HairlossFighter's Story- ( 24 )

[TheGrayMan2001]

Good improvement. I haven't been reading this forum as much as I used to. Keep up the good work.

One thing I appreciate is you keep your hair a normal length--some people like to claim "success" and regrowth after they gain a few new hairs but let their hair get MUCH longer. It cracks me up when I see people congratulating them on success when you can tell it's just that their hair has gotten longer and isn't really any thicker.

Yours, however, is good success so far!

 

[Johnx]

Ok, just a status update/question...

A week or so ago I've noticed I'm seeing less new hair at the temples, at first I thought it's just in my mind, but now I've just tried to pull some of those new regrown hairs with my fingers, and 7-8 came out pretty easily, with not much force... :shock: Those are the new thin hairs, 10-15mm long.

Should I be worried? Can it be some kind of minoxidil shed cycle? (I'm 4 months on minoxidil now). Or maybe the initial finasteride shed? (I'm 2.5 months on it).
Or is this simply the end, the meds are no longer able to continue the regrowth, and the new hairs are dying again?

I would appreciate if someone could share some experiences about shedding the newly regrown hairs.

 

[Johnx]

Went for a haircut today, so time to take the "controlled length" top of the head pics. Lighting is a little off in this pic, but I think some improvement is noticeable in two months, but still long way to go, as the scalp is still pretty visible...

 

[Johnx]

None of the friends/family commented, well my mom noticed my hair got a bit darker
But I was always trying to hide my hairloss, combing it the way it's least noticeable, so it may have looked a bit better than my baseline picture which is exposed as much as possible..

Today after the haircut I finally noticed my temples cosmetically are looking better/fuller, I think the new small hairs are thickening from month to month.. (I've also noticed slightlty increased shedding of those new regrown hairs, but maybe they will come back thicker, at least I'm hoping for that...)

 

[Johnx]

5 MONTHS

Ok, just a quick monthly update this time. Went for a haircut today and just took some pics of front of my hair, how I wear it (no styling products, no Rogaine foam).
I think I'm noticing some overall cosmetic improvement, temples cosmetically filled in a bit.

I didn't do the "full standard photoshoot" this time as I think the progress slowed down a bit and not much of a change will be noticeable. I'll do the next photoshoot on September, I think it will be clearer to see if I've got any regrowth in two months.

Also, I've noticed increased shedding, especially at the top of the head. When I apply Rogaine foam I get 15-20 hairs on my fingers, those are short thin hairs clearly the "minoxidil hairs", so I'm hoping they'll get back thicker/longer... I think I'm also shedding some new hairs at the temples, but not as much.
[attachment=0:3al6fho8]2011-08-22.jpg[/attachment:3al6fho8]

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

This is some serious improvement. Great pics by the way!

Considering how short you are on the treatments this is some great stuff. I expect you to reach incredible results in a year from now. You'll get it all back almost I can imagine.

Good luck

 

[mothernature]

NW2 mature hairline

 

[Johnx]

WillNotLetItHappen - I won't get it all back for sure, heavy NW2 is my best hope, but I would be happy if I could get that anyway. But thanks for kind words

Mothernature - I wish it was NW2... If you look at my earlier pics, I think I was on heavy NW3 if not worse at the start, now on NW3 I think..
These newest pictures are of how I wear it, this means it's kind of "combed over" to hide the balding temples, so it looks a little better...

 

[hugeleap]

In my opinion it looks a LOT better than baseline. I think you're selling yourself short. At the start of your treatments just about anyone might say you were balding, but now it's quite hard to tell. Not saying you were considering this, but DO NOT under any circumstances stop treatment because you feel as though it's not working enough. I got to that point psychologically and just figured my minoxidil growth wasn't good enough to warrant continuing treatment. Huge mistake. In a few months my hair was worse than it ever was, and now I've been working my way back get back what I've lost. Just remember that it looks a lot better than it did before, and you've still got lots of time for growth from the finasteride and minoxidil as they both may take as much as 6 months to a full year to see their full effect.

Good luck and keep us updated!!!

 

[Johnx]

Thanks hugeleap. No I'm not stopping my treatment, I'm just hesitating if it's possible to get any more improvement.. You're right, it looks much better than baseline (mainly because my thin short near-dying hairs thickened up and started growing longer) , and I'm happy about it, but the newly grown hairs are still thin and short and they are hardly improving month after month...

However I'm not planning on stopping anytime soon, just keeping up with my routine every morning/night.. I guess I should wait 1.5-2 years to really see if it's done any reasonable improvement and if I should continue.

Thanks for the good words and best of luck to you too

 

[JohnDoe1989]

i never tried rogaine, but i use minoxidil 5% solution every day. my hairline has improved a lot when i've started putting 3-4 proscar pills in a bottle of liquid min after i use Retin-A. So if u use rogaine 2 times a day maybe u can achieve more if u buy yourself a minoxidil sol and use it at night. i think this is something like xandrox.hope i helped a little.

