Wuffer's Success - Started finasteride 01/01/11

[Wuffer]

Hey all. I've had some pretty great progress with 3 months on 1.25MG finasteride, and I thought I would share my success story so that I can maybe inspire some of you. I was skeptical when hearing about such short term success stories, but this stuff works wonders. No problems on it except for testicle aching for a few days. I also chocked on a dose a few weeks ago, but that can probably be blamed on me.

My thinning has mostly been in the crown, but some from the front as well which honestly doesn't bother me. I would say I was a NW3V when starting, and now i'm pretty close to an NW2. Thickness overall has significantly improved. My friends and especially the girlfriend are extremely impressed.

I've also been using 2% nizoral 2-3 times a wek for the last 6 months, but I honestly don't think it's doing much. However, it makes my hair look and feel really thick after I use it, so why not.

The timelines for these aren't 100% accurate, but they are probably give or take a week. Not the best pictures, but you can probably get the jist of it.

[attachment=2:28e979u8]wuffer1.jpg[/attachment:28e979u8]

[attachment=1:28e979u8]wuffer2.jpg[/attachment:28e979u8]

[attachment=0:28e979u8]wuffer4.jpg[/attachment:28e979u8]

 

[kthxbi]

Re: Wuffer's Success - 3 Months finasteride

jesus christ man. amazing progress. don't change a thing.

 

[Wuffer]

Re: Wuffer's Success - 3 Months finasteride

jesus christ man. amazing progress. don't change a thing.

Thanks man! I noticed you started on finasteride around the same time I did; I hope that you might be seeing some good results as well?

I honestly didn't think it was possible to have results this quickly, but I have always had extremely fast growing hair for some reason, so I might attribute my quick success to this! I hope the success doesn't fade quite so quickly though..




Finfighter: unfortuantely (and stupidly) I didn't think to take hairline pictures, since my immediate panic was reversing my thinning crown. I haven't noticed any difference in my hairline, but I am going to take some pictures of it now so that I can track any changes that I might see in the future.

 

[robert west]

Re: Wuffer's Success - 3 Months finasteride

That is major success considering Finasteride really doesn't flex it's muscles until the 8-12 month mark!

 

[Wuffer]

Re: Wuffer's Success - 3 Months finasteride

Thanks guys!

amff, if you feel your loss is similar to mine, I think you will have great results with finasteride should you choose to continue with it. If you catch your loss at an early start (like I have) your success is almost guaranteed. It can reverse in a very short time, and I am hopeful that I will have continued maintenance for the next 5 or 10 years.

I had another great bit of validation today when I got a haircut. My hairdresser said "Wow, your hair is so much thicker than last time I saw you! What product are you using in your hair?" I told her about propecia, and she replied: "It can't be, that stuff doesn't work at all!"

It's great to actually look forward to getting a haircut now instead of dreading it weeks beforehand..

 

[Wuffer]

Re: Wuffer's Success - 3 Months finasteride

Just a little update with a picture.

Things are going great; still no sides or anything. I've been fighting off a horrible flu for the last week, but I was surprised when my girlfriend came over I was still able to perform for over an hour with no problems.. WHILE in the middle of a flu! I almost passed out after the sex, but I didn't have any problems performing! Which is a great way to show finasteride has had no negative effects on me, because that worry is always in the back of my mind.

Anyway, my crown is almost entirely filled in now, and I think ive seen some more thickening around the middle-front of my head as well. I don't have any before/after pictures of this part to show you, but I think the crown progress speaks for itself. My crown isn't 100% filled in (my girlfriend says she can still see that it's thin, but she has to look close at it) but i'm pretty close.

I'm really happy with my experience on this stuff. While I don't exactly like having to take daily medication, I don't really feel any different on finasteride. While it doesn't work out for everyone, I think it's dangers are way overstated, and I wouldn't hesistate recommending it to my family and friends.

 

[Wuffer]

Re: Wuffer's Success - 3 Months finasteride

(FYI - i edited an old post I made, my last post was edited on 21-Apr-11)

 

[maidstone]

Re: Wuffer's Success - 3 Months finasteride

what was your shedding experience like?

 

[Wuffer]

Re: Wuffer's Success - 3 Months finasteride

Maidstone,

No shedding or change in hair loss rate whatsoever since starting. I still lose just as much hair now as I did before I started.

