look at my pics and guide me please?

[apextc]

Hi everyone, I'm a total newbie here but not foreign to forums so yes, I know how to use the "Search" function. That being said, my brief story followed by questions hoping I can get some guidance along with my pictures attached:

I am 32 and have been sloooowly losing it since I was 27. Baldness never bothered me till for some odd reason recently as keeping up with a busy work schedule and fitting exercise is getting challenging. PS- I am a super natural, organic, tree hugging, nature loving, whole foods, mostly vegetarian type of person.


1. Looking at my pics can you tell me what Norwood I am? I have seen the chart but need a reconfirmation please.

2. In January I started the following: Nizoral 2% and Rogaine Liquid 5%- 2x a day. I know the big 3 include Finestride or Propecia but this is just my personal opinion, I prefer not to take something that has side effects to my wild side

Questions:
a. Does the cheaper version of Rogaine from Walgreens do the same job as Rogaine?

3. Thinning hair: What is the best shampoo out there to treat thinning hair. I personally use Amla oil like once a month hoping it helps with the roots.

4. Is there anyone on this forum before I troll through the 100000's posts that can share with me the best form of treatment out there for my hair loss type and what has worked for them please?



Again, in advance I apologize for the ignorance and hope to someday regrowing my youth

[Jairus]

Hi everyone, I'm a total newbie here but not foreign to forums so yes, I know how to use the "Search" function. That being said, my brief story followed by questions hoping I can get some guidance along with my pictures attached:

I am 32 and have been sloooowly losing it since I was 27. Baldness never bothered me till for some odd reason recently as keeping up with a busy work schedule and fitting exercise is getting challenging. PS- I am a super natural, organic, tree hugging, nature loving, whole foods, mostly vegetarian type of person.


1. Looking at my pics can you tell me what Norwood I am? I have seen the chart but need a reconfirmation please.

2. In January I started the following: Nizoral 2% and Rogaine Liquid 5%- 2x a day. I know the big 3 include Finestride or Propecia but this is just my personal opinion, I prefer not to take something that has side effects to my wild side

Questions:
a. Does the cheaper version of Rogaine from Walgreens do the same job as Rogaine?

3. Thinning hair: What is the best shampoo out there to treat thinning hair. I personally use Amla oil like once a month hoping it helps with the roots.

4. Is there anyone on this forum before I troll through the 100000's posts that can share with me the best form of treatment out there for my hair loss type and what has worked for them please?



Again, in advance I apologize for the ignorance and hope to someday regrowing my youth

Hi

Im not from the US but I assume Walgreens = Walmart - you can get generic Kirkland online for cheap enough. If the Walgreen version has minox in it then it will do the same job as branded regaine/rogaine.

Generally speaking, any shampoo with Ketoconazole in it is your best bet. The two generally used are Nizoral and Regenepure. I myself have recently switched to Regenepure as it has a few extra bits in it and does not contain sodium laureth sulphate or parabens.

In terms of your hair loss, you wont see any diff by just using minoxodil. I don't mean to be a harbinger but because your loss is advanced the only thing that will keep what u have and possibly thicken up any miniaturized hairs is propecia or generic finasteride. I appreciate your concerns regarding sides. I was concerned myself but have recently taken the plunge as I recently got a HT. If you can maintain what u have for the next 2-5 years then maybe Replicel or Histogen can help you a bit. You don't seem to be completely slick bald so if you can keep the miniaturized hairs then the above mentioned treatments can help.

Again apologies about the slightly pessimistic nature of the post but I have learned the hard way with regards to the Big 3. If you cant tolerate Fin or you don't want to use it then perhaps look into RU or other experimental treatments.

Hope this helps and best of luck with whatever u decide.

[KO1]

Did you ever post on Hair loss help? Your head looks familiar.

[john2399]

Shave it. You got a good headshape and you still have some hairline left. 32 is def fine to rock a shaved head.

[apextc]

Hi

Im not from the US but I assume Walgreens = Walmart - you can get generic Kirkland online for cheap enough. If the Walgreen version has minox in it then it will do the same job as branded regaine/rogaine.

Generally speaking, any shampoo with Ketoconazole in it is your best bet. The two generally used are Nizoral and Regenepure. I myself have recently switched to Regenepure as it has a few extra bits in it and does not contain sodium laureth sulphate or parabens.

In terms of your hair loss, you wont see any diff by just using minoxodil. I don't mean to be a harbinger but because your loss is advanced the only thing that will keep what u have and possibly thicken up any miniaturized hairs is propecia or generic finasteride. I appreciate your concerns regarding sides. I was concerned myself but have recently taken the plunge as I recently got a HT. If you can maintain what u have for the next 2-5 years then maybe Replicel or Histogen can help you a bit. You don't seem to be completely slick bald so if you can keep the miniaturized hairs then the above mentioned treatments can help.

Again apologies about the slightly pessimistic nature of the post but I have learned the hard way with regards to the Big 3. If you cant tolerate Fin or you don't want to use it then perhaps look into RU or other experimental treatments.

Hope this helps and best of luck with whatever u decide.

Thank you for the honesty and feedback. It's the best way to learn and seek direction.

