Finasteride and the effect on facial hair

[Koga]

Hi folks,

I've been searching for this stuff like a billion times on the internet, but without great results. I know there have been reports of people who saw reduced body hair after starting finasteride or who never got great body hair by suppressing that much DHT. But how about facial hair, the good old beard growth? People/science seems inconclusive whether facial hair is mainly due to DHT or testosterone. Huge difference, because, suppressing DHT means a slight increase in testosterone. So in that case finasteride would even be able to help beard growth a little bit.

I know many of you won't get my doubts, but for me, mature facial hair is a fairly important thing. I'm 21 now and I only have decent growth in the goatee and mustache area, my cheeks are still very spare. My hair is thinning and I'd like to get on treatments, finasteride seems perfect, because of doing something about the cause of the hair loss. But I don't really want to get on Propecia if this means I'll never be able to get a real, fully developed beard... Minoxidil might be an alternative, but I don't really wanna create minoxidil-dependend hairs if I could as well stop the balding process at its roots.

I know, many of you will think 'Screw the facial hair, rather have hair on the top of your head' and while that may be true (yes, head hair is still more important to me), I'd like to know whether someone can give some info to me. If I start finasteride now, do I reduce my chances of getting a full beard, ever?

Btw, I wouldn't mind slower growth of facial hair, I just don't want it to stop developing.

 

[Beingbaldsucksass]

if you ask me what i prefer more my beard or my hair, i will choose my beard anytime

 

[IrishFella]

Head >>>>>>>>>>>> Facial hair.

As for your question, there is no notable evidence that finasteride stops the development of a "full beard", you can either grow decent facial hair or not.

 

[Quadzilla99]

You could always rub minoxidil all over ur face

lol virgin neckbeard phaggots

So thats an option...

 

[Wuffer]

I was a little worried about this myself when starting finasteride, as I have never been able to grow much of a beard. After 2 years, my facial hair still grows at the same rate and thickness. Not that great, but not any worse either.

However, I HAVE noticed my actual body hair is thinner and lighter overall. I don't think this is a bad thing at all.

 

[abcdefg]

Science is not conclusive about this as its not on many complicated things like this. I thought I saw a study once that made it seem like both T and DHT are responsible for say facial hair growth like beard which makes sense since judging by the number of women I know with tons of facial hair the idea of androgens makes pretty good sense to me. Whether removing all of T and DHT after you have lots of facial hair reverses the process is another question it might not work like that even though it makes logical sense. CB 03 01 interferes with T and DHT so if it ever comes out maybe we can see how well it works on stopping facial hair which it seems it should. They were looking at excessive body hair, acne, and hair loss as conditions it could help.
Again though I doubt its just DHT I think testosterone definitely is important and given its the primary male hormone I dont see why it wouldnt be.

 

[Benjamin36]

My facial hair growth is the same it's always been while on finasteride.

 

[Koga]

See that's the problem, I'm only 21. Facial hair keeps developing for most people while in their twenties or thirties. I don't want it to keep the same, but I don't wanna mess with its natural development (whether that is a full grizzly kinda facial hair or only slightly better than what I have now).

 

[abcdefg]

Testosterone is important and involved its not just DHT so finasteride probably would not stop it. Finasteride might help prevent some of it but things are not always reversible after you have facial hair finasteride might not make it just go away it could be T alone keeps it growing. Again though looking at women I think its safe to say androgens are the main reason but its not as simple as DHT there are many forms of male androgens

 

[Koga]

You're probably right. The thing is, there's no way to actually figure this out. Someone who's been taking finasteride for 10 years can't possibly say whether he would have had more beard growth if he would have never taken it.

 

[All_The_Above]

Get on Minoxidil if you want thicker facial hair. Minoxidil is awesome at growing hair everywhere EXCEPT on your head. Go figure.

