What Norwood, Contemplating Taking Propecia

[Mushu]

Hi everyone,

Turned 41 this year and to be honest I just recently starting, I wouldn't say obsessing but caring about my hairline. I always did notice my hair wasn't as healthy for some time now, but didn't really care enough to look further into it. I've been researching quite a bit in the last 6 months.

I notice my hairstyle was odd compared to younger but never dawned on me that it's male pattern hairloss and options for treating it. I just thought it was part of getting older.

I do remember there were a couple of periods, perhaps mid 30's, where I noticed there was alot of hair shedding(on bathroom floor). Right now I usually see about 5-10 hairs when I shower daily on my hand.

One side is better than my other as you can see from the pictures. I'm only using Regenpure DR(with ketaconazole). I've also used oils(rosemary,emu,coconut.avocado mix) but now I know it's more to protect my hair from breaking, and possibly some vitamin benefit. It does seem to appear after taking care of myself better and using Regenpure my better side has recovered a bit and my bad side, the hair turning vellus, does appear to have grown stronger and longer, but still thinner than my sides. Although I'm not sure when it started miniaturizing as I only recently paid attention.

It could just also be a hair cycle coincidence where I may have had a unexpected shed, dunno, never really paid attention until recently unfortunately.

I guess the question is, is it worth it to take propecia at my age with my current norwood level. I was one click away from ordering propecia and have second thoughts due to of course the side effects. Mainly I'm afraid of gyno and it being permanent.

I guess I'm looking for opinions/outlooks of some of you who probably have gone through the same fork on the road. What Norwood would you say I am. I'd say norwood 2.5/3.

I know it's odd I didn't care/research this when I was younger and I care now. I also am grateful at 41 I'm not completely balding heavily, but do know it can happen anytime.


Pictures
17.jpg -- current better side(right)
18.jpg -- current bad side(left)
32.jpg -- hair pulled back showing hairline and top forehead wrinkle
20.jpg -- Top of head
21.jpg -- back of head
22.jpg -- how I normally style my hair daily, usually use pomeade to hold up my sides. I also cut my own hair.
24.jpg -- hairline at 21-22 years old.
28-29-30 jpg's are all from the same wedding. I was 33 or so here. As you can see from different angles it looks bad/ok. This is also the first time I noticed my hair was odd subconsciously.

I did notice I have oily hair and sometimes pimples breakout on my scalp. I think I had it fairly bad sometime mid 20's to 30 due to not washing hair daily, which also caused bad dandruff. I usually can only go 2 days at most before it gets too oily and I can feel like my scalp is not healthy. It may have cause some of my permanent hairloss in front as I remember scratching and causing some bleeding. I believe taking care of my scalp has reduced my hair shedding.

 

[spring15]

You are a good candidate for a transplant. Its up to you if you want to risk finasteride sides.

 

[Mushu]

A hair transplant has also crossed my mind. I feel I would probably need to go on finasteride in lieu of a hair transplant with my current loss.
How many grafts(fue) do you wager I would need to even out my hairline.

 

[Mushu]

Update. 3 Month. We'll I decided to jump on Finasteride. Reason being, my hairloss is not aggressive and if it does kick in, which is possible, I'd like to see the results after 1 year. I was curious of 2 things. Using generic brand Finasteride, my age and how effective it would be. I had read 2 contradicting articles. One stating for older men, recession is less DHT related. I don't think I'm interested in getting a hair transplant unless it gets bad fast. I use the Costco generic brand. Manufacturer is Camber Pharmaceuticals.

Still use Regenpure Dr 2-3 times per week. I take zinc,iron,fish oil daily and try to get enough protein and greens in my diet, since I lift weights casually at the gym. I wouldn't say I eat super healthy. I've also realised how much healthier my scalp is. Rare to have pimples on my scalp.
I'd like to mention that I did already notice some regrowth on my temples before Finasteride(might have been due to a shed Telogen Effluvium) and it just coincidentally grew as the same time I started using Regenpure Dr. But now it's definitely more pronounced. My weaker side the hair is growing a bit longer it seems during the 3 months I started Finasteride.

29 jpg - good side --> have notice more hair coverage(my previous pictures may have coincided with a shed)
28 jpg bad side --> hair seems to have gotten slightly better and grows longer
29 jpg --> opinions?
30 jpg --> cover up game

note: my hair is a bit longer in the more recent pictures.

 

[bluecyclone]

Very similar position, only my loss hit like a truck at 39/40.

