Requesting pointers (New member)

[dogrosie]

Hey all . My first ever post!!

When I was 18 my hair was thick like a toilet brush, but then the front started to go. This bothered me, but not half as much as the top thinning does, which is now the case at the grand old age of 23. My Grandfather on my Mother's side has fully bald at age 21 so I think the thickness of my hair has bought me a few years, but is still doomed to die!

I have bought:
12 months supply 5% Minoxidil (Kirkland) - I apply once a day at bedtime.
1 pack of finasteride 5mg - I have taken 0.8mg-ish, then left a few days, then took another 0.8mg-ish. It made my man parts useless for the best part of a week! Couldn't even get to half mast! I have not taken it since.
2 bottles of Nizorale shampoo - I use it twice a week.
Prostate general health tablets - 320mg saw palmetto, 480mg pumpkin seed oil plus a few other things.
MSM Sulphur tablets 1000mg (not sure what they do but Spex takes them and they are cheap).

Here are some pictures of me after taking my first day of 'treatment'. Taking photos in the mirror with the light on looks awful and my camera phone makes it look better than it is.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/84 ... 34348.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/71 ... 34243.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/32 ... 34238.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/10 ... 34228.jpg/

I am looking for general help and pointers.
My only real concerns are about Finasteride side effects. I want to take the minimum dose possible, which from what I have read online can be far lower than 1mg. I have never been diagnosed with anything but I am a general worrier so I just want to take the smallest dose I can get away with . Most of my knowledge has come from the Spexhair videos.

Last week I visited the doctor about hairloss. He had never heard of saw parmetto and also said finasteride was a bad idea as I should not be cutting tablets up - I would need to be on a controlled dose and checked on periodically.

Thanks in advance for any pointers! I realise I have asked a few questions but I know I am in the best place for some good honest answers .

EDIT: I am not looking for a hair transplant, I want to keep onto the hair I have left!

[Tracy C]

I am looking for general help and pointers.

Hello,

Start here:

http://www.americanhairloss.org/

Book an appointment with a doctor who specializes in treating hair loss.

The most important thing you need to do to treat hereditary hair loss is lower DHT. That means either taking Finasterie or Dutasteride. If you cannot take Finasteride, you probably cannot take Dustasteride either because Dutasteride is more likely to give you negative sexual side effects than Finasteride.

There is no good evidence that Saw Palmetto is helpful in treating hereditary hair loss. However, if it actually could do anything helpful to treat hereditary hair loss, it would likely have a similar side effect profile as Finasteride.

The bottom line is if you are unable or unwilling to take the medication that can block DHT from damaging your hair follicles, you need to learn how to come to terms with your hair loss and accept that you are going to loose your hair. It's not so terrible if a guy can find a way to live with it. Many guys do. Go out and live your life.

Using Minoxidl can buy you some time with your hair - but without blocking DHT it is a very steep uphill battle. You want to use the medicine twice a day to get the most benefit from it. It is a good idea to use Rogaine foam at least in the morning and save the inexpensive generic Minoxidil for your evening dose. It is also a good idea to taper up to the proper dose over time. If you decide to stop using Minoxidl, taper off of it over time as well.

Nizoral can be a helpful adjunct to your regimen. Just make sure not to use Nizoral more than twice per week. Also, consider giving the laser comb a try.

[JamesF1]

Here is an alternative idea to Tracy's (if you can't afford 3-4K a year on your hair)
Stick with Minoxidil. Try a little higher dosage 10% or even 15% (careful though, that stuff dilates your veins), and add proper shampoo to that just like this one: Perfect Hair Shampoo or something similar...

[Tracy C]

Here is an alternative idea to Tracy's (if you can't afford 3-4K a year on your hair)...

3-4K a year? Are you serious? It doesn't cost anywhere near that much.

Higher dose Minoxidil blends are not a good idea. There is no benefit to using blends of Minoxidil higher than 5% strength. The higher blends do not make the medicine more efecive but the higher blends do increase your chances of experiencing the possible negative side effects of the medicine. This is why the FDA does not approve of any blend that has a higher percentage of Minoxidil than 5%. 5% is enough. Stick with 5%.

[JamesF1]

Well... just to make an appointment with the doctor is $285 here in California.

And, I've talked to a handful of people that were very upset that 10%, 15% got pulled out of the market, cause that was the only option for them that provided any hair growth. And you're correct, higher dosage increases the possibility of a negative reaction, cause after all minoxidil was designed as a dilater.

BTW. Would you know which one of these is better?
1) Rogaine
2) Corvinex
3) Kirkland