Hi guys just starting on treatment...

[Rochester]

Hey guys, been a long time lurker and listener to the bald truth and thought i'd post up here since i've just started treatment. I'm 25 from the UK have luckily quite thick hair but am receding in a nw 2.5-3 pattern.

I have some baldness on both sides of the family. Although my temples aren't slick bald, there are a lot of diffuse and miniaturized hairs around them and fingers crossed these get healthier and thicker with treatment. I know fin isn't proved to work on the front or the hairline but even if it strengthens what i've got it will make a cosmetic difference. Also i would like to prevent any further loss that may occur if my crown starts going as well.

It took me about 2 years to come round to treating my hair loss and i'm pissed off i scared myself off finasteride for so long. I tried loads of other 'treatments' like spiro, saw palmetto, coconut oil, willing it to stop, but nothing worked, although i did find quitting smoking definately thickened up my hair and generally made it more healthy.

Anyway i am currently tapering onto a regime using Spex's transition theory idea, hoping to get to .25/.5 a day of finpecia, currently i'm taking 0.25 3xaweek for another week and then will bump it up to 4 for 2 weeks and then 5 and so on. So i've been taking it for 5 weeks but gradually increasing the dosage. I have also been using Nizoral and PO shampoo which i feel has definitely helped somewhat.

Feelings so far: The first 2 weeks on a low dose i took i felt some ball ache and had some anxiety spells, but i'm pretty certain that was just in my mind and i'm perfectly fine now. I also had a slight drop in libido for the first few days but all seems good now. I know it feels too soon but i am also shedding a bit more than usual as well, hopefully thats a good thing.

The biggest thing thats bugging me at the moment now is how long it's going to take to see any results, and being able to get through any sheds that may occur. I'm truly kicking myself for not starting this process last year, as round about now I would be seeing if it worked or not, and may have saved a bit more hair.

My plan is to give it a full year before i add anything like minoxidil. If i can maintain and thicken up with fin what i have until some better treatments come out like Bim or histogen i'll be happy. I'm cautiously optimistic about these new treatments, but don't think they'll be available for awhile, a couple of years at least.

I'll update this thread with pics etc. if i notice any changes concerns with my hair or side effects but am also gonna try to stay away from hairloss forums because it feels like an exercise in futility sometimes, for every post where someone's had a massive shed and grown loads back there's someone who hasn't and you can pretty much find whatever opinion or fear or confidence booster you are looking for if you want. Saying that, i think this forum would really benefit from a 'success stories' sub forum just to give some of the younger guys a bit of hope.

Anyway thanks for reading, and thank you Spencer and Spex for all the help you are giving this community.

Cheers,

Rochester

[Rochester]

Hey Guys quick update:

been on .25mg of Fin for what must be coming up to 3 months, but some of those weeks i was tapering on to the drug. Observations:

I no longer have the mpb inflammation itch thing that i used to get.

I am shedding a bit, hopefully a good thing, mostly in the front as well which was the area i wanted to treat. Fingers crossed this means the treatment is working and the hair will grow back thicker. At the moment i'm probably worse than baseline but i can't really tell if it is just the natural mpb progression or its the fin. Hopefully it's a sign that the stuff is working.

Side effect wise, nothing really to report. have dips in my libido sometimes but that was like that before. I'd have moments where i thought the fin was doing something to me but it always turned out to be something else like alcohol or illness or stress, it's crazy how quickly we jump to conclusions.

Apart from that i feel fine and generally happier that i'm finally treating my hair loss. It's frustrating though waiting for results and i hope the shed turns around at some point soon..

Anyway i'll drop another update if i notice any changes

[dex89]

Hey Guys quick update:

been on .25mg of Fin for what must be coming up to 3 months, but some of those weeks i was tapering on to the drug. Observations:

I no longer have the mpb inflammation itch thing that i used to get.

I am shedding a bit, hopefully a good thing, mostly in the front as well which was the area i wanted to treat. Fingers crossed this means the treatment is working and the hair will grow back thicker. At the moment i'm probably worse than baseline but i can't really tell if it is just the natural mpb progression or its the fin. Hopefully it's a sign that the stuff is working.

