Shedding and some other symptoms on fin/minox

[hermitcrab28]

Hi all,

Well I've been losing hair steadily over a period of more than a decade, and though it didn't bother me too much, I decided what the hell, I'll give some treatments a try and see what happens. Thin in the front and top, and had a big 2 inch totally bald spot at the top, around crown/vertex area. Totally smooth skin, nothing there, nice and shiny.... and prone to sunburn when not wearing a hat. Ouch.

So for about a year I've used minox 5% in morning and at night. It seems to have halted the loss.... no gains, no real loss. So... alright, good so far. Well about a month ago I started taking finasteride 1mg daily, one tablet in the morning, to see what it would do. And this has had some effects, but I'm not sure how to interpret them.... first, what has NOT happened is any pain or effect on sex drive/ function. That is all fine. One thing I did notice is it depressed my appetite a little, which is something I have to watch, because I get so busy working that I forget to eat. But that's manageable.

What I HAVE noticed happening is a lot of shedding.... 10-20 hairs a day. This wasn't happening before. But oddly enough it doesn't seem like I am losing anything. Another thing I noticed was itchiness on the scalp at the front and vertex... especially the totally bald patch. Which has become covered with these little white/colorless hairs that are very fine, sort of like fuzz on a peach. A lot of them then began to fall out, but they are constantly replaced. Some are darkening and are about 1/2 inch long. So I'm shedding, but I have these wee little hairs popping up all over, and some 1/2 inch long ones in the front, near my hairline.

Is this good news? Bad? Mixed? As I'm new to this stuff I am understandably curious as to what is going on and seek opinions from the more experienced. Thanks in advance.

PS... I do get dandruff at times. Is nizoral shampoo OK to use now and then while on these meds?