Why isn't finasteride well known by most people?

[reckless]

I believe finasteride does work for the majority of people especially for diffuse thinners like me.

Sure the drug has some side effects, but I found that they go away after a few days or weeks.

This has really been bugging me for a long time now. Why isn't this drug advertised properly? It's so easy to take one pill for every day in your life. I understand minoxidil is a big pain but taking finasteride is no hassle whatsoever.

I believe that finasteride should be common knowledge to every person just like Aspirin and v**** is. Every adult knows about those drugs but I would guess that only 1 in 1000 adults has even heard of finasteride, if that.

The vast majority of people do not know that there are genuine proven treatments to stop hair loss. I blame this on all of these fake snake oils and shampoos, they really give the hair loss industry a bad name and make people think there is nothing you can do.

I'm sure that if everyone knew about finasteride then you would see a lot less bald/balding people out there.

It's one of my biggest regrets in life not taking finasteride when I was in my early 20s, I could have had a decent head of hair for many years instead of this shaved head that I will have to sport for the next 40-50 years of my life! Not to mention the hassle of clipping it twice a week, rather than getting my hair cut every 6 weeks.

I understand that it doesn't work for everyone but 90% of balding people would have good success.

All of these quack products (like these chinese and indian bull**** 'medicines' and various shampoos) should be banned unless they prove results and finasteride should be promoted.

Most people don't go to their doctor about baldness because they think there is nothing they can do to stop the process, how wrong they are. Every single bald man out there would like hair given a choice.

Oh well, if I ever have a son I will make damn sure that he never goes bald and holds onto his hair for as long as possible.

I now sport a 0.5 guard buzz cut and will still take finasteride to maintain what I have so that it doesn't look like I'm slick bald, my look is like Pep Guardiola and Roberto Di Matteo in that I still have my NW1 hairline intact which frames my face.

I suppose it could be worse, I do have brown skin and good cheekbones and jawline so the buzzcut looks ok but your hair is part of your identity. Everyone looks very different without hair. Even the difference between a zero guard buzz cut and 1 guard is quite a lot.

This board is great, it's just a shame that the knowledge on these forums isn't common knowledge in the general populace.

Sorry, I just had to get this off my chest.

 

[Quantum Cat]

I agree, many men beleive there's nothing they can do about male pattern baldness, so they just live in misery, yet we have a med that is safe and effective for the vast majority of users.


there are probably a few reasons for this -

in the UK at least, prescription drugs aren't allowed to be advertised.

The bad press Propecia has got lately, most of it completely unwarranted, fueled by media scaremongering.

Doctors especially GPs seem to have wildly varying knowledge of male pattern baldness and male pattern baldness treatments, and even if they know about Finasteride, many aren't willing to prescribe it for hairloss because they don't see male pattern baldness as serious enough: 'just go bald, it's normal!' we've all heard that phrase before!

I too wish I had started finasteride earlier than I did, but I thank god for the internet because without it I probably would never have known finasteride existed

 

[reckless]

Exactly!
I even saw this urologist once for a completely unrelated problem and told him I was taking finasteride for hairloss, he just told me to stop being vain. It's ok for a full haired 50 something man to say, try being a balding guy in your 20s.

Doctors (GPs) are useless when it comes to male pattern baldness, I had significant diffuse thinning and thought I'd see my GP for advice. The fool told me I had a full head of hair! I never even knew that dermatologists were the people to see about hair loss. That is how little is known by most men.

I'm sure if all men knew about finasteride and it's effect on greatly slowing male pattern baldness then they would take it and then we wouldn't have to wait for a miracle cure. Sure there are side effects but like I said the majority of them disappear, especially if you start at a low dose and work your way up.

I'm not asking for finasteride to be advertised on TV or magazines but people should be made aware of it. Every adult male in the west knows about v****, so why not finasteride?

Anyway it's too late for me, I still take finasteride as I want to preserve the hair I do have so that the buzz looks half decent.
However I am somewhat bitter about this and I know this is wrong but if I was to see a guy in the early stages of balding at work or in my social scene I'm not sure I would tell them about it. If it was my son or nephew I would.

But for all the guys on this forum, take this drug, it really does work and if you get sides, drop the dosage to half and they should disappear within a week or two. There are too many horror stories out there about finasteride, maybe they are true but if you are looking for something you will find it.