Side effect wise, nothing really to report. have dips in my libido sometimes but that was like that before. I'd have moments where i thought the fin was doing something to me but it always turned out to be something else like alcohol or illness or stress, it's crazy how quickly we jump to conclusions.

Apart from that i feel fine and generally happier that i'm finally treating my hair loss. It's frustrating though waiting for results and i hope the shed turns around at some point soon..

Anyway i'll drop another update if i notice any changes

Thanks for the update, keep at it and stick threw the sides.

[Rochester]

Quick update:

Been on .25mg fin and niz for 5 months today, but tapered on. so been on a dose everyday for about 3 months.

Hair is okish, hairline seems to be getting worse on the right side and generally doesn't feel as thick as it used to, but i'm assuming this is due to the sheds. Just out of interest it appears that with many success stories stuff got worse before it got better? Has anyone experienced this? I'm lucky in that with styling i can generally hide my hairline, but it's kind of bugging me. Just got to keep the faithgoing to stick it out i guess. It's annoying though because i'm an actor by profession and getting headshots and shooting films not looking your best is frustrating. Any 'it got worse before it got better' stories you want to throw my way won't go unappreciated.

Side effects: nothing to report at all. Libidowise, I'm on the first week of a 3 month nofap regime and that makes your libido go all over the place, so hopefully after that i'll be able to properly judge, but to be honest if there is any effect from propecia it is so negligible that I could just be making it up in my mind. Sometimes I'll have a busy week and forget i even take the stuff. So happy i can tolerate the stuff.

Anyway will update in a few months see if anythings changed etc. but yeah any 'it got worse before it got better' stories would be great (and on the flip side 'i'm in the same boat' stories are really discouraging so please don't post them here thanks)

Cheers

Rochester

[Rochester]

Quick update 2:

Coming up to 7 months on .25mg fin and niz. Things seem to be going well, shedding a lot less and my hair feels much thicker. Hairline is a bit meh and there is miniaturization there but hard to tell if it's velus hair's thickening up and thinning down. Happy with the treatment at this point though, my hairline has much more of a 'line' to it even if it is a bit receded. I think I can carry off the NW2.5-3 look anyway as my hair is very course which gives it more volume. The rate that i was receding has definitely slowed. No sides to report except a bit more confidence. Will post another update if i see any changes..

[bobbyt]

Hey man thanks for updating this thread with your progress - I think it works really well when you update it every couple of months or so, keep it up!

Your experience with fin sounds similar to my own. I feel my hair really started to improve (as in starting to thicken up and feel healthier overall) around the 6 month mark - I didn't have any real devastating sheds, perhaps after a couple of months from memory I was shedding, but again it wasn't that noticeable.

I also have experienced hardly any sides thankfully, except the slight ball ache like you say you experienced at the beginning (for me that was just in the first week or so that's it). I'm at 9 months now and my hair looks the best its ever been, so fingers crossed we both keep progressing well.

I didn't taper on to it like you, although I do see the logic in doing that. I just use the usual (at least I think its the usual!) 1mg amount (branded propecia) everyday, have done since day 1. I also use Niz 2% twice a week - and I'm not on minox just yet, I think I might wait a while before committing to that!

[BigThinker]

Thanks for the update Rochester.

I'm genuinely impressed you've stayed strong with the relatively low dose (0.25 mg). I started at 0.625 mg and escalated the dosage to 1.25 mg within two months.

Regardless, it's good of you to be providing regular updates. Have you bothered to take baseline pictures and such?

[Rochester]

Hi Big Thinker,

Yeah that dosage just seemed to be having an effect, like i stopped having the mpb itch and shed for a bit so it is definitely doing something. I said i'd give it a year and reassess and maybe up the dose after then. It also gives me a place to go if things start going down hill as i've seen posts of some ppl upping their dose when things stop working after awhile and getting a successful response. As i've said my hairloss is not that dramatic so the low dose seems to keeping things at bay for now, but it's still early days and it might end up going down hill at some point.

