mikey mike
Member
- Reaction score
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I mainly post on bald truth talk but I've posted on here a couple times and figured maybe y'all would want to hear my story. I have been fighting male pattern baldness for 2 years. To start, here are some pics from 2 years ago when I first started fighting male pattern baldness at the age of 22:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/s...otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/s...otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/s...otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/s...otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/s...otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
So you can see where I was I was around a norwood 2v-3v but closer to a 3v. At the time I was using the Nioxin line of hair products. I continued to lose hair at the same speed while using the Nioxin products alone but it did give the hair some visual volume. After posting that thread and doing some research I decided to use rogaine foam 2x per day on the crown only and nizoral 1% shampoo 2x per week. The reason I only put rogaine on the crown is that I read that it can cause a shed and I could still sort of cover my hairline with existing hair. My plan was that if it worked great on the crown then I would also use it on the hairline, but until I saw results at the crown I didn't want to risk losing my styling option of covering my hairline from a shed.
Here is the result in August after 4 months of rogaine and nizoral:
From above:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
From head on:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
And the crown:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
I didn't see a cosmetically significant improvement during this time, but the shorter hair cut that I got for my big boy job definitely looked better. Disappointed by the results of minoxidil and nizoral, I talked to my doctor and got on Finasteride. I continued nizoral 2x per week and rogaine 2x per day at the crown just in case. The previous pictures are basically my baseline pics for Finasteride.
Here are my results of 6 months on finasteride (plus 4 months rogaine and nizoral):
From above:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
From head on:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
And the crown:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
I also saw regrowth at the hairline:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
During this 6 month period I really didn't notice any side effects. However, I only had sex once in those 6 months. It was a one night stand, and I honestly didn't last very long. However, I attributed my poor performance to alcohol.
Here are my results of 1 year on the big 3 (and 4 months rogaine and nizoral only):
From above:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
From head on:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
Hairline:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
The crown:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
Close up of the crown:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
At this point I don't think anyone could tell that I had male pattern baldness unless they were looking for it and looked really close. About a month after I took these photos I became sexually active with a very hot girlfriend and found that I was not able to maintain an erection long enough to satisfy her. I could get an erection, and I could do a quickie, but I would lose the erection if I tried to maintain for a long sex session. I didn't notice this side effect when masturbating because I never really tried to masturbate for an extended time I always just get it done and go to bed. I stopped taking the medication and a week later I was a total boss in bed. I did some research and learned that one dosage of finasteride keeps DHT levels low for a while and that supposedly many hair transplant clinics recommend taking finasteride every other day, so I tried taking 1.25 mg every other day. Here is the graph to back this up:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
Unfortunately this didn't work for me. I had no side effects whatsoever and my hair seemed great for about 3.5 months. Then I had a massive, massive shed. I mean I was taking a shower one day before work and my hands were covered in hair after shampooing. Then I noticed the tub looked like I had a hair cut in it, my pillows were covered in hair, and it was winter so I was wearing a ski cap outside and every time I took it off it was filled with more hair. I did some research and learned that dairy increases DHT, so I cut it out of my diet entirely and that masturbation increases DHT so I stopped that as well, and continued to take the medicine every other day. I did this for six weeks and the shed just continued at the same pace. The shed was extremely stressful for me. It caused me great anxiety, caused an embarrassing drunken meltdown in front of my friends, and negatively impacted my performance at work. Me and my ex were already broken up at this point, so I just started taking finasteride every day again and doing everything else as I used to.
Here are some pics I took just before the shed began (sorry these arn't better but I happened to take these selfies right before the shed so I feel they are useful for showing how great my hair looked):
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
These are some pics about a month into the 6 weeks shed:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
Here are some pics at the end of the shed when I finally started taking finasteride everyday again:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
So the shed continued for a while during the time that finasteride built back up in my system but seems to have stopped, and I think my hair has improved a bit. I have now been taking finasteride every day again for 2 months.
Here are some pics I took on April 1st:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
So there you have it. 2 full years of fighting male pattern baldness. Regarding the side effect that I had, I have not noticed it return yet, but I also have not had sex yet recently. I have also read into pornography induced erectile dysfunction and, embarrassingly, I wonder if that had something to do with it. I mean I had no problem maintaining an erection with my ex at all after 1 week off finasteride, but I also did not watch p**rn or masturbate during that week. I know a few of you might think its kind of lame that I didn't have a whole lot of sex in the past 2 years, but I did have a lot more sex in high school and college. I am truly thankful that my hair did not look bad until I was 22 and almost done with college so that I had great looking hair during the time that I had the easiest access to girls. Looking back though, I wish I had locked down a steady long term gf or wife. I have heard that most guys get better looking and have an easier time getting laid as they get older, but I don't think that is true for those of us with premature male pattern baldness. For anyone who is considering finasteride I would highly recommend giving it a try, and for anyone who is considering taking finasteride every other day I would not recommend it as that did not work for me. Anyways I just thought maybe someone would like to hear my story from the past 2 years. If you have any questions feel free to ask!
