HairlossFighter's Story- ( 24 )

[Johnx]

Hi,

After long time reading I've finally decided to register here and start doing something about my hairloss... First of all, excuse me for my bad English as I'm not native American/English (Eastern European).
I'm 24, and started to notice hairloss probably since like 17.. My hairloss now could be rated something like Norwood 3.5 (pretty receded temples and really thinned vertex).

2 weeks ago I've started using Rogaine foam, and a few days ago I noticed increased shedding - like 15-20 hairs on my hands when I rub my hair with shampoo (hell knows how many more falls off when rinsing with water...). I'm hoping this shedding is a good sign after all...

However, I have some questions I've experienced hard to find on these forums, I hope someone could answer..:

1. I've also ordered 5 bottles (120ml/4oz) of Nizoral 2% shampoo. How long this supply will last me and how many times per week should I use it?

2. I've read somewhere that Rogaine effects diminish after about 2 years and the hair comes back to where it was before treatment - is this true?
(would be really exiting to hear if it's still maintaining regrown hairs after 3, 4 or more years for someone)

3. I'll see how it goes with Rogaine/Nizoral for 3/4 months, and start taking Fistide (Finasteride) 1.25mg a day if necessary. - would this keep the regrown hair even if the Rogaine stops working after a few years?


I've took some baseline pics, and will post them along with progress pics here, as soon as I notice any results.


Thanks for the help!

 

[slurms mackenzie]

Re: HairlossFighter's (24) story

Your english is very good.

To answer your questions

1. A long time! Most people apply nizoral twice a week, leaving it one for 5 minutes.

2. Rogaine users are best off advising you on this, but rogaine helps you get more from the hair you have. You will still lose hair on rogaine at some point the extra 'oomph' you get from the rogaine is negated by additional hairloss, I've heard of people getting successful results from it for far longer than two years though.

3. If you can tolerate finasteride then that is probably the first thing to use as it should stop hair loss, although you need to carry on taking it, it works very well in tandem with rogaine.

Good luck

 

[Johnx]

Re: HairlossFighter's (24) story

Thanks for your reply.

I'm hesitating if I should order some finasteride and start using right now, or wait a few months and see if Rogaine/Nizoral gives any regrowth effect...

Will the finasteride start an additional initial shed to Rogaine's? ('cause I think I'm starting to experience the increased shedding from Rogaine right now, and if finasteride's shed will join, I'm frightened I'll have a slick bald spot in a few weeks My (maybe super-dumb) strategy was to regrow some hair with Rogaine, so at least I have something to shed when starting finasteride...

Plus - if Rogaine/Nizoral is working, what is the point of taking finasteride pills?

 

[slurms mackenzie]

Re: HairlossFighter's (24) story

As far as i know shedding is far less common on finasteride that it is rogaine, as finasteride is there to stop you from losing any further hair. If you have a shed then it should be temporary

If you check out the diagram posted by rogazzle on this thread here, then you should get a clearer picture as to why people use finasteride.

Finasteride will block DHT, DHT attacks the hair follicle leading to male pattern baldness

http://www.regrowth.com/hairloss-topic/25445/page74

(please don't start sticking miconazole on your head)

 

[Johnx]

Re: HairlossFighter's (24) story

Ok, went for a haircut today (my now most hated and embarrassing necessity..)

So here goes my embarrassing pictures, these can be considered baseline pictures, although I'm on Rogaine foam for two weeks now. (the crown looks even thinner than I remember, I guess it's just my hairloss progressing, or can it be the shed from two weeks of Rogaine?).

What Norwood am I?

 

[Johnx]

Ok, it has been 3 weeks I'm on Rogaine foam. I don't know if I'm seeing things but I think I can see some new tiny hairs starting to grow at the temples - is it possible just after 3 weeks? (unfortunately I don't have any baseline close-up pics to compare, but I don't remember those tiny hairs there...)

Here are some pictures, unfortunately almost nothing on the left temple...
I'm going to keep an eye on those tiny hairs and see if there's any change in a couple of weeks...
What is the typical time for new hairs to start growing after starting rogaine?