 

[Quantum Cat]

However I am somewhat bitter about this and I know this is wrong but if I was to see a guy in the early stages of balding at work or in my social scene I'm not sure I would tell them about it. If it was my son or nephew I would.

if the subject of male pattern baldness came up with another guy in the early stages, then I would defineitely tell him about finasteride. I don't want people making the mistake I did by leaving it later than I should have.

I never even knew that dermatologists were the people to see about hair loss. That is how little is known by most men.

well everybody talks about Derms here - but I thought they specialise in skin mainly. Trichologists are hair experts. But in the end it really depends on the knowledge and competence of the individual Dr, which can vary widely

I'm not asking for finasteride to be advertised on TV or magazines but people should be made aware of it. Every adult male in the west knows about v****, so why not finasteride?

there was quite a lot of press about Propecia when it first came out in the 90s (even though Finasteride had been around for many years before). Perhaps it's not as widely known as v**** because if people were expecting a miracle cure they might be disappointed - it's a preventative but unlikely to grow all your hair back

 

[reckless]

Yes it's preventative. So if more people knew about it, they would jump on it as soon as they noticed some loss. Prevention is the best cure!
I don't think it grows much hair if any at all but it it stops hair loss greatly and that is enough for most people.

Imagine if every man in their late teens, 20s and 30s knew about this drug and it's effectiveness in slowing male pattern baldness, the vast majority would take it.

- - - Updated - - -

Glad I just started. Slight thinning at age 20 so hopefully it works well!

Keep up with it, maybe you might lose a bit over the years but this will slow it down significantly and you should have the same head of hair at 30 and maybe even 40!

- - - Updated - - -

The other thing I like about this site is how it tells you to fight the male pattern baldness.

I hate sites like Slybaldguys. They are probably just guys who wished they fought their hairloss and caught it early and are now telling others to 'embrace' their baldness. You should embrace baldness like you would a rabid dog. I just hate it when they tell young guys to join them. The vast majority of them are overweight and ugly.

A zero buzzcut I can understand but shaving sly is not a good look on any other race apart from black people.

 

[abcdefg]

Well you have some points but I will play devil advocate for a bit. Your over simplifying it though because there are downsides to taking any medication whether its finasteride or not. You are tied to taking a pill for the rest of your life that is going to cost you some decent money or at least it did years ago. Then any drug can have weird or undiscovered sides pop up in certain people over the years of use whether that happens with finasteride or not no one knows because we dont have 30 year studies of people using it. Also keep in mind while it does work well I think over many years your still going to lose a little hair over time so I doubt its perfect although it of course varies by person. So it has downsides and risks you didnt mention.

 

[Quantum Cat]

Well you have some points but I will play devil advocate for a bit. Your over simplifying it though because there are downsides to taking any medication whether its finasteride or not. You are tied to taking a pill for the rest of your life that is going to cost you some decent money or at least it did years ago. Then any drug can have weird or undiscovered sides pop up in certain people over the years of use whether that happens with finasteride or not no one knows because we dont have 30 year studies of people using it. Also keep in mind while it does work well I think over many years your still going to lose a little hair over time so I doubt its perfect although it of course varies by person. So it has downsides and risks you didnt mention.

you're not tied to taking it forever. You can stop whenever you want

 

[ak1909]

This is my first post on a hair loss forum and I can't seem to create a new thread so I'll post here. Apologies in advance if I am breaking any rules by posting here. I am 23 and a Norwood 3 with terrible diffuse thinning. I have been lurking on these hair loss forums for the past 4 years since I started experiencing hair loss. After going through severe depression and staying indoors for lengthy periods of time allowing me to spend days and weeks on these forums, I have now read through virtually every thread concerning new hair loss fighting techniques and products. Little did I know when I started reading these forums that you guys would become like my family especially the regulars such as Jacob, QC, Thom, Chris, UCMan and many more. I read through the entire famous Jacob Vs Bryan snake oil thread with great interest as if it were a drama on the tv. I now know all you regular posters views and stuff etc and it warms my heart that there are kind and informative people like you who are also going through this evil curse (nay I consider it to be more akin to a cancer) that spend your time helping us. I just want to end with how viable does cb-03-01 look to be a commercial successful product for hair loss within the next 3 years? I am dead scared to take propecia (I know QC you are shaking your head) and rogaine did f all after using it for 2 years so I am using cb-03-01 as an emotional crutch to bear me through the next few years that I feel I have left.

 

[gascoigne]

you're not tied to taking it forever. You can stop whenever you want

And what happens then?
You lose all hair you have saved for years on finasteride and end up like you would be without taking med in firstplace.

