Finasteride is working.....now what?

HelpMyHair!!

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Hello,

Long story short, 37, Norwood 2.5-3 with diffuse thinning.

Started on Finasteride a little over 6 months ago. Started at .5MG EOD for a while, then .5MG every day, then upped the dose to the full 1MG a day for the last 4 1/2 months.

It's working, and it's very noticeable already. My diffuse thinning all over the top of my head is filling in to the point where it's barely noticeable.
My crown has thickened up considerably, to the point where I have no doubt it will recover 100%, or at least appear to.

Finally, I have noticed my hairline is starting to thicken up, and have hundreds of vellus, translucent hairs either getting longer, or new short ones popping up in front of the longer ones. But it's still thin, and can see scalp in light/sunlight etc.

Overall I am very happy to be able to see the progress.......but I'm wondering if I should throw something else at it to supercharge the results a little?

Liquid minoxidil is a last resort for me, I would take oral minoxidil before having to put that sh*t on daily.

I have .5MG dutasteride capsules on the shelf ready.

My question is, should I wait until Finasteride results plateau, or should I think about possibly adding .5mg of dutasteride once every other week to try and maximize and possibly supercharge the regrowth I'm getting now?

Some more info:
Using Keto shampoo 2% a few times a week, and scalp massages here and there. I believe they are both helping somewhat. Could be coincidence, but it seems like if I really focus the vigorous scalp massages on thin areas for a while, within a couple weeks/month they begin to thicken up. Could be the finasteride, and the scalp massage is doing nothing.......but I can literally feel the tightness/thickness of my scalp almost break up when I hit an area hard for a while, and when it thickens up hair-wise, the scalp seems to feel more healthy/supple, not as tight and "cracky" as it had beforehand.

I have went through a TON of sheds over the 6 months, but each one seems to have resulted in the shed hairs growing back thicker, and vellus hairs popping up around the thick hairs. Finasteride literally seems to be reversing the hair loss, exactly in reverse of how it thinned to start with. The most recent losses came back first, then earlier losses came back, now.it seems even earlier losses are working their way back but slowly.

Just trying to get a consensus. Ride out finasteride/keto/scalp massages as long as possible, or toss something else in the mix now for hopefully better results long term?

Thanks in advance for any guidance!
 

trialAcc

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If it's working and you are satisfied with the results, then I wouldn't add anything yet until at least the 1 year mark because you're results are only going to improve. Some people improve even into the second year mark before plateauing.

I don't know why you would consider oral minoxidil before topical either, OM is serious medication for people with heart failure. I know a pill is more convenient but why mess with that stuff when you don't have to.
 

HelpMyHair!!

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Working for you than leave it alone.
I was kind of leaning that way, but also was worried about the results "platueaing".

I wasn't sure if adding something else in, even temporarily, to kick start some of the tiny barely visible under light hairs into growing.

Wasn't sure how Finasteride works for most who are good responders. If it keeps improving things for 12-18 months, or just kind of plateaus after 6 and holds there.
 

debyne

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Been on Finasteride 1mg daily for 12 years. It helped slow my hair loss for sure, but adding topical minoxidil 2-3 times/day made all my hair grow back. Now with the pandemic and remote work, applying minoxidil 3/day is easy.

By the way regarding minoxidil, the difference of going from twice daily to thrice daily was HUGE.
 

HelpMyHair!!

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My Regimen
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Been on Finasteride 1mg daily for 12 years. It helped slow my hair loss for sure, but adding topical minoxidil 2-3 times/day made all my hair grow back. Now with the pandemic and remote work, applying minoxidil 3/day is easy.

By the way regarding minoxidil, the difference of going from twice daily to thrice daily was HUGE.
Thanks for the reply, appreciated!

Couple questions, if you dont mind? How much regrowth did you get from Finasteride alone, before starting Min? I know its been a long time ago, but do you remember when you started noticing changes on finasteride, and if it kept getting better for a certain amount of time.

Thanks again, any help appreciated.
 

debyne

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Thanks for the reply, appreciated!

Couple questions, if you dont mind? How much regrowth did you get from Finasteride alone, before starting Min? I know its been a long time ago, but do you remember when you started noticing changes on finasteride, and if it kept getting better for a certain amount of time.

Thanks again, any help appreciated.
I honestly didn't get any regrowth from Finasteride alone. It was the Minoxidil for sure that did that. Now that minoxidil 3/day made my hair so much thicker, I'm thinking of going back down to 2/day just to maintain what I have. Not looking for further regrowth.

As far as your second question, it took at least 6 months to truly notice any difference with Finasteride. You really have to give it a year to be honest. Even then, it's mostly to slow or stop the progression of balding, not regrow hair. So, it's a bit more difficult to measure progress as opposed to Minoxidil where regrowth clearly happened for me.
 

Avacado

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I honestly didn't get any regrowth from Finasteride alone. It was the Minoxidil for sure that did that. Now that minoxidil 3/day made my hair so much thicker, I'm thinking of going back down to 2/day just to maintain what I have. Not looking for further regrowth.

As far as your second question, it took at least 6 months to truly notice any difference with Finasteride. You really have to give it a year to be honest. Even then, it's mostly to slow or stop the progression of balding, not regrow hair. So, it's a bit more difficult to measure progress as opposed to Minoxidil where regrowth clearly happened for me.
What kind of minoxidil are you using?
 

JaneyElizabeth

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Hello,

Long story short, 37, Norwood 2.5-3 with diffuse thinning.

Started on Finasteride a little over 6 months ago. Started at .5MG EOD for a while, then .5MG every day, then upped the dose to the full 1MG a day for the last 4 1/2 months.

It's working, and it's very noticeable already. My diffuse thinning all over the top of my head is filling in to the point where it's barely noticeable.
My crown has thickened up considerably, to the point where I have no doubt it will recover 100%, or at least appear to.

Finally, I have noticed my hairline is starting to thicken up, and have hundreds of vellus, translucent hairs either getting longer, or new short ones popping up in front of the longer ones. But it's still thin, and can see scalp in light/sunlight etc.

Overall I am very happy to be able to see the progress.......but I'm wondering if I should throw something else at it to supercharge the results a little?

Liquid minoxidil is a last resort for me, I would take oral minoxidil before having to put that sh*t on daily.

I have .5MG dutasteride capsules on the shelf ready.

My question is, should I wait until Finasteride results plateau, or should I think about possibly adding .5mg of dutasteride once every other week to try and maximize and possibly supercharge the regrowth I'm getting now?

Some more info:
Using Keto shampoo 2% a few times a week, and scalp massages here and there. I believe they are both helping somewhat. Could be coincidence, but it seems like if I really focus the vigorous scalp massages on thin areas for a while, within a couple weeks/month they begin to thicken up. Could be the finasteride, and the scalp massage is doing nothing.......but I can literally feel the tightness/thickness of my scalp almost break up when I hit an area hard for a while, and when it thickens up hair-wise, the scalp seems to feel more healthy/supple, not as tight and "cracky" as it had beforehand.

I have went through a TON of sheds over the 6 months, but each one seems to have resulted in the shed hairs growing back thicker, and vellus hairs popping up around the thick hairs. Finasteride literally seems to be reversing the hair loss, exactly in reverse of how it thinned to start with. The most recent losses came back first, then earlier losses came back, now.it seems even earlier losses are working their way back but slowly.

Just trying to get a consensus. Ride out finasteride/keto/scalp massages as long as possible, or toss something else in the mix now for hopefully better results long term?

Thanks in advance for any guidance!
Yes to your theory about sheds. Riding them out is key to continue onward with progress. Keto is good for sheds and inflammation.
 
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