My Finasteride progress

[z06guy]

I'm going to use this thread for the purpose of keeping track of my progress with pictures and info. I'll try to update every month or every few months. The lighting is POWERFUL so it is very possible to see my scalp, but under normal lighting it looks decent. Any constructive advice or comments are welcomed.

Short history: I'm a healthy 25 year old male. I have no history of health problems at all. (knock on wood) I am in excellent shape, six pack abs, good muscle definition, etc... I work out three times a week. I only took whey protein one month for my work out regiment but I recently dropped it out because it was making me break out. Otherwise I take no supplements for working out.

I think I'm in the early stages of NW2 now. I've slowly been losing hairs around the temples for years, my hairline has gone up just a bit, and I think I'm diffuse thinning on top of my scalp as well. The hair around my temples are maybe half the size of the thicker hairs and not as black. If they thicken up I will be back to NW1 or NW1.5. My right side temple seems to be further progressed. It's still pretty dense on the sides and back though.

I used to be able to style my hair any which way I wanted. Now it's a lot thinner and doesn't feel as manageable. If I style the front of my hair with gel or slick it back it doesn't look so good because the hairs aren't as thick as before. My nickname is 'Superman' and my hair has a lot to do with that. If I continue losing my hair my new nickname might become Lex Luthor. lol.

My current regimen:

-0.5mg of Finasteride everyday at around noon. (Started 12/18/2012)

-Nizoral 1% twice per week.

-HairOmega 3 in 1 tablets twice a day. (many great ingredients for healthy hair in this multivitamin) Supposedly it helps block Type 1 5-alpha reductase.

-Avalon organics biotin b complex thickening shampoo. ph balanced.

-Super Lysine plus tablets (500mg each) twice per day on empty stomach. (morning, evening)

-One fish oil capsule once a day with lunch. (333mg of fish oil daily)

-Green tea every morning and plenty of water throughout the day.

I know it takes a few months to lower serum DHT levels by a large margin so I'll be patient. I hope to look back in about a year or so and see a noticeable difference.

Day 1 pictures:

[z06guy]

Month one update:

Note: I did get a haircut so the hair is shorter.

I think I've noticed a lot more shedding. I notice my hairs fall out a bit more easier than before when running my hands through my hair or taking a shower. A lot of them have the bulbs on the end of them so it tells me they've reached the end of their cycle. I'd like to think it's because of the finasteride.

I believe most of these hairs are shedding from around my temples and crown. There are some thick hairs that shed here and there as well but I think that's just 'normal' shedding. We do shed up to 100 hairs a day after all.

After 3-4 months I'll hopefully start seeing thicker hairs start to grown in their place. (fingers crossed). I still have a lot of thin hairs around my temples. They're not velus hairs, they look like very thin black hair, they don't get as long as the hair in the center of my hairline. If they get thicker I'll be on my way to NW1. If the fin and nizoral revitalize some dormant hair follices I'll be even more happy.

So far no side effects. If anything I'd say this regimen has been clearing up my face of acne/reducing frequency of them. Two birds, one stone kind of deal. I'll try to post another update in one month.

Day 30 pictures:

[z06guy]

Thanks bro. Of all people to come and give me advice it's you. I'm truly surprised. I thought you were a troll, but I guess I was wrong.

[clandestine]

Also might want to get tested for food allergies; it was the primary cause of my acne. Expensive, but very worth it.

[Hmmmmm]

Just out of curiosity how much does your regime cost you per month?

The only thing stopping me from starting Propecia is the cost over here in the UK.

[z06guy]

It's actually not that expensive since I don't take the full servings of each. I'll break it down for you with the links so you'll have an idea on how much it'll costs and the exact description of each item.

I bought 360 tablets of fin for about $130 online including priority shipping. It arrived here in the states about a week and a half after my initial order. I went through 4rx. Since I split the pills into 0.5mg it will last me two years.

http://www.4rx.com/

I only take two hairomega pills per day so it's a 45 day supply. I highly recommend anyone here to look at the ingredients on this multivitamin. It's things that most people would agree is very beneficial for hair.

http://www.amazon.com/Hairomega-3---1-Dht-blocking-Circulation/dp/B0046MDK32/ref=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1358873932&sr=1-1&keywords=hairomega+3+in+1

400 capsules of kirkland signature fish oil. One per day = 333mg. 400 day supply. It's pretty good stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/Kirkland-Signature-Natural-Concentrate-Omega-3/dp/B000EQW3ZA/ref=sr_1_2?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1358874019&sr=1-2&keywords=fish+oil

Super lysine. Twice per day = 1000mg. So it lasts me 90 days. I read anecdotal stories online that l lysine along with propecia is a good combination for strengthening hair.

http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Super-Lysine-Tabs-Bottle/dp/B001CMZB4U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358873872&sr=8-1&keywords=super+lysine

Nizoral once or twice a week. I'm still on the original bottle of nizoral I bought around march of 2012 for $15 at wal mart. I use it once or twice a week.

Avalon organics shampoo lasts a very long time. I'd say maybe half a year per bottle. Maybe more depending on how much you use.

http://www.amazon.com/Avalon-Organics-Complex-Thickening-Shampoo/dp/B000IZ8KYU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358873819&sr=8-1&keywords=avalon+organics

Green tea is a subjective thing. It can be cheap or expensive depending on your tastes. I get the decaffeinated salada brand from walmart.


