Best non-finasteride option to stop loss? Help out a returning old timer...

[RockyMtn]

Hey guys, I hope you can help guide me here. To cut straight to the chase, here's my question : If I don't want to use finasteride, what is the single best option right now for simply stopping hairloss in its tracks? If the only focus was to hit the brakes and not worry as much about regrowth, what's the way to go?

So, here's the background... I'm 41, and have been a diffuse thinner for over a decade. Years ago I tried minox, finasteride (dropped because of sides), and whatever else people were trying at the time. I basically just gave up on everything and went years without any treatments. I actually think not worrying about the loss so much may have helped out and let me drag this out longer. Fast forward to today, and I have had a couple of recent things happen (seeing a picture of me with the sun directly overhead, a glimpse of my wet hair in a barber chair, etc) that have freaked me out and have me reading these forums once again. For the most part, I still have good coverage when my hair is dry, which is why I guess I went all these years without giving it too much thought. However, I think I am at the point where if something doesn't happen soon, I'm going to have to reach for the razor in about a year - and I'd really like to avoid that.

Please keep in mind that I am not new to hairloss, but some of the things I see discussed on this board (cetirizine, cb-03-01, RU, laser helmet, OC) are requiring me to read up a good bit. I was excited to hear of the setipiprant news, but I don't think I have 3 years to wait... I followed the thread "We have a vehicle for CB-03-01: VERSAPRO" from start to end - and it just seemed to have died. I have read about "OC", but can't quite figure out what it is.

Here's the deal - I'm trying to be realistic here, and just want to stop the progression for now. If I have to stay somewhat thin up top and my hair looks like crap when wet, I can live with that. I'm hoping there is something I can do to just freeze things in place until a legit regrowth option comes around. (Just 5 more years, right?) I'd love to get tons of regrowth and get my teenage hair back, but I've had enough disappointments that right now all I want to is stop things.

So, back to the original question - what would you guys suggest is the best way to accomplish this? FYI - I am posting this in the 'Cutting Edge / Future Treatments' area because I am not opposed at all to having to order something and make my own treatments. I've been reading these boards a lot lately, but am having a hard time trying to figure out what can help me reach my current goal of just getting to a holding pattern. For example, I have seen some say OC has stopped their loss dead in its tracks, and others saying it did nothing.

If you are still reading, thanks for doing so, and I'd be grateful to hear from anyone who has stopped their loss - even if they have had minimal or no regrowth.

[sdsurfin]

OC and setipiprant have the best promise. CB is just way too expensive at the correct concentration right now. We also have to try to get the price for OC and setipip down though. Google anageninc, that is a guy called kane in china who sells stuff. We are trying to get his to sell OC at a reasonable rate. You might also try RU, but it's an anti androgen with unproven efficacy in the long run, and although I think it's safer than fin (read my last post on the setipiprant buy thread) it is still bad for your body in general.

I am going to try to work out a reasonably priced combination of OC or Setipip with bimatoprost, which might regrow som even at low concentrations, a combo of a PGD2 blocker and booster is , in my mind, the best way to go if you don't want to risk your balls and brain. I want as many of us forum users to work together to make this a reality. If anyone can get reasonably priced BIM please comment and help others out.

[RockyMtn]

Hey sdsurfin, thanks very much for the reply. While I am at it, I want to say I have seen your name come up in several of these threads (I have been reading a lot - but I have tons of catching up to do) and I appreciate all that you and so many others are doing to fight the good fight here. I am certain there are countless lurkers (like I was) who feel the same. So thanks for the effort so many of you are putting into this.

I actually found OC on Kane's site, but it seems like there are several options there. Are people using the 'OC - Ethanol' product? Have you or any others reading this thread had success there? Also, if OC and CB were priced the same and it was reasonable, which would be best for stopping loss? Would love to hear from anyone who has success with any of the options mentioned above.

[FearTheLoss]

OC and setipiprant have the best promise. CB is just way too expensive at the correct concentration right now. We also have to try to get the price for OC and setipip down though. Google anageninc, that is a guy called kane in china who sells stuff. We are trying to get his to sell OC at a reasonable rate. You might also try RU, but it's an anti androgen with unproven efficacy in the long run, and although I think it's safer than fin (read my last post on the setipiprant buy thread) it is still bad for your body in general.

