zzzzz's 1 year dutasteride results

zzzzz

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The top row of pics are taken in same place with same exact lighting and exact same hair length/cut. All other pics the lighting is replicated as best as possible for accurate comparison. Baseline time for the pics is when I started dutasteride so the "before" pics I had already been on minoxidil for 4 months, with the exception of the old hairline pic from May 2013

I went through a terrible initial shed starting at about 2-3 weeks which initially made my hair worse than baseline which is normal for treatment. Probably around 8-10 weeks is when I started to see first regrowth. I got both crown and hairline regrowth.

My regimen's dosages are listed under my name on the left of this post

minoxidil once daily at night since November 2013
Dutasteride .5mg daily since March 17th 2014
RU since April 2014,discontinued in July 2014
Nizoral twice weekly since June 2014

Have not experienced any sides whatsoever

As you can see my hair actually got much worse between month 5 and 6. I went through a really horrible shed but it has since come back the same or slightly stronger. This is common with treatment. Most of my long term regrowth appeared to have taken place in the first 5 months. I do not expect it to fill in completely and never did, and I am happy with the results. I'm young. Age 19 & 4 months at the baseline time but some point down the line (maybe 5+ years when I have a career and can afford it) I plan on getting a hair transplant to fill in what's left. I expect to maintain what I have indefinitely because of dutasteride's strength

My shedding never stopped, I still shed and have hairs on my fingers when I apply minoxidil. Also, my scalp still itches. This shows it is not correlated with failure of treatment.

I stopped RU somewhere in July because I believe dutasteride is so strong that there is no real point in using RU. I believe that it may be impossible to lose hair long term on dutasteride due to male pattern baldness, as it blocks 99% of type 2 DHT, considered to be the sole cause of male pattern baldness

Apparently people have been persuaded to use dutasteride instead of finasteride by my results. I want to clear this up: There is really no significant difference in expected regrowth between dutasteride and finasteride. Both are very good for maintaining what you have, not necessarily for regrowth. dutasteride is a little better and may allow people to maintain what they otherwise would have continued to lose on finasteride. But still, 85% of finasteride users will maintain longterm, like 5 or 10 years, or longer. This number is something like 98%+ or even 99%+ for dutasteride. I probably would have seen excellent results with finasteride as well. Most of my regrowth is probably due to the minoxidil. minoxidil is multiple times better then either finasteride or dutasteride in terms of actual regrowth when it comes to hair counts and hair thickness. But an oral anti androgen is by far the most important thing to take for long term results, which minoxidil can not do on it's own.


edit: 2021 update: my hair is exactly the same as when I started 7 years ago. I had to get off it for like 9 months to resolve some fertility issues, before restarting it in June 2021 (I had cancer when I was a child, it was almost certainly due to that, not the dutasteride, although the dutasteride could have made it worse which is why I stopped). Lost some ground in my time off but nothing terrible.

1year.jpg
 
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The Far Side

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Thanks for the post, I wish there was more of this and less endless debating what girls think of a balding man. What vehicle are you using for your homemade RU solution and do you think it's been helping? Judging by the title it seems you think dutasteride has done most of the work?
 

zzzzz

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Thanks for the post, I wish there was more of this and less endless debating what girls think of a balding man. What vehicle are you using for your homemade RU solution and do you think it's been helping? Judging by the title it seems you think dutasteride has done most of the work?

I am thinning in a norwood 7 pattern, so I use a lot of volume of solution per application. When I make a weekly batch I put in 5ml Propethylene Glycol, 10ml Everclear alchohol 95% 190 proof, and 200-250mg of RU. Per day this works out to be about 2ml of 30mg of RU (about a 1.5% solution). I don't know if it has given any significant additional results to the dutasteride, I have been considering dropping it but I will probably stay with it at this low dose. It isn't that I don't think RU is effective, it is just dutasteride alone is so powerful I am not sure if it is needed. I buy my RU from kaneshop

Most of the reason I put dutasteride results is so maybe when people google dutasteride results this thread might show up but yeah dutasteride is definitely the main part of my regimen

Were you ever on finasteride?

