My Hair Loss. In need of opinions/advice/help.

[amyors]

OK, so, I am 27 years old, and have been noticing my hair loss for a few years now. I am losing a little from the hairline, but mostly developing a large thinning/bald patch at my crown.

Looking for some opinions and advice on how to keep battling this thing.

I have been on Finasteride for a little over 18 months now. I really did feel like it was helping. The main thing I noticed was a massive reduction in the amount of dandruff and itchiness I had in my scalp, and I suppose a little less hairs on the pillow in the morning and in the shower etc. I have attached a picture showing my progress. Ordered chronologically from top to bottom, those photos were taken over the last 12 months. I know they aren't a very good record (different cameras, lighting and hairstyles in many of them) but they still give at least an idea of what I am dealing with.



Basically, a slightly higher hairline doesn't bother me too much, but for me a big bald patch is a real dealbreaker. So firstly, wondering what people think, how bad is it, and do I have any chance of winning this thing? Does it look like its getting worse? Or stabilising? I still lose a lot of hair every day, on the pillow and in the shower... At the moment i can JUST ABOUT live with it, although I do really hate it still. If i lose much more off the back it will have to go. Ideally I would like to re-grow a little if possible. I know I will never have a fully thick head of hair back there, but if I could just thicken it up a little I actually think I could be OK with it.

So that brings me to the next question. Because I really wanted to start thickening it up, I decided to try minoxodil a few weeks ago. I got the liquid (with the eye-dropper) and started applying twice a day. My hair started falling out like crazy. Now I know there is SUPPOSED to be a shed and everyone is sick of saying "shedding means its working, ride it out". The issue was it wasn't just a shed, it was also CRAZY dandruff. Like INSANE amounts. I could have shampooed with Nizoral the night before and would still wake up with my pillow COVERED in dandruff. It was really gross. I was worried that maybe it could have been caused by something else, and wanted to be sure, so I stopped the Minoxodil after about 2 weeks (about a week ago) and the dandruff went away within a couple of days, although I am still shedding a lot more than I was before. So it seems like it was definitely caused by the Minox.

So my main question is, is the dandruff a normal part of the shedding process? It doesn't seem like that would be normal if the shedding is just caused by newer, stronger hairs coming in to replace the old ones. Has anyone else experienced the dandruff at first using Minox but then it has faded? Should I try just using it once a day? Or using the foam instead? Or is my scalp probably just always going to have a bad reaction to Minox which will cause more bad than good. If anyone could shed light on this I would be really appreciative as I actually feel like I am probably quite a good candidate for Minox (just need a little regrowth and I would be OK with my hair).

Sorry for the long post... 2 years of stressing about my hair all coming out at once. If anyone could help that would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[MrJangles]

OK, so, I am 27 years old, and have been noticing my hair loss for a few years now. I am losing a little from the hairline, but mostly developing a large thinning/bald patch at my crown.

Looking for some opinions and advice on how to keep battling this thing.

I have been on Finasteride for a little over 18 months now. I really did feel like it was helping. The main thing I noticed was a massive reduction in the amount of dandruff and itchiness I had in my scalp, and I suppose a little less hairs on the pillow in the morning and in the shower etc. I have attached a picture showing my progress. Ordered chronologically from top to bottom, those photos were taken over the last 12 months. I know they aren't a very good record (different cameras, lighting and hairstyles in many of them) but they still give at least an idea of what I am dealing with.



Basically, a slightly higher hairline doesn't bother me too much, but for me a big bald patch is a real dealbreaker. So firstly, wondering what people think, how bad is it, and do I have any chance of winning this thing? Does it look like its getting worse? Or stabilising? I still lose a lot of hair every day, on the pillow and in the shower... At the moment i can JUST ABOUT live with it, although I do really hate it still. If i lose much more off the back it will have to go. Ideally I would like to re-grow a little if possible. I know I will never have a fully thick head of hair back there, but if I could just thicken it up a little I actually think I could be OK with it.

So that brings me to the next question. Because I really wanted to start thickening it up, I decided to try minoxodil a few weeks ago. I got the liquid (with the eye-dropper) and started applying twice a day. My hair started falling out like crazy. Now I know there is SUPPOSED to be a shed and everyone is sick of saying "shedding means its working, ride it out". The issue was it wasn't just a shed, it was also CRAZY dandruff. Like INSANE amounts. I could have shampooed with Nizoral the night before and would still wake up with my pillow COVERED in dandruff. It was really gross. I was worried that maybe it could have been caused by something else, and wanted to be sure, so I stopped the Minoxodil after about 2 weeks (about a week ago) and the dandruff went away within a couple of days, although I am still shedding a lot more than I was before. So it seems like it was definitely caused by the Minox.

So my main question is, is the dandruff a normal part of the shedding process? It doesn't seem like that would be normal if the shedding is just caused by newer, stronger hairs coming in to replace the old ones. Has anyone else experienced the dandruff at first using Minox but then it has faded? Should I try just using it once a day? Or using the foam instead? Or is my scalp probably just always going to have a bad reaction to Minox which will cause more bad than good. If anyone could shed light on this I would be really appreciative as I actually feel like I am probably quite a good candidate for Minox (just need a little regrowth and I would be OK with my hair).

