WORST shed of my life :( NOW WITH PICS

[Mens Rea]

Guys, in short - im fucked

My hair is just falling out for fun. I mean literally everytime i put my hand through my hair theres hair coming out. Id say im losing several hundred hairs a day definately around 100 anyway!

If you've followed my story you'll know ive been on finasteride for 8 months and had taken minoxidil for 3 years or so. 3 months ago i decided to go off minoxidil and now im pretty sure im paying dear for it. I didn't realise my hair had become so dependant on it.

Anyway - im now back on it and have been for 2 weeks. Im just desperate that it somehow grows this hair back - surely the follicles wont have died yet?

At any rate...IM STILL shedding like crazy. I would cry if i thought it would help. Im afraid of even putting shampoo in my hair because i lose so much hair every time.

Im honestly 5 years ahead of where i thought i would be, thats how much ive lost in the past month. HOW CAN I STOP THIS?

To add insult to injury im actually in California for 2 weeks with my friends to have a fun time - party and stuff. Im still having an awesome time but this sh*t has completely killed my confidence; one things losing your hair, i mean - ive came to terms with the fact i have thin and diffuse hair which is gradually getting worse but to lose 3/4 years worth in a few weeks? How the f*** can you prepare for this? I'm dreading seeing people who havent seen me in a few months looking at me thinking "what the hell happened your hair?!!".

I'll get pics up in a week or so when i come home but im seriously not exaggerating. Going off minoxidil was the worst mistake of my life. Im considering using topick (sp?) when i get home in hope that the minoxidil will regrow back this hair im losing and i'll recover.

Has anyone else had a crucifying shed like im experiencing? How long did it go on for and did any of the hair grow back? Im desperate guys


OK - here are the pics. The pictures are slightly misleading - the first pic is taken in poorish light whereas the after pic is in scorching good light plus the effect is doubled by the hair being messed up. But still, the difference is there for all to see. Before i was thinning on the crown but could still kinda pull it off, now the shed's made it plain bad (As i said, its messed up there, clean and styled it looks better)...

http://img246.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=lgim0035.jpg

Difference is obvious. Worst of it is, in the first pic hair is wet too - 6 weeks ago i could pretty much conceal any balding with dry hair and careful styling I just pray minoxidil can grow most of this sh*t back

 

[Jack82]

Re: WORST shed of my life

Yes and got back the majority of these shed hairs. I know it's devastating, i've seen 1 yrs progress being lost within a month. Be consistent from now on, get a very short haircut and wait for a couple of months. I'm experiencing a big shed too this month.

Good luck.

 

[decro435]

Re: WORST shed of my life

If it's any consolation, I fainted(literally) the last day in the shower from seeing the amount of hair on my hands (56) after only rubbing my hair once.

 

[icdalite]

Re: WORST shed of my life

I quit minoxidil in dec last year. Was anyways shedding hair while on it. I would shed something like 50-100 hairs on an average every day, but I guess it would grow back and then shed every few weeks.

After I quit I had massive sheds till march, then it all reduced and since then I shed like 10-20 a day. I a a diffused thinner so it becomes hard to conceal the hairloss. I'm tryinf\g alternatives to minoxidil like prox-n etc.

I am applying a thin film of rogaine foam currently just below the hairline. Have been on it for 3 months, but its not made any difference yet. Also started nano shampoo last month....

 

[Mens Rea]

Re: WORST shed of my life

well the shed continues and the loss has become very visible to the top of my head :/

i noticed that im also losing some hair on the sides (after a shower for instance) which it giving me hoep that this is a finasteride shed. i guess we'll wait and see

ive ordered toppik in hope of this. my main worry is that if it continues ill have no option to buzz which would be such a shock to me look im not sure i can pull it off or not

 

[treeshrew]

Re: WORST shed of my life

you've only been back on minoxidil for 2 weeks which is EXACTLY the amount of time when the sheds kick in.

my guess is you're experiencing a combination of the minoxidil dependent hair shedding, plus the shed induced by starting minoxidil that is typical at 2-4 weeks.

keep applying that minoxidil and taking the finasteride, it's all you can do. i know it's hard, but try to give it at least 4 months. by then you'll have been a year on finasteride and the minoxidil shed will hopefully have all grown back.