I am going to try to work out a reasonably priced combination of OC or Setipip with bimatoprost, which might regrow som even at low concentrations, a combo of a PGD2 blocker and booster is , in my mind, the best way to go if you don't want to risk your balls and brain. I want as many of us forum users to work together to make this a reality. If anyone can get reasonably priced BIM please comment and help others out.

Sd, I'm in the same boat as you I think. Let's try to get on these. I'll help in any way possible and we can both start our regimin at the same time and track our progress together

[sdsurfin]

I have not seen CB priced reasonably anywhere, because you need high concentrations. Nobody has had success at low concentrations. I also have heard from a few sources that it is not a potent anti-androgen. OC and setipiprant work on the exact receptor that Cotsarellis' team at UPenn identified as being key in hair loss. These are really the maintenance drugs that we should be pursuing IMO. CB and SM could be out in a few years and might be good for maintenance and regrowth, but we don't know enough about them yet. Although we could probably find out what the concentrations are being used for SM and get kane on that too. We should ask him about it. That could be the best regrowth option right now, as they are recruiting high nor woods for those trials.

Vis a vis kane, I think the ethanol OC version is the way to go. Where did you see that, can you send a link? I couldn't find it. I think the original version was not very soluble, and he developed a new one. We gotta try it to see if it works.

[RockyMtn]

Vis a vis kane, I think the ethanol OC version is the way to go. Where did you see that, can you send a link? I couldn't find it. I think the original version was not very soluble, and he developed a new one. We gotta try it to see if it works.

I'm not sure if I'm able to post links here, but I'll try : http://www.thekaneshop.com/index.php/oc-ethanol-1g.html

If that doesn't work, go to thekaneshop dot com and search 'OC' - that's how I found it. I'm assuming the ethanol version would get mixed with something like Everclear? From other threads I have seen, that appears to be the case, but I want to make sure I have this right. I have seen some 'how to' guides for RU. Has anyone put one together for OC, by chance?

[sdsurfin]

We need to get the price of this down. Everybody please email Kane and maybe we can get a group buy done. Even if we can cut it down to 100 bucks per gram that would be much more realistic. One guy on the web was getting good results with 2%, which would end up being 400 plus bucks per small bottle, which might last you a month. crazy. Kane is selling RU for like 28 bucks per gram, and theres no reason it should be easier to make. It's all about demand. Lets please get on this.

[RockyMtn]

OK guys, after a lot of reading and research over the past few days (sdsurfin, you deserve an award for your contributions here), I'm thinking about giving OC a try, as well as the currently available low strength bimatoprost.

Regarding the bimatoprost, I'm guessing the solutions currently available aren't going to be strong enough to do anything for me, but I was intrigued by this study that I saw posted in another thread : https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/...62?sect=X01256 Latisse is pricey, but it looks like 'Careprost' is the same thing, and a bit cheaper - but still expensive for a diffuse thinner like me. Has anyone ordered from these guys before? http://www.alldaychemist.com/careprost.html Any experiences to share? I'm contemplating ordering some and maybe just treating a specific area and monitoring it to keep costs down. After reading up on bimatoprost, the thought of maybe getting a stronger formula in the future is pretty exciting.

For the OC, I have read several threads where people have tried it, and it does seem promising. Per my earlier post, if I could just hit the brakes on losing more, I'd be cool with it (for now), so hopefully this can do it. I'm not clear on the desired vehicle or strength for this, though. Is there a general consensus on this? I'd hate to end up using more than needed with the high cost, but I also don't want to end up with a solution that isn't strong enough when maybe a higher concentration would have done the trick. Any insight on this would be appreciated!

[Nerve]

Dont overlook Minox.
I thought this was quite interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd1VQIxyK0c

[RockyMtn]

That is indeed interesting, Nerve - thanks for the link. When I tried minox in the past, I never felt like it was doing anything at all, but maybe I need to consider revisiting it. I wonder if a small bottle of bimatoprost would mix with minoxidil? Anyone tried or heard any stories about that?

Also, still trying to figure out the ideal vehicle and mixture strength for the OC ethanol powder. Anybody with experience care to chime in?