 

[Quantum Cat]

And what happens then?
You lose all hair you have saved for years on finasteride and end up like you would be without taking med in firstplace.

most probably.

but the poster implied that once you start finasteride you're tied to it forever. That's not true - you can stop whenever you want.

if you're older, married with children, a good job - you may decide that you no longer need to take finasteride and go bald gracefully.

 

[Travalanche]

My doctor told me that 87% of users experienced a stoppage of hair loss or a slight/mild growth and that's good enough for me. All 20 year old's should have knowledge of Finasteride but that isn't the case because people look at male pattern baldness as normal and a vanity issue yet getting a boner is life altering? No, people always see your hair but 99.9% of the people you walk by won't see the inside of your pants.

The scariest part of this is that if you look at a lot of old pictures of young men such as in WW1 or WW2, or older pictures in general almost none of them are bald and have great hairlines! Yet if you walk down the street today you can spot dozens of young men with hair loss that are in their 20's. It seems to me that something in our lifestyles, diets, or pollution is causing baldness to happen a decade earlier.

Just because of this Finasteride should be more publicized and accepted by insurance or discount cards so that it is more affordable.

 

[Quantum Cat]

My doctor told me that 87% of users experienced a stoppage of hair loss or a slight/mild growth and that's good enough for me. All 20 year old's should have knowledge of Finasteride but that isn't the case because people look at male pattern baldness as normal and a vanity issue yet getting a boner is life altering? No, people always see your hair but 99.9% of the people you walk by won't see the inside of your pants.

The scariest part of this is that if you look at a lot of old pictures of young men such as in WW1 or WW2, or older pictures in general almost none of them are bald and have great hairlines! Yet if you walk down the street today you can spot dozens of young men with hair loss that are in their 20's. It seems to me that something in our lifestyles, diets, or pollution is causing baldness to happen a decade earlier.

Just because of this Finasteride should be more publicized and accepted by insurance or discount cards so that it is more affordable.

don't think there's any evidence of that - but would be interesting to hear an expert's view on the theory

 

[reckless]

My doctor told me that 87% of users experienced a stoppage of hair loss or a slight/mild growth and that's good enough for me. All 20 year old's should have knowledge of Finasteride but that isn't the case because people look at male pattern baldness as normal and a vanity issue yet getting a boner is life altering? No, people always see your hair but 99.9% of the people you walk by won't see the inside of your pants.

The scariest part of this is that if you look at a lot of old pictures of young men such as in WW1 or WW2, or older pictures in general almost none of them are bald and have great hairlines! Yet if you walk down the street today you can spot dozens of young men with hair loss that are in their 20's. It seems to me that something in our lifestyles, diets, or pollution is causing baldness to happen a decade earlier.

Just because of this Finasteride should be more publicized and accepted by insurance or discount cards so that it is more affordable.

Exactly! Every man should be aware of finasteride and the side effects. Then they should be able to decide for themselves if they want to take it. If I knew about it at 23 then I would have taken it then.

 

[blondguy]

Its not really that magical. I took it for over a year and only saw my hair loss get worse. I started with THICK hair and normal hairline, and only have seen it get worse and worse until I became someone who was clearly loosing hair. My closest friend was on it since he was 18, still on it now at 28 and he is almost entirely bald and just recently decided to give up on it. Both my brothers started talking finasteride when they first noticed hairloss. One saw no benefits, the other saw some for about two years then his hair loss got worse again.


I think finasteride is not known as well because its NOT a wonder drug. My own dermo told me most people dont see any reverse with hair loss just more or less maintains the loss for a while but eventually you go bald anyway. Its not like v**** which does EXACTLY what its suppose to. For many people I think its an easier choice (far less money and stress) to just shave your head and forget about.

 

[gascoigne]

Its not really that magical. I took it for over a year and only saw my hair loss get worse. I started with THICK hair and normal hairline, and only have seen it get worse and worse until I became someone who was clearly loosing hair. My closest friend was on it since he was 18, still on it now at 28 and he is almost entirely bald and just recently decided to give up on it. Both my brothers started talking finasteride when they first noticed hairloss. One saw no benefits, the other saw some for about two years then his hair loss got worse again.


I think finasteride is not known as well because its NOT a wonder drug. My own dermo told me most people dont see any reverse with hair loss just more or less maintains the loss for a while but eventually you go bald anyway. Its not like v**** which does EXACTLY what its suppose to. For many people I think its an easier choice (far less money and stress) to just shave your head and forget about.

Got it man!
Thats is what i am trying to say all the time. finasteride wont help at the bottom line.