Finasteride questions!

[DethbyChocolate]

Ive been on finasteride (cutting 5mg tablets into 4ths, and taking daily) and Im about halfway through my second month, but since about the end of the first month, or a little before, Ive seem to be shedding ALOT more. My hair looks thinner, and worse than it did before. It has even been shedding in the back, and on the little hairs on the back of my neck, is this a good sign, or am I screwed now?! Also, can anyone share their experiences with finasteride with the hair line? And finally, about how long did it take to see any results from finasteride (i.e. no more shedding/regrowth)?

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Also, Im kind of new here, so if you would like to check out my blog, talk, or anything: http://www.hairlosstalk.com/profiles/DethbyChocolate

 

[zzzzz]

this is completely normal. it is an initial shed caused by the drug and is only temporary, more likely to be a good sign although it is not always correlated with good results. finasteride will not make your hair worse, initial shed is only temporary. initial shedding will last likely 6 weeks-4 months

 

[Raz]

I had a finasteride-shed from about my 3rd to 9th weeks into taking the drug. It started pretty fast, I couldn't style my hair like I did (and it was pretty bad on windy days to begin with), so I buzzed it, but it did start doing its magic slowly thereafter. Just have to keep biting the bullet - there is light at the end of the tunnel dude!

I didn't get much of a hairline improvement with finasteride (I think). It mostly halted my existing hair loss, made the texture of my hair a lot better and improved that cowlick/monk spot area of my hair (that spot I can see you have a pic of in your blog), slowly making it fill in. Crown density was very slightly increased but not a lot, in 9 months of taking the drug. I have now been on finasteride for 12 months and it's been great, but most of my regrowth has likely been caused by Minoxidil, in conjunction with finasteride that enables it to work a bit better. (I had very little regrowth from the start to 9 months, but I've been on Minoxidil for 3 months now in addition to finasteride, and I'm getting extremely explosive regrowth as we speak).

 

[DethbyChocolate]

I had a finasteride-shed from about my 3rd to 9th weeks into taking the drug. It started pretty fast, I couldn't style my hair like I did (and it was pretty bad on windy days to begin with), so I buzzed it, but it did start doing its magic slowly thereafter. Just have to keep biting the bullet - there is light at the end of the tunnel dude!

I didn't get much of a hairline improvement with finasteride (I think). It mostly halted my existing hair loss, made the texture of my hair a lot better and improved that cowlick/monk spot area of my hair (that spot I can see you have a pic of in your blog), slowly making it fill in. Crown density was very slightly increased but not a lot, in 9 months of taking the drug. I have now been on finasteride for 12 months and it's been great, but most of my regrowth has likely been caused by Minoxidil, in conjunction with finasteride that enables it to work a bit better. (I had very little regrowth from the start to 9 months, but I've been on Minoxidil for 3 months now in addition to finasteride, and I'm getting extremely explosive regrowth as we speak).

Thanks for the reply! Ive been debating just buzzing it, its starting to feel like being in hair-limbo, so to speak (unable to style it in a way that works because of the awkward, different lengths and densities of the hair) is depressing me almost as much as loss itself. lol. Since you mentioned it, could you give me a little advice about minoxidil? I know virtually nothing about it, and have read/heard so many different things. My dermatologist actually advised me NOT to use it, but the more I read online, it seems to be quite beneficial. Is there a long shedding period when starting it, and Ive heard different things about how long you have to take it to experience the benefits from it. Some say its a life long thing, while others say you just need use it until you get desired results, while on finasteride, of course, to keep it from falling back out, I assume. Regardless of how many other questions I could flood you with, thank you, staying hopeful gets hard at times.

 

[Raz]

Thanks for the reply! Ive been debating just buzzing it, its starting to feel like being in hair-limbo, so to speak (unable to style it in a way that works because of the awkward, different lengths and densities of the hair) is depressing me almost as much as loss itself

Trust me, I know exactly how that feels. It's especially really bad when hair is a bigger part of your image/identity - I used to have long and flashy hairstyles before. I managed to do a decent airbrushed-combover thingy before getting on finasteride, but the initial shed made that impossible and in came the cancer patient look. (I'm a thin 6'2 guy with high cheekbones and sort of a babyface for being 24, or 23 at the time - so you can imagine it)... But biting the bullet and doing a decent buzzed/short hairstyle is kind of liberating as you don't need to think about the wind, rain and some such. Just getting to that low point and hoping that the results kick in. It's hard. Depending on how blatantly bald you look, might wanna go for it or keep it longer while waiting for the results, if it looks decent.

