Hello - 22, M, Fin, 8 months so far

Finasteride will slow down and possibly stop your hair loss. Finasteride may also allow weakened hair follicles that can still grow hair to grow hair but it does not stimulate those weakened hair follicles to start growing hair again.

Nizoral may block the hormone that triggers hereditary hair loss at your scalp.

Alpecin does absolutely nothing to treat hereditary hair loss.

Minoxidil stimulates hair follicles that can still grow hair to grow hair. The foam version is much more stealthy. Many use the foam in the morning because it is stealthy then use the liquid in the eveneing because it is less expensive.

I have had good experience with my laser comb. You might too.

Thanks for the reply, I didn't know about Alpecins effect, I feel it makes my hair a bit thicker though but that's probably psychological.

I'd like to try the laser comb (seems a bit expensive for something that might not work, however) and I'll look into it in the future. From experience, how did you get on with it? What effects did you see..?

I've had good results on finasteride and 2% keto shampoo (aka generic Nizoral). Everyone responds differently, but your regimen will almost certainly slow your hair loss, it may stop it from progressing, and it may produce minor regrowth. It may also improve the quality/thickness of existing hair.


Minoxidil could definitely boost the regrowth by a noticeable amount, but again, everyone responds differently. I personally don't use minox but it would be worth a shot if you're trying to maximize your hair count on medss.

Good luck!

If you are considering trying the Minoxidil again use Rogaine 5% foam once a day at night. This should not cause any hair styling issues.

Would a single dose of 5% foam be enough to see any kind of results..? From what I've read, the twice a day application seems to be stressed.

I think that the foam stays on the scalp much longer than the liquid and they just want people to buy more product. Can't say for sure but that is just my gut feeling.

Better update...

I guess it's been 9 months on Fin now, but I added Minoxidil Foam one a day (using it as a setting agent, actually) about a month ago, and have started the dreaded shed. I've just cut my hair shorter to counteract it, seems to have done the trick.

I've heard that the more you shed on Min the more grows back? Or is this just a rumour?

Also, any shed through Fin, does that also mean that stronger hairs will grow back?

I should have researched it a bit better, to be honest...

Hi there, cheers for sharing your story... Did you shed at all on fin alone (before minox) in the first 9 months? if so how much? any change to general hair texture/quality?

The IAHRS Dr who prescribed my finasteride also seemed to believe in the effectiveness of Rogaine foam once a day.

Hello, back with an update.

I've been on Finasteride for nearly 2 years now, I think I've definitely responded. My hair feels thicker all over (seems to have a bit more weight to it now), and I've changed my routine to a single 1mg pill every second day, and have been doing so since November 2012. I took a month off between March and April, because I begun to experience headaches and my doctor recommended taking a break from the pill to see if I was a late bloomer to the side effects of the medication, but it turns out the headaches were in relation to an unrelated allergic reaction, as anti-histamines have cleared that up nicely. Didn't notice any other side effects in that time, and didn't have any shed in the off month. If anything, I feel that the decreased testosterone might be making me less quick to anger, as my friends and fiance have commented that I've been a lot calmer than I have been.

I feel like I've recently begun to experience diminished erections, but still not sure if this is because of the medication or something else in my life. Might just be growing up past the morning wood stage, eh?

Anyways, I thought I'd just pop in and update, because it seems there's so many threads where the user isn't reacting well, I thought it'd be nice to hear a good experience.

Good to hear you are reacting well, but you know we love pics...

I'll see what I can do

The quality of the pics are quite sketchy, all taken with a phone camera, wasn't expecting to share these at any point. No photos from the start of treatment on this phone, but I'll have to look through my older phones at a later date.

It's a bit obsessive to take photos of your hair/scalp, but I find myself doing it if I'm bored