Advice on Prevention

[Nerve]

Oh I do have one more question. What is the best shampoo/conditioner should I be using for someone in my position? I do not want to have special hair loss product and shampoos but I mean, is there any shampoos that are better for men who are not losing yet but think it may be soon? Something really mild right?

[Dan26]

Oh I do have one more question. What is the best shampoo/conditioner should I be using for someone in my position? I do not want to have special hair loss product and shampoos but I mean, is there any shampoos that are better for men who are not losing yet but think it may be soon? Something really mild right?

Well there are a lot of different answers for that. It depends on your specific needs. Are you sensitive to chemicals or fragrance? Is your scalp dry, itchy, inflamed? Is it oily? Scalp heath is important for hair and there are tons of great shampoo's to choose from.

[mpb47]

Within the context of talking about the current treatments as "preventative measures", Finasteride is just as likely to "prevent" further loss in the hair line as it is anywhere else on your scalp. If you actually mean to discus this within the context of "reversal - or regrowth", none of the current treatments work well to regrow hair in the hair line for most males.

Agree but sometimes it can work up front. On rogaine alone I got almost nothing up front. I went on propecia solely to stop a bald spot from forming in the the back. Yet within months my hairline started filling in and even came forward. This was even before i saw any results in the back which took much longer. I didn't even realize how much my hairline had gone back till it filled it,,probably because it happened so slowly.

As to why I got good results up front..I can only speculate..but with myself,my uncle and grandfather we all seem to lose hair faster in the back than in the front. My grandfather still had a small amount of hair in the front long after he was totally bald in the back. And the same thing is happening to my uncle. All of this despite our hairlines receding long before the vertex started. I guess it is a genetic thing..but who knows?

I don't know. Both my brothers are balding in the same pattern. Both of their sons are losing in the same pattern as their fathers. My father never started losing hair until well into his 60's. My sister and I are losing in the same pattern as our mother. We also started losing hair at the same age our mother was when she started losing hair. If it is obviously strong in your family, you are likely going to be effected - unless you are really really lucky.

I think this is certainly true some of the time even though some say you can't look at relatives to predict your own loss. I know I follow my mom's brother and father, even though I did not believe it at first. In my late 20's my grandmother said I would follow them as I already had the same hairline shape. But I had no baldspot so I didn't really believe her. But she said my uncle didn't ether till shortly after 35 or so. By 38 I could see she was right as I had a pic of him at 38 and we even had the same oval shaped thin spot in the back. To me this is good info to know as you can get on meds to avoid or at least slow how fast you join your relatives

I know this is not true all the time but I am convinced that sometimes you will bald just like your relatives.

[Tracy C]

Agree but sometimes it can work up front.

Please note that I did say "for most males". Yes, sometimes some males can get lucky and will regrow hair up front for him - but that is not the norm and it should not be expected or counted on.

[mpb47]

Please note that I did say "for most males". Yes, sometimes some males can get lucky and will regrow hair up front for him - but that is not the norm and it should not be expected or counted on.

Just curious but does it normally grow hair up front for females?

I also wonder if minox may work better for girls....for example:

There is a woman friend I work with that had diffuse thinning on top/back. She was never bald but had clear thinning. I was told she went on minox and now her hair looks completely normal again and has been that way for say 5years now. Minox appears to have completely stopped the process...

Yet for me...while I have had good results from minox, it alone only slows down my loss. Only when I was also on propecia did it completly stop and reverse. Not sure if my example is typical, but just wonder why the difference in results. Any speculation?

[Tracy C]

Just curious but does it normally grow hair up front for females?

Yes. The reason is because most females are not genetically programmed to have an adult mature male hair line. Males who are attempting to regrow hair in there hair line, especially the temples, are fighting against a natural and normal masculine trait - not MPB.

I also wonder if minox may work better for girls....for example:

I do believe Minoxidil works better for females. This is especially true if she has worked with her doctor to determine what is triggering her hair loss and is treating that cause with an appropriate treatment. Though for some women, Minoxidil alone is enough.

There is a woman friend I work with that had diffuse thinning on top/back. She was never bald but had clear thinning. I was told she went on minox and now her hair looks completely normal again and has been that way for say 5years now. Minox appears to have completely stopped the process...

Yet for me...while I have had good results from minox, it alone only slows down my loss. Only when I was also on propecia did it completly stop and reverse. Not sure if my example is typical, but just wonder why the difference in results. Any speculation?

When we are talking about hereditary hair loss, the reason is because males have far more DHT in their bodies than females. Though both males and females who suffer with hereditary hair loss have hair follicles that are more sensative to the damaging effects of DHT, males have much more DHT to fight against. Using Minoxidil alone to fight hereditary hair loss is an uphill battle, especially for males. Males with hereditary hair loss are fight their way up a steeper hill than females who are fighting the same battle.

[inspects]

I know there is the minefield of people giving advice with a vested interest so I am hoping you guys will guide me so I can be better informed.

There is some good information in this Video from Dateline NBC, its old, you may have already watched it, but the results from just Propecia are quite impressive, I know it works well for me also with no side effects.

Cheers,

Dale

[mpb47]

Yes. The reason is because most females are not genetically programmed to have an adult mature male hair line. Males who are attempting to regrow hair in there hair line, especially the temples, are fighting against a natural and normal masculine trait - not MPB.

Didn't think of that but it makes sense. I don't think any women get the puberty hairline change?. And yea long ago, I tried to fight mine too as
I also thought it would quickly spread, which thankfully was not true.

I do believe Minoxidil works better for females. This is especially true if she has worked with her doctor to determine what is triggering her hair loss and is treating that cause with an appropriate treatment. Though for some women, Minoxidil alone is enough.

Do you think it works better strictly due to the difference in DHT or some other factor?

When we are talking about hereditary hair loss, the reason is because males have far more DHT in their bodies than females. Though both males and females who suffer with hereditary hair loss have hair follicles that are more sensative to the damaging effects of DHT, males have much more DHT to fight against. Using Minoxidil alone to fight hereditary hair loss is an uphill battle, especially for males. Males with hereditary hair loss are fight their way up a steeper hill than females who are fighting the same battle.

yea that makes sense but I wonder if there are other factors as well?
The reason I say this is because with age DHT & testosterone is supposed to go down, yet more men start balding the older you get. Kinda an inverse relationship that has always confused me.

As far as the minox not being enough for men I am living proof of that unfortunately. And I hope to be back on propecia soon for this very reason. If my mpb was rapid/aggressive like it is in some men,I could completely understand minox not being enough. But I have had very very gradual mpb. Very slow recession starting around 15-17. The only time it was ever rapid was when my crown started to thin. Otherwise its been a very slow process(30+ years now). So what frustrates me is how I can have such a gradual/slow type of mpb yet it has still been unstoppable, slow as it is. Have you ever heard of anyone else having very slow, but never stopping mpb like this?


I know balding is much harder to deal with for a women, but if it helps, I can say it is a lot more common than people probably realize. I know this because my main branch office is 90% women and there are at least 3 others with some loss. 2 are older (late 50's-early 60's) and have some diffuse crown/top of head thinning. The other one is much younger and has a tiny bit of recession. I used to think it was very rare in women, but I now think it is much more common than I thought.