Share your finasteride SUCCESS story here.

[Rawtashk]

I see lots and lots of people bagging on finasteride in the "Side Effects" forums, and all over propeciahelp. I thought to myself, "You know, people need to be able to see a good source of some success stories with finasteride. Too many people read just the horror stories and get freaked out." So, that's what I'm attempting to do here.

Everyone, what's your finasteride SUCCESS story?

(please, keep any side effect stories out of this. There's an entire forum location dedicated to those. I understand that you might have gotten screwed over in the finasteride sides department, but that doesn't mean that everyone will. My wife has to wear a platinum ring because she's allergic to gold, but she doesn't go around telling everyone to never wear gold. My younger brother is allergic to corn products, but that doesn't stop me from eating the sh*t out of corn chips and salsa)

:edit:
People that do have sides, I'm not discrediting you, or saying that there's 0 chance of sides. Even the finasteride suppliers will tell you that there's about a 2% chance of sides. The point of this thread is to show people considering finasteride the other side of the fence.
:edit:

 

[Rawtashk]

I'll start.


I first noticed thinning on my crown in May of 2008. Here's the first pic I ever took of it.

and here's a top-down view

I got on finasteride at 1mg. I had some initial "sides" of ball ache, which freaked me out a ton (all I could think about was sides), so I cut back to .5mg a day. In retrospect, it probably would have gone away had I just rode it out. My testes were just getting used to how much Testosterone they needed to be putting out now that I was inhibiting DHT.

Here's 3+ years of finasteride and Rogaine
Wet hair 5 months ago

Dry hair 4 months ago

Dry hair 3 months ago

I'd say it was a pretty good success. I've regrown some in my crown, and maintained about 90% of my hair overall (hairline has slowly gotten thinner, but the speed of the thinning is NOTHING like it was 3 years ago).

I'm also up against really aggressive genetics. Every single one of my uncles is no better than a NW4 (I have 8 of them). 5 uncles were NW4 by the time they were 35.

Here's my dad @ 66 years old

(I was talking about my hairloss to him a few months ago. His advice to me was, "I had 1/3rd as much hair as you do at your age (27)...so stop whining")

Here's my older brother at age 23

Here's my younger brother (22) and I at a pre-production meeting on a movie we were in

(note the crown of his head, and how there's an obvious lack of fullness back there, as well as the thinness at the front. I'm sure only us people that are aware of balding notice it, but I can see it)

One of the other things you'll hear is "finasteride will make it harder, if not impossible, to gain muscle and lose fat!" Not true (at least for me). I did this in 90 days last year while taking finasteride every day

So, I've recently upped my finasteride to 1mg 'cause I don't want it to lose too much effectiveness. Sofar, so good.

Here's to continued success for all of us, and the success for the new people that start taking it!

 

[Spanishlad]

finasteride has been great for me I've taken 1mg everyday for over 3 years no side effects at all and I've not lost any hair since I have been taking it.

 

[hairhoper]

10 months on finasteride.

No sides, just initial ball-ache for a couple of days which subsided.

The nasty male pattern baldness itch went away and I've not lost any hair since I started it.

I've had some slight regrowth which I attribute to minoxidil, but I believe finasteride's stopped my loss and made regrowth possible.

Wish I'd started taking it earlier!

 

[BlahBlah12]

i started on propecia (0.5 a day) about a month ago? i forget the exact date.

NO side effects. no ball ache, no watery semen, no semen volume decrease, no ED, all is normal. praying for the hairline to thicken up

 

[Belmondo]

I still believe in finasteride but I take all those negative testimonials very seriously. finasteride is indeed a dangerous drug but it has worked for me. I've been taking it everyday for the last 13-14 years and this is how I look:

 

[sandyc]

I've been taking it for about 6/7 weeks now. Weened onto it and now taking 0.5 mg every other day. I only had a bit of loss. Noticed watery semen I guess, dark hairs springing out in the front of my hairline (where it's always been more blonde). I've also leaned out a lot and seem to have a lot more muscle definition with very minimal effort.

 

[davestep]

Great to see success storys from you lot,
unfortunately i haven't been so lucky.
off the initial subject...
rawshak - what was your main secret for losing weight and gaining muscle like that?
before an injury forced me to stop i was a keen gym attender for over a year, i really bulked up and gained muscle, but the belly department never changed, was doing sit ups daily along with everything else.
just wondered if you had a strict diet for those 9 months or anything else mainly aimed at the stomach area?

thanks

 

[Cassin]

Hi please also check out this forum

viewforum.php?f=30

 

[Rashan]

I still believe in finasteride but I take all those negative testimonials very seriously. finasteride is indeed a dangerous drug but it has worked for me. I've been taking it everyday for the last 13-14 years and this is how I look:

Belmondo,
Looks like you've been on finasteride as long as I have, been using it since May of 1998 (1-1.25 mg daily), and I still have roughly 90% of my hair. For me, the side effects were Extremely low libido and ED. What about you? I"d love to hear what sides you experienced over all those years??

 

[Belmondo]

[...] Belmondo,
Looks like you've been on finasteride as long as I have, been using it since May of 1998 (1-1.25 mg daily), and I still have roughly 90% of my hair. For me, the side effects were Extremely low libido and ED. What about you? I"d love to hear what sides you experienced over all those years??

It's hard to say.

I guess there were side effects - loss of libido, watery semen - but they were mild and perfectly bearable. So yes, finasteride is indeed a dangerous drug. At first I didn't give any credit to all those negative testimonials but not anymore.

