the best and safest?

[Spaade777]

guys 2 questions

1. what is the best quality and most effective hair loss treatment out there?

2. is there any serious side effects from using hair loss treatments such as causing cancer or anything else at all, im talking serious side effects and not minor side effects?

and any other info anybody would like to add that i should know would be good

thanks

 

[The Gardener]

1. what is the best quality and most effective hair loss treatment out there?

Rod Stewart's semen.

But barring the availability of that, I would say this would be a close tie between minoxidil and finasteride. They affect the scalp in different ways, and each has its own pros and cons, but both are proven effective.

2. is there any serious side effects from using hair loss treatments such as causing cancer or anything else at all, im talking serious side effects and not minor side effects?

No, none documented. minoxidil is a vasodilator, and a very insignificant sample did experience some heart palpitation, but this is easily remedied by simply forgoing any further minoxidil usage.

 

[Spaade777]

if u can could u please give me a little list of the pros and cons of both?

and is it good to use 2 different hair loss treatments at the same time? what do u think is the best way to tackle hair loss?

 

[sphlanx2006]

Most posters here including myself would suggest you the big3. These are nothing more than a 5%minoxidil solution twice a day, 1 pill of 1mg finasteride once a day, and 2-3 times/week washing your hair with nizoral 1% or 2% shampoo. My dermatologist (and i start to) believe that retinoic acid(retin-A) is also essential for combating hair loss. You can either add it to your minoxidil in a small concetration (0.01%) or use a cream with a higher concetration like 0.025% or 0.05% 3-4 times a week.

Finasteride and minoxidil seem to have synergistic results.

No important side effects have ever been documented.
Finasteride could only get you some loss of libido and in worst case AND extremely rarely gynecomastia. All sides will most likely subside IF they occur.
Minoxidil could cause a rapid heartbeat or some chest pain but it is extremely rare. The most common side you will probably get is some scalp irritation and flaking that will be reduced as you give time to the treatment.
Nizoral and retin-a could also cause some irritation of the skin and flaking but nothing more serious.

To sum up, get on big3, is the best way to combat hair loss.

 

[The Gardener]

Pros and Cons...

Finasteride
PROS: Easy to do! Just one pill a day! Its also very good at maintenance, as it attacks the underlying hormonal triggers of male pattern baldness.
CONS: Not as effective at regrowth. Takes a lot of time before you can start assessing results.

Minoxidil
PROS: Better shot at regrowth, especially strong in improving the thickness of hairs that are existing but were thinned and weakened by male pattern baldness.
CONS: Messy to use, adds application time to your daily regimen twice a day. If you quit, you will lose your gains and revert to baseline much more quickly than if you quit finasteride.

 

[Spaade777]

thats some good info and advice

thanks guys

 

[MPBWarrior]

1st of all.. finasteride will be the backbone of any hairloss treatment. it's by far the most effective thing at slowing/stopping hairloss (excluding dutasteride, but avoid that for as long as u can). the side effects of finasteride were mentioned by sphlanx2006.
2nd. minoxidil will do nothing for slowing/stopping your hair loss. what it will do is give u some regrowth and make your existing hair thicker. it usually causes sheds too before u get the results. ONLY use it if u want regrowth. if u only want maintenance, DON'T use it.
3rd. Use nizoral shampoo as mentioned before in this thread.

 

[The Gardener]

2nd. minoxidil will do nothing for slowing/stopping your hair loss.

Not sure what you mean by this. It stopped my hair loss.

 

[Airforce1]

When you say Finasteride that means Propecia correct?

 

[JayBear]

When you say Finasteride that means Propecia correct?

yes, finasteride is the chemical namd and propecia is the brand name. Like acetominophen and Tylenol.

 

[Guest]

2nd. minoxidil will do nothing for slowing/stopping your hair loss.

Not sure what you mean by this. It stopped my hair loss.

how? bryan's said over and over that it simply provides an offset of growth to mask the continuing hair loss in some cases and unless it's paired with something to stop the balding process like finasteride or dutasteride, the hair loss will continue(unless you've reached your final hair loss stage).

 

[The Gardener]

True, Jayman, over time it stops regrowing hair, and you start losing some hair as well... but the same is true with finasteride.

Finasteride doesn't regrow as well, but might hold this hair quite a bit longer before it "rounds the curve" like minoxidil does. minoxidil regrows more hair, but tends to "round the curve" a bit sooner. That's fine with me. I don't mind recession, or having a less than perfect Norwood when I get older... I just wanted a ten year "do over" to get me on par with an age-appropriate hairline... and after that I don't mind receeding, as at that point most men my age would be receeding too.

