Minoxidil 5% on entire top of head, crown, temples, 4-5 mo update..success & shedding

mnhoops

New Member
Reaction score
0
All, new here, but wanted to share my experience for any others because it seems somewhat unique...only found a couple other threads similar and they hadn't been active for a while.

Bottom line up front: Using minoxidil 5% + 2x/day nizoral on entire top of scalp for 4-5 months. Minor regrowth on temples & crown, moderate shedding on entire head.

Background: I'm 30, started balding around 27. I have male pattern baldness in nearly every male on my mother's side. At 25-35 they start losing hair on the top of their head quickly and have hair left only on the sides (sry sure there's proper term for this) after roughly 5 years. At 27 I saw the loss around my temples & crown. By 30 it was more pronounced at the temples and crown, and the vertex had receded by about an inch. Additionally, the entire top had thinned out considerably. You could easily see the scalp with a 1/2" cut across the entire top of my head. That's when I started minoxidil/nizoral.

Treatment Summary: At 30 I started a 2x/day 2ml Kirkland 5% minoxidil + 1x day nizoral treatment on the entire top of my head. I had to shave it pretty close in order to stay away from the greasy look. At around 1 month I noticed minor shedding on the entire top. At 3 months I noticed new hair growth in the temples & crown. Hard to tell if the new hair growth is all over the top because I still cut it to about 1/2" and the new hair growth was thin and roughly 1/5". At 4-5 months I noticed considerable shedding across the entire top. Every time I would apply minoxidil or nizoral I would see 40-50 hairs and my hands. I kept up the treatment and at 5 months I noticed the shedding had seemingly stopped and the small hair regrowth had continued at the vertex and crown. All-in-all I have less hair on the top, the balding is more noticable, but I'm hopeful for the small areas of hair regrowth and hope they're also on the top where I can't see as well. I'm at 5 months today and also started taking saw palmetto 160mg a week ago. In another week I'll go to 320 mg/day and stay there for at least a year. If, after a year from today, I don't see considerable regrowth, I'll shave my head for good.

Hope this was helpful to someone out there. Hairloss has affected my confidence as I've been a successful dude who's never had problems with girls, and even today make 6 figures, have an MBA and a gf, but the confidence is slipping. Didn't take any pictures when I started but happy to take some now if this thread gets any interest. Best wishes my brothers in battle.
 

WarLord

Established Member
Reaction score
13
All, new here, but wanted to share my experience for any others because it seems somewhat unique...only found a couple other threads similar and they hadn't been active for a while.

Bottom line up front: Using minoxidil 5% + 2x/day nizoral on entire top of scalp for 4-5 months. Minor regrowth on temples & crown, moderate shedding on entire head.

Background: I'm 30, started balding around 27. I have male pattern baldness in nearly every male on my mother's side. At 25-35 they start losing hair on the top of their head quickly and have hair left only on the sides (sry sure there's proper term for this) after roughly 5 years. At 27 I saw the loss around my temples & crown. By 30 it was more pronounced at the temples and crown, and the vertex had receded by about an inch. Additionally, the entire top had thinned out considerably. You could easily see the scalp with a 1/2" cut across the entire top of my head. That's when I started minoxidil/nizoral.

Treatment Summary: At 30 I started a 2x/day 2ml Kirkland 5% minoxidil + 1x day nizoral treatment on the entire top of my head. I had to shave it pretty close in order to stay away from the greasy look. At around 1 month I noticed minor shedding on the entire top. At 3 months I noticed new hair growth in the temples & crown. Hard to tell if the new hair growth is all over the top because I still cut it to about 1/2" and the new hair growth was thin and roughly 1/5". At 4-5 months I noticed considerable shedding across the entire top. Every time I would apply minoxidil or nizoral I would see 40-50 hairs and my hands. I kept up the treatment and at 5 months I noticed the shedding had seemingly stopped and the small hair regrowth had continued at the vertex and crown. All-in-all I have less hair on the top, the balding is more noticable, but I'm hopeful for the small areas of hair regrowth and hope they're also on the top where I can't see as well. I'm at 5 months today and also started taking saw palmetto 160mg a week ago. In another week I'll go to 320 mg/day and stay there for at least a year. If, after a year from today, I don't see considerable regrowth, I'll shave my head for good.

Hope this was helpful to someone out there. Hairloss has affected my confidence as I've been a successful dude who's never had problems with girls, and even today make 6 figures, have an MBA and a gf, but the confidence is slipping. Didn't take any pictures when I started but happy to take some now if this thread gets any interest. Best wishes my brothers in battle.

You actually illustrated the major mistakes of many "brothers in battle":

1/ You started too late
2/ You want to give up the "battle" without trying the most effective treatments (5-AR blockers).

