Hair Loss At 17. Now 23, At A Crossroads. (semi Diffused Pattern)

HairCome2Me

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Hello everyone. Long time lurker but first time poster here. As the title suggests, I am an unfortunate sufferer of male hair loss. To make matters worse, this is happening to me at a young age. The fear of the inevitable was always there ever since I started losing hair at 17. But college was just so damn fun that, aside from a handful of depressive bouts, I never really worried too much about my hair loss. All I knew at the time was that it is a slow process and I shouldn't waste my precious youth being tormented by this demon known as male pattern baldness. And to be completely honest, my hair was not bad at all in my college years. Yes the shedding occurred throughout, and I did notice the gradual thinning of my hair, but I always told myself "I still got hair".

However, I can only carry that mentality for so long before hair loss catches up to me. So here I am today, 1 year removed from college, sinking into the biggest bout of depression I've ever experienced regarding my hair loss...

Even though I was somewhat care free about hair loss in college, I did do my fair share of research on male hair loss and the treatment options I have. I actually started taking finpecia from InHousePharmacy starting spring of 2013 on a daily basis. Also got on minoxidil shortly after that. But unfortunately I was not persistent with my regimen, skipping days here and there, and skipping a whole month from May to June as I vacationed post graduation. Starting July of 2013 I continued on with minoxidil (once a day mainly) but still skipping days here and there. I stopped finpecia, not trusting its legitimacy. Needless to say my treatment up to that point was ineffective. I carried on with this somewhat careless attitude until October, and like many of us here, I looked at myself in the mirror one day and the alarm went off. My hairline is finally showing visual signs of years after years of hair loss. Instantly, I scheduled an appointment with a dermatologist for the sake of getting a prescription for finasteride, and then it began the journal, for real.

Since October of 2013, my regimen has been:
1.25MG Finasteride Daily (Generic Proscar from Target Pharmacy split into 1/4, manufacturer is Camber)
5% Kirkland Minoxidil Twice a Day
Nizoral 1% 3-4 Times/Week

7 Months later (And if my sporadic treatment prior to 10/2013 counts, it's more like a year now), the results are not satisfying, AT ALL. My hairline and front is still losing ground while maintaining the top and the crown, or at least I think the top and the crown has not worsened. Hair loss did not cease and if I am not mistaken, it has actually accelerated in the past couple of months in the hairline and front region.

As it currently stands, I am a NW3 and I will do EVERYTHING in my power to keep it at that. But I guess it's only natural for me to have doubts if things will ever improve since nothing has gone right thus far...

Thanks for reading my rant/story and I will continually update this thread as the days go by to track my progress, or lack of. First thing I am going to do, Getting myself some genuine finasteride. My generic finasteride is almost done with and I plan to give brand name Proscar a try. Perhaps it's stupid of me to spend additional money on a pill that contains the same ingredient, but desperate times calls for desperate measures.

Any feedback, suggestions, and thoughts will be much appreciated.

Thanks once again and may we all come out on top against the male pattern baldness demon =)

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zzzzz

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You can just get blood work done to prove the finasteride is doing what it is supposed to do
 

HairCome2Me

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^Are you referring to the test for DHT level in blood? If I am correct, high level of DHT does not necessarily equate to hair loss. Rather, it's one's sensitivity to DHT. And I am not sure if sensitivity can be tested other than the naked eye test of your hair loss condition :unsure:
 

HairCome2Me

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Okay so I chickened out from buying brand name Proscar. Here in the U.S, Target pharmacy includes 5mg finasteride as part of their $9 generics program. I believe it is $9 out of pocket for 30 pills. All in all, I got my 6 month supply of finasteride for...wait for it...$15!!! Compared to the cost of proscar, which I price checked at several pharmacies, this is an absolute bargain. CVS priced 9 pills for $57 (without insurance). Walgreens priced at $60. Rite Aid has the price at $42.

However, I am still skeptical about the potency and the effectiveness of generic finasteride. Either that or I am just a bad responder. And since Target only carries the generic version and not the brand name, it's safe to infer the generic is legitimate, or else prostate patients who use Target pharmacy are all screwed.

Can anyone shed any light to this? Should I just rule out generic legitimacy and just accept that I am a bad responder to finasteride? =(
 

eenrak

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I think what zzzzz meant, was that you could check your dht level either to see if your finasteride is genuine (which it most probably is) or maybe he assumed it is real, and he meant that you might be so unlucky that finasteride does not lower your dht. That is very rare though.
Don't bother trying out different types of brands man, it's a waste of precious time. If I were you, I would add something to your regimen.
Hardcore approach: add ru and/or dutasteride once or twice a week
softcore approach: spironolactone cream.

