Shedding on minoxidil & finasteride

swishbish33 · May 28, 2006

A couple quick questions, guys, if you don't mind:

1. If I am only a receder, and not thinning on the vertex and crown, and I start Propecia, will I shed to the point of my hair being cosmetically worse (thinner) on the vertex, crown, and hairline?

2. As I am only a receder, if I only put the minoxidil on my hairline, will I shed from the vertex and crown? Will the shed make my hair cosmetically worse (thinner)?

Trying to decide on a course of action. The fear of shedding is the only thing holding me back, as I am starting a new job on Tuesday and don't want my hair to thin from sheds before my new co-workers eyes!

Thanks guys!

swishbish33 · May 30, 2006

Anybody have any opinions? Thanks!

ropcat · May 30, 2006

I can only say for myself. But in my first year on finasteride, I shed from all over my head, even though I was only visible thinning at the temples and vertex. Yeah, it looked like crap for awhile. It looked worse at points during my first year than when I had started. I was thinking, "Man, WITHOUT finasteride I only had a couple problem areas; now the entire top of my head is getting thinner!"

Anyway, I stuck it out with encouragement from a lot of posters on the early version of HairLossTalk.com. I'm approaching six years on finasteride and glad I stayed on. But the shedding can be discouraging, especially when you're shedding from areas where you didn't perceive a problem before you'd started. Just grit your teeth and try to get through it, and good luck.

swishbish33 · May 31, 2006

Yeah, my concern is that I am only a temple receder, with no visible signs of thinning on the vertex or crown. So hearing about people's hair getting worse during the first year of taking Propecia makes me very, very wary of using it. I definitely do not want my crown and vertex to thin.

Any thoughts on shedding with the minoxidil? Is it a localized shed (ie only where you apply the minoxidil), or is it from all over?

Choices. On one hand, I can still reasonably cover the temple recession with my hairstyle, so shedding profusely will draw attention to the problem. On the other, I want to start treatment now if my hairloss is going to continue.

Cruel, cruel fate!