 

[LawOfThelema]

well given that there have been pictures of guys who got results on dutasteride who still had thick beards id say its effect on facial hair isnt that serious

 

[drmk4]

I started Propecia 2 and a half years ago when I was 22. Even before taking finasteride I noticed that I was rather slow in getting a proper beard, and at 22 it wasn't that much, but two years later I've gained quite a lot of ground in getting a proper beard. Still not the typical type, but good enough in terms of thickness so I doubt finasteride can affect beard growth. For the record though, I have noticed a lesser hair density around my body, mostly on my thighs but that's about it.

 

[DonaldAnderson]

I cannot grow the connector between sideburns and beard and i am in mid 20s. Not sure if that is to due to finasteride.

 

[mpower90069]

I started Propecia about 7 months ago. I am 31 and have relatively dense beard follicles, though I tend to keep a clean-cut look. Upon starting propecia, my beard growth slowed appreciably . I consider it a positive, because I now only need to shave every other day (as opposed to every day). Saves me a ton of $$$ on those expensive Gillette Mach III razors.

I've had the same shaving routine for 5 years now, so it was quite a surprise when I got this side-effect. I still get beard growth, and actually rocked it out a few weeks ago (for a whole month). I also noticed less beard growth on the fringes ( my cheek bones) -- again I consider this a plus because i always hated having my beard go up so high.

I used to have a five-o-clock shadow of growth within 12 hours of shaving, now it takes 24 hours for that same shadow to appear.

 

[Beingbaldsucksass]

I cannot grow the connector between sideburns and beard and i am in mid 20s. Not sure if that is to due to finasteride.

My friend has it as well, no male pattern baldness and no finasteride, (bastard has the straighest hairline i ever sew) his hot girlfriend dosent give a ****.

 

[dan1938]

Man I am on the same exact boat as you but I am 22 and have been taking finasteride for 18 months. My family has a history of delayed facial hair development and male pattern baldness(lucky me I was really concerned abt this issue so I did a tone of research online. What I came to find out was that there are two types of 5-alpha reductase. this is the hormone that converts test to the more potent dht. type I is apparently more prevalent in the skin and oil glands and type 2 in hair follicles. now the really interesting part is that dht is actually important in giving you secondary sexual characteristics such as facial hair but has paradoxical effect on hair on your head. for your facial hair it actually converts baby hairs to terminal hairs in the initial stage. finasteride inhibits the type 2 form of 5-alpha reductase which is found in hair follicles. thats why it help prevent hair loss. however it is also effectively suppressing facial hair development. But here comes the "good" news..finasteride doesn't suppress the type 2 completely but to abt 70%. which means yes your facial hair development will be affected but your beard will grow out..it will just take longer. this doesn't apply to already existing terminal hair on your face but to those that haven't made the transition. by the way there are no studies on this subject but you have to make the connections yourself. This what I at least concluded from my research but the issue is much more complicated. I hope that helped and keep me updated on this issue as it concerns us both.
Dan

 

[Koga]

So if I understand you correctly.. You say one will end up with a full beard (if that's his genetic possibility) whether on or not on finasteride; it will just take longer? See I don't mind slower growth or even slightly slower development. But I don't want to know that I stopped the development of my beard, see? I don't give that much about the SPEED of my beard growth, but I do give a damn lot about the DEVELOPMENT and the filling of my cheeks, neck, etc.

 

[Koga]

As my hair is severly thinning, I'm gonna start the use of minoxidil (on top of the head, of course). I hope I can use minoxidil for two or three years without the need of a antiandrogen, so my beard gets those two or three years to develop properly. From the moment I believe minixidil alone can't fight the hair loss anymore, I let finasteride pop in (too bad for my beard growth/development, priority for head hair).

A sound plan?

 

[Hair.worth.it]

Yeah, me too. Facial hair was coming in nicely, but after 2 years of finasteride use it just stopped from maturing. Every man in my family have had a full beard in their lifetimes (including dad) and none of them is patchy or incomplete. I'd really like to sport as many styles possible, since I'll lack hair on top anyway. Plz anyone who's been through a similar situation, chime in!