 

[Johnx]

Ok, it has been a month into Rogaine foam (sadly a can only lasts me 3 weeks not a month.. )
I didn't notice any new or improved vellus hairs (I'm afraid the tiny hairs in the pics of previous post might have been there all the time, because they didn't change a bit after a week of Rogaine..). Overall I think my thinning areas are now even thinner than baseline, I noticed the increased shedding after the second week of Rogaine, and now at 4th week it appears to have stopped.

Am I a non-responder since I don't see any new vellus hairs, or is it to early to judge?

Or can it be because I'm not using Finasteride and the Rogaine doesn't have enough strength to overcome the MBP to induce the new hair growth? (damn postal service, the finasteride should've been here a week ago...)

 

[ukmale24]

I've been using Regaine Extra Strength since the start of the year (first time i used it was actually on January 1st!) It took about 2-3 months to notice really small hairs starting to grow on my hairline, although I have experienced further shedding on my temples. Seriously, just stick with it, if you stop now then you're not going to regrow the hair you've shedded. A lot of people have mentioned using S5 cream which you can buy from this site I believe, it's meant to be a DHT blocker like Finasteride but has no side effects. I've just ordered some myself.

 

[Johnx]

Thanks for giving me hope.. I also feel that after starting Rogaine, the margin/shore (I don't know how to call it) of my hairline actually got even thinner...

It sure is exciting to see quick results like Dietcola's or Cmoneyt8ker's with similar temples. If only we all were so lucky...

Thanks for mentioning the S5 cream, I'll take a look at it. However I think I will try and see what Fistide does to me...

I've checked your thread, I see you have so many small hairs along the hairline - was it like that before the treatment or it's new hair from Rogaine? Also what percentage of Rogaine are you using? (I'm using foam 5%, which also says "extra strength" I believe..)

 

[ukmale24]

Hey, the thing is, I asked myself this too - whether them small hairs were there before I started the treatment or whether they grew afterwards. I'm more certain they grew afterwards but the base of my hairline may quite easily have moved up and then I noticed them, so it's hard to tell. I'm going to remain positive though and say they grew because of Regaine, of which I am more sure of anyway. When i used to wash my hair, I used to feel where it was going bald on my hairline. Now when i wash it and move my hand back, and i can feel this tiny hairs and my forehead doesn't seem so big, almost how it feels when i washed my hair when i was 18.

I'm using 5% too, but the liquid. I'm unsure which works better. People have given different answers, but i'm going to give the foam a go after my current liquid bottle finishes.

 

[slurms mackenzie]

Ok, it has been a month into Rogaine foam (sadly a can only lasts me 3 weeks not a month.. )
I didn't notice any new or improved vellus hairs (I'm afraid the tiny hairs in the pics of previous post might have been there all the time, because they didn't change a bit after a week of Rogaine..). Overall I think my thinning areas are now even thinner than baseline, I noticed the increased shedding after the second week of Rogaine, and now at 4th week it appears to have stopped.

Am I a non-responder since I don't see any new vellus hairs, or is it to early to judge?

Or can it be because I'm not using Finasteride and the Rogaine doesn't have enough strength to overcome the MBP to induce the new hair growth? (damn postal service, the finasteride should've been here a week ago...)

It's too early for you to tell yet, stick with things and you'll see, it's possible that if male pattern baldness was agressive the minoxidil wouldn't be able to do enough to make it look like the male pattern baldness had halted.

Adding a way to block DHT (i.e finasteride) will definitely give the minoxidil a boost.

 

[Johnx]

Thanks for your comments guys.

A can of foam is lasting me only 3 weeks or less, so I'm thinking maybe using liquid at night/foam at morning would be more economical, but wouldn't this influence the efficiency of the treatment?

I was thinking about buying a supply of "DS Laboratories®" minoxidil:
http://www.biovea.net/(S(rcgeee55pc5wdbrtbul0bw55))/product_detail.aspx?PID=2242&CID=0&OS=202

Anybody uses it?, is it good? (It's cheaper than Kirkland)

 

[Johnx]

So I've finally received my finasteride pills and taking 1.25mg for three days now.