 

[Wuffer]

I've been on finasteride for around 6 months now, no side effects, a small amount of regrowth and complete maintenance. I don't regret starting on it in the least.

There is a ton of negativity surrounding finasteride. While starting on it isn't a decision to be made lightly, I think it should be considered by everyone looking to treat their hair loss. 6 months ago my hair loss was causing me such anxiety, I was having trouble getting through my day. Now, it's pretty much the furthest thing from my mind, and it is really a load off my shoulders.

Right now, finasteride is shown to be generally well tolerated and safe. I'm sure we will see more studies that show it may cause increased risks for certain things, but I feel the benefits of maintaining my hair affect my life positively in countless ways. Hell, my confidence now versus 6 months ago can't even be compared.

 

[EdwardNoBald]

Guys I just can't tell you how happy I am that I did something about my hair loss.. I was receeding at the hairline and used Rogaine liquid for 2 years.. it did almost nothing... Then in January 2015 (i was 20) i started loosing a ton of volume to my bangs... I had the see through hairline.. I got Propecia 1mg once a day and the Rogaine foam (once a day) and have done soo for a year now... It has completley haulted my hairloss and I do have some regrowth... I am most happy that it gave my volume back and got rid of the see through bangs.. I urge u guys too try it.. I have been lucky enough to have no unwanted side effect... Yes your hair does look like crap for months during the shed but it is well worth it.. .

 

[Jim lahey]

but the belly department never changed, was doing sit ups daily along with everything else.
just wondered if you had a strict diet for those 9 months or anything else mainly aimed at the stomach area?

thanks

You know you cant target fat in specific areas right? You have to cut your overall bodyfat %.

 

[That Guy]

It's refreshing to see a finasteride thread that isn't all gloom and doom.

I've been on finasteride for around 6 months now, no side effects, a small amount of regrowth and complete maintenance. I don't regret starting on it in the least.

There is a ton of negativity surrounding finasteride. While starting on it isn't a decision to be made lightly, I think it should be considered by everyone looking to treat their hair loss. 6 months ago my hair loss was causing me such anxiety, I was having trouble getting through my day. Now, it's pretty much the furthest thing from my mind, and it is really a load off my shoulders.

Right now, finasteride is shown to be generally well tolerated and safe. I'm sure we will see more studies that show it may cause increased risks for certain things, but I feel the benefits of maintaining my hair affect my life positively in countless ways. Hell, my confidence now versus 6 months ago can't even be compared.

I don't mean to downplay the legit cases of people who have suffered verifiable side effects from Finasteride, but I do think a majority of the posts online are sketchy at best and outright scare mongering at worst. There is a lot of noceboing due to how scary "anti-androgen" sounds and more people are aware of the side effects that could happen; I did this to myself when I first started. I've been on it for months now with no adverse effects.

It's just the whole "finasteride gave me ED!" but then you read that they fap, always to p**rn, 13 times a day; that makes me roll my eyes. Hell, one guy on here was complaining about ED 18 minutes after taking his very first pill. My favorite hairloss side effect complaint, is that of "Minoxidil aged me"...but I'm creeping up on 30, eat like sh*t and am working on my "healthy" tan — it was totally the minoxidil that aged you despite it never being an observed side effect in clinical trials.

You know what will f*** you up real good? Cough syrup. My mom accidentally OD'd me on codeine when I was 11 years old, which I'm pretty sure can be very lethal, but damn did I ever get some far out and terrifying hallucinations.

 

[GoldenMane]

I hope you guys don't keep finasteride a secret from friends and family, see a brother in need, help him, please...

 

[djherrera1994]

Guys I just can't tell you how happy I am that I did something about my hair loss.. I was receeding at the hairline and used Rogaine liquid for 2 years.. it did almost nothing... Then in January 2015 (i was 20) i started loosing a ton of volume to my bangs... I had the see through hairline.. I got Propecia 1mg once a day and the Rogaine foam (once a day) and have done soo for a year now... It has completley haulted my hairloss and I do have some regrowth... I am most happy that it gave my volume back and got rid of the see through bangs.. I urge u guys too try it.. I have been lucky enough to have no unwanted side effect... Yes your hair does look like crap for months during the shed but it is well worth it.. .

hey you said that your hair looked like crap for months because of "the shed". what is that?
im looking into starting a Propecia treatment soon and am very afraid of the side affects

 

[jc3303]

Been on finasteride for almost 4 months and I'm already seeing thickening of my hair! For me my shedding slowly started decreasing starting after the first month and still continues to decrease slowly but surely. I never hesitated to start finasteride and never really bought the horror stories (I do believe some people have horrible sides from finasteride but it's blown out of proportion imo) and rampant misinformation spread around everywhere, I believe everyone should at least give it a shot.

The only side effect I had is a pretty substantial reduction in body hair. It started at the one month mark when I noticed I was shedding a lot of eyebrow hairs when I washed my face. Now I've lost like 60% of my eyebrow density, but they where kind of thick before and they look better now actually. My chest, stomach and arm hair also reduced by like 50%, my leg hair reduced but not as much as the rest of my body. I used to shave my chest and stomach every week because I could never grow much hair there even so it didn't look good so it had to go and now I only have to shave every 2 weeks. My body hair is still thinning and I'm starting to think I'll be hairless in a year haha. oddly enough my facial hair is so far unaffected. finasteride has been nothing but kind to me.

 

[pritheev]

I hope you guys don't keep finasteride a secret from friends and family, see a brother in need, help him, please...[/QUO.


yeahh brooo urrr righttt

 

[pritheev]

It is initial hair shedding and it will last for 3 months then after it re grows