Best of luck!
 

HairCome2Me

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One month update:

Hair is still shedding. It appears that I am not responding to finasteride as there's no way I should still be shedding after 9 months. Crossing my fingers and hoping otherwise.

My hairline is getting destroyed by minoxidil. How do I know this? Because hairline area is the region where I apply the most minoxidil. I don't think the general consensus of "getting worse before it gets better" applies to me. This shed has persisted for at least 3 months. From what I know, most people report shedding periods of a month, two tops.

This fight for follicles is killing me :sad:
 

zzzzz

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you can try dutasteride

drop finasteride completely

take .5mg dutasteride daily
 

eix

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Get better pics of your head & hairline, it looks like youre just thinning heading to nw3 but not actually there yet. But I can't be sure because of how you cropped the pictures.
 

shookwun

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Drugs will only take you so far.



How responsive, and successful you are at halting hair loss is entirely based on how sensitive your scalp is to DHT.

More androgen receptors in the scalp, and naturally high DHT levels generally results in unfavorable effects for us who are prone to hair loss.


This cannot be changed.....


As I mentioned even very little amounts of DHT can trigger unwanted effects for those that are very sensitive within the scalp. Regardless of being on finasteride.
 

Mattdude123

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:(

I feel bad for anyone that goes through this **** tbh but hey my **** started when I was 14 so at least u didn't start to lose it in middle school.. Good luck
 

HairCome2Me

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Hey guys. It's been a year and a half since I started this thread and unfortunately things are getting dire. Hair loss never halted and I am definitely not a good responder to finasteride, as it's already been 2+ years of use. I still apply minoxidil once a day before bed but I have increased the dose. As a diffused thinner, I normally apply 2 squeezefulls (just made this term up lol, each squeezefull = 1/3 of the dropper) to cover my frontal scalp and hair line. Recently my temples and hair lines have taken a beating/worsened so much and I have now increased to 3 squeezefulls. I've also just ordered a bottle of organic argan oil hair loss shampoo made my ArtNaturlas from Amazon, which supposedly contains dht inhibitors and has good reviews. Not sure what else I can do here besides dutasteride and ru. I guess I'll give myself another half year to see if things improve by then I'll seriously consider dutasteride/ru if my condition worsens. Has anyone had success trying to restore hair line?

Legit pics coming after I go for a haircut. I leave my hair extremely long now (4 inches) to cover the hairloss. Barely hanging on, I have no doubt that I won't be able to hide any longer than another year if things don't improve.
 

HairCome2Me

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Guys here are the pictures that I promised. As you can see, the difference between these and the first set i uploaded back when I started the thread 2.5 years ago is startling. The hairline is getting destroyed...

Regimen is still the same, although clearly the finasteride is not working. I did increase my minoxidil dosage though. Even though I am still only applying once a day, I am applying double the amount to the areas (front and hairline). I'll keep you all updated.

hairline 3.JPGhairline close up.JPGhairline.JPGoverall.JPGside.JPGtemple.JPGtop again.JPGtop angled.JPG
 

DoctorHouse

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Guys here are the pictures that I promised. As you can see, the difference between these and the first set i uploaded back when I started the thread 2.5 years ago is startling. The hairline is getting destroyed...

Regimen is still the same, although clearly the finasteride is not working. I did increase my minoxidil dosage though. Even though I am still only applying once a day, I am applying double the amount to the areas (front and hairline). I'll keep you all updated.

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I have the same pattern loss as you do and finasteride could not save mine either. I have to comb my hair forward to cover it up. Diffuse loss is really tough to hide without concealers.
 

abovedagame

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Your hair looks completely age appropriate from those pictures. Your minimal loss would not b noticeable to most people especially girls, imo.
 

ableright

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I agree your hair loss is minimal. I wouldn't worry about it at all until I was about 21 unless it starts falling over the place at a faster pace.
 

Austin:316

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Guys here are the pictures that I promised. As you can see, the difference between these and the first set i uploaded back when I started the thread 2.5 years ago is startling. The hairline is getting destroyed...

Regimen is still the same, although clearly the finasteride is not working. I did increase my minoxidil dosage though. Even though I am still only applying once a day, I am applying double the amount to the areas (front and hairline). I'll keep you all updated.

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Maybe you could start to think about switching to dutasteride which is supposedly stronger than finasteride. I've read that people who don't respond to finasteride have better luck with dutasteride.
 
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