New guy, advice please dudes.

Diffusion-Guy · Mar 16, 2012

Hey guys,

First of all I just wanted to say nice site you've got here, there's a lot of good advice floating about.

I'll try to keep it short. 20 year old guy, receding since 18 started diffusing about a year ago. I've been on finasteride (finpecia) for around 8 months now without any noticeable results, I've still got decent coverage just a general loss of density, especially in the crown area.

Anyway I was thinking about dropping the finasteride and starting dutasteride which is apparently stronger. I don't really want to start Minoxidil untill I know for sure whether the inhibitors are doing their job.

So dudes any advice you can give me would be much appreciated, should I stick it out with the finasteride or bring in the big guns.

I haven't got a decent camera to take pictures at the moment, I'll try and get my hands on one soon.

Nearly forgot, I also use nizoral once a week.

Cheers in advance, D

Paulgreer · Mar 17, 2012

At your age I would be careful with Dutasteride, personally I don't think it's worth the risk at twenty.

Diffusion-Guy · Mar 19, 2012

Cheers for the advice! I've still got 3 months supply of finpecia left so I suppose I may aswell use those before I start thinking about dutasteride anyway.

There seems to be quite alot of strong views on dutasteride, has it been known to cause alot of negative side effects?

I think I actually have photos from a year or so ago of my hairline on my computer somewhere, I'll have a search for them when I have time.

Rawtashk · Mar 20, 2012

Your story is very classic. It's quite possible that you have gotten re-growth, but you just don't know it. This why it is VERY IMPORTANT to TAKE PICTURES at least once a month. You see yourself every day, so it is nearly impossible to judge these things for yourself.

Here's what you need to do for the next 3 months.
1: Take pictures. 2x a month. Try to match the angle and lighting.
2: Get a hair catch for your shower/tub. I don't mean one of those metal ones with huge holes in it. Get a plastic one with small holes so that NONE of your hairs get down the drain. This is basically what I have http://amzn.to/GBe8np.

No, don't count hairs and completely obsess about it, but take note of the general amount of hairs lost when you shower. This will help you know if you're slowing down the loss.

Remember, finasteride doesn't have to regrow hair for it to be working. Stopping further loss counts and success, as well as slowing. I'm still losing ground in the hairloss battle, but it is NOTHING like it was before. I'd say that 93% of my hairloss was from age 20-24, and 7% of it has been from 24-28. I am completely pleased that I've kept my hair as long as I have.