Womble
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First of all, hello to everyone on the forum. I, like many others, have lurked here for a few weeks as I moved through the various initial psychological responses to hair loss - denial, anger, depression, acceptance. The information on this site is first class - in fact I'd go as far as to say it's the best internet resource on hair loss worldwide. The advice is (mostly) backed up with hard science, which in this field is a rarity!
Anyway, enough toadying! male pattern baldness runs strongly through both sides of my family, and so from the age of about 10 I was very aware that unless I got supremely lucky, things were only going to work out one way. The trouble is, I've always had fine hair and a high hair line, so when male pattern baldness did eventually kick in, it wasn't the easiest to detect! Now at the ripe old age of 24, I still have most of my hair, but feel that I need to act now, utilising at least 2 of the big 3, so that if even if I only achieve maintenance, I'll still be thrilled.
Nizoral was an easy first selection - cheap, safe and convenient. Minoxidil didn't appeal - partly because I want to keep a couple of treatments in reserve, partly because I don't need to regrow too much hair at the moment, and partly because it sounds messy and somewhat of a pain!
That left the systemic DHT inhibition question. Decided to go down the finasteride rather the dutasteride path because the side effect profile is much better studied. Not 100% happy about fiddling with my hormones, but women use both HRT and hormonal contraception, so I believe our situations are analagous. I think you "pays your money and takes your chance" with these things, and the vast majority of people on finasteride on this forum seem to have made an informed decision about it. Side effects are an interesting one, because all drugs have them - in fact aspirin wouldn't be legal today if it were newly invented, simply because of its side effect profile. If I get intolerable side effects then I'll have to reassess dose, but I'm ready for the shedding etc. I toyed with the idea of buying fincar from inhousepharmacy, but then rang a few chemists in London, and discovered that proscar on a private prescription is around 18 pounds - exactly the same price as fincar - so why go for the generic? Not sure if other Brits knew this incidentally!
That's about all from me. Best advice I've read on here is to sort out your head first.. hair loss isn't easy to cope with, and I believe that there is a real grief-like response, just as individuals grieve for other lost body parts (eg fingers, legs). OCD definitely complicates matters for some, but if you're on the treatments, you just have to relax and get on with your life - there's nothing more you can do, and stress/depression certainly don't help hair loss!
Cheers, and I look forward to "getting to know" you guys in the future.
Anyway, enough toadying! male pattern baldness runs strongly through both sides of my family, and so from the age of about 10 I was very aware that unless I got supremely lucky, things were only going to work out one way. The trouble is, I've always had fine hair and a high hair line, so when male pattern baldness did eventually kick in, it wasn't the easiest to detect! Now at the ripe old age of 24, I still have most of my hair, but feel that I need to act now, utilising at least 2 of the big 3, so that if even if I only achieve maintenance, I'll still be thrilled.
Nizoral was an easy first selection - cheap, safe and convenient. Minoxidil didn't appeal - partly because I want to keep a couple of treatments in reserve, partly because I don't need to regrow too much hair at the moment, and partly because it sounds messy and somewhat of a pain!
That left the systemic DHT inhibition question. Decided to go down the finasteride rather the dutasteride path because the side effect profile is much better studied. Not 100% happy about fiddling with my hormones, but women use both HRT and hormonal contraception, so I believe our situations are analagous. I think you "pays your money and takes your chance" with these things, and the vast majority of people on finasteride on this forum seem to have made an informed decision about it. Side effects are an interesting one, because all drugs have them - in fact aspirin wouldn't be legal today if it were newly invented, simply because of its side effect profile. If I get intolerable side effects then I'll have to reassess dose, but I'm ready for the shedding etc. I toyed with the idea of buying fincar from inhousepharmacy, but then rang a few chemists in London, and discovered that proscar on a private prescription is around 18 pounds - exactly the same price as fincar - so why go for the generic? Not sure if other Brits knew this incidentally!
That's about all from me. Best advice I've read on here is to sort out your head first.. hair loss isn't easy to cope with, and I believe that there is a real grief-like response, just as individuals grieve for other lost body parts (eg fingers, legs). OCD definitely complicates matters for some, but if you're on the treatments, you just have to relax and get on with your life - there's nothing more you can do, and stress/depression certainly don't help hair loss!
Cheers, and I look forward to "getting to know" you guys in the future.
