Thinking of starting, need some good advice.

[johndekay]

Hey everyone.

Im almost 21, and have lost most of my hair.

I guess we are all in the same boat here:
- I was scared of having showers
- I was scared of combing my hair
- I wore a hat nearly everyday
- I avoid bright lights
- I examine other people's hair
- I felt victimized and confused



- I felt my life was over


Balding hasn't been easy for me, but coming to this site has been very helpful. At first I had decided to just shave my head and try to accept it. I gained alot of confidence after doing this (thanks xzel) and had felt alot more comfortable about my situation - not worrying about the wind, not caring about covering it up, not seeing strands of hair everytime I looked down...

This is the first time I have expressed myself about my hairloss.

But after carefully thinking it over, maybe some treatments to try and improve things might not be a waste of money. The argument that it is inevitable, to me, only reinforces that I should at least give it a go.

I have been reading a lot of the posts here and am still trying to piece a good regimen together. Any help from the friends on this forum would be absolutely great.

I am a diffuse thinner - thinning on the top and front, leaving the typical horseshoe. My hairline I guess is a norwood 2, although I would ideally like to see density in my hair rather than try and regain a younger hairline.

I would like to start with topicals only first. From what I have researched, for best results I would need a dht blocker plus a regrower.

I have thought about a combination of spironolactone and minoxidil.

Also, I live in Sydney, Australia. Do any of the Aussies here know where to get the best deals on hairloss products? I've been reading some very cheap prices for hairloss products in America, but I'm not sure about the Australian scene.

I remember reading from another post that someone ordered a device that helped to massage the minoxidil into the scalp. Would anyone be able to tell me where to purchase this? Is that also available in Australia?

Thanks guys alot for your help.
I wish you all good luck with your regimens.

 

[kiwi1973]

If you want to get the best prices try looking on the net, you will have no problems geting it shiped to aussie
I buy my rogaine from cheaprogaine.com in the us, and its the best price i have found

if you want finasteride buy procar and split it 4 ways you should be able to get a years supply for about 130 us
hope that helps

 

[HairlossTalk]

The best options for you are Propecia and Rogaine in conjunction with Nizoral shampoo once every 3 days.

To others who post here, do you see how post comments can be taken the wrong way? First he states "I have lost most of my hair". Then he clarifies later in his post that he's only a Norwood 2, which is nowhere near "most" of the hair being gone. Only a slight temple recession and thinning.

Just wanted to point out how comments can be misconstrued on forums sometimes. Please be aware of this when you evaluate anonymous discussion forum posts for accuracy, in relation to treatments, etc.

HairLossTalk.com

 

[johndekay]

thanks kiwi and mod for the replies

kiwi, what has your experience been with cheaprogaine? Their prices are very competitive, but I would like to know if they are trustworthy.

has anyone else tried cheaprogaine.com?

I would like to start on topicals only, and then maybe move to finasteride. What dht blockers are available, and which ones are the most effective?

Where do people here usually purchase their topicals from (nizoral, spironolactone, etc)

I didn't mean to be rude, but my hair has thinned out a lot on the top and is only norwood 2 under low lights. This is why I have decided that I should begin a regimen. I acknowledge that my hairloss may not be the worst case, but it is still very devastating for me.

 

[bombscience]

You sound like my best friend from high school. I saw him for the first time in 2 years over xmas. He had his head shaved and he was a Norwood 2.5 with diffuse across the top. His hair thinning was pretty far along. He didn't have much money work with so I hooked him up with a solid regimen.

I told him to get generic finasteride, generic minoxidil 5%, and nizoral. I showed him a good place online to get the finasteride from. I also reccomended that because his head was shaved and he was well into thinning that he make the investment into some Xandrox 12.5% cream.

He spent about $175 bucks up front for the first 6 months. I said after he starts if his scalp becomes irritated to buy folligen lotion or creme and use it nightly after the minoxidil.

He seems pretty excited about seeing how it should work out. If i had the guts to shave my dome i would too and use more creams. I think that's the ticket.

 

[kiwi1973]

the only problem i have had with cheaprogaine is that it took me a month to arrive and that was with express shiping which should take 4-5 days, so after waiting 2 weeks i thought i had been ripped off
so if you buy from them expect it to take a few weeks
also if it gets lost in the post they wont refund you.
other then that its great, 3 bottles cost from them cost about the same as one bottle does in the shops in England

 

[johndekay]

thanks kiwi and bomb

kiwi : I have looked around some of the chemists here in oz, but it is quite expensive - about $60.00 for one bottle - which, as you said, could buy three bottles at cheaprogaine.

However, I am quite anxious for a reliable service... when you say a few weeks do you mean it usually takes few weeks? Or in the worst case? Are there any other places online which you have bought from that are more reliable (but maybe a bit pricier) ? I don't mind paying a bit more if it means peace of mind.

Thanks a lot for your help, by the way.

bomb:

What have your experiences been with your regimen? I have noticed that you are using the big three and was wondering what your progress has been so far. Also I have seen some of your photos, and your hair looks quite good ( I couldn't tell that you were losing hair). Did you start with the big three straight away?

Can anyone help me with topical dht inhibitors? Is xandrox a dht inhibitor? What are some of the places that people have bought this from?

Thanks again for you help.

 

[bombscience]

bomb:

What have your experiences been with your regimen? I have noticed that you are using the big three and was wondering what your progress has been so far. Also I have seen some of your photos, and your hair looks quite good ( I couldn't tell that you were losing hair). Did you start with the big three straight away?

Can anyone help me with topical dht inhibitors? Is xandrox a dht inhibitor? What are some of the places that people have bought this from?

Acutally... I dont like going by my results. I like giving advice based on science, not personal experice. I feel that I have thinning that is a bit more agressive than the average joe, and my problems with scalp irritation have been a major stumbling block in my fight against male pattern baldness.

I started with rogaine first, then added nizoral, and finally propecia. I wouldn't reccomend this for people who only want to maintain hair. You sound like you want to regrow so I would say it's pretty essetial to get on minoxidil if you want to see some of your receeding hairline come back.

Xandrox in theory inhibits dht through alezic acid. AA has been shown to inhibit dht formation in a test tube but have never been sucessfully studied on the human scalp. Although you can buy alezic acid form other places, the specific forumal Xandrox is made only by Dr. Lee who runs http://www.minoxidil.com.

 

[kiwi1973]

I think half the reason it tock so long to arrive from cheaprogaine was that i ordered just before xmas, I have only used them once, so i cant say how reliable they are except that i did get what i payed for
the only other place i have used is HairDiscounters.com they ship from NZ and are very fast( 3-4 days to the uk) and used them a couple of times with no problems, but they not cheap i think its US$95 for 3 months rogaine
so i would go with cheaprogaine