Sorry for the long post... 2 years of stressing about my hair all coming out at once. If anyone could help that would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Minox seems like a great fit for you but you have a sensitive scalp. The generic liquid form of Minox also gave my scalp a lot of issues. It seemed to cake on, create intense itching and dandruff. It certainly didn't feel like my scalp was healthy when I was on it. I strongly suggest Minox foam, it's night and day. No irritation at all and I can even apply it when my scalp is moist so it penetrates deeper. When it is applied correctly it looks like shaving cream almost. The biggest difference between the liquid and foam is the foam does not contain alcohol. Give the foam a try and I'm pretty sure you won't notice any issues. Mine corrected itself within days of the switch.

[Notcoolanymore]

In the third to the last picture your crown looks like it improved from your first few pics. So I would say with those results, fin is definitely making a difference. Moving on to minox. I also had the dandruff issue with minox. Not as bad as you describe, but it is definitely there and I have to constantly use anti dandruff shampoo to try to control it. I have been on minox for a 5 1/2 months now and I would say for the most part my scalp has adjusted and I don't get as many flakes as I used to, but they are still there from time to time. Like the previous poster said give the foam a try, it might make a difference.

[capitan]

I don't know anything about Minoxidil since I don't think it's worth it in my case.

But as for Finasteride, in my opinion, it's working for you.

Your hair definitely did not get worse in my opinion.

Actually, people will believe their own hair got much worse when it has stayed more or less the same. I'm like that.

But even you believe it has stopped the hair loss, and if in 18 months you aren't sure if you lost some, then you most likely haven't. In just 3 months without any treatments my left temple completely disappeared, and I have pictures to prove it.

So in 18 months without treatment you probably would have had a slick solar panel.

But if in all that time you're still asking for opinions on whether or not you've lost some, I'd say you're maintaining. To me it looks like it. And you will continue maintaining for many years to come.

Congratulations

[amyors]

Thanks for the advice guys.

You know, you are kind of right. Whether or not it is completely maintaining or not, looking at the pictures over the last 12 months, it is definitely not degrading as much as I had thought. I had never really looked at the pictures like that until I put them together for this post.

Its so weird though because I see people on here talking about losing 5+ hairs a day, or 20+ or 100+... I'm waking up every morning with my pillow and bed COVERED in hair, then losing at least 40 more on my hair brush. I'm at MINIMUM 100+ EVERY DAY. It is literally multiple hundreds when I wash it. Like just handfuls and handfuls of hair when I shampoo and condition, its crazy.

Either way, I think I will definitely try the Minox foam. I will just be extra diligent with the anti-dandruff stuff on top of that and see how it looks again in another 6 months..

Thanks everyone. Much appreciated.

[MrJangles]

Thanks for the advice guys.

You know, you are kind of right. Whether or not it is completely maintaining or not, looking at the pictures over the last 12 months, it is definitely not degrading as much as I had thought. I had never really looked at the pictures like that until I put them together for this post.

Its so weird though because I see people on here talking about losing 5+ hairs a day, or 20+ or 100+... I'm waking up every morning with my pillow and bed COVERED in hair, then losing at least 40 more on my hair brush. I'm at MINIMUM 100+ EVERY DAY. It is literally multiple hundreds when I wash it. Like just handfuls and handfuls of hair when I shampoo and condition, its crazy.

Either way, I think I will definitely try the Minox foam. I will just be extra diligent with the anti-dandruff stuff on top of that and see how it looks again in another 6 months..

Thanks everyone. Much appreciated.

Hey man, just a heads up. I have seriously dry skin and hair. Real bad. The Niz is enough, I wouldn't be mixing Niz with Zinc Pyrithione (Head and Shoulders Anti Dandruff) or even T-Gel. The Niz is enough, if you start using anti dandruff shampoos everyday, mixing them together, it can actually irritate the scalp further.

[amyors]

Hey man, just a heads up. I have seriously dry skin and hair. Real bad. The Niz is enough, I wouldn't be mixing Niz with Zinc Pyrithione (Head and Shoulders Anti Dandruff) or even T-Gel. The Niz is enough, if you start using anti dandruff shampoos everyday, mixing them together, it can actually irritate the scalp further.

Oh OK. So you would just use Niz once a week, and just a regular shampoo the rest of the time?

[MrJangles]

Oh OK. So you would just use Niz once a week, and just a regular shampoo the rest of the time?

Niz twice a week and standard shampoo the other days. Just try and keep it consistent with the brands you're using on non Niz days. This is my personal experience, so you could react differently, but I would say the worst my scalp has ever felt was on Niz, head and shoulders, and generic Minox liquid. I was dying. The Niz didn't even provide relief. Now I'm Niz on, Standard Shampoo, and Minox Foam. Head feels heavenly and I have zero dandruff whatsoever.