What was your experience in terms of shedding when starting finasteride? Any sides?

 

[Mushu]

Very similar position, only my loss hit like a truck at 39/40.

What was your experience in terms of shedding when starting finasteride? Any sides?

There was minimal shedding. The worse I can recall was about 2 days in the shower my hand had probably 30-50 hairs, but sometimes I go 2 days before I wash my hair due to circumstances.

I don't really notice any sides. There was one day that was quite scary. My balls ached for a bit, which I never really experienced that before, but it was over in 20 seconds or so. It never happened again.

 

[Mushu]

Approximately 6 1/2 month update. I think it's fairly easy to tell I have some thickening and regrowth. No minoxidil.


IMG_3012 (2).JPG --> good side ---> basically less hairs in the telogen phase and all hairs including miniaturized hairs growing stronger.
IMG_3017 (2).JPG ---> bad side, because of lighting, from previous pics it was hard to see the miniaturized hairs, but they are able to grow longer. Seems like I have baby hairs now, when in actuality it's my old hairline miniaturized.
IMG_3018 (2).JPG ---> front pic
IMG_3020 (3).JPG --> cover up game ---> stylist helps here. I cut my own hair from previous pics and although I touched it up as it was getting too long. The stylist evened out and texterized my hair properly.

I guess I'm a decent responder to finasteride. Unfortunately my local Costco business center changed their generic brand of Finasteride to Ascend Laboratories, which if you do a google search has some shady pasts. I should mention, I don't seem to have the same strong sides(felt drowsier after I took it) as when I was on Camber Pharmaceuticals. Still have somewhat watery jizz. Could be coincidential my sides subsided being 6 months in, but my libido is a bit better than when I was on Camber Pharmaceuticals generic Finasteride, but still get somewhat drowsy.

Been using less regenpure DR. Only once a week as I feel my scalp does not need it anymore. I do use it if I feel oily/sebum build up, which previously I can build up in 1 day or so, now it's up to 2 days. I rarely had pimples on my scalp since I started finasteride, but now ever since the change in brand, seems like it may be back, so a bit worried there. I'm gonna stick it out and see how it goes as I don't have aggressive hair loss at the moment.

Things I feel help keep my scalp healthy besides Finasteride and existing hair that is not miniaturized healthier

1. Washing at least with conditioner everyday. I wash with shampoo if it's oily. Basically if my hair feels dirty I wash it and always use conditioner.
2. I blow dry my hair always on cool, no air dry. Since I use my hands it's like massaging my scalp.
3. I've took only fish oil, zinc, iron for first 3 months, but added vitamin D at 4 month mark as I definitely don't get enough of it from sun or from diet.

 

[iCurly]

Come on bro , your hair looks great for your age.

 

[Funkymonk1]

Come on bro , your hair looks great for your age.

This. I'd say for your age your hairline and thickness is pretty normal, perhaps even better then average. Most guys have some kind of hair loss when they get to their 30s and 40s. My hair was really thick up until my early 30s and then it started to go a bit like yours. I did panic and went on Finasteride but I'm glad I did because I've had some good results. I guess it's a myth that young guys respond better to Finasteride, it's more to do with how aggressive your hair loss is.
One tip; with hair like yours I found it's better to keep it fairly long. Where your hair isn't balding it's very thick so you have good coverage. If you cut it short ther's no hiding place so to speak!

 

[Mushu]

Come on bro , your hair looks great for your age.

You're right and I"m grateful. That's why I stick to general section. It does not have a big impact on me yet. On the flip side, I keep hearing "hair looks great for your age". True, but it doesn't mean hair is great.

I know many have it worse and at a younger age. I was one of those that never thought of how impactful hairloss can be and after reading( was looking for information on hairloss) stuff from the impact section, I decided to share. If this can help anyone at all, I'm content. Generally I'm more of a lurker. Get my info and go my merry way. I know I had lots of questions and concerns when I initially did my research. Took me 6 months to finally get on finasteride.

@Funkymonk1. Thanks for the tip, although I really hate when my hair gets longish. It gets heavy and I like the short sides/back. It just feels comfortable for some reason and is less maintenance. I'd cut it shorter on top if I could too, but as you said, it'll expose my cover up game. Do you have pictures of your hair when thick? How fast did it recede?