Jayman, not everyone here wants to get back to NW1 and hold it. Some of us just want to reduce our Norwood a good 1.5 points or so to get back on pace with others our age, and then have no problem letting the recession continue on whatever slow and meandering process it has in store for us. Frankly, I think the minoxidil retains its gains far more effectively than some of the theories tossed about here claim, but that is just my personal view and I don't have any sort of science to back that up.

Who knows... perhaps the spironolactone I am using is giving me finasteride-like staying power?

 

[MPBWarrior]

True, Jayman, over time it stops regrowing hair, and you start losing some hair as well... but the same is true with finasteride.

Not true. finasteride never stops having an effect. you'll always be blocking 80% of finasteride from type II 5ar on 1mg. Go off of it and see what happens. The problem is that your male pattern baldness becomes more aggressive and that 20% of DHt remaining is strong enough to make u bald. Minoxidil will block no DHT or testosterone at all. so how can it possibly stop/slow hairloss? i very much doubt it did anything for u except some regrowth and hair thickening, and maybe because of that u think it maintained your hair.

Who knows... perhaps the spironolactone I am using is giving me finasteride-like staying power?

i'm not sure the spironolactone would give u maintenance like finasteride but definitely more so than minoxidil!

 

[Guest]

Finasteride is also the active ingredient of Proscar, Finpecia (generic Propecia) and Fincar (generic Proscar)

 

[viperfish]

True, Jayman, over time it stops regrowing hair, and you start losing some hair as well... but the same is true with finasteride.

Not true. finasteride never stops having an effect. you'll always be blocking 80% of finasteride from type II 5ar on 1mg. Go off of it and see what happens. The problem is that your male pattern baldness becomes more aggressive and that 20% of DHt remaining is strong enough to make u bald. Minoxidil will block no DHT or testosterone at all. so how can it possibly stop/slow hairloss? i very much doubt it did anything for u except some regrowth and hair thickening, and maybe because of that u think it maintained your hair.

Who knows... perhaps the spironolactone I am using is giving me finasteride-like staying power?

i'm not sure the spironolactone would give u maintenance like finasteride but definitely more so than minoxidil!

Who says? There are also other factors at work other than dht. If minoxidil helps you maintain your hair for 5 years and then loses its effectiveness and propecia does the same, what is the difference?

 

[tchehov]

I am in complete agreement with Gardener on this one - an age appropriate hairline sounds good to me. Also, minoxidil completed halted my hair loss in its tracks (no shedding at all), as well as giving me regrowth to the point where what I have now is almost cosmetically acceptable to me. And I've only been on it for 5 months!!!

Sorry, I just don't like folk badmouthing minoxidil, it is a very very useful substance.

 

[The Gardener]

Sorry, I just don't like folk badmouthing minoxidil, it is a very very useful substance.

Well said... and I suppose that is pretty much all that I was trying to express in this thread as well.

I'm well aware that finasteride is probably a more fundamental solution to male pattern baldness, but I strongly disagree with the minoxidil bashing.

 

[Guest]

guys , i'm not bashing minoxidil at all. i might even be on it myself in 8 months myself. it is in my mind the best regrowth agent out there. but i know what it's capable of and what it's not. it does not stop the fundamental balding process, so it works best when paired with something like finasteride or dutasteride.

i agree for people like gardener who have a less aggressive form of male pattern baldness in their family that is progressing slowly, and they dont mind it continuing to progress, that maybe they're fine only using minoxidil.

but for me, someone who wants to be an NW2 or below at 50, and i think most people are the same way, i want to use the drugs. as for rounding the curve, gardener, finasteride keeps your hair above baseline for an average of 7 years. so for 7 years you're better off than where you started, on average. and after that, it's a slow decline at about 15% of the placebo decline rate. so to simplify it, for every 100 hairs lost per year that you would have lost on placebo, finasteride is protecting 85 and only 15 are getting miniaturized or whatever. for dutasteride the percentage of protected hairs is even higher.

this is why minoxidil and dutasteride/finasteride work best when used together if solid regrowth and maintenance are your goals.

the original poster asked for 1 product, the best one. even on this site, under the success stories section, in a sticky, finasteride is listed as the most effective product because most people would be happy to keep the hair they have for awhile, and gardener, if someone has an aggressive form of male pattern baldness, like nw4 at 25, using only minoxidil will almost guarantee that they will continue to progress along the norwood scale very fast

 

[Guest]

minoxidil is the bomb, it has kept my temples alive in kicking for almost 3 years now.

I'm also on finasteride, which has helped me thicken up and hold onto the hair that was thinning on the top of my head.

minoxidil + finasteride = f*** male pattern baldness

 

[ShedMaster]

Rod Stewart's semen.

do you have any links or stuff, or do we just have to take your word for it?