My experiences/thoughts so far during my hairloss journey

Hi all. Ever since I started losing my hair I have made some observations and have some thoughts that maybe you guys can relate to or maybe find interesting.

Quick background:

I am a diffuse thinner all over the top with a bald spot developing in the back. I think I slowly started losing my hair at 18 but it never really bothered me/wasn't noticable until 22. After a period of initial panic I have never been more confident with my body, and the old me would never believe my recent success with the women compared to slumps I use to have when my hair was at it's best.

I started on Propecia and eventually switched to 1/4 proscar and have been on fin for about 7 months now. I added rogaine foam (1x a day at night) at the beginning of the 5th month. I think I started using 1% Niz at the 4th month. I recently added 3% Salicylic azelediac (sp) shampoo (walgreens brand) that I alternate with Niz every other day.

When I go out I use dermmatch and nanogen just for my bald spot.

I unfortantely didn't take photos until the 3rd month. I took them again at the 5th month and will be taken them again next week. I have not looked at them yet, as I'm likely going to continue my regimen for at least another 8 months before making any adjustments.

Can't really tell if I'm making any progress yet.

/background

Anyways, here are some thoughts I wanted to talk about.

-When I was single and I was leaving a bar with a girl, I agressively would try to get her to my place instead of vice versa. This way there was much less to worry about in terms of concealers getting spotted on sheets and pillows, being able to apply them in the morning, etc. It's borderline hillarious the excuses I tried to make. The truth is that all the times I have slept over a girls or a friends place, everyone looks like crap the next day and I've stopped worrying as much as I used to. Not once did I get a "Did half of your hair run away in the middle of the night?" type comment, because no one is investigating your head like yourself.

-Concealer or no concealer, the average guy and girl doesn't like getting their hair went in the pool/ocean when socially interacting. Even before using concealers I was this way.

-Because I have really straight hair, it was more obvious to me that my hair was thinning, but this is almost a blessing in disguise that I am able to recognize it and get on treatments earlier, compared to the guys who appear to have a full head of hair due to their texture, when in reality they are losing their hair at the same pace as us. If the treatments help maintain my hair, I will be a lot better off at 30 compared to those types.

-Once you hit that mid twenties age group...so many dudes have some type of recession/thinning. I initially was freaking about about my hairline receding/hair thinning when in actuality it was happening to everybody. Girls of this age are not investigating your scalp like we do lol. It's like why did I care so much? It's really just another change in life that I wasn't ready for.
If you were a good looking guy before hairloss, bottom line is your still going to be reasonably good looking after. Face > hair, always.

-It wasn't until recently that I tried leaving the Niz/3% SA shampoo in my hair for a generous period of time (5min). I'll even step out of the shower, dry off and hang out before stepping back in to rinse it out. It definitely feels like it absorbs in my hair better and I definitely recommend it.

-They say we lose 50% of our hair before we even notice that we are losing it. It seems like a lot of us fall into that "too little too late" category, where we would have acheived the best results starting fin before we even worried about our hair loss, since fin is more likely to maintain than regrow. When I have kids, do I tell them to get on fin right away when I think it's going...probably not because that could be very devestating mentally.

- I may have gotten the best results from fin/minox if I started fin back in college. But I went through a period of a couple months were my johnson was out of wack, which might have been really disturbing in college...but all the times I couldn't get it up anyway due to being plastered, I guess I would disguise the low libido well lol.

-I feel for all you guys that are losing significant hair before you graduate college. It's got to be hard as hell to try to do a regimen/apply concealers in a dormitory setting. Much respect, things definitely get easier after college when you have your own bathroom and your own room.

-The more I apply my regimen/concealers, the more it just seems like an everyday chore like brushing your teeth, and the less bothersome it becomes.

-I love these sites that help cope/teach us about hairloss, but staying off the forums is very benefical in my opinion in terms of not worrying about the hair loss.

I will try to update in the future.

yeah, I basically agree with everything you said.


I truly wish I started researching this madly earlier, would have changed my life. Right now my regimen seems to definitely be working though. Whatever thinning I had in the back or top of my head has basically 90+% restored. I only say 90 instead of 100% because I can never be sure. It looks as full as it can be.

The front has been thinning for 3-4 years though and there is no way I can get the temple hair back. But it is also getting a lot thicker in a sense.

I have a lot of small/medium length frontal hairs that are growing since they shed a month or so ago. I am hoping they add thickness to my look... I am not getting a hair cut again, at least not for a very very long time.


Hair loss is definitely a pain in the ass. A very expensive and time consuming one. It also drains you a lot mentally. My hair loss is at a point where I will look like a baby if I cry over it, because it looks ok now. It's far from super crap...but very far from awesome. I really miss my hair... owell :)


I am looking to get a good result with my regimen and I will continue using my products until a cure comes along.


If I could choose to do this all over again, I would NOT.

KeepTheHair, what is your regimen?

Current:

Finasteride 1mg (April 21, 2010)(1mg/day)
Minoxidil 2%,5% and 15% (April 13, 2010)
Ketoconazole 2% / salicylic acid 3%(April 21, 2010)(Every Other day, 10-50min leave on)
Spironolactone Lotion 5% (May 8, 2010)(once daily)
MSM(Methylsulfonylmethane) (May 10, 2010)(2000mg-8000mg daily)
Biotin 5000µg

Soon:

Retin-A liquid 0.025%
Derma Roller 1mm





I go crazy, I know. But obviously most of my results are due to the big 3, especially minoxidil. Finasteride or a ketoconazole shampoo does not give results this fast, they are more long term than minoxidil. I owe my results to to the minoxidil that I use, once a day.

Maybe i should consider beginning on minoxidil too. But isn't it a hassle applying it? Also i think i have read that it can make your skin look older?

There is no proof that it causes wrinkles or whatever nonsense. I don't believe in that anymore I did for a while though.

It's not really that much of a hassle if your not getting side effects. You just apply it, comb your hair and go. That easy... Dr. Lees 15% ******* plus is a bit sucky in the sense that it makes your hair look like complete garbage. But he does have good solutions like the #500 and the other 12.5% liquid. They leave your hair looking good. I plan on getting the 12.5 next time.

Minoxidil really works dude, it really does. I highly recommend it. It will make all the hair near where you use it "better". It is really working for me. I have grown a decent amount of "new" hair. But most of it's effect comes from making all my other crap hair better. It really shows. It's a miracle in a sense and I am glad we have at least this treatment and finasteride today. That combined with a good shampoo is good and sufficient treatment in like 90% of people if you ask me.

I only use it once a day. Probably smart to use it twice a day at first for the first few months, or even the first year...for faster results. I used it 3x a day in my first month.

But how do you apply the minoxidil? And can you use it all over the head?

Great post, StayStrongMen...a lot of good advice and interesting insights!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jewil

But how do you apply the minoxidil? And can you use it all over the head?

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You CAN use it all over the head. But this is actually more of a hassle because:

You have higher chance of side effects if you use more of it at once.
It will be more expensive.
Much more annoying.



But it will make your hair a lot thicker if you stick with it. Just remember that minoxidil spreads well beneath the skin and you don't have to apply that much. I have the habit of overdoing it, big.

But minoxidil really is an amazing product and I highly recommend it. It will probably give most people better results than a hair transplant if it works for you...since even if you do get a few thousand new hairs the other will still be "pathetic" like mine was. This has made all my hair "better"...even those who did not shed.

KeepTheHair - I remember you talking about Biotin on another forum. Did you find any study that provided some anecdotal evidence towards it being beneficial for hair loss? I'd love to see it - also, I'm curious about MSM. Can you tell us a bit about it?