Hey all,
First of all, I'd like to take a moment to thank everybody on here for inspiring me on this site -- a lot of great information, positive reinforcement going on..
About my situation: I'm 29 now, started noticing the thinning, hairline recession back when I was.. 20 or so. Never really though too much of it, I guess I didn't really pay much attention, wore caps all the time anyways, so nobody had a chance to say much. A hair stylist made a suggestion to try Nioxin a few years ago, but once again, I figured that was just a sales pitch to sell me some ridiculously expensive shampoo.
Well earlier this year, I had one of those "hard glance in the mirror" moments about a month before my birthday and said to myself, "dude, you're almost 30, but that hair looks like it's way ahead of you.." My father had the pretty thin hair, brother too -- at that point I decided to see what I could do about it.. stumbled on this site and read some of the great things people had to say, and decided to give it a shot, and see what I could salvage.
So here's what I've been up to:
1. finasteride -- started the day after my birthday (March 4).. been extremely religious about this one, never missed a day so far. SIDES: the nut juice is a little more watery than before, slight ball ache once in a while.. but it's no big deal. It's actually encouraging, since I can pretty much assume that the stuff I've gotten is legit.
2. minoxidil (5%) -- I bought some after I started taking the pills, but have been pretty half-assed about it.. I figured it would be too messy to deal with on a daily basis (afraid to put it in before work, or before going out) BUT I've found that it's really not that bad..
I've gotten serious about it the last couple weeks, toss it in before driving to work, by the time I'm there it's dry and I can comb through it a bit and it doesn't look so greasy. If anything, it just seems to dry out my hair a bit..
3. COPPER PEPTIDES -- I picked up the American Crew Revitalize shampoo/conditioner/ spray combo on ebay (2 bottles of each for about 24 bucks total) a few days ago. Great products, they leave your hair feeling pretty damn good.
4. NIZORAL -- just bought some today (1% non prescription), based on the recommendations here.. not sure where this one fits in as of yet.
RESULTS SO FAR:
Well, I immediately noticed within a month or so the appearance of a whole army of vellus hairs where my hairline USED to be.. very encouraging. A few new terminals around the widow's peak (i.e., the "lone hair" that clung to the front of my hairline has a handful of brown companions now, some new ones on the side too) I'm hoping that sticking to the minoxidil twice a day will get some more going. But in general things seem like they're going well (in general my hair feels thicker..) Maybe I shed a bit, maybe I don't.. I try not to pay attention, since it's all part of the way this whole game works. Gotta see how things work out in the long term.
Perhaps the best result though... is just knowing that I'm doing the best I can to keep/improve what I've got -- which is much better than throwing your hands up and declaring yourself a victim of "bad hair genes"...
So now for the pics.. I was going through my random files on my computer this weekend, I've had a handful of hair photo sessions since I've started everything, tried to match them up to show how things are going... check em out!
http://webpages.charter.net/dhanold/SOTHL.html
First of all, I'd like to take a moment to thank everybody on here for inspiring me on this site -- a lot of great information, positive reinforcement going on..
About my situation: I'm 29 now, started noticing the thinning, hairline recession back when I was.. 20 or so. Never really though too much of it, I guess I didn't really pay much attention, wore caps all the time anyways, so nobody had a chance to say much. A hair stylist made a suggestion to try Nioxin a few years ago, but once again, I figured that was just a sales pitch to sell me some ridiculously expensive shampoo.
Well earlier this year, I had one of those "hard glance in the mirror" moments about a month before my birthday and said to myself, "dude, you're almost 30, but that hair looks like it's way ahead of you.." My father had the pretty thin hair, brother too -- at that point I decided to see what I could do about it.. stumbled on this site and read some of the great things people had to say, and decided to give it a shot, and see what I could salvage.
So here's what I've been up to:
1. finasteride -- started the day after my birthday (March 4).. been extremely religious about this one, never missed a day so far. SIDES: the nut juice is a little more watery than before, slight ball ache once in a while.. but it's no big deal. It's actually encouraging, since I can pretty much assume that the stuff I've gotten is legit.
2. minoxidil (5%) -- I bought some after I started taking the pills, but have been pretty half-assed about it.. I figured it would be too messy to deal with on a daily basis (afraid to put it in before work, or before going out) BUT I've found that it's really not that bad..
I've gotten serious about it the last couple weeks, toss it in before driving to work, by the time I'm there it's dry and I can comb through it a bit and it doesn't look so greasy. If anything, it just seems to dry out my hair a bit..
3. COPPER PEPTIDES -- I picked up the American Crew Revitalize shampoo/conditioner/ spray combo on ebay (2 bottles of each for about 24 bucks total) a few days ago. Great products, they leave your hair feeling pretty damn good.
4. NIZORAL -- just bought some today (1% non prescription), based on the recommendations here.. not sure where this one fits in as of yet.
RESULTS SO FAR:
Well, I immediately noticed within a month or so the appearance of a whole army of vellus hairs where my hairline USED to be.. very encouraging. A few new terminals around the widow's peak (i.e., the "lone hair" that clung to the front of my hairline has a handful of brown companions now, some new ones on the side too) I'm hoping that sticking to the minoxidil twice a day will get some more going. But in general things seem like they're going well (in general my hair feels thicker..) Maybe I shed a bit, maybe I don't.. I try not to pay attention, since it's all part of the way this whole game works. Gotta see how things work out in the long term.
Perhaps the best result though... is just knowing that I'm doing the best I can to keep/improve what I've got -- which is much better than throwing your hands up and declaring yourself a victim of "bad hair genes"...
So now for the pics.. I was going through my random files on my computer this weekend, I've had a handful of hair photo sessions since I've started everything, tried to match them up to show how things are going... check em out!
http://webpages.charter.net/dhanold/SOTHL.html