 

[anxious1]

Re: Wuffer's Success - 3 Months finasteride

i have yrs of experience looking at before after photos, and i honestly cant see the improvement. yes in the first photo it looks like theres scalp exposed, and in subsequent pictures, it doesnt, but theres also brighter lighting on the affected area, and hair combed over it in other photos.

combined with the fact that any new hair from those treatments in the very best scenario on a good responder would only start growing 2+ months into it, and it only grows 1.25 cms a month, i doubt new hair could have regrown and covered this spot in the time frame, i just think the area of the crown that looks like its bald, is just the natural split in that area, and different combing and a trim has covered it up. (the longer hair is, the more it splits up in the part)

not hassling u here, but i dont agree that there has been improvement. I might believe it if u said it had been a yr.

 

[Wuffer]

Re: Wuffer's Success - 3 Months finasteride

Thanks for your opinions guys. Honestly, I started taking these pictures as a way to track my own progress, not to prove to everyone how well it is working for me. I simply only posted this success story to help motivate others to try this treatment.

Unfortunately, I have already taken my baseline photos so there isn't really any going back to take better pictures. I used a webcam, and I sat in the exact same spot under the same light in each of them, with no flash whatsoever. I admit they are not as good quality as they should be (also my hair is different lenghths, and might be brushed differently) but the pictures were all taken 'as-is' without messing with my hair at all.

Take it or leave it.

 

[Wuffer]

Re: Wuffer's Success - 3 Months finasteride

I'm glad to have caught it early, and since most of my balding has been on the top, it might have been much later realizing it started if my girlfriend hadn't told me when she did! The best i'm hoping for in the future is just maintenance..

I saw your pictures on an old thread, it looks like you had some light crown thinning as well. I'm curious, did you see results while you were on finasteride? I'm almost even more curious to know if the results went away after stopping, and how long it took for that to happen?

It's sort of common knowledge that after stopping finasteride, your hair plays 'catch up' but i've never really seen someone actually say it's happened to them. If CB-03-01 works out, i'm planning on switching over to that instead, but i'm affraid of catch-up loss.

 

[I AM AWESOME]

Re: Wuffer's Success - 3 Months finasteride

I'm glad to have caught it early, and since most of my balding has been on the top, it might have been much later realizing it started if my girlfriend hadn't told me when she did! The best i'm hoping for in the future is just maintenance..

I saw your pictures on an old thread, it looks like you had some light crown thinning as well. I'm curious, did you see results while you were on finasteride? I'm almost even more curious to know if the results went away after stopping, and how long it took for that to happen?

It's sort of common knowledge that after stopping finasteride, your hair plays 'catch up' but i've never really seen someone actually say it's happened to them. If CB-03-01 works out, i'm planning on switching over to that instead, but i'm affraid of catch-up loss.

Mate, as long as your happy with your progress it doesn't matter, you don't need to prove anything.

If you are planning to switch over to CB, then it shouldn't matter if you are going to leave propecia is it? I mean that too will supress DHT but only in the scalp regoin which is where you need it to stop hair loss, so you'll be getting the same function as propecia, just as a local treatment. Or am I missing something?

 

[Wuffer]

Re: Wuffer's Success - 3 Months finasteride

I AM AWESOME,

Don't get me wrong, I think Finasteride is a great treatment and i'm convinced that it is safe for almost everyone who takes it, but I don't like taking meds. CB (should it be as effective as claimed) looks to be even more effective. Again, I think finasteride is safe and i'm not particularly concerned about that, but it IS a relatively young drug, and if a topical can do the same thing without the systemic effect, I would opt to take that instead. Depending on how well CB works, I may even take both, but likely just CB.


Finfighter,

Are you one of the people doing some of the initial testing with CB? I havent checked out that thread in a while, but I will now. I am interested in trying this out as well, but I think I would be a 'B' list person until it's effectivenes has been proven. It's really good looking stuff and I hope it works out well for you guys.. I would love to see the success stories flooded with threads about how well CB works . If that happens, I think you will have ten times as many guys wanting to get in on the next group buy!

 

[I AM AWESOME]

Re: Wuffer's Success - 3 Months finasteride

I AM AWESOME,

Don't get me wrong, I think Finasteride is a great treatment and i'm convinced that it is safe for almost everyone who takes it, but I don't like taking meds. CB (should it be as effective as claimed) looks to be even more effective. Again, I think finasteride is safe and i'm not particularly concerned about that, but it IS a relatively young drug, and if a topical can do the same thing without the systemic effect, I would opt to take that instead. Depending on how well CB works, I may even take both, but likely just CB.


