Male 26. Losing Hair For A Couple Of Years. Started finasteride Today

[austin_hair_26]

Male 26.5 years. I have been losing hair for a while now, shedding a lot in the shower for maybe 2-3 years, but (as most people i guess) i ignored it until it was bad enough to do something, i had noticed that I was losing some ground on the temples which didn't bother me a lot to be honest, everybody loses this is what I thought. I also got used to find the occasional hair in my laptop keyboard a couple of times per day and vacuuming the bathroom often because of the amount of hairs.

Anyways, a month ago I decided I buzz it to a #3 and took some pics and decided i was losing more than i wanted (photo 1 and 2).

So I started to do some research, MBP, Norwood scale, DHT, Finasteride, Minoxidil, everything was new to me. I also was lurking on this forum reading about sides, new treatments, the recent 10th world congress, and well everything most of you guys have done i assume

I started with new shampoos (Nizoral 1% and pura d'or that i got from local target) for a couple of weeks and during that I also went to a dermatologist, she told me that indeed MBP is likely since there is some history: grandfather from mom side was like a NW4 at 55 and kinda still is at 70 pretty good to be honest, but my uncle from mom side is NW6 at 40 and loss most his hair at 30-32. Dermatologist told me I was indeed losing some on the crown area and temples so MBP is likely the case.

She also explained everything and told me to think about finasteride, since on my case its the only thing that would do something. She told me min would not produce any noticeable effects on my current state and that finasteride would probably hold my current hair and people will probably never notice i have hair loss with it, no one has told me anything yet since its only noticeable with good light on top of the head and I don't keep it very short.

So I kept thinking and reading about this. Yesterday I got another short haircut and took more pics (photos 3, 4 - this one looks terrible but maybe its just the bathroom light - and 5) and decided I had to to something. So i called the dermatologist and got my prescription and I started with 0.5mg of finasteride today. I want to start small see how well i respond. My only real objective is to lower my shedding and hopefully keep my current hair for a couple of more years.

Some other thoughts: Hair loss is definitely a first world problem but during this month I have spent so much time reading about this also every time i go outside basically all I do is to look at all the guys hair, its quite a problem, i wish i was one of this people than can just buzz it and be ok with it but I am not, at least not in my 20s. I am also hoping that starting finasteride will relax me about this problem, knowing that I am doing the best I can.

I am planning on posting updates but if I forget and stop coming to the forum I will also be happy, but I am quite obsessive so I bet I will be here.

I know there is been not a lot of new treatments in the last years but I am hopeful that 2018 will give us some good news to all of us

 

[pizzamanluigi]

Hope you see some good results. So you are not going to use minoxidil?

 

[austin_hair_26]

I am not going to use it yet but might in the future.

Main reason is that I want to see how well I respond to finasteride + whatever small contributions I can get from Nizoral 1% and a shampoo with DHT blockers. Another reason is that I think my hair loss is not that advance yet to see any meaningful results from min.

 

[austin_hair_26]

Just realised that this probably belongs in "Tell your story" so any admins feel free to move it if they want.

 

[pizzamanluigi]

I am not going to use it yet but might in the future.

Main reason is that I want to see how well I respond to finasteride + whatever small contributions I can get from Nizoral 1% and a shampoo with DHT blockers. Another reason is that I think my hair loss is not that advance yet to see any meaningful results from min.

That makes sense. What shampoo are you using?

 

[austin_hair_26]

I am using Pura D'or. I have been using it for a month before starting finasteride this week I did noticed that my scalp was less itchy for a couple of hours after using it. I cannot be sure of what that means but I'll take it as a good sign.

So what I am doing now is 0.5 finasteride on the nights and Pura D'or in the morning, in my non-scientific attempt to have protection during more time of the day.

 

[yourworld001]

Just realised that this probably belongs in "Tell your story" so any admins feel free to move it if they want.

Admins do f*** all on this site but ban people

 

[SOGBaggins]

Have you experienced any side effects from the propecia thus far ? Testical pain ? Head ache?

 

[austin_hair_26]

So its been almost 2 weeks of 0.5mg/day and I think, emphasis in think, that I had some very light side effects the first couple of days but it might have just be on my mind.

The first day I did felt a little bit light headed and like at day 3 i had a very small testicular pain but i think all men have this every now and then, nothing that made me worry to be honest, it went away in a couple of minutes after a small massage and peeing.

Libido i think it was actually higher the first couple of days, but again i think i was just worried so I was checking myself often that I usually do. I have read some people say they masturbate multiple times a day but I usually don't do it every day so and I have not noted any big difference.

I am not sure about what time other people started to note side effects but so far so good for me. Crossing fingers to keep it this way and the finasteride to start making some effect on the hair

 

[austin_hair_26]

Also gotta say that another pro is that I stopped reading a lot about hair loss, first time I come here this week because well its saturday and not much to do but I have been more relaxed about it since I stared finasteride since its very likely it will stop some of my hair loss and I am ok with the hair I have right now. It was very annoying to see hair loss adds on my instagram and twitter, lol.

If in 6 months I see no diff then I would be sad but I am hopeful and more relaxed about my hair now.

 

[abcdefg]

Leave these forums. take some pictures in a year, and just keep doing that. maybe come back in a few years see if anything better. Nothing else you can do. Dont blame everything that happens on the pill either

 

[reyl]

I am not going to use it yet but might in the future.

Main reason is that I want to see how well I respond to finasteride + whatever small contributions I can get from Nizoral 1% and a shampoo with DHT blockers. Another reason is that I think my hair loss is not that advance yet to see any meaningful results from min.

