the_good_fight
New Member
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Hey everyone, just wanted to share my current experience with shedding/loss after being on the big three for 2 years.
I've never written here, just been a reader and have really been helped by the support provided. Would appreciate some more support here, going through a very aggressive shed (at least I hope it's a shed!) and it's been devastating.
I'll post separately about my story, but here's a quick run down:
Currently 33. Started treating at 31 (watched it slowly go for a decade, wish I acted sooner!) Was a NW2-3 at the time of treatment. Noticeable loss in temples, some diffuse loss, beginning loss in crown. Had very good success on big three up to 18-19 months. I did discontinue rogaine for a short period, then noticed it was definitely helping b/c I had some loss, but nothing drastic. So continued on with it 1x per day.
My Regimen for the past year or so:
1mg/1.25mg Finasteride (every other day)
2% nizoral daily wash
5% Rogaine foam (1x daily) - I started with 2x for the first 8 months or so, but sometimes would miss the 2nd one, so I just committed to 1x per day to be consistent
I would say I retuned to where I was at about 26 yrs old at the height of the treatment's effectiveness- so some modest re-growth with strengthening/thickening of existing hairs. It appeared it had halted the progression of male pattern baldness, and I had some regrowth. I have thinner/finer hair, but doctor exam showed above average hair counts on sides and back. I'm a good candidate for transplant at some point w/ SMP (scalp micro-pigmentation) if I wanted to.
Shedding previously didn't seem to be too severe, if it was happening I was seeing gains anyways, and the baseline of hair appearance at the time was worse than the peak of where I was a few months ago, so it's potentially just far more noticeable now and I did indeed have an early shed.
Today
I'm now at about the 6 week mark of the most significant shed, ever. I have all over loss on top, and my hairline in particular has been drastically hit. It's to the point where I would say I'm back to baseline, possibly a little worse. May 11th was my 2 year mark, and it started about 3 weeks before it.
I have pictures from a vacation I took in the Dominican in March, and it's unbelievable how much I've lost since then. I feel like if I didn't use concealers to go out, people would easily remark that I'm losing my hair. I used to be able to not use them if I wanted when it looked its best.
The only difference now from baseline is that I have concealers (which I never used before treatment), so I can cosmetically hide some of the loss, but not for much longer if the shed continues. I've been grappling with what happened- it feels like the Finasteride just stopped working. I checked expiry dates— all good.
I'm thinking that it may have been when I switched to 1.25mg/daily for awhile b/c I didn't have time to refill my 1mg prescription. Could have possibly shook things up and caused the shed. It also could be that it's at 2yrs, and I've got a synchronized shed happening. Could be a confluence of these factors.
Regardless, it's really rough.
I'm hanging in there though, making sure I stick to the regimen tightly and do my best to wait it out. At this point I feel like the summer is going to feel long and that the best I can hope for is some recovery by Christmas. If anyone has had this kind of event at or after 2 years and seen recovery I'd love to know- would really give me some strength right now.
Fighting the good fight
----
Additional thoughts: the hair remaining definitely feels stronger than when I was baseline. When I was baseline most of my hair was being attacked by DHT, and was thinner. So I take that as a positive. Though the hairs falling out (100-200 a day) are a mix of thicker and miniaturized.
I've never written here, just been a reader and have really been helped by the support provided. Would appreciate some more support here, going through a very aggressive shed (at least I hope it's a shed!) and it's been devastating.
I'll post separately about my story, but here's a quick run down:
Currently 33. Started treating at 31 (watched it slowly go for a decade, wish I acted sooner!) Was a NW2-3 at the time of treatment. Noticeable loss in temples, some diffuse loss, beginning loss in crown. Had very good success on big three up to 18-19 months. I did discontinue rogaine for a short period, then noticed it was definitely helping b/c I had some loss, but nothing drastic. So continued on with it 1x per day.
My Regimen for the past year or so:
1mg/1.25mg Finasteride (every other day)
2% nizoral daily wash
5% Rogaine foam (1x daily) - I started with 2x for the first 8 months or so, but sometimes would miss the 2nd one, so I just committed to 1x per day to be consistent
I would say I retuned to where I was at about 26 yrs old at the height of the treatment's effectiveness- so some modest re-growth with strengthening/thickening of existing hairs. It appeared it had halted the progression of male pattern baldness, and I had some regrowth. I have thinner/finer hair, but doctor exam showed above average hair counts on sides and back. I'm a good candidate for transplant at some point w/ SMP (scalp micro-pigmentation) if I wanted to.
Shedding previously didn't seem to be too severe, if it was happening I was seeing gains anyways, and the baseline of hair appearance at the time was worse than the peak of where I was a few months ago, so it's potentially just far more noticeable now and I did indeed have an early shed.
Today
I'm now at about the 6 week mark of the most significant shed, ever. I have all over loss on top, and my hairline in particular has been drastically hit. It's to the point where I would say I'm back to baseline, possibly a little worse. May 11th was my 2 year mark, and it started about 3 weeks before it.
I have pictures from a vacation I took in the Dominican in March, and it's unbelievable how much I've lost since then. I feel like if I didn't use concealers to go out, people would easily remark that I'm losing my hair. I used to be able to not use them if I wanted when it looked its best.
The only difference now from baseline is that I have concealers (which I never used before treatment), so I can cosmetically hide some of the loss, but not for much longer if the shed continues. I've been grappling with what happened- it feels like the Finasteride just stopped working. I checked expiry dates— all good.
I'm thinking that it may have been when I switched to 1.25mg/daily for awhile b/c I didn't have time to refill my 1mg prescription. Could have possibly shook things up and caused the shed. It also could be that it's at 2yrs, and I've got a synchronized shed happening. Could be a confluence of these factors.
Regardless, it's really rough.
I'm hanging in there though, making sure I stick to the regimen tightly and do my best to wait it out. At this point I feel like the summer is going to feel long and that the best I can hope for is some recovery by Christmas. If anyone has had this kind of event at or after 2 years and seen recovery I'd love to know- would really give me some strength right now.
Fighting the good fight
----
Additional thoughts: the hair remaining definitely feels stronger than when I was baseline. When I was baseline most of my hair was being attacked by DHT, and was thinner. So I take that as a positive. Though the hairs falling out (100-200 a day) are a mix of thicker and miniaturized.