Nevertheless, I wish you good luck with minoxidil. If you really observed new regrowth, then the waves of shedding should only be temporary. It is not possible that you would regrow hair and started to lose it after half a year again.
 

mnhoops

New Member
Reaction score
0
Edit: I'm using Nioxin NOT Nizoral. I had experimented with Finasterside but found the side effects, loss of sex drive & mood swings, as too big a trade-off.

WarLord, I realize I started late but that must be rather common. I didn't want to admit I had a problem to start, then thought it would happen more slowly.

Again, hope this thread might be helpful to someone with a little less experience...maybe someone that isn't too late in the game to start! Hope to hear from more of you.
 

Flamingflaps

Established Member
Reaction score
-10
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]I think it's more than a little unfair to say he's too late. I started balding at 19 and it was probably close to three years before I did anything. People don't even think I have hairloss today (at 27) and my colleagues/friends/girlfriend often comment on My thick head of hair. I did however use finasteride. Might be worth considering op. I must admit I haven't regrown back everything, but even without the use of minoxidil (allergic) things thickened up and with proper styling, no one would know. Get on treatments early as poss, but its never too late to improve. Some have come back from more than 3 years of damage.[/FONT]
 

mnhoops

New Member
Reaction score
0
Thanks, Flamingflaps!

Warlord, due to reading thru a number of your comments on other threads, along w/Flamingflaps & other user accounts, I'll be talking to the Doctor about 5-AR blockers again. I'll remember to post in a couple months with any updates.

Best of luck
 

mnhoops

New Member
Reaction score
0
e Update with pictures at the link below. I did not decide to go on a prescription 5-AR blocker due to a combination of the cost and past side effects. However, 3 weeks ago I began 160mg of saw palmetto extract and now I am taking 320mg/day. I plan to stay there for at least a year.

The first picture was taken 4mo in to my minoxidil regimen. If I had taken a starting picture it would have looked nearly the same but I definitely have lost hair across the entire top of my head due to shedding.

The second picture was taken at 5 months and while it's hard to see, I have a couple hundred small, thin hairs coming in on my hairline. There are more at the temples than in the middle. I wasn't sure if they were going to grow a month ago but they continue to grow and become more prominent. I'm hesitantly hopefully for what I might see in 3 more months.

The vertex has filled in just a bit but the top of my head has shedded and I do not see any visible regrowth. It's hard to believe given I have regrowth at the temples. Maybe I'm not getting the minoxidil on the scalp but I try hard to massage it in.

I'll keep y'all posted!

- - - Updated - - -

Oops, forgot to add the link to the pictures...

http://imgur.com/a/Kl2bO
 

mnhoops

New Member
Reaction score
0
Almost 1k views of this thread but not much discussion. Please add if you can.

6 month update:
WarLord, as I imagine you usually do, you hit the nail on the head thus far. I started too late. I've seen some regrowth on the back of my head where minoxidil is supposed to work but the thin hairs near the front are still thin. On a positive note, I've stopped shedding almost completely. Makes me wish I had started when I first noticed the hair loss at around 27yrs old.

I'm still using minoxidil 2x/day on the entire top of my head and supplementing it with 320mg/day of saw palmetto extract. No adverse side effects thus far as I had with the 5-AR blocker but also no progress other than a dead stop in my hair loss. Maybe I can keep what I have for a while until someone invents the magic pill.

I'll continue on this regimine and update in you all in a couple months. Once again, best wishes to my brothers in battle.
 

marcster

New Member
Reaction score
0
Hmm, that's why I sometimes wonder about the usefulness of terms such as a "mature hairline." It gives people an idea they can use to justify not treating their male pattern baldness. "Maybe it will stop here." The concept of a mature hairline may encourage people to not treat their male pattern baldness early enough.
 

mnhoops

New Member
Reaction score
0
JDW et al, here's the update: I'm almost a year into this treatment and am only using the 2ml 5% 2x/day minoxidil plus nioxin. The saw palmetto had a similar effect on me as the 5-AR blockers, mild depression & loss of libido, so I stopped using it. On the plus side, I've gone through a couple different sheds, going through another right now, but I have about the same amount of hair on my head as last year. There has been minor regrowth on the front and back of my head but not enough to make a visible difference. The plus side, even after the sheds, it seems I am keeping the hair I had when I first started the treatment. I had been balding pretty rapidly over a couple years and the balding stopped. I'll keep you all updated on the progress. Still crossing my fingers for more visible regrowth but definitely happy that the balding slowed so dramatically.
 

badasshairday

Member
Reaction score
2
how long do your bottle last of minoxidil? Seems like it would be tough to cover your entire head with the half capful dose that is recommended.
 

OptimusPrime1

New Member
Reaction score
0
Updates please OP

I have read through this and curious to know how you have fared so far. Any updates OP?
Thank you
 
Top