Don't bother with minoxidil in my opinion, it's a waste of time and bad for the skin. not to mention some people (including myself, though I only used it for my beard) get a horrible arrhythmia in their heart because minoxidil is a potassium channel opener. I would say finasteride is much safer than minoxidil, even orally.

also if you are just starting, consider trying a 0.2mg dose instead of the full 1mg because it ends up giving the same hair density result as seen in this study:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15319158

 

[ElTioLaBota]

Don't bother with minoxidil in my opinion, it's a waste of time and bad for the skin. not to mention some people (including myself, though I only used it for my beard) get a horrible arrhythmia in their heart because minoxidil is a potassium channel opener. I would say finasteride is much safer than minoxidil, even orally.

also if you are just starting, consider trying a 0.2mg dose instead of the full 1mg because it ends up giving the same hair density result as seen in this study: View attachment 73074

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15319158

Im taking 1mg eod to avoid side effects and i've managed to avoid them, will i maintain my hair like this or its better to go for 0,2mg a day?

 

[PappinAce]

diffuse thinning sucks. you still have a lot of hair though. finasteride will help you maintain.

i see a lot of this type of mild hair thinning on guys in their mid-late 20s. often it doesn’t get worse, just a wave of loss and then stabilization, so you don’t have to worry about spiraling into nw6 territory

 

[Jack Ito]

IMO you're taking after your uncle. You're diffusing in your mid twenties which is realistically quite aggressive. Those who suffer from diffusion within their twenties often bald by 40. You still have a lot of hair left and from looking at it's current state.. you're on track to see some good results! Use treatments and you'll likely maintain for a long time to the point where your hair becomes irrelevant or you're presented with the option of new and improved treatments.

 

[austin_hair_26]

Thanks for the comments

As a small update I still have not had any major/noticeable side effects, its only week 3 1/2 but so far so good. I did notice a medium shed this week when I was in the shower and on the sink but I for now I will just take it as a regular thing. Of course I get scared when I see more hair falling than the regular but I am assuming that hair was already in their way out and that it will come back stronger now with the treatment.

also if you are just starting, consider trying a 0.2mg dose instead of the full 1mg because it ends up giving the same hair density result as seen in this study: View attachment 73074

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15319158

Thats interesting, right now I am doing 0.5 every day. I will probably continue on this for a couple on months until I see some effect on the hair since I have not had any side effects but it is very good to know that in case of side effects I could lower a little bit more and probably still have good results.

Im taking 1mg eod to avoid side effects and i've managed to avoid them, will i maintain my hair like this or its better to go for 0,2mg a day?

From what I have read the effect in other studies the lower on DHT stays for more than 24 hours and then starts to go back up so in theory you could do 1mg eod. Personally I find it easier to do it dose everyday. Specially now that I am just starting.

diffuse thinning sucks. you still have a lot of hair though. finasteride will help you maintain.

i see a lot of this type of mild hair thinning on guys in their mid-late 20s. often it doesn’t get worse, just a wave of loss and then stabilization, so you don’t have to worry about spiraling into nw6 territory

Thanks for that! I think I have a good growth rate (at least for now) and thats one reason I didn't do anything about it for a long time but honestly if it ever gets to a NW4 territory I would probably just shave it or have it super short to the point where I wont like it. I dont keep it very long but I dont like to keep it that short.

IMO you're taking after your uncle. You're diffusing in your mid twenties which is realistically quite aggressive. Those who suffer from diffusion within their twenties often bald by 40. You still have a lot of hair left and from looking at it's current state.. you're on track to see some good results! Use treatments and you'll likely maintain for a long time to the point where your hair becomes irrelevant or you're presented with the option of new and improved treatments.

Exactly what I am hoping for! I know that I could have started maybe a year ago but like you said I still have a lot of hair and I will be more than happy if the result is that I keep the current one. I do have faith in a better (more permanent and safe treatment) in the next couple of years

 

[reyl]

Im taking 1mg eod to avoid side effects and i've managed to avoid them, will i maintain my hair like this or its better to go for 0,2mg a day?

I just realized you are taking it every other day, in that case you're better off doing 0.5mg every day or 0.25mg. IMO it's not good to do it every other day because it causes your DHT levels to fluctuate more and this has impact everywhere on the body.

 

[ElTioLaBota]

I just realized you are taking it every other day, in that case you're better off doing 0.5mg every day or 0.25mg. IMO it's not good to do it every other day because it causes your DHT levels to fluctuate more and this has impact everywhere on the body.

Yeah, thats what i thought, i do it cause in anspanish forum many ppl do it, but yeah imma switch to 0,5 next week

 

[austin_hair_26]

week 5 small update.

I started to have some testicular ache/pain basically a couple of days after I last posted here, so 2 weeks ago. The pain persisted for like 3 days when I decided to lower the dosage.

I would not describe it as pain but more like a feeling... I kinda felt my left testicle and it was like a consistent feeling that something was there. I don't know how much sense that makes but its the best way I can describe it. So I decreased my daily finasteride from 0.5mg to 0.25mg, a quarter of the tablet and that has removed that feeling or lower it almost completely, sometimes I still feel it a little bit after I take the pill at night but during the day I don't feel anything.

I plan to keep going with this dosage for a while and see how it goes for a while longer.

FYI if someone wants a really good pill cutter I highly recommend this one on amazon (link below). I bought 2 cheap ones at CSV and they are trash, one even broke. This one is a little expensive but is really solid.

https://www.amazon.com/MULTIPLE-PIL...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=D4A5D5611VTCXYA6HTRD