Since you mentioned it, could you give me a little advice about minoxidil? I know virtually nothing about it, and have read/heard so many different things. My dermatologist actually advised me NOT to use it, but the more I read online, it seems to be quite beneficial. Is there a long shedding period when starting it, and Ive heard different things about how long you have to take it to experience the benefits from it. Some say its a life long thing, while others say you just need use it until you get desired results, while on finasteride, of course, to keep it from falling back out, I assume. Regardless of how many other questions I could flood you with, thank you, staying hopeful gets hard at times.

It's a life-long thing for one. The hair that you grow on Minoxidil is dependant on it, so if you quit the drug, you lose the hair in due time. I personally had an initial shed that started about 12 days after I had started the drug - this didn't last for a long time and I could see light at the end of the tunnel by the 2-month mark, so it was a 5-6~ -week shed.

Like I wrote above, finasteride stopped my hair loss and also brought about some minor improvements, but I do feel like Minoxidil has been the source of my regrowth so far. After that initial shed, the last month or so, I've had a remarkable amount of regrowth on the crown and on the hairline. My temples are going from NW3 to NW2 - they might actually be there already. I feel like without finasteride, Minoxidil wouldn't have been as effective as it has been for me, but yeah, I would look into it after some time of being on finasteride and monitoring the situation. I only got on Minoxidil after 9 months, as I was kind of sure I was getting slow but sure improvement/maintenance with finasteride and there were no sides to report of.

Minoxidil comes in liquid and foam, I went for the liquid because it's the most convenient to get in here and I seem to have seen people having marginally better results with it (or with a higher frequency), based on what I have personally seen and read. I was more afraid of taking it than Finasteride, because I had heard of stories about wrinkling of the face and some such. Still, I've been on it for 3 months now, not missing an application and my skin looks as good as ever. Takes about 60-90 seconds for me to apply, so think of it as brushing your teeth. Not that much of a commitment.

Hang in there man!

 

[DethbyChocolate]

Trust me, I know exactly how that feels. It's especially really bad when hair is a bigger part of your image/identity - I used to have long and flashy hairstyles before. I managed to do a decent airbrushed-combover thingy before getting on finasteride, but the initial shed made that impossible and in came the cancer patient look. (I'm a thin 6'2 guy with high cheekbones and sort of a babyface for being 24, or 23 at the time - so you can imagine it)... But biting the bullet and doing a decent buzzed/short hairstyle is kind of liberating as you don't need to think about the wind, rain and some such. Just getting to that low point and hoping that the results kick in. It's hard. Depending on how blatantly bald you look, might wanna go for it or keep it longer while waiting for the results, if it looks decent.


It's a life-long thing for one. The hair that you grow on Minoxidil is dependant on it, so if you quit the drug, you lose the hair in due time. I personally had an initial shed that started about 12 days after I had started the drug - this didn't last for a long time and I could see light at the end of the tunnel by the 2-month mark, so it was a 5-6~ -week shed.

Like I wrote above, finasteride stopped my hair loss and also brought about some minor improvements, but I do feel like Minoxidil has been the source of my regrowth so far. After that initial shed, the last month or so, I've had a remarkable amount of regrowth on the crown and on the hairline. My temples are going from NW3 to NW2 - they might actually be there already. I feel like without finasteride, Minoxidil wouldn't have been as effective as it has been for me, but yeah, I would look into it after some time of being on finasteride and monitoring the situation. I only got on Minoxidil after 9 months, as I was kind of sure I was getting slow but sure improvement/maintenance with finasteride and there were no sides to report of.

Minoxidil comes in liquid and foam, I went for the liquid because it's the most convenient to get in here and I seem to have seen people having marginally better results with it (or with a higher frequency), based on what I have personally seen and read. I was more afraid of taking it than Finasteride, because I had heard of stories about wrinkling of the face and some such. Still, I've been on it for 3 months now, not missing an application and my skin looks as good as ever. Takes about 60-90 seconds for me to apply, so think of it as brushing your teeth. Not that much of a commitment.

Hang in there man!

Thanks again, for your response. I have a follow up appoint at the dermatologist after the 3 month mark of being on finasteride, so i guess after I assess the situation, and get her opinion on how finasteride is treating me, Ill make the decision to start minoxodil or not. Probably will, honestly.