No
 

Conpecia

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RU + dutasteride is what i'm on but there hasn't been enough time...


i definitely think RU is contributing to your results though.
 

dehoha

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I thought you were on finasteride for a while before you switched to dutasteride?
 

zzzzz

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Nice results. How much minoxidil do you use?

about 1.5ml when my hair is longer maybe 1.75ml, because I am a nw7 diffuse and have an extremely large area to cover
 

SayifDoit

Experienced Member
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Damn zzzz I'm proud of you. In a year or so I bet you'll have a full of head of hair with that extreme regimen.
Did you experience any recession or just really bad thinning?
Here comes the NW1...
 

eenrak

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Level one: the big three
level two: zzzzz's regimen.

Nice work. Do you think you will get back to full head of hair?
 

zzzzz

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Damn zzzz I'm proud of you. In a year or so I bet you'll have a full of head of hair with that extreme regimen.
Did you experience any recession or just really bad thinning?
Here comes the NW1...

Yes. I was pretty much a nw2 with some very thin villous hair approaching my nw1 hairline. With the right hair cut and combing I could cover it up though. I have extremely dense regrowth in my nw1-2 area now, and when I pull my hair back/up to apply topicals all I see is a nw1 straight hairline now. The area that juts out from the area that runs down from hair line to temples for about an inch below hairline seen on the nw1 diagram actually grew FORWARD and totally like a nw1 now. At first at about 10 weeks I though this area was receeding backwards during my initial shed because I saw a lot of miniaturized hair there but when I looked at pictures from before treatment I realized it was actually growing forward.

I might get close to a full head of hair, I was considering a hair transplant to fill in whatever is left of my crown if I get good results and don't fill in completely. Will not be getting hair transplant on my hairline which I am very happy with
 

Notcoolanymore

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These results in just 4 months?! Awesome. At 1 year you might be totally recovered. Good job and thanks for posting. People need to know there are treatments available that actually work.
 

Chelaxing

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Hello zzzzzz,
Very nice progress you made. Can you please tell me where you buy your RU? And if you are in the U.S how long does it take to arrive?
Thanks.
 

zzzzz

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Hello zzzzzz,
Very nice progress you made. Can you please tell me where you buy your RU? And if you are in the U.S how long does it take to arrive?
Thanks.

I buy it from kane and if I remember correctly it didn't take too long
 

Grizz

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Damn bro... you brought out the big guns and the enemy seems to be retreating. Good for you! Thanks for sharing
 

zzzzz

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What made you try dutasteride first without giving finasteride a go?

Look at my age and my before pic. My hairloss was EXTREMELY aggressive. This is why
 

Chelaxing

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zzzzzz, is your hair oily? Was it oily before you started your regimen? If yes, did your regimen help at all with reducing sebum?
 

zzzzz

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zzzzzz, is your hair oily? Was it oily before you started your regimen? If yes, did your regimen help at all with reducing sebum?

Idk. I don't think so
 

The Far Side

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Yes. I was pretty much a nw2 with some very thin villous hair approaching my nw1 hairline. With the right hair cut and combing I could cover it up though. I have extremely dense regrowth in my nw1-2 area now, and when I pull my hair back/up to apply topicals all I see is a nw1 straight hairline now. The area that juts out from the area that runs down from hair line to temples for about an inch below hairline seen on the nw1 diagram actually grew FORWARD and totally like a nw1 now. At first at about 10 weeks I though this area was receeding backwards during my initial shed because I saw a lot of miniaturized hair there but when I looked at pictures from before treatment I realized it was actually growing forward.

I might get close to a full head of hair, I was considering a hair transplant to fill in whatever is left of my crown if I get good results and don't fill in completely. Will not be getting hair transplant on my hairline which I am very happy with

Can we get some pictures of this hairline regrowth please? Interested to see what it looks like
 
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