Hi Everyone - just here to share the story of my 3 year hair loss battle. I will be attaching pictures later on once I can find the best ones. Okay so here we go....
ABOUT ME: male hair loss sufferer aged 24.5. I first really noticed my hair loss at the start of my senior year of college at 21 but upon inspection of older pics I've realized the signs were there since I was 18. I have temple recession and thinning in the frontal forelock, with no loss at the crown. In all my hairline has been receding for approximately the past 6.5 years.
STORY: I first became painfully aware of my hair loss on the day that I moved in for my senior year of college and my roommate, who hadn't seen me in 3 months, made a comment about my thinning. Over the next several months I became increasingly frustrated with my hair as it got worse and worse and more and more people started noticing. Having read many articles online, my first line of defense was to cut my hair short (down to a 2 guard clipper). As it turns out this actually may NOT be the best piece of advice if you are a receded, not a diffuse thinner. All the hair cut did was highlight my recession, draw more comments from people about my hairloss, and create an embarrassing couple of months while it grew long again.
This hair cut inspired me to take further action because I had not noticed just how bad it was previously. At this point I started on Rogaine 5% and stuck with it for a little under 1 year. I had limited to no success as far as regrowth, it maybe slowed the loss a little but not much.
The following summer, I went abroad for several months and abandoned rogaine altogether. Over this time my hair loss certainly became worse, and once I returned home in the fall I decided to give Toppik a shot. I was astonished at how well it worked for me! I stuck with toppik and toppik only for approximately 5 more months (that's 8 months consecutive with no hair loss defenses).
Finally, in March of 2016, I took the jump into the world of finasteride 1mg daily. I had read that it may cause you to shed, and man oh man did I shed. I was freaked out beyond all belief, but I was determined to stick with it for at least a year and assess my results at that point. I had no side effects from the meds and after about 3 months the shedding stopped. I've now been on finasteride for about a year and 4 months and I have to say the results shocked me. My hair loss stopped, my hair thickened a significant bit, and I was feeling good. I should note I've still been using toppik but seeming to need less and less.
About 4 months ago - 1 year after starting finasteride - I decided to add rogaine 5% back in to my regimen. I didn't pay too much attention to my results but about a week ago, I hopped out of the shower and was mind blown to see that my hair didn't look all that thin! Certainly not full density but better than it had looked in years!
This week, I've gone to work, hung out with my girlfriend, my family, and my friends without toppik and no one has so much as looked twice at my hair. No one seems to notice! In about another 4 months I'll assess my progress and add in ketoconazole shampoo as my last step.
TAKEAWAYS: First off, I feel so relieved to be out from under the pressure of the toppik and worrying about whether or not people can tell. Second, I wish that I had started Finasteride as soon as I noticed my hair loss. I'm not saying it isn't something to treat with caution, but if you're serious about stopping loss, I am a testament that it can work. Third, I believe using rogaine before using finasteride had almost 0 effect, but using it in combo has yielded me some (in my own opinion) fantastic results.
Don't get me wrong, my hair isn't like it was when I was 17, and never will be. But if it's good enough that I don't have to feel self conscious about it, then that's good enough for me. This week was the first time in 3 years that I've felt that way, and man does it feel good!
Please feel free to leave any comments or questions for me below!!
MY REGIMEN:
1 mg generic finasteride daily
Rogaine 5% twice daily (sometimes only once double the amount if that's the best I can do)
Biotin supplement
ABOUT ME: male hair loss sufferer aged 24.5. I first really noticed my hair loss at the start of my senior year of college at 21 but upon inspection of older pics I've realized the signs were there since I was 18. I have temple recession and thinning in the frontal forelock, with no loss at the crown. In all my hairline has been receding for approximately the past 6.5 years.
STORY: I first became painfully aware of my hair loss on the day that I moved in for my senior year of college and my roommate, who hadn't seen me in 3 months, made a comment about my thinning. Over the next several months I became increasingly frustrated with my hair as it got worse and worse and more and more people started noticing. Having read many articles online, my first line of defense was to cut my hair short (down to a 2 guard clipper). As it turns out this actually may NOT be the best piece of advice if you are a receded, not a diffuse thinner. All the hair cut did was highlight my recession, draw more comments from people about my hairloss, and create an embarrassing couple of months while it grew long again.
This hair cut inspired me to take further action because I had not noticed just how bad it was previously. At this point I started on Rogaine 5% and stuck with it for a little under 1 year. I had limited to no success as far as regrowth, it maybe slowed the loss a little but not much.
The following summer, I went abroad for several months and abandoned rogaine altogether. Over this time my hair loss certainly became worse, and once I returned home in the fall I decided to give Toppik a shot. I was astonished at how well it worked for me! I stuck with toppik and toppik only for approximately 5 more months (that's 8 months consecutive with no hair loss defenses).
Finally, in March of 2016, I took the jump into the world of finasteride 1mg daily. I had read that it may cause you to shed, and man oh man did I shed. I was freaked out beyond all belief, but I was determined to stick with it for at least a year and assess my results at that point. I had no side effects from the meds and after about 3 months the shedding stopped. I've now been on finasteride for about a year and 4 months and I have to say the results shocked me. My hair loss stopped, my hair thickened a significant bit, and I was feeling good. I should note I've still been using toppik but seeming to need less and less.
About 4 months ago - 1 year after starting finasteride - I decided to add rogaine 5% back in to my regimen. I didn't pay too much attention to my results but about a week ago, I hopped out of the shower and was mind blown to see that my hair didn't look all that thin! Certainly not full density but better than it had looked in years!
This week, I've gone to work, hung out with my girlfriend, my family, and my friends without toppik and no one has so much as looked twice at my hair. No one seems to notice! In about another 4 months I'll assess my progress and add in ketoconazole shampoo as my last step.
TAKEAWAYS: First off, I feel so relieved to be out from under the pressure of the toppik and worrying about whether or not people can tell. Second, I wish that I had started Finasteride as soon as I noticed my hair loss. I'm not saying it isn't something to treat with caution, but if you're serious about stopping loss, I am a testament that it can work. Third, I believe using rogaine before using finasteride had almost 0 effect, but using it in combo has yielded me some (in my own opinion) fantastic results.
Don't get me wrong, my hair isn't like it was when I was 17, and never will be. But if it's good enough that I don't have to feel self conscious about it, then that's good enough for me. This week was the first time in 3 years that I've felt that way, and man does it feel good!
Please feel free to leave any comments or questions for me below!!
MY REGIMEN:
1 mg generic finasteride daily
Rogaine 5% twice daily (sometimes only once double the amount if that's the best I can do)
Biotin supplement
i also started regaine first and have now been on finasteride a little over a month!