 

[Johnx]

i never tried rogaine, but i use minoxidil 5% solution every day. my hairline has improved a lot when i've started putting 3-4 proscar pills in a bottle of liquid min after i use Retin-A. So if u use rogaine 2 times a day maybe u can achieve more if u buy yourself a minoxidil sol and use it at night. i think this is something like xandrox.hope i helped a little.

I use Rogaine foam only at mornings, at night I use Kirkland 5% liquid solution.
But are you sure dissolving 3-4 pills into minoxidil really does any good?
I thought that finasteride works by blocking DHT in your body in the first place (before reaching the scalp). So logically, taking finasteride orally should be more effective imo...

 

[JohnDoe1989]

for some work better than others. i rly hope it works because now it's all i'm using. and i can say it's a little better from where i started(1month ago) and i don't have the nasty itch anymore.when i was on oral i still had it if i didn't took at least 1/5 proscar. And the sides for me was rly terrible.(i wrote it on my story page).

As of topical solution imo finasteride is the best(except spironolactone) cause it has a low half life, and it's know that even a low dosage that gets to the blood it's still effective.

Remember to use Retin-A and Miconazole 30 min before minoxidil in night(on temples) for better results. You can add jojoba oil(3-5ml) in liquid min for better absorption 2.

 

[Johnx]

-------------
6 MONTHS
-------------

Ok, so today marks half year I'm on treatments:
6 months Minoxidil
5 months Nizoral
3.5 months Finasteride

So, here are the pics. The top area seems to continue to improve (I think I've noticed slight improvement from 4 months mark), but it's clear that it's much better than baseline now.. (my hair is quite long now, so it might look a bit better in the pics, but I'll do the usual comparison shot of same controlled length right after a haircut).

The temples seem to have almost stopped improving, the new hairs seem to grow longer now, but the density is still crap... I won't lie, I was expecting to have better results by 6 months mark in this area... But I'm still hoping finasteride at least would thicken up those new hairs over 6-12 months just a little more...
I was also thinking to try 15% minoxidil there to see if it helps, but it's expensive as hell, a 60ml bottle costs €50..! Anyone knows where to get it cheaper?

[attachment=0:3b9cg3dw]top_baseline_6mths.jpg[/attachment:3b9cg3dw]
[attachment=3:3b9cg3dw]6mths_right.jpg[/attachment:3b9cg3dw]
[attachment=2:3b9cg3dw]6mths_left.jpg[/attachment:3b9cg3dw]
[attachment=1:3b9cg3dw]temples_6mth.jpg[/attachment:3b9cg3dw]

 

[Johnx]

Sure, I'm happy I was lucky enough to respond to treatments at all..

I would be pretty much satisfied about my receded temples/hairline if its shape would be at least somewhat consistent, like V or U shape, but no, my hairline is in such a weird shape, no styling looks good... It's like a square in the middle, 90 degree angle at the sides and then recedes back... So this is what annoys me most and that's why it would be wonderful to get some more thickening there. I guess the only solution would be the hair transplant...

 

[Going2beBald?]

Are you still around if yes what's your current situation ?

 

[Johnx]

Sorry for the long silence...
Although I never stopped doing my hairloss treatment routine until this day, my situation started getting worse about 6 months ago, shedding badly since then and now I'm back to baseline if not worse... I guess my hairloss is very aggressive, and minoxidil/finasteride can't resist it anymore.. As my last hope I've started using 15% Minoxidil with 5% Azelaic Acid to see if it does any good, if not – I'm doomed
Do you guys think adding S5 cream (spironolactone) would do any good?

 

[Johnx]

Your thoughts are very reasonable Captain Combover, thanks. I'm not planning to stop using finasteride or minoxidil in nearest time. After a 1.5 month usage of 15% minoxidil I'm starting to see some new small hairs on the hairline, and temples seem to start fill in a bit again, so I guess it's worth to continue and see what happens..
I didn't know the FUE is so cheap! 3000 euros sounds really easily affordable. 1000 grafts would completely solve my hairline, the problem is my crown is very thin and my whole top of the head seems diffuse thinning, and that probably couldn't be solved even by FUE..

 

[WillNotLetItHappen]

I'm really sorry to hear. I can't believe it actually got so much worse after such a great improvement!! You got way more results than a lot of people in such a short amount of time. I honestly refuse to believe that this is not coming back?! Very weird...

 

[Johnx]

I'm really sorry to hear. I can't believe it actually got so much worse after such a great improvement!! You got way more results than a lot of people in such a short amount of time. I honestly refuse to believe that this is not coming back?! Very weird...

Yep, it's actually really bad, shedding doesn't seem to stop.. I lost a lot of density all over the top of the head, I can't believe nothing comes back to the place of the fallen hair... It just feels like the switch was turned from "on" to "off"..
I'm now on minoxidil 15%, if that won't bring even a slightest regrowth - I'm surely doomed then.
I was also reading stories of some guys getting success after switching to Dutasteride even after a few years with no results from finasteride. Do you guys think it's worth a try switching?