My hair strengthening Journey began June 2014

[zerafian]

Started propecia in June of 2014. I had been using rogaine and spironolactone cream for about 2.5 years. HOWEVER, I stopped using rogain in Jan 2014 just to see what would happen...bad news. The rogaine was holding back the hair loss BIG TIME! I lost over 1cm of my hair line and my entire head thinned terribly within 5 months as youll see in the pics below.

Anyways, heres my regiment thus far:

.5mg/ propecia a day
2x rogaine a day
2x S5 cream a day
1-2 a week nizoral

Here are a few pics from 2012 to May of 2014. I started loosing my hair around Nov 2009-Jan 2010. I remember because I use to sit at my desk and run my hands through my hair watching hairs fall out. I didnt put 2 and 2 together at the time and was just like weee look at that pile of hair.

Here are pics taken May 27, 2014 a week before starting propecia and getting back on rogaine.

Here is my current situation, left is last week and right is August 2014. Im in the same room, same lighting, hair is the same length, and flash is on on my camera. You can use the brown freckle on the left side of my upper forehead as a way to see my hair line difference. Which isnt much right now but the diffuse growth is whats really noticeable here.

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I also worked into taking propecia, I did NOT just pop a full pill. Not with those risks of sides.

week 1 and 2: 1/4 pill every other day
week 3 and 4: 1/4 pill every day
week 5 and 6: 1/2 pill every other day
week 7 and 8: 1/2 pill mon, wed, friday, sun.....1/4 pill tues, thurs,sat
current: 1/2 pill every day


Oh and for the record for side effects...The only one Iv had so far is thinner or less semen, seems like a bit to much info but I figure I need to disclose everything. Its not all the time but on and off.

None of that brain fog or erection problems. In fact over the course of the last 3 months my libido has been a little higher. It may seem like BS but it was honestly quite obviously and I did expect it to dissipate but it hasnt yet.

 

[I.D WALKER]

You are a quick responder. How long have you been afflicted with M.P.B.? Many thanx for sharing.

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Yours is a fine example that minoxidil is still a powerful player in the arena of hair loss defense.

 

[zerafian]

You are a quick responder. How long have you been afflicted with M.P.B.? Many thanx for sharing.

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Yours is a fine example that minoxidil is still a powerful player in the arena of hair loss defense.

I was really quite surprised by how quickly I started seeing results, I can only hope I continue to see results over the course of the next year or two...though I do believe it has something to do with catching the last 6 months loss so quickly. I hit that propecia and restart of rogaine at a good time. I do also think all my initial gains have been primarily through rogaine, though my shedding is almost non existent now, which I will have to give the propecia and S5 cream the credit for.

Im 29 now and Im pretty sure it started pretty much right after I turned 25, give or take a few months I think.


edit: looking back it could have slowly started around 22-23 but its really hard to tell, I never even took notice until one of my friends mentioned to me that it looked like my hair was thinning when he saw me the summer of 2010.

 

[zerafian]

Ill be updating my progress in Jan 15' with an ambient lit shot of my hair wet and dry like in the pic above thats yellowish in lighting. Theres already been quite a lot of progress but Im obviously hoping 3 months from now it will be even better. Iv also started seeing a lot of light brown hairs popping up where there once was only vellus hairs.Within the white circles from the pic below. The pic is just the one from above drawn over.

 

[zerafian]

bumping for anything that may want some optimism

 

[zerafian]

Update, not pics but something I noticed.

follicles that have been dormant since 2010-2011 have actually started strengthening. Iv had the same 2-3 hairs grow where my hairline originally was on my head, I just shave them. This morning I actually noticed 3 light brown hairs grouped in with those other hairs.

Even while I was using rogaine and s5 cream from 2010 to currently I never had any new growth in that spot. Just another sign the propecia is blocking DHT good enough to allow those, almost 100% dormant hairs to start coming back.

Not like I expect anything substantial to grow there but it was cool to notice that the propecia is kicking my DHT levels ***

 

[zerafian]

decided to up my propecia, alternating .75mg and .5mg. Maybe in 3-4 months Ill do .75 every day. My goal is to eventually get to buying finasteride and taking 1.25mg/day. Paying $95 month isnt something I really want to do when i can pay 1/4 with finasteride.