Use of L lysine in the treatment of hair loss:

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6136860/description.html

[dex89]

Great regime, keep at it and please keep us posted.

[z06guy]

Another little update.

My hair was already thinning before but ever since starting finasteride it feels just a little bit thinner than before. I'd say it's more than likely finasteride induced shedding. Here is an updated picture. Hair is just a little bit longer than the previous pic in the last post. Again, these pics are in the same lighting and it's VERY bright. It doesn't look all that bad under normal lighting.

My next post will show what I've decided to do until the new finasteride hairs start kicking in later this year.

[z06guy]

So I decided to go with Nanogen. =) I'm happy to say I have close to a NW1 appearance again. At least with the concealer. I didn't even have to use that much. I wish I had known about this stuff a long time ago. Pictures simply do not do it justice...

Today I pulled out the pomade crew, styled my hair. Waited for it to dry. Then I added the nanogen. And then sealed it in place with a fresh smelling pantene pro v hair styling spray. Again under the same very bright lighting, it's very impressive.

Anytime I've tried adding gel to my hair in the past year or so my hair looked too thin and a lot of scalp showed through... Too much for my liking at least. Now for the first time in years my hair looks very good again. Although this is just a concealer I'm still very glad. It has bought me time until finasteride starts kicking in.

I hope the hairspray doesn't ruin my hair follicles though... That would be a major blow to all the work I'm doing... So far from what I've read it appears to be safe though.

Those out there that are dealing with the early stages of hairloss just know that this stuff can buy you some time until you can come to a solution on what to do.

[BigThinker]

So is 4rx pretty legit? Any other members want to share their experience?

Frankly, I'm strongly considering ordering on-line instead of seeing my derm. Yeah, paying $4 for 5mg generics would be insanely cheap, but frankly I can pay $109 for a two year supply and think nothing of it. In addition, seeing the derm is going to set me back another $60, I don't even know if she'll go for prescribing 5mg pills, and then I have to set up appointments to get my prescription re-filled (probably). In short, if I can cut out the middle woman, I'd be delighted.

4rx site seems way better than inhousepharmacy with respect to cost and delivery time - delivery time is actually what prevented me from ordering from inhouse a week ago.

I'm just curious what confirmation we have than 4rx provides the right chemicals. Any and all input is appreciated.

Thanks.

[drybone]

Wow.

You look great. Keep up the good work.

[akai]

So is 4rx pretty legit? Any other members want to share their experience?

Frankly, I'm strongly considering ordering on-line instead of seeing my derm. Yeah, paying $4 for 5mg generics would be insanely cheap, but frankly I can pay $109 for a two year supply and think nothing of it. In addition, seeing the derm is going to set me back another $60, I don't even know if she'll go for prescribing 5mg pills, and then I have to set up appointments to get my prescription re-filled (probably). In short, if I can cut out the middle woman, I'd be delighted.

4rx site seems way better than inhousepharmacy with respect to cost and delivery time - delivery time is actually what prevented me from ordering from inhouse a week ago.

I'm just curious what confirmation we have than 4rx provides the right chemicals. Any and all input is appreciated.

Thanks.

I used inhouse. Took about 10 business days to get to the U.S. plus the shipping was free. Is 4rx a lot faster??

[akai]

So I decided to go with Nanogen. =) I'm happy to say I have close to a NW1 appearance again. At least with the concealer. I didn't even have to use that much. I wish I had known about this stuff a long time ago. Pictures simply do not do it justice...

Today I pulled out the pomade crew, styled my hair. Waited for it to dry. Then I added the nanogen. And then sealed it in place with a fresh smelling pantene pro v hair styling spray. Again under the same very bright lighting, it's very impressive.

Anytime I've tried adding gel to my hair in the past year or so my hair looked too thin and a lot of scalp showed through... Too much for my liking at least. Now for the first time in years my hair looks very good again. Although this is just a concealer I'm still very glad. It has bought me time until finasteride starts kicking in.

I hope the hairspray doesn't ruin my hair follicles though... That would be a major blow to all the work I'm doing... So far from what I've read it appears to be safe though.

Those out there that are dealing with the early stages of hairloss just know that this stuff can buy you some time until you can come to a solution on what to do.

Wow, that concealer looks great. Does it come out if you touch your hair? I had a little more coverage on my crown but it was thinning similar to yours. Started taking 0.5mg finasteride daily plus Nizoral a few times per week. I started seeing real results around month 8 and at a little over a year my crown filled in nicely. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Aames]

Out of curiosity OP, are you taking pictures dry or wet? I'm going to post pics in a few days for a NW check and want to know what most people are doing. Everyone seems to have black hair and it makes it very hard to tell.

[BigThinker]

I used inhouse. Took about 10 business days to get to the U.S. plus the shipping was free. Is 4rx a lot faster??

10 days? inhouse estimated like 20 some odd days, which was a major deterrent since I see the derm in ~24.

Also, upon further research, 4rx requires a script. If I'm messing with a script, I'm just going to get it from a local pharmacy.

Should I go on-line, I'll just go inhouse. It seems like the most widely accepted?