The Gardener
Senior Member
- Reaction score
- 25
Howdy folks. Just thought I would post a little status report to get my results into the mix here.
After 4 months of 5% minoxidil and 3 months of 2% spironolactone topical, I can finally claim some success.
I have a widow's peak-type hairloss pattern. When I started, I was about an Norwood 2.5 who was just going through a shed. I had no loss or thinning in my crown, just the front areas of my head were affected. I had high bald temples, and the area at the top of my head where the temples meet was starting to thin a bit. The very front tuft of hair at the center of my forehead was still thick feeling, but I could tell by the thinning that I was headed towards one of those hairloss patterns where the forehead is receeded all the way up to the center of the head, leaving a tuft in the center middle of the head, kind of Phil Collins-like.
Well, one thing I can definitely claim is that my existing hair recession has been halted. My entire center forehead area of existing hair is now growing long and strong, to the point where I could technically part it which would have been impossible before because the thinning area hair was short, curly, and brittle before treatment. In short, definite, tangible, and visible improvement to existing hair. The proof of it is in the feedback I got yesterday from my a**h** hairstylist (who is actually a good friend of mine, but he always had the habit of bugging me about my hairloss... eh, it's a complicated relationship but he does my hair well) actually told me he thinks my hair is thicker and was impressed. I told him a few months ago I started minoxidil and he himself was curious to its efficacy... well, it was nice to hear him say that.
As for regrowth, here is the situation. My temples are responding, but unevenly. I have a stronger, lower, left temple that has always been a bit less receeded than the right one. This temple is responding very well to the minoxidil/spironolactone. I have actual hairs there, not a lot, but actual hairs over a half inch long that are pigmented and not curly. There are a lot of them in the upper corner of my temple, and as you move down my temple from the corner for about another inch or so there the effect sort of tails off from what looks like actual new baby hair, to what looks to be just stimulated vellous hair. The weaker right temple is showing similar effects, but it seems to be lagging the left by about a month.
Of course, none of this is really making any cosmetic impact in hairline reduction... well, at least YET I hope. The haircount of the new hairs is not enough to actually stand up on its own and are kind of buried under the older, non-receeded hair that falls on top of it when I style my hair. It is not dense enough to actually make a visual impact, at all.
So, at month four, I think I have definitely achieved my goal so far of maintaining my existing NW2.5 for now. As for any norwood improvement, I suppose I will have to wait to see if the regrowth continues and the temple hair haircount gets thick enough for cosmetic improvement. We'll see. I am not holding my breath on that, but I could not be happier about the new thickness of my center forehead area!
Just thought I would share. Cheers gents.
The Gardener
After 4 months of 5% minoxidil and 3 months of 2% spironolactone topical, I can finally claim some success.
I have a widow's peak-type hairloss pattern. When I started, I was about an Norwood 2.5 who was just going through a shed. I had no loss or thinning in my crown, just the front areas of my head were affected. I had high bald temples, and the area at the top of my head where the temples meet was starting to thin a bit. The very front tuft of hair at the center of my forehead was still thick feeling, but I could tell by the thinning that I was headed towards one of those hairloss patterns where the forehead is receeded all the way up to the center of the head, leaving a tuft in the center middle of the head, kind of Phil Collins-like.
Well, one thing I can definitely claim is that my existing hair recession has been halted. My entire center forehead area of existing hair is now growing long and strong, to the point where I could technically part it which would have been impossible before because the thinning area hair was short, curly, and brittle before treatment. In short, definite, tangible, and visible improvement to existing hair. The proof of it is in the feedback I got yesterday from my a**h** hairstylist (who is actually a good friend of mine, but he always had the habit of bugging me about my hairloss... eh, it's a complicated relationship but he does my hair well) actually told me he thinks my hair is thicker and was impressed. I told him a few months ago I started minoxidil and he himself was curious to its efficacy... well, it was nice to hear him say that.
As for regrowth, here is the situation. My temples are responding, but unevenly. I have a stronger, lower, left temple that has always been a bit less receeded than the right one. This temple is responding very well to the minoxidil/spironolactone. I have actual hairs there, not a lot, but actual hairs over a half inch long that are pigmented and not curly. There are a lot of them in the upper corner of my temple, and as you move down my temple from the corner for about another inch or so there the effect sort of tails off from what looks like actual new baby hair, to what looks to be just stimulated vellous hair. The weaker right temple is showing similar effects, but it seems to be lagging the left by about a month.
Of course, none of this is really making any cosmetic impact in hairline reduction... well, at least YET I hope. The haircount of the new hairs is not enough to actually stand up on its own and are kind of buried under the older, non-receeded hair that falls on top of it when I style my hair. It is not dense enough to actually make a visual impact, at all.
So, at month four, I think I have definitely achieved my goal so far of maintaining my existing NW2.5 for now. As for any norwood improvement, I suppose I will have to wait to see if the regrowth continues and the temple hair haircount gets thick enough for cosmetic improvement. We'll see. I am not holding my breath on that, but I could not be happier about the new thickness of my center forehead area!
Just thought I would share. Cheers gents.
The Gardener