 

[Funkymonk1]

@Mushu
I know, my hair is naturally wirey and it starts to look like and afro when it's longer so I actually look more attractive when my hair is really short. What can I do? Have the appearance of long, thick hair but look like Jesse Eisenberg/Leo Sayer or have short hair that suits my facials but allows the whole world to see how bald I really am?
As for my recession I'm not sure exactly when it started because it was a very slow/non aggressive. I guess I probably first noticed that something was different about my hair was in my early to mid 20s. I noticed that in a certain light a small portion of my hair was ever so slightly thinner but at this stage it was so minor I didn't really take much notice. It wasn't until my mid 30s that I had to accept I was going bald but even then I was probably about a Norwood 1.5 or 2. So like I said it was slow. I'll try and see if I can find some photos.

 

[hollow11]

Indeed your hair looks great for your age. To be honest, I didn't read your whole story but I'll just assume you're asian from your hair type/eyebrows. At this point of your life, if you're living outside of Asia, you probably already have better hair than most of your friends. Taking Propecia is quite risky and it's all up to you, whether you wan't to take that chance or not. If I were you - I wouldn't bother, since you'll probably never recede much further, but if you want to increase the chances of keeping your hair status - go for it.

 

[DoctorHouse]

Approaching a NW3A. You need finasteride to slow things down.

 

[Mushu]

I'm actually on finasteride for 6 months now and am glad I did. I have some thickening and regrowth. Indeed I am asian and that's one of the reasons why I jumped on finasteride. Asians seem to respond well. I experienced minor sides but can tolerate. Since Costco switched generic brands however, I don't notice the sides as much anymore, which has me a bit worried, yet am glad and hopeful it's because they have subsided. Although the timing is very coincidental to when I changed brands.

Indeed I seem to be heading towards a 3A but it's not that aggressive at the moment luckily. Here's a farther shot of my hairline using cover up game. I'm hoping there's more thickening on the minaturized hairs, I can see lots of smaller vellus hairs that I don't recall seeing. I've pretty much been examining my hairline for the last 9 months or so. I think I'd rather get a hair transplant than go on minoxidil should it progress to the point I'd be unhappy with my hair.

 

[DoctorHouse]

I'm actually on finasteride for 6 months now and am glad I did. I have some thickening and regrowth. Indeed I am asian and that's one of the reasons why I jumped on finasteride. Asians seem to respond well. I experienced minor sides but can tolerate. Since Costco switched generic brands however, I don't notice the sides as much anymore, which has me a bit worried, yet am glad and hopeful it's because they have subsided. Although the timing is very coincidental to when I changed brands.

Indeed I seem to be heading towards a 3A but it's not that aggressive at the moment luckily. Here's a farther shot of my hairline using cover up game. I'm hoping there's more thickening on the minaturized hairs, I can see lots of smaller vellus hairs that I don't recall seeing. I've pretty much been examining my hairline for the last 9 months or so. I think I'd rather get a hair transplant than go on minoxidil should it progress to the point I'd be unhappy with my hair.

Costco is so cheap to get finasteride. I get mine there too. I remember those days paying about 100 dollars for one months supply of Propecia before it went generic. How ridiculous.

 

[jacopoperi]

Why are you on this website? If you're 41 and you've got a full head of hair, you shouldn't be taking prostate medicine, you should be getting it checked.

 

[Mushu]

Why are you on this website? If you're 41 and you've got a full head of hair, you shouldn't be taking prostate medicine, you should be getting it checked.

You do know the end result of getting it checked and if needed, is taking the prostate medicine, 5 mg version. Anyways, it's apparent I have some miniaturization, that's why I'm taking the prostate medicine and I know the risks. In fact it helped lower my libido(which is still good), which I found was actually a pain in the butt.

 

[jacopoperi]

You do know the end result of getting it checked and if needed, is taking the prostate medicine, 5 mg version. Anyways, it's apparent I have some miniaturization, that's why I'm taking the prostate medicine and I know the risks. In fact it helped lower my libido(which is still good), which I found was actually a pain in the butt.

People on this forum throw around the word miniaturization like it's a buzzword. Do you even know what that means? You're Asian. You have fine hair. You're in your 40s for Christ sake and you're taking prostate medicine for a hairline that you've had for half of your life.

 

[Mushu]

People on this forum throw around the word miniaturization like it's a buzzword. Do you even know what that means? You're Asian. You have fine hair. You're in your 40s for Christ sake and you're taking prostate medicine for a hairline that you've had for half of your life.

You're over complicating things and although you have well intentions, I don't agree with your assessment. I've done my research and my prostate is fine, thanks.

 

[Saulus]

What is the balding state of your relatives?