My regime is soo FU*Ked!

[sl]

Hey Guys

I am losing hair faster than ever before. The top of my head has thinned so badly in the last 2 weeks.....I have been proscar for like 2 months which is not helping. I have lost like hundreds of hair in one day!!!!
I think there must be something wrong with my regime. which is

Nizirol shampoo Every Dayof the week.
Proscar 2mg Every Day.

You think I should throw in some rogaine too?
Is there any adjustments you would make to my regime?


And finally i want to upload some pics, but how do i get them on here?

 

[hairwegoagain]

Hey Guys

I am losing hair faster than ever before. The top of my head has thinned so badly in the last 2 weeks.....I have been proscar for like 2 months which is not helping. I have lost like hundreds of hair in one day!!!!
I think there must be something wrong with my regime. which is

Nizirol shampoo Every Dayof the week.
Proscar 2mg Every Day.

You think I should throw in some rogaine too?
Is there any adjustments you would make to my regime?


And finally i want to upload some pics, but how do i get them on here?

Relax. Two months is nothing - one would not expect to see progress. Have some patience, and know that you may not see progress at months 4, 6, or even 12. For some that do respond favorably, it can take a year or more. In the meantime, stop checking your hair and refrain from panic.

 

[Goingat20]

Hey Guys
I have lost like hundreds of hair in one day!!!!
I think there must be something wrong with my regime. which is

Nizirol shampoo Every Dayof the week.
Proscar 2mg Every Day.

You think I should throw in some rogaine too?
Is there any adjustments you would make to my regime?


And finally i want to upload some pics, but how do i get them on here?

Maybe cut down nizoral to every third day. It might be a bit harch on your hair using it everyday. If your going to be strict with your minoxidil applications then add it, and you will make up the big 3. Goodluck

 

[Hans Gruber]

if you are losing more hairs than normal and youve been on proscar for 2 months could well be a shed,so ride it out,an early shed is a good sign that treatment is working.........these hairs will grow back thicker!


good luck!

 

[sl]

oh wow. does the shredding hair grow back? The hair that are falling out, that is.

 

[The Gardener]

oh wow. does the shredding hair grow back? The hair that are falling out, that is.

YES, it does!

Even people who do not have male pattern baldness shed hairs. You see, all human hairs go through periods where they grow, then they stop growing and shed and go into a sort of resting phase, and then start growing a new hair shaft once again. ALL humans are constantly shedding hairs.

A "synchronized shed" where shed rates are seemingly rapid are quite normal too. They occur, for some, during seasonal transitions (perhaps a latent genetic holdover from our animal roots, similar to how dogs shed their coats when the season changes), but they also are very common when some sort of chemical change is beginning to affect the follicles, such as the introduction of a new anti-male pattern baldness chemical.

You gotta ride out the shed, bite the bullet, and keep in mind that with all male pattern baldness treatments the results take time, and the scalp adjustment period required before then can sometimes be a roller coaster ride. Hang in there and don't worry. Once you've been on treatment for a year, THEN you can start making some judgements about how finasteride is working for you or not.

 

[emery]

i also shed so bad after starting propecia for a couple of weeks,
i start to wonder if these guys who ask us to ride-out the shed are actually propecia marketer...
our hair will really grow back stronger?

 

[The Gardener]

i also shed so bad after starting propecia for a couple of weeks,
i start to wonder if these guys who ask us to ride-out the shed are actually propecia marketer...
our hair will really grow back stronger?

I don't think anyone here will deny that hairloss treatment is a roller coaster ride. You will have good days and bad days, but you have to remain consistent with the treatments and give them a full year. None of these meds work overnight, they take time, and while they are doing their thing you need to be patient, consistent, and disciplined with your regimen.

Given the immediacy of your shedding right after starting the finasteride, makes me wonder if you were going into a shed on your own even before the finasteride had an opportunity to start taking effect.

Also keep in mind that it takes three months for any hair that has been positively affected by finasteride or minoxidil to grow long enough for the very tip of it to be seen emerging from the scalp.

As for the finasteride marketing comment, I am certainly NOT a finasteride marketer, and don't use the product myself... but that is not because I don't think it works, but it is for other reasons.

But, to reiterate, fighting male pattern baldness with the treatments is very much an up and down battle especially for the first nine months or so. Expect good days, good weeks, and bad days and weeks. You have to hold on and take the time it will take for a critical mass of your hair (which grows in uneven cycles) to become positively effected by the meds, which in time will show cosmetic change.

 

[JWM]

Good posts Gardener.

Out of curiosity, what would you say to a guy who was using Dutasteride and had lost a significant amount of hair around his hairline after 6 months of use. Would you still consider this a shed that would recover, or is dutasteride too much of a mystery drug to be certain?

 

[The Gardener]

JWM, I'm really not familiar with the intricacies of dutasteride but I would not be worried yet at the 6 month mark.

I would assume that introduction of dutasteride into your system would introduce an element of hormonal instability in the initial months. In time, your body would find a new baseline, and with that stability the med could begin to start making a consistent impact on the mechanics of your hair growth.

At that point, the "three month" timetable would begin, in which you just have to wait until the first of the dutasteride-affected hairs starts reaching your scalp line. Even then you might not notice anything, as a stray strand here or there that is fortified from the effects of dutasteride wouldn't be noticeable. You might have to wait several more months before a critical mass of fortified hairs cycles through before you could even expect to see any sort of a change.

Obviously I can't make any statements with authority about your situation in particular, but I can say that I do think six months is too soon to make judgements about dutasteride in your case. Give it time to work, and anyone here who has gone through an male pattern baldness treatment process over an extended period of time (like I have) will tell you that it takes at least a year before you can accurately make any claims.

As for your shed hair, the fact that it shed is an indication that those hairs were probably already in resting phase. It's not like the dutasteride "burned" or severed them off! What is important is what happens when those follicles sprout new hairs. Hopefully, the new sprouts will be fortified with dutasteride and be thicker. They may, on this first cycle, be similar in thickness to your former hair or perhaps even a bit more thin. It may take a cycle or two before the hair starts responding in a cosmetically acceptable way. But, one thing we do know is that, at the very least, the dutasteride should not make the new hairs any more thin than they would have been without the dutasteride.

You really have to be patient. I KNOW that there are up and down days, even weeks. But the only true way to determine if dutasteride will help is to continue the regimen in a regular and disciplined way over a long period of time, at least a year. These drugs are not like fertilizer for the lawn.

Hang in there, chin up, and all my best.

 

[JWM]

Awesome post man. Thanks so much.

 

[Aplunk1]

Gardener, great post.

We should assemble a book entitled, "Gardener's HairLossTalk.com Responses: A Practical Guide to Hairloss and Solving Life."

I'd buy it. Full of information such as taking to dutasteride to getting away with smuggling pot through airports.

Images includes.

 

[techprof]

Gardy is back with useful and detailed posts. We appreciate the time you spend here Gardy.

 

[The Gardener]

That's very nice of you to say. Thanks.

I'm glad that my input is helpful... pass it along to the next crop here.

 

[JWM]

Same here Gardener, your posts are very helpful.

Out of curiosity, have you always had a topical regimen, or did you used to use finasteride. If it was the latter, has topical spironolactone kept what finasteride did for you?

 

[pmzito]

why are you using 2 mg of proscar a day?