Hair Loss

Take the Finasteride and give it a month because usually the sides will start to disappear to almost to nothing at that point. I’m on it now and I say it cuts my sex drive by about 5%, but when I first on it for the first month it cut it at least 50%. LIke PenisMagee said the best way to stop it right now is with “Propecia/Proscar or Avodart Minoxidil (which is what Rogaine is) Nizoral Shampoo”. You will almost for sure stop any hair lose and thicken up what you have and hopefully buy enough time until the new stem cell stuff becomes an affordable reality. The stronger minox works the best I use the 15% and it is true you will shed if you stop taking it.

So far I’m thinking finasteride is the go. I might buy the tablet cutter and buy the cheaper stuff.

Also I hear that taking the finasteride and reducing the DHT also reduces the amount of body hair produced. Which is a great side effect, cos I have shitloads of body hair that I’m extremely self-conscious about, so I can wax and hopefully it won’t grow back as thick.

What does that mean? The sides of what? My head?

sides will be slang for side-effects I guess.

Anyone who is currently using finateride, or propecia, may want to try a little experiment. It is said that after a month or two of using these products, that the DHT receptors become sensitized similar to while in puberty. One would than discontinue use, and immediately begin a regimen of using topical DHT in the correct region to initiate a second growth of puberty.

No the side effects:) , which with me was a decrease in sexual desire.

I’m a bit leery about taking drugs that may have undesirable short and/or long term side effects and might even put my general health at risk.
Follicular Unit Transplantation seems to be the superior method since it gives the most natural and permanent aesthetic appearance (virtually undetectable) Using only one or two hair follicles at a time, they can recreate a natural looking hairline. I’m 43 and my hair loss has been at minimum (receding hairline) thus so far for a guy my age but I plan to address this problem at some point in the future. The method must be one that does not jeopardize my overall health and no one can actually detect it… otherwise whats the point in doing it? I’m not necessarily advocating this New Hair Institute but I definitely like their approach and techniques. I would demand to see a few of their clients for my own personal inspection before actually going through with it.

Follicular Unit Transplantation

The hair transplant method for the best hair growth (FUT)

Nick - I’ve been on finasteride for years (about seven, I think) and I’m 56 and I can get an erection without any problems whatsoever. I’ve never experienced any of the known side effects, but I did lose my back hair. :) The original studies showed that only about 2% of the men taking the drug had erection problems.

I’ve been on Finasteride too on and off for the last 5 years. Currently going on 2 years straight come next March. No sides here.

That’s great news! My hairline and body hair are currently the 2 main things in my life that I’m self conscious about. Maybe I could hit 2 birds with one stone. Heck, I would probably take a drug to get rid of my body hair alone.

I have a few questions for you westla:
1. What exactly is the brand you’re using? How much does it cost and where is it available?
2. What is your hair like now compared to before you started taking finasteride 7 years ago?
3. When you first started taking it, how long did it take for it to start working?
4. When you first started taking it, how long did it take to notice less body hair? Are you a very hairy person, and did it have affect on other body hair apart from your back?
5. Is whatever brand your using, more geared towards the front and hairline, or the crown?

1. What exactly is the brand you're using? How much does it cost and where is it available?

I’m taking generic Proscar. Proscar and Propecia are brand names for the drug finasteride. As has been said before, Proscar is used to treat enlarged prostates and is 5 mg per tablet. Propecia is the same drug, but only 1 mg per tablet and is sold as the anti-baldness drug. I have a prescription from a physician friend for Proscar. I buy it at my local pharmacy and it costs about US$95 every four months. I cut the tablets into four pieces, essentially taking a dose of 1.25 mg per day. It costs a lot less to buy Proscar three times a year at $90 and cut up the tablets than to buy Propecia every month for $70.

Finasteride is also available from “Internet pharmacies,” but I am hesitant to buy from these unknown overseas companies. At my own pharmacy, even though I’m not buying the “name brand” drug, I’m certain that I’m getting a quality generic substitute.

2. What is your hair like now compared to before you started taking finasteride 7 years ago?

I was made aware of my hair loss by the guy who cuts my hair. I hadn’t even noticed it. He was the one who turned me on to finasteride. I’d never even heard of the drug before then. I was thinning on the crown and had a gradually receding hairline in front. The crown is completely normal and the recession of the front hairline is dramatically less. I believe it is still, slowly, moving back, but it’s taking a long time to do that now compared to before.

3. When you first started taking it, how long did it take for it to start working?

I didn’t really pay much attention to it, but I think my hair stylist told me it was working after about three or four months. You can probably find out more on the Internet with a search engine like Google.

4. When you first started taking it, how long did it take to notice less body hair? Are you a very hairy person, and did it have affect on other body hair apart from your back?

