Self-experimentation On The Upregulation Of Androgen Receptors

[Pray The Bald Away]

Just before my 18th birthday I started taking finasteride to stop my hairline from receding any further. After a year it has been very successful at doing this. As far as I can tell, my hair has stayed exactly the same as it was when I first started treatment. There was an unintended effect, however. My facial hair had just started to come in and now much of it has disappeared. I have a few terminal hairs but I can go without shaving for months at a time without it being noticeable.

Now back to the point of this post. As many people on this forum have pointed out, finasteride has been known to lose effectiveness in certain individuals due to upregulation of the androgen receptors. They can evidently become more sensitive to DHT over time to the point that post-finasteride levels of DHT in the body can induce the same rate of balding as pre-finasteride levels. I would also like to remind everyone (even though you probably already know) that while DHT is responsible for killiing head hair, it is also responsible for making facial hair go terminal.

I believe that I might be the perfect test subject for observing androgen receptor upregulation. As of now, my beard has stopped developing. So my theory is that if my hairline should start to recede again, my beard should start developing as well. If it does not, this must mean that to some extent, the androgen receptors in the scalp can act independently of the ones located in the face. I don't predict this will be the case because in addition to an increased rate of balding, people who experience androgen receptor upregulation usually notice increased facial acne. This suggests that the receptors in the face and scalp are in sync with one another on some level

So there are basically three possible outcomes in this situation of mine:
1. I keep my scalp hair indefinitely and my beard doesn't come in.
2. I start to recede again and my beard starts to come in.
3. I start to recede again and my beard doesn't come in.
4. I keep my scalp hair and beard comes in as well.

I believe all outcomes except #1 can provide us with valuable information on how the body can react to finasteride. It may take me years to reach any conclusion, but I will keep my updates in this topic just in case. Thanks for reading!

Edit: Perhaps the word observation might be more appropriate than experimentation.

 

[WMQ]

I started finasteride in late puperty as well. It kept my hair for 7 years. One year into usage my facial hair became next to non existent.

Quit finasteride in early to mid 20s due to sides. Aftermath: scalp became itchy and oily like never before. Massive hairloss. After a summer facial hair was already back to pre finasteride status and kept thicknening.

Tried low dose later. Consequence: hair and skin became even more itchy and oily and never really normalize after quitting again.

Tried dutasteride recently. Consequence: scalp got initial calm then itch and sebum kicked in harder than ever. Mustache thinned noticeably but beard seems unaffected.

Confused yet?

 

[smyth01]

This experiment only really benefits yourself, as everyone will have different experiences when it comes to these sorts of things. I for instance, I've seen my facial hair thicken a lot over the last year, and my hair thicken a lot over the last 2 years (from finasteride usage).

 

[Kangaroojack]

Yes that's kind of exactly the situation I am in also. I started finasteride 2 years ago and my beard didn't really develop a lot since then. I went on a break for probably four months last year and during that time I could see an increase/thickening of hairs on my cheeks.

Did you stop with finasteride? (I think you didn't say that in your post)
What's your normal hair colour, are you blond?

Keep us updated!

 

[tylerduren]

Theres lots of people with savagely hairy thick beards complimented by thick hair ....

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

I started finasteride in late puperty as well. It kept my hair for 7 years. One year into usage my facial hair became next to non existent.

Quit finasteride in early to mid 20s due to sides. Aftermath: scalp became itchy and oily like never before. Massive hairloss. After a summer facial hair was already back to pre finasteride status and kept thicknening.

Tried low dose later. Consequence: hair and skin became even more itchy and oily and never really normalize after quitting again.

Tried dutasteride recently. Consequence: scalp got initial calm then itch and sebum kicked in harder than ever. Mustache thinned noticeably but beard seems unaffected.

Confused yet?

It sounds like you may be experiencing androgen receptor upregulation as a result of getting off and back on the drug. It also seems that originally the androgen receptors in your scalp and your face had a similar level of sensitivity. This is the case for me as well. This might have changed as a result of your usage habits? I'll need to look into more of the published literature on androgen receptor behavior; my current knowledge is very surface-level.

This experiment only really benefits yourself, as everyone will have different experiences when it comes to these sorts of things. I for instance, I've seen my facial hair thicken a lot over the last year, and my hair thicken a lot over the last 2 years (from finasteride usage).

I'm trying to see if the androgen receptors in the scalp can become more sensitive independent of the receptors in the face. You would need a much larger sample size to draw any concrete conclusions but this can at least serve as an example of what's possible in androgenic alopecia.

Yes that's kind of exactly the situation I am in also. I started finasteride 2 years ago and my beard didn't really develop a lot since then. I went on a break for probably four months last year and during that time I could see an increase/thickening of hairs on my cheeks.

Did you stop with finasteride? (I think you didn't say that in your post)
What's your normal hair colour, are you blond?

Keep us updated!

I'm on the drug and will continue to take it for the foreseeable future. Sorry for not stating this explicitly in the original post.

Theres lots of people with savagely hairy thick beards complimented by thick hair ....

To my knowledge, this would mean one of two things. Either the receptors in their scalp are much less sensitive than the ones in the face, or the receptors in their scalp are less densely packed. Mine seem to be of equal concentration and sensitivity because my beard began to come in just as my hair started to recede. As soon as I got on finasteride, my hair stopped receding and my beard stopped developing. This is just to observe the receptor behavior for people who are in a similar situation to my own. It's certainly not all inclusive. I'll edit this into the original post; I didn't think to do so.