After reading your post and doing research on here there just seems to be 100 ways about going about HT and some other things you mention which are totally foreign to me (RU? Replicel ? Histogen? - I will research on my own) but a one line run down/summary would greatly help.

I'm very closely monitoring my month by month progress but again just taking this more seriously now.

[apextc]

Shave it. You got a good headshape and you still have some hairline left. 32 is def fine to rock a shaved head.

I have a round face which makes me look like a potato on steroids
(will give it serious consideration for sure )




KO1: looong story. Short version: I lost a laptop where I saved my passwords on it and had many accounts hijacked- for now I'm on a supercarforum and this only.

[KO1]

I would urge you to get on treatments, and stay on them. IIRC you got on fin and minox and saw results. Which did you drop? What sides did you get?

Once you do that, you can consider an HT, you have a hairline, I think you could do very well.

[apextc]

I would urge you to get on treatments, and stay on them. IIRC you got on fin and minox and saw results. Which did you drop? What sides did you get?

Once you do that, you can consider an HT, you have a hairline, I think you could do very well.

Right now Im on Minox and Nizoral, thats it.

My dermatologist claims that there have been people he has seen results with just Minox and Nizoral. Granted the results will not be as typical with the big 3 but this was in defense to me not taking something such as propecia or finestride.

My side effects were in the sexual department. I just felt that there was no immediate effect in getting aroused but for some reason the "performance" was just not there. I dont know, the derm had his own reasoning but all I know is that a month after I dropped it I just felt different.

Maybe I'll take your advice and start fin again- no clue, this site seems to have tons of information and Im not here to surf for what I want to read or hear, but just gaining as much knowledge as I can and stay natural.

Again, I appreciate everyones responses.

[KO1]

The best treatment for hairloss is dutasteride, but since you got sides on finasteride, I would not recommend it to you. Shampoos will not really help with thinning hair, just use something gentle. I would highly urge you to experiment with topicals, since you dont have much native hair, applying them will be very easy.

I would say some options are:
- microdose fin
- use nizoral cream rather than shampoo, which is harsh.
- RU58841


It's tough to say with fin, you could try using a lower dosage of fin, say 0.5mg or 0.25mg and see what happens. Some people report lower sides with lower dosage, but it is up to you whether you want to try that.

For RU, the instructions to use it are posted here:

http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthread.php?p=120497

[apextc]

The best treatment for hairloss is dutasteride, but since you got sides on finasteride, I would not recommend it to you. Shampoos will not really help with thinning hair, just use something gentle. I would highly urge you to experiment with topicals, since you dont have much native hair, applying them will be very easy.

I would say some options are:
- microdose fin
- use nizoral cream rather than shampoo, which is harsh.
- RU58841


It's tough to say with fin, you could try using a lower dosage of fin, say 0.5mg or 0.25mg and see what happens. Some people report lower sides with lower dosage, but it is up to you whether you want to try that.

For RU, the instructions to use it are posted here:
http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthread.php?p=120497

THis site has a ton of info and really hard to find a direct answer so I will impose this to anyone who can just answer me simply.

1. Where can I get RU58841 safely?

2. Who has pics of their progress from RU58841?

3. Anyone from Chicagoland area and knows a kick ass derm here? The ones Ive seen just want to suck copayments from me.

[DesperateOne]

THis site has a ton of info and really hard to find a direct answer so I will impose this to anyone who can just answer me simply.

1. Where can I get RU58841 safely?

2. Who has pics of their progress from RU58841?

3. Anyone from Chicagoland area and knows a kick ass derm here? The ones Ive seen just want to suck copayments from me.

Well I can see that you are like a norwood 6 already, which means you're in a really advanced stage. One of the problems with being such a green freak is that your body is not tolerant to any substance and will probably take it really harshly.

With that in mind, I would suggest that if you try anything new... that you use it in small increments. That is to say... you first apply a small dose then you up the ante every week. This should be the safest way so you don't reach some sort of threshold too fast that may cause some bad side effects.

To your point about your questions, well from what I gathered before you:

1. There is no place on Earth to get RU reliably, you kinda have to take a leap of fate. Also, note that it is very expensive and that if you miss just one day, you will essentially shed like crazy afterwards. So maybe if you have money, you can keep a separate dose available just in case you got some snake oil.

2. There is some pics of a guy around here somewhere, but he took them in conjunction with other things, so it's hard to say what really worked.

3. They all just want to make the most money

I am trying a home made PGD2 inhibitor, hopefully that works out, you can subscribe to my thread for future posts.

[Notcoolanymore]

First off not to be harsh but you have not been balding that slow. 5 years to get to NW6 is pretty fast. Again not to trashing you but I have been losing hair for about 14 years and I am in about the same boat as you are.

But the good news is that since you really haven't been balding for that long, I would assume you have a good chance to recover a good portion of what you lost. I have been treating my hair loss for about 3 months now and my results have been decent, but not great. I will post pics as soon as I finish my third bottle of minox, within the next few days.

I know you want to stay away from chemicals and harsh treatments, but the options are pretty limited at this point. I would recommend the big 3. If you had sides with fin, then try micro dosing like others have suggested.