What Does Finasteride do Exactly? Reduce Shedding?

[kage65]

I took finasteride for about 1.5 years and during that time I really did not notice much of a difference as far as shedding so I quit taking it about 4 weeks ago.
Anyways I realize now that I'm not even sure exactly what it is supposed to do. It is supposed to reduce the number of hairs that fall off the head each day? If that is the case, then I was right to quit as I don't really see a difference when that is the measure.
Or is is supposed to regrow hair in places where you have lost it? If that is the case then again, it made no difference for me.
What I don't know is if it is suppose to increase the number of hairs that regrow after one falls out. In other words, if a hair falls out does it help make a new hair replace the one that fell out?
All in all my hair loss is not very bad, but it is starting to recede in the front. I'm 35. I just wanted to still have the same amount of hair at 45 that I have at 35... Thanks.

 

[Benjamin36]

It's supposed to help you keep the hair you currently have.

 

[LawOfThelema]

areas that still have terminal hair, and arent slick bald, you should be able to gain density. iirc its more effective for vertex loss than frontal but it improved hair counts even on frontal in the studies.

 

[Beingbaldsucksass]

Minoxidil is more about regrow, I recoverd my temples with it, it took only 2 months, maybe cuz I'm young and those hairs were lost recently, propecia is about stopping further loss for long term, best time to start is early when you haven't lost any, this way you don't need minoxidil you just take finasteride to prevention, but when you loss and then use minoxi to recover you need to use minoxi 2 times a day for the rest of your life unless it will fall, you become a slave to this drug

 

[kage65]

How do people measure whether finasteride is working or not? With photos? If finasteride does not lower the number of hairs that fall out each day, how does anyone know if it is really working or not?
I think a lot of guys that think it is helping are actually getting no benefits, since most people do not actually measure, and furthermore, there seems to be no accurate way to measure effectiveness.

 

[Beingbaldsucksass]

How do people measure whether finasteride is working or not? With photos? If finasteride does not lower the number of hairs that fall out each day, how does anyone know if it is really working or not?
I think a lot of guys that think it is helping are actually getting no benefits, since most people do not actually measure, and furthermore, there seems to be no accurate way to measure effectiveness.

You just see that you stop losing hair, this is it basically, regreowing is a bonus not many enjoy of, but it works for the majority in stopping the loss.

 

[Beingbaldsucksass]

this is what a hairtransplant doctor told me when I emailed him asking him a similar question. he said we will continue to lose the normal hair shedding which is between 50 to 100 hairs a day. He said what propecia does is that when the hair falls out, they are not lost, they regrow again. people on finasteridew will still shed hairs, thats normal. not even finasteride can stop that, its a normal process. the key thing is, finasteride helps those thin weak hair that are being lost, to regenrate and regrow hair. if someone is slick bald then finasteride is uselss. its only good for people who have hair and want to prevent futher loss. and also to turn weak hairs back to thick hairs

So along the treatment we will see our hair gets thin and thick in cycles but we will never turn bald? This is the reason why people complaining about shedding after a good growth?