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/s...otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/s...otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/s...otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/s...otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/s...otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
So you can see where I was I was around a norwood 2v-3v but closer to a 3v. At the time I was using the Nioxin line of hair products. I continued to lose hair at the same speed while using the Nioxin products alone but it did give the hair some visual volume. After posting that thread and doing some research I decided to use rogaine foam 2x per day on the crown only and nizoral 1% shampoo 2x per week. The reason I only put rogaine on the crown is that I read that it can cause a shed and I could still sort of cover my hairline with existing hair. My plan was that if it worked great on the crown then I would also use it on the hairline, but until I saw results at the crown I didn't want to risk losing my styling option of covering my hairline from a shed.
Here is the result in August after 4 months of rogaine and nizoral:
From above:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
From head on:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
And the crown:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
I didn't see a cosmetically significant improvement during this time, but the shorter hair cut that I got for my big boy job definitely looked better. Disappointed by the results of minoxidil and nizoral, I talked to my doctor and got on Finasteride. I continued nizoral 2x per week and rogaine 2x per day at the crown just in case. The previous pictures are basically my baseline pics for Finasteride.
Here are my results of 6 months on finasteride (plus 4 months rogaine and nizoral):
From above:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
From head on:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
And the crown:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
I also saw regrowth at the hairline:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
During this 6 month period I really didn't notice any side effects. However, I only had sex once in those 6 months. It was a one night stand, and I honestly didn't last very long. However, I attributed my poor performance to alcohol.
Here are my results of 1 year on the big 3 (and 4 months rogaine and nizoral only):
From above:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
From head on:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
Hairline:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
The crown:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
Close up of the crown:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
At this point I don't think anyone could tell that I had male pattern baldness unless they were looking for it and looked really close. About a month after I took these photos I became sexually active with a very hot girlfriend and found that I was not able to maintain an erection long enough to satisfy her. I could get an erection, and I could do a quickie, but I would lose the erection if I tried to maintain for a long sex session. I didn't notice this side effect when masturbating because I never really tried to masturbate for an extended time I always just get it done and go to bed. I stopped taking the medication and a week later I was a total boss in bed. I did some research and learned that one dosage of finasteride keeps DHT levels low for a while and that supposedly many hair transplant clinics recommend taking finasteride every other day, so I tried taking 1.25 mg every other day. Here is the graph to back this up:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
Unfortunately this didn't work for me. I had no side effects whatsoever and my hair seemed great for about 3.5 months. Then I had a massive, massive shed. I mean I was taking a shower one day before work and my hands were covered in hair after shampooing. Then I noticed the tub looked like I had a hair cut in it, my pillows were covered in hair, and it was winter so I was wearing a ski cap outside and every time I took it off it was filled with more hair. I did some research and learned that dairy increases DHT, so I cut it out of my diet entirely and that masturbation increases DHT so I stopped that as well, and continued to take the medicine every other day. I did this for six weeks and the shed just continued at the same pace. The shed was extremely stressful for me. It caused me great anxiety, caused an embarrassing drunken meltdown in front of my friends, and negatively impacted my performance at work. Me and my ex were already broken up at this point, so I just started taking finasteride every day again and doing everything else as I used to.
Here are some pics I took just before the shed began (sorry these arn't better but I happened to take these selfies right before the shed so I feel they are useful for showing how great my hair looked):
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
These are some pics about a month into the 6 weeks shed:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
Here are some pics at the end of the shed when I finally started taking finasteride everyday again:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
So the shed continued for a while during the time that finasteride built back up in my system but seems to have stopped, and I think my hair has improved a bit. I have now been taking finasteride every day again for 2 months.
Here are some pics I took on April 1st:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/v...g_30FreePrints_2010Feb/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
So there you have it. 2 full years of fighting male pattern baldness. Regarding the side effect that I had, I have not noticed it return yet, but I also have not had sex yet recently. I have also read into pornography induced erectile dysfunction and, embarrassingly, I wonder if that had something to do with it. I mean I had no problem maintaining an erection with my ex at all after 1 week off finasteride, but I also did not watch p**rn or masturbate during that week. I know a few of you might think its kind of lame that I didn't have a whole lot of sex in the past 2 years, but I did have a lot more sex in high school and college. I am truly thankful that my hair did not look bad until I was 22 and almost done with college so that I had great looking hair during the time that I had the easiest access to girls. Looking back though, I wish I had locked down a steady long term gf or wife. I have heard that most guys get better looking and have an easier time getting laid as they get older, but I don't think that is true for those of us with premature male pattern baldness. For anyone who is considering finasteride I would highly recommend giving it a try, and for anyone who is considering taking finasteride every other day I would not recommend it as that did not work for me. Anyways I just thought maybe someone would like to hear my story from the past 2 years. If you have any questions feel free to ask!