Maintaining Hair with Propecia (questions)

[jambri]

OK, reluctantly I'll probably be going the propecia/finasteride route. Why do I say reluctantly? Well, very simply it's because of the huge numbers of scare stories on this forum and almost every other similar forum, where people complain about shedding and ending up worse off. I want to hear the real story, so everyone please reply whether your experiences are good or bad.

My questions are:

1. How long, in years, could I expect to maintain my hair (zero loss) using propecia? Propecia is said to lose effectiveness after a while, so at what point does this typically occur?

2. What is your own experience with finasteride (very briefly), i.e. how many years of zero-loss maintenance? Did you have much regrowth?

3. Once the propecia loses its effectiveness (I'm guessing at five years), then by stopping taking it would you typically see accelerated balding? In other words, is propecia a lifelong commitment?

 

[ShedMaster]

1. the effectiveness of propecia will generally start to wane at around 5 years. Some more, some less.

2. Myself, with propecia and the other topicals you can see listed in my regimen box has completely halted my hairloss and resulted in fairly substantial hairgrowth. This is after having quite agressive male pattern baldness until that point.

3. Yes after the 5 year period (again this is not certain, many have maintained many years after that period) you will start to experience a slight acceleration in the balding process. At that point you may add other treatments, ie.. higher concentration of minoxidil, SOD's, dutasteride., etc.. Yes its a lifetime commitment in the sense that when you stop using treatments that inhibit DHT, then you will lose the benefits. However, you may use other forms of DHT inhibitors at that time, such as topical versions like spironolactone.

My advice, don't get scared away from negative feedback. the chances of side effects are very low, only the ones who do experience them generally report them. also, your hair will go through many different stages until it reaches the pinnacle. For example your hair will get worse then better, worse then better and so on because of periods of shedding.


Got it?

 

[jambri]

I'm 28 years old and I am approaching NW2 on one temple, and still NW1 on the other. I think I also notice some general thinning on top, but it's pretty mild at this stage, and I have definitely always had hair that you could slightly see through to the scalp.

Should I wait before starting on propecia? If I have the choice of my period of "accelerated balding" starting around age 38 rather than age 33, then I think that would be better.

So, perhaps I should take some more 'natural' treatments for for five years or so, then after that start on propecia?

Alternatively would you suggest that the moment one notices any signs of balding they hit anti-DHT meds?