I’ve never had “excessive” body hair. I had very little chest hair and the back hair didn’t start growing until I was in my 40s. My body hair was, and is, concentrated on my forearms, legs and belly. The back hair was definitely noticeable to the point that I’d had it waxed once. That was a nightmare experience as I did not receive good instructions on how to care for my skin after the waxing and I ended up with some infected hair follicles and now have a few pock marks on my shoulders as a result of those infections. Again, I think the body hair thing took a few months for me to realize that it was less. I still have a little back hair, but now the hairs are very fine and almost unnoticeable. Oddly, my eyebrows have thinned and regressed. They used to grow out and curve down around my eyes (see photo in my profile), but they now exist only directly above my eyes. I’m not sure if that’s related to the finasteride, but they seem to have reduced in size since I started the drug.

5. Is whatever brand your using, more geared towards the front and hairline, or the crown?

Finasteride is finasteride. There is no way to point it at specific parts of the hair. I imagine your personal “brand” of male pattern baldness will determine where the drug will work.

Thanks westla! Very helpful.

I was hoping you would say that you use the cheaper Proscar. I now have more incentive for it.

So, I need a prescription for it? Hmm. Will the doc give me a prescription for the stuff even though it’s not made for hair loss? Or can I just buy it from the pharmacist. I’m not really familiar with buying prescribed drugs etc.

Any Australians here (preferably in Melbourne) that have bought Proscar before? How did you go about it?

Drugs that can be overused or used for the wrong purposes usually require a physician to prescribe or dispense them. If you’re honest with your doc and tell him why you want the drug and how you’ll use it, then s/he might write the Proscar prescription for you. Or the doc might decide that the prescription should be for the “real” hair loss drug, Propecia. That would cost you more since it’s not covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (Proscar is). You cannot buy finasteride at a pharmacy without a prescription.

I use Biotin it does not make it grow back but it stops it from falling out. I take 10mg per day. This may or may not work for you. Biotin is inexpensive and I got a link in my Thread “Don’t let ED rule you.”

Cost 7$ at Wal-Mart.

Hey guys,
I went to the doctor today to try and get a prescription for finasteride. She was reluctant at first because I’m young, and probably seemed ignorant. But I think after a while she’d noticed how much research I’d done, and my sincerity probably helped convince her too. And she gave me the prescription for Proscar.

She kept trying to recommend minoxidil over finasteride for some reason, but I insisted on finasteride (because of the body hair advantage, and I think it’s cheaper too.) But eventually she let me just have finasteride. So I’m going to hop on the Proscar bandwagon, and start taking it tomorrow. It’s going to cost me $112 every 4 months.

So can anybody tell me what to expect over the next few months? I know to expect initial shedding, then eventual hair loss stoppage and possible hair regrowth and possible overall thickening. But what would the timeline look like? Eg - I imagine it looking like this:
First 2 weeks: Shedding (how much shedding? Will my hair be noticeably thinner from it? That worries me)
First 2 months: Hair is not as thin
First 4 months: Hair is thicker

How correct is this?

Also, am I at an advantage with this because I’m only 20 years old? I imagine my hair follicles on my head would not be dead yet. If you look close enough, you can see little hairs where my hair USED to be on my receding hairline. So MAYBE my hair will grow back where my receding hairline is because it’s not quite dead yet. How correct is this?

Also, at a young age, would finasteride or minoxidil have been better?

Thanks guys, any info you can give is WELL received!

Nick,

You sound very optimistic. Finasteride and Minox are not cures for baldness, some people get regrowth but usually it is very minimal.

From what I’ve experienced and what many others report is that it greatly decreases the rate at which you lose hair. I have pretty much no shedding of hair anymore (been on proscar about 2 years consistently). I haven’t really gotten any grow back but that’s okay. I’m just trying to keep what I have until I’m ready to take the next step and/or until Hair Multiplication is public.

Minox seems to work better on the crown of the scalp only, where as finasteride works on all areas on the scalp. Some people take both together. I’ve tried that, but I don’t do well on Minoxidil. It seems to give me heart palpitations which I’m not about to risk my life over losing my hair. But that’s just me, there are plenty of folks out there that experience no sides with Minoxidil what so ever, and inversely the same with finasteride. Another thing you may want consider is using Nizoral Shampoo 2 days on, and 1 day off. How and why nizoral works, I’m not quite sure but it seems to help some people, and it is believed by many to be about as good as finasteride and minoxidil.

This is my regimen

Proscar 1.25 mg/day
Nizoral Shampoo 1/day (2 days on, 1 day off)

Nick,

I wish you the best of luck, but just don’t expect miracles from these things. Here is a link to a website that can give you plenty of information on hair loss. Take a look, use your best judgement, and remember if something seems to good to be true, especially in the hair loss industry, it probably is.

http://www.hair site.com/hair-l … .php?view=forum