy camper. I feel like that angle of pictures always makes my hairline look way more receded than it is so here are this pictures:

I consider myself to be like a Norwood 1-1.5.

My crown has basically stayed the same. The first time I saw my dermatologist he told me that my crown was thinning. The next time I went he said it was't it was just my part. I'll let you guys be the judge of that, I still apply like .5 ml of Rogaine just incase.

However I have been concerned about a few things. The amount of hair I was losing pretreatments makes me wonder if I am diffused thinning. Again I'll let you guys be the judge:

I have also been concerned that I might have retrograde alopecia. I don't know if it's just the way my hair is parted or if I'm thinning at the sides:



Even if I do have both of these, hopefully these treatments will help me stay at baseline for many years to come. So far I am very happy with my results. My shedding has decreased dramatically (from losing 40-50 hairs in the shower to like 10 max). I feel like now I'm just experiencing "normal" 50-100 hairs a day shedding. My advice to people reading this that are on the fence about starting treatments, definitely give it a shot. Although some serious sides can occur they are very rare and I think it's worth it for the sake of saving your hair and confidence.

I plan on updating this thread as I see results.

 

[g.i joey]

**** dude, you started at a great time. Good luck on your regimen, i hope finasteride can bring back the density i lost on my 2 month break.

 

[davesmith420]

**** dude, you started at a great time. Good luck on your regimen, i hope finasteride can bring back the density i lost on my 2 month break.

Hey thanks man best of luck to you too! I would imagine that you should easily get back that density as 2 months isn't all that long at all.

 

[abovedagame]

Why you are rogaine is baffling to me- however that's just my opinion. You have great looking hair and finasteride+nizoral would potentially be the best option for u to keep the hair you have.

 

[davesmith420]

Why you are rogaine is baffling to me- however that's just my opinion. You have great looking hair and finasteride+nizoral would potentially be the best option for u to keep the hair you have.

Thank you. Yeah Rogaine was probably a bit of an overkill for my stage of the game, I keep considering dropping it but I'll finish up the 2 month supply I have left and see from there. I do plan on dropping my application to the crown down to like one time a day (at night).

 

[diehunnen123]

nice hair man, just do what i do and apply it to the hairline only, ( talking about minoz)

 

[davesmith420]

nice hair man, just do what i do and apply it to the hairline only, ( talking about minoz)

Thank you man, I only apply the minoxidil to my temples.

Little mini update: I have been shedding a little more in the shower (from losing like 5-10 hairs to like 10-15) but I have been shedding WAAAYY less during the day. I honestly think I shed 40-50 hairs a day if that. I can run my hands through my hair for a solid minute and have 0-1 hairs fall out. I can also roughly towel dry my hair like I used to and only find like 1-3 hairs (compared to the 10+ I used to find). Feels good man.

Only downside is that I still have some dandruff.

 

[Hairloss23]

Well done for not buying into the scare stories and getting on finasteride straight away. Look where it has left you, in a fantastic position.

 

[davesmith420]

Well done for not buying into the scare stories and getting on finasteride straight away. Look where it has left you, in a fantastic position.

Hahaha I was scared for about 2-3 days about trying it, but then I realized how ugly I would look if I lost my hair (my good female friend straight up told me) so I booked an appointment with a derm ASAP. I'm hoping since I caught it so early I can maintain for my hair where it is now for like 5-10 years. Some general thicken of hairs that were starting to get attacked by DHT would be a bonus too.

 

[davesmith420]

Is this thinning or just how my hair is parting?

 

[shookwun]

Privledged

 

[davesmith420]

Privledged

Haha what?

- - - Updated - - -

I think I'm going to drop minoxidil, should I? Will I experience a really bad shed?

 

[davesmith420]

Update: Stopping minoxidil today, it's just an overkill for my stage of the game and it's a pain in the *** to apply. I wear my hair in like a Justin Bieber/Ben Gibbard kind of combover so as long as my hairline stays where it is I'll be happy. Hopefully finasteride+nizoral can thicken/maintain my existing hair. Also I tried T-Gel yesterday for the first time and it made my scalp feel so good and took away a lot of the flaking. Only downside is that it makes my hair smell like straight up ****.

I'm going to try to stop posting on these forums, it makes me feel depressed/sad reading some of the things on here. I feel like I spend too much time here when I could be out having fun, hooking up with randoms, etc. I'll try to update my hair every month or so.

 

[shookwun]

I would just apply it at night, and shower it off in the morning. Your hair is way to long to be fiddling around with it in the morning.

 

[davesmith420]

To be honest, it's really hard to tell if you have hair loss at all. I would have to look at the front of
your face or the side, to see where your hairline should line up.

There might not be any recession going on at all.

I totally have a little recession going on my one temple that I can see in person. My right temple is still like my perfect juvenile hairline. Plus I was going through a really bad shed (Losing 40-50 hairs in the shower alone) pre finasteride so if I didn't do something quick things were going to go south really quick. It's probably best for me just to stick with finasteride and Keto, as I'm just looking to maintain and thicken on areas that were starting to go.

@Shookwun if I ever do add minoxidil again that's what I plan on doing.

 

[davesmith420]

3 month update. Can't tell if these are miniaturizing hairs or regrowth. Only time will tell I guess.

 

[shookwun]

To be honest, it's really hard to tell if you have hair loss at all. I would have to look at the front of
your face or the side, to see where your hairline should line up.

There might not be any recession going on at all.

I dont even understand what the OP is so alarmed by. All I see is a good head of hair with his juvenile temple points still in tact.

Am I seeing something differently then everyone else? I dont see any hair loss.

 

[davesmith420]

I dont even understand what the OP is so alarmed by. All I see is a good head of hair with his juvenile temple points still in tact.

Am I seeing something differently then everyone else? I dont see any hair loss.

I was losing crazy amounts of everyday pre-finasteride (like 40-50 in the shower alone) and had the hair dresser that I had been going to for years point out that I was starting to receded a little. I think I just caught it SUPER early. I'n not one to be in denial about things, so I got on finasteride ASAP.

 

[shookwun]

Go get a miniaturization test done by a specialist to put your mind at ease. It's to difficult to tell if you are even suffer from anything, but someone who specializes in this can accurately tell you where your pattern is heading if any where.


These tells will show the process, and where your hair is roughly headed in the future. Sorta like a family doctor being able to tell you your growth potential of where your height is going.


Most barbers are idiots. I had a barber specializing in hair restoration tell me that a hat is a contributing factor towards hair loss

 

[davesmith420]

Go get a miniaturization test done by a specialist to put your mind at ease. It's to difficult to tell if you are even suffer from anything, but someone who specializes in this can accurately tell you where your pattern is heading if any where.


These tells will show the process, and where your hair is roughly headed in the future. Sorta like a family doctor being able to tell you your growth potential of where your height is going.


Most barbers are idiots. I had a barber specializing in hair restoration tell me that a hat is a contributing factor towards hair loss

Hey thank you for your reply man! I always love your posts on these forums you're obviously very knowledgable. I think I will get that test once I have some money, as I don't think my insurance will cover it.

The thing that worries me is the differences in thickness with my hair. If I rip a hair from the dead back of my head (nape) it is thinner than a hair I can rip out from the top of my head (crownish area). I don't know if that is normal or not. Looking at pictures my hair density wise has basically looked the same over the last few years, it's just my hairline I'm worried about.

I also think I might POSSIBLY be experiencing brain fog which is worrying me. It seems like randomly I feel super "zoned out" and "tired." It might just be in my head but who knows. I might switch to taking my 1.25 mg of finasteride at night so hopefully I avoid this.