 

[Mens Rea]

Re: WORST shed of my life

thanks for the replies guys

my hair continues to shed at a slightly slower rate. im concerned about how long this will keep going to be honest, its already revealed a very clear sparse spot on my crown and also on the top of my head - its stopped shedding mid crown because its pretty much "shed out" at this point.

Its been shedding for about a month now, should i expect it to stop soon and hopefully enter recovery mode with my rejuvinated regime?

 

[raj47]

dont panic man

i was same situation like you when i was in 2009 jan.

but if you are loosing side and back and a diffuse you must pay attention and

try dutas for arresting dht more........

how old are you?......

 

[h82bebald]

its probably in your story but why did you stop minoxidil? I only ask because I was thinking about quitting it also but I haven't seen any improvement from it. I'm a little over 5 months into it though.

 

[Mens Rea]

its probably in your story but why did you stop minoxidil? I only ask because I was thinking about quitting it also but I haven't seen any improvement from it. I'm a little over 5 months into it though.

i stopped because i felt it was ridiculous the thought of me putting greasy sh*t in my hair for the rest of my life and because i figured i had never had any regrowth or anything. I had to draw a line i figured.

I was on it a few years though - albeit inconsistently. The reason i went back on it was because of the gravity of the shed ive had to deal with - there'd be no "using minoxidil" for the rest of my life its got to a point where i just want to get my hair the way it was so i can enjoy it for as long as possible before shaving it in a few years (literally a few years by the looks of the shed!)

my advice - if you are no getting any good out of it maybe stop but do it gradually. thing is im thinking now, it must have helped me immensely on my crown etc if the shed is a accurate indicator of what hair it was maintaining. In that case, perhaps minoxidil is more of a maintainer than people think

 

[wesleyBelgium]

DO NOT EVER STOP minoxidil...
that says it all
your sheddinghaar wil regrow , just use every day the minoxidil again...
there are minoxidil-versions that practicly are invisible...
dr lee and nano...

if you use some toppik on top , it would look decent for now

 

[Mens Rea]

DO NOT EVER STOP minoxidil...
that says it all
your sheddinghaar wil regrow , just use every day the minoxidil again...
there are minoxidil-versions that practicly are invisible...
dr lee and nano...

if you use some toppik on top , it would look decent for now

yep - thats my plan - take a bit of toppik when im going out at weekends and stuff (too much hassle using it for work imo) for a month or two in the hope i regain this hair. If not i'll eventually have to just keep it very short but hoepfully itll regrow.

damn i hope it starts regrowing FAST! :/

 

[Mens Rea]

meant to ask if anyone knows -

should i take MSM tablets to speed up hair growth to accelerate through shed and into the regrowth phase?

 

[wesleyBelgium]

growrate of hair is +- 3 month (haircycle)
from shedding to regrow... just like in hair transplant's...

if you go long jogging every day , there is a chanse that it speeds up
the growth a little... (got this from a member on our forum , his hair transplant-hairs grow verry fast , the hair transplant-doctor says it was because he goes jogging every day , normal hair transplant-results take longer... but he has speed up the growth with jogging)

its no sure thing, but nothing says you cant try...
i saw faster grow of my hair transplant-hair on meth , but thats no healty way to speed things up (funny , SPEED things up , maybe it got the name from here) , sinds it falls off also faster, but jogging would be a safe try...

you can try msm , at my hair transplant clinic when i did my prp i talked with moses (you find him also on youtube , buts his videos are in german...)
he says that you need to take 5- 6 gr of msm with vitamin c for faster growth..
i took 5gr and after 20min you feel it , dont know to discribe the feeling , but you feel something... as far as i can find info its safe to use in larger dose