Finfighter,

Are you one of the people doing some of the initial testing with CB? I havent checked out that thread in a while, but I will now. I am interested in trying this out as well, but I think I would be a 'B' list person until it's effectivenes has been proven. It's really good looking stuff and I hope it works out well for you guys.. I would love to see the success stories flooded with threads about how well CB works . If that happens, I think you will have ten times as many guys wanting to get in on the next group buy!

Oh, I didn't mean to say it as in you're scared of the side effects or something, but you were saying about how people lose their hair when they come off finasteride and I was saying there would be no need to worry because you'll be going on CB. I think the people who are going to get on Finasteride around now will be safe because in the next 3-6 years CB will be out, making Finasteride no longer a life-long commitment.

 

[Wuffer]

Just a little update. It's been 4.5 months or so now. Man how time flies!

I've not seen much more progress, but I just got a haircut and I thought I would take another picture. Not much change to my hair, but that's a really good thing. My crown still has a small amount of visible thinning, but it’s not really noticeable to most people.

No side effects to report. I've been working out 3 times a week, doing cardio 3 days a week, and doing 4-5 hour mountain biking sessions on the weekends now that the season is upon us. I've actually gained weight (I’m at 205 pounds versus 200 when I started) but I’ve toned up quite a bit and I would say it's mostly muscle! I am hoping that cleaning up my diet will help quite a bit with losing some weight.

I've taken a 'before' picture of myself before I started working out. I'm embarrassed to show it now, but I’ll post it when I’ve lost more weight and hit my goal of 180 pounds for comparison.

[attachment=0:33i9mwmb]wuffer6.jpg[/attachment:33i9mwmb]

 

[Wuffer]

Re: Wuffer's Success - 3 Months finasteride

Wuffer here is a pic of my finasteride progress, the one on the left was three years before finasteride, the one on the right was after two+ years of use, I did have some concealer (Toppik) in my hair though.

BTW man, I never commented on this. HOLY CRAP that was some good growth in your hairline! When did you start noticing your hairline coming back after starting on it?

 

[Wuffer]

Just thought I would add an update after such a long time.

I have no pictures to share as my hair is exactly as it was on my last update. I have been really busy with life and hair loss has been the last thing on my mind. After about a year on finasteride, I still have not experienced any problems in terms of side effects and whatnot. I am still taking the regular 1.25mg and holding steady at NW2.

I've also been working out hard at the gym and lost close to 20 pounds. I've also put on a ton of muscle, so ive probably lost closer to 30-40 pounds of fat if I had to estimate. The last time I worked out like this was when I was 21-22 (i'm 29 now) and I swear i've made even more progress than I did back then during the same period of time. finasteride has not affected my ability to work out, and judging by my results, it's helped my gains if anything.

A year ago i was riddled with fear and anxiety over my hair, and now im able to move on with life. Not to say that life is significantly easier or better because of it, but its one less thing to worry about and I feel I am much more able to focus on life. I strongly urge people to give finasteride a whirl.

 

[Wuffer]

Hey all. Coming up on 2 years on finasteride and i'm still holding the strong results. I'm freaking ecstatic how well this treatment is working, and I have no side effects to report. I attached some new pictures including shots of the front. I think being so far above baseline at 2 years is absolutely remarkable and if I hadn't started on finasteride when I did, I don't want to think of where I might be right now. Sure, i'm not sporting a perfect, full head of hair; when it gets wet, it's pretty thin and my hairline could stand to be a little bit thicker. But I don't really care, because I don't look like i'm balding anymore and I can easily style my hair so that it looks freaking awesome. I'm fresh meat on the dating market again and having a full head of hair gives me so much confidence!

It's funny, I had lunch with an old college buddy today who is probably a NW4 and he was talking about how much it sucked to be losing his hair. I told him I've got the same problem, and he told me i'm crazy and that my hair looks exactly the same as it did when I was 22!

I'll soon post some before / after posts of my body transformation as well. finasteride has had absolutely no effect on my ability to gain a lot of muscle. I am a very healthy 175lb (vs 200lb from my before pictures), and that includes putting on a lot of lean muscle.

Anyway, best of luck to everyone!

 

[form]

Wuffer, looks great man! Obviously you look like you're maintaining well, but would you say you feel that most of the gains you had were within the first few months? You're not using minoxidil at all?

Also interested in seeing body transformation as that's something I'm currently working on.

Take care
-form