Im sure all you guys know why Im easing into this stuff too...not like the internet filled with nothing but bad side effects from this stuff.

 

[zerafian]

alrighty guys, heres an update. Newest is at the top and the pics on the right are marked with spots to show the difference if its not obvious. My hair is the same length in all the pics by maybe .5cm and seems darker because my head is closer to the camera so the flash didnt catch the background. Also the circled part on the right, I use to shave. I no longer shave it since my hair is starting to come back level with it. Thats why it will look like hair is swooping to the left, its because Im actually letting the hair grow now.

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oh and heres some side shots. Next time I update, maybe in 3 months but most likely Ill wait until June 2015 Ill do side by sides. I still need to update my ambient pics in the yellow lighting at some point in the next week or two.

 

[zerafian]

bump...taking .75mg of propecia a day starting 1/12/15

 

[doublebatman]

Good results so far. Can you post some shots to compare top down like you did initially?

 

[zerafian]

Quality of before and current pics are the same...an ambient shot like you would see if I were outside in the sun. Oddly enough the back has made substantial gains in coverage but its not really noticable in the pics for some reason. I go to the gym every day and sometimes look in the 4 sided mirror to see the back of my head. Skin really isnt noticable when actually looking at my head, the pic however makes it seem like not much has happened. *shrug* pics dont always tell the whoel story...maybe its because I have 4 lights beaming at my head in front of the bathroom mirror

 

[WonderDrug]

Looking good man.
What you're saying re the light is probably true as the area that looks balding at the back in your new shots is different to where your crown loss was in the previous pics.

Also, is it just the pics or has your hair in general gotten darker? I note a lot of people's seems to on finasteride.

 

[zerafian]

Looking good man.
What you're saying re the light is probably true as the area that looks balding at the back in your new shots is different to where your crown loss was in the previous pics.

Also, is it just the pics or has your hair in general gotten darker? I note a lot of people's seems to on finasteride.

thanks man...slow up hill battle.

If you think about it, the propecia/finasteride and rogaine are strengthening those vallus hairs, those clear/pigmentless hairs. So over time it will look like my hair is getting darker just because the strong hairs now growing and also more shadowing due to more hair growing. So technically I guess yeah, your hair will get darker.

 

[Makeveli12]

Getting alot better mate, do you attribute the success more to restarting the minoxidil or adding finasteride?

 

[zerafian]

Getting alot better mate, do you attribute the success more to restarting the minoxidil or adding finasteride?

as far as Im concerned...you cant have one without the other. I took minoxidil/rogaine from 2011-2014 and all it did was slow my loss. Granted it did a great job of slowing it but it was still nothing but loss.

Being on propecia along with rogaine has done nothing but improve my hair growth.

 

[brandnew88]

Looking good. I upped my dose slowly as well. actually at a slower pace than you. My hair has actually gotten worse. I have been on .5 of a tablet for 6 months. I am thinking of taking a big jump to a whole tablet maybe tomorrow. What do you think? Also what rogaine do you use? foam or liquid?

 

[zerafian]

Looking good. I upped my dose slowly as well. actually at a slower pace than you. My hair has actually gotten worse. I have been on .5 of a tablet for 6 months. I am thinking of taking a big jump to a whole tablet maybe tomorrow. What do you think? Also what rogaine do you use? foam or liquid?

I almost found it to be common sense to slow dose myself...Im kind of all over the place with my dosing though. The past 3 weeks Iv taken .75 about 4 times and .5 the rest of the time. From what Iv read (not a lot) the jump from .5 to 1mg only really blocks about 15-20% more DHT instead of what youd hope for when adding another .5mg, 50%. Iv always used the foam, liquid sounds messy and I prefer to control my coverage

 

[brandnew88]

Yeah I did initially. A lot slower. I started at .25 every third day for 6 weeks then every other day for a month. Then .25 daily for a month then .33 daily for a month then .5 daily for 6 months. I use foam as well. My hair is about where yours is currently.

 

[zerafian]

My next update will be the beginning of June...I think at this point any progress I hope to get will go much slower now

 

[duelmaster]

dude dont you get dandruff like thing after applying minoxidil??