Strange, but I didn't notice any changes in my body or how I feel. I've read on these forums that people who start taking finasteride notice side effects or any mild changes in the first days taking it, and after a week or two it usually goes away. I didn't notice anything whatsoever - is it common among finasteride starters not to get any sides at all?

It's also possible that my drugs are fake. I've ordered generic Finasteride "Fistide" (Link) from unitedpharmacies.co.uk which I've heard was legit on these forums and from some googling. The pills and packages also look quality made, with mfg., exp. dates, batch no. stamped, explanatory leaflets inside, etc..
Would be nice to hear from someone who's using Fistide too.

Just an idea - What if I take the whole 5mg pill to see if it would induce any side effects or any noticeable changes, just to check if the pills are not fake?


Oh, and I've finally noticed a bunch of tiny new hairs starting to grow in my temples, where it was slick bald for like 3-4 years. Just praying they'll keep growing... I'll update with pictures at 2 months mark (May 15th).

 

[Johnx]

-------------
2 MONTHS
-------------

Alright, it's the two months mark today. (2 months minoxidil, 1 month nizoral, 2 weeks finasteride).
Here go the pictures. I don't see any improvement on the crown (well, maybe it looks a bit better but I think it's because my hair is longer...)
But I definitely see some regrowth at temples (right temple is doing better than the left however...)

I'm really excited to finally see some regrowth, but don't want to rejoice too early.. What are the chances these new hairs will turn to terminal hair, what do you guys think, do I have hope?

[attachment=2:1ihk7l16]crown_2_months.jpg[/attachment:1ihk7l16]

[attachment=1:1ihk7l16]right_temple_2_months.jpg[/attachment:1ihk7l16]

[attachment=0:1ihk7l16]left_temple_2_months.jpg[/attachment:1ihk7l16]

 

[Evol]

good work dude, keep it up!! definite improvement in those temple areas

 

[Johnx]

good work dude, keep it up!! definite improvement in those temple areas

Thanks for letting me know I'm not hallucinating and it's noticeable. It's a very small improvement, but I hope the temples keep thickening.. Thanks for the support and motivation!

 

[slurms mackenzie]

Definite improvement, I think you'll see more to come as well.

 

[Evol]

good work dude, keep it up!! definite improvement in those temple areas

Thanks for letting me know I'm not hallucinating and it's noticeable. It's a very small improvement, but I hope the temples keep thickening.. Thanks for the support and motivation!

nah dude, i know how you feel - i've been on Kirkland for just over a month now. Keep it up!!

 

[Johnx]

nah dude, i know how you feel - i've been on Kirkland for just over a month now. Keep it up!!

Well, how are you doing, already getting some regrowth?

Btw, I've used to use Rogaine Foam mornings and nights, but I'm pretty cheap (student with no regular income) so I've decided to use cheaper Kirkland liquid at nights. But man, that liquid minoxidil stuff is so super horribly messy! It's just not possible to rub it on the scalp without getting probably like 70% of it into the hair, the hair then looks awfully wet/greasy and dries probably 2-3 hours...

I was thinking about how to make liquid application more effective and found this "Ultra-Mox" brush thingy: http://www.gcpllc.com/
I'm really interested in buying it, as it looks logical, I can think of 3 advantages using it:

1. Application so much easier/faster - just brush a few times and thats it (and no need to mess with droppers)
2. Avoid getting liquid into the hair, hair would stay pretty much dry.
3. Much less liquid would be used (hair wouldn't "consume" as much of it)


Are there any guys here using "Ultra-Mox"?
What are your experiences with it?

 

[Evol]

well i think it's a little too early to say whether or not i am achieving results yet! my hairline DOES feel a little fuller, when i run my fingers through it, and there are definitely some new thin hairs coming through.

the stuff is messy, yeah! i only apply it when i know that i'm going to be at home for a few hours. I'm a student too, so while i'm studying, i apply it. Before bedtime, too.