I have sort of took baseline picks but they're hardly what you'd call scientific, more like myself pulling back my hairline on photobooth over the years. Thing is with that it really depends on the lighting etc. so it's hard to compare. As i said also my improvement has not been dramatic and i've changed haircuts etc so it's really hard to tell.

[Rochester]

Hey guys quick update, upped the dose to .5mg ed a couple of months back and will be upping it to 1mg ed when i get my next batch in. Still not even a single side effect. Hair is ok, thicker all round in general but hair line on the right seems to be still receding, it's weird i can see loads of what seem like new hairs popping up but they're quite small and velus, and i shed quite a bit the last 2 months in that area , so what i hope has happened is that the hairs have gone into the 'resting' phase so it looks a bit shit now, but will be better later. Realized the other day that i'm still in the early stages of treatment and still not been on fin for even a year yet, and for 0.5mg for about 6 months, so gonna stick it out as i've got nothing to lose (ha). Will update if anything significant happens but yeah, it's hard to to tell with this drug....

[KO1]

What does it mean to have a "slight" drop in libido? How on earth would you realize you had a slight drop?

[BigThinker]

Hey guys quick update, upped the dose to .5mg ed a couple of months back and will be upping it to 1mg ed when i get my next batch in. Still not even a single side effect. Hair is ok, thicker all round in general but hair line on the right seems to be still receding, it's weird i can see loads of what seem like new hairs popping up but they're quite small and velus, and i shed quite a bit the last 2 months in that area , so what i hope has happened is that the hairs have gone into the 'resting' phase so it looks a bit shit now, but will be better later. Realized the other day that i'm still in the early stages of treatment and still not been on fin for even a year yet, and for 0.5mg for about 6 months, so gonna stick it out as i've got nothing to lose (ha). Will update if anything significant happens but yeah, it's hard to to tell with this drug....

My hairline has continued to deteriorate as well, and it's more difficult to assess the rest of my hair since I keep it a couple inches long. Also like you, I keep hoping shed hairs have entered telogen phase, but I hear conflicting opinion on how long that should last. It's certainly not ~2 or 3 months for me, or I'd already be seeing them I'm pretty sure.

It's unrealistic to think we would revert to a thick NW1 off finasteride (I have to tell myself that very often). If we can keep enough up top to frame our face, I think that should make us happy.

Best luck with everything, and take pictures so you can assess efficacy!!!

[Rochester]

Bigthinker: Yeah i agree i'm not gonna hope for a nw1, i doubt i ever have been a nw1 since i was about 11 tbh. I'm just looking for stabilization and to be fair that has been what i have got with most of my hair apart from the hairline, but i'm being very picky and scrutinizing it like hell generally. The thing is i havn't even given it a year, and when i compare to photos from 2 years ago the difference seems fairly negligible. My hairline has fluctuated in the past couple of months sometimes it looks good sometimes it looks awful but i think that's just because i look at it everyday. But better to be optimistic, especially as i'm only 10 months in.

K01: I suppose it's negligible, but it's like when your really tired or really busy and you realize you haven't thought about sex for a bit. It's really subjective, but i suppose that's what i meant. Thing is I'm fine now all systems go, as it were.

[KO1]

K01: I suppose it's negligible, but it's like when your really tired or really busy and you realize you haven't thought about sex for a bit. It's really subjective, but i suppose that's what i meant. Thing is I'm fine now all systems go, as it were.

I appreciate your response. Keeping in mind that sex drive is variable and affected by a lot of things, like stress, I just tend to be skeptical when people note a "small" decrease in libido...that's all.

But your response makes sense.

[Rochester]

KO1: Yeah i completely agree with you, i just think when i posted that i was hyper aware of any potential variation. As i said in hindsight it was negligible and i could put it down to a number of things that weren't fin.

[Rochester]

Ok, scratch what i said before, Hairline/temple on the right is taking a sudden beating. receded and thinned out alot in what seems like 2 weeks. Anyone have any experience of this? it's not normal loss as the rate was pretty slow to begin with so probably a shed but still.. hmm.. annoying... again i know i'm in that weird 1st year 8-12 month shit period, but anyone got any positive experiences of things getting worse before they get better, just to humor me if anything, pretty bummed out atm. or just being impatient.