Sorry frogprince, but i'm looking at the individual hairs on the top of your head and the indivitual hairs on the sides, and the side ones seem to have larger diameters. on my computer screen they look twice as big around. The good news is you have all your follicles on top, so they can be saved. As for the front, growing hair where the skin is smooth is very unlikely. however, if it has only been smooth a few years, there is a chance you can regrow some hairs, but not all of them. you have much better chances of thickening the hairs in the center front.
See your doctor for a propecia prescriptioin, but ask for proscar a proscar prescription. it is the same drug by the same manufacturer but in 5x the dose. You can cut it in 4ths to save money. The dose does not matter much. This drug reduces DHT production in the follicle (and most of the body) so it does not bind to androgen receptors in the follicle as much and set off a chain of processes leading to hair loss. Finasteride (the active ingredient) is our strongest defense against hair loss. Proscar is $95 for 30 tablets. A generic may be out already. 0.2 mg/day finasteride regrows 83% as much hair as 1mg, which regrows 82% as much hair as 5mg/day. Propecia works everywhere, but has the best effects on the vertex.
Minoxidil 5%, which is $6 per month for the equate brand at Walmart, or $27 for 4 months at minoxidildirect.com, helps deal with those other processes. It helps weakly from many different angles. The box says it only works on the back, but that is because it only was tested on the back and no one wants to pay for a big trial since it is in the generic now. It works everywhere it is applied, and can diffuse 1/2 inch in every direction under the skin. Minoxidil does not require a prescription.
finasteride and minoxidil are the only drugs approved by FDA for hairloss, though many companies would rather not do expensive phaseIII trials and prefer to do phaseII or just get a patent. Many scams claim FDA approval by using minoxidil as an ingredient, since it is FDA approved.
Nizoral 1% shampoo, available in stores for $15 for 7 oz without a prescription, not only is the best feeling shampoo I ever used, but its active ingredient, intended to fight dandruff and itching (and great for relieving irritation from the PPG in minoxidil), also weakly competes with DHT for the androgen receptor, partially blocking it. By itself it regrows as much hair as 2% minoxidil. It and propecia are similar by dealing with DHT, but different in strength and function. Use both.
Topical spironolactone is an old drug but is experimental as far as treating hair loss. It works like nizoral, but is stronger than nizoral. It is a cream that you leave on for a few hours. The 2% is $19 per month and the 5% is $30 per month, and both are only available online, as most doctors won't experiment.
Fluridil, brand name Eucapil, is sold at Eucapil.com and is supposed to be much stronger than spironolactone, though not enough studies have been performed for me to know for sure. It is about $45 per month, I think. It is non-prescription because it has a safety mechanism.
Copper peptides by themself are as strong as minoxidil, or there about. They fight hair loss from other angles, giving an added effect, but are considered experimental. They tipically are $25 for a month supply, and are sold online in varying concentrations. Tricomin, the only one that was FDA tested in phase II trials, was diluted before marketting. Others are more concentrationed, but use different peptides.
Eating high protein vegetables such as broccoli or soy power gives arginine, which in vitro fights hair loss. Some chemicals in apples and flax seed may help too, and flax seeds are cheap and healthy for other reasons.
There are some small, short studies that show that rubbing corn oil on your head can regrow a little hair, but I would not bother with that. May drugs on the net have some small study that grew hair for a short time. The truth is hair volume changes with the seasons, and I think some people take advantage of this. Just google hair loss myths to get brought up to speed a bit. Most of the results will probably be right. Most hair loss scams are shampoos. Most topicals work a little, but not 5% as much as the products I listed, and are not worth the price. Avacore and Nisim are two well known scams, and I think the laser comb is too.
