Finasteride Making Hair Worse?

[StuckInARut]

Question for those who are/were on Fin at some point.

Has anybody else here found their hair to be worse off while on Fin? I mean compared to before you initially started. Over the past roughly six months the shedding has continued unabated and I have completely lost the hair on my hairline and left temple.

Seriously it appears that I've lost about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch of hairline during this time. I'm sticking through it in hopes of some miraculous recovery around the 1 year mark. It is just so discouraging to lose so much hair and not see even the least amount of regrowth, too soon or not.

I just wish the shedding would stop because while regrowth is considered a bonus I am unable to maintain which is the main goal of the drug.

[UK_]

This may be connected to why FIN can cause high sex drive initially... <did you experience this? If you did the extra hair loss may be due to more free Test floating around, another theory is that your androgen receptors have been upregulated due to a systemic drop in DHT.

[Notcoolanymore]

For me personally it would be hard to stay of fin if I continued to lose hair for that amount of time, especially if it got worse after starting the drug. I didn't have this problem, but I didn't have much hair to lose when I started. My hair loss stopped after about a month of use.

[Buster]

I experienced the same thing. I started Fin about a year and a half ago and a few months into starting noticed that my hair appeared to be thinner, as in I could see scalp. I assumed it was the "fin shed" but it was March of 2012 that I notice the thinning and my hair hasn't recovered.

I went to see my doctor and a dermatologist about it and they both basically said there is no way it could have been caused by Fin and for all we know I could be worse off by now if I wasn't taking it. The thing is, I didn't actually get my prescription filled until about a year after seeing my doctor about my hair, and all of that time I kept an eye on my hair loss and didn't notice it getting any worse. But once I started Fin, I thinned out dramatically.

[Since 13]

This may be connected to why FIN can cause high sex drive initially... <did you experience this? If you did the extra hair loss may be due to more free Test floating around, another theory is that your androgen receptors have been upregulated due to a systemic drop in DHT.

I know someone who has been on Propecia for about 5 months and he said to me that he had a very high sex drive and that his hair was shedding like crazy. At the beginning, I did not believe him as I did not know that Propecia could boast sex drive.
Would you please rephrase your explanation as I don't really understand what you mean?
Thanks!

[StuckInARut]

Well I've been on Fin for almost 8 months now but something interesting happened at the sixth month mark. During that point in time I was unable to continue my workout routine (which isn't overly strenuous) because I had to move so I had to pack and make arrangements/get things in order.

I ended up hurting my back a bit during the move so I was unable to workout for about a month. I noticed that my shedding decreased to almost nil and my hair thickened up great. Once my back felt better I started working out again and now about 3 weeks later the shedding has since increased and density is lost once again. Also during this time I never had any sides but during the month I was unable to exercise I developed some minor gyno I believe.

I can't say for sure because I have a condition called Pectus excavatum but my nipples look a little bit puffy to me. I have a doctors appointment coming up next month and I am gonna get my hormone levels checked to see where I stand. Could be the exercise is raising my DHT so much that the Fin isn't as effective. I really have no plans or desire to go on Dutasteride so if the Fin experiment doesn't work for me I am done.

[Notcoolanymore]

Well I've been on Fin for almost 8 months now but something interesting happened at the sixth month mark. During that point in time I was unable to continue my workout routine (which isn't overly strenuous) because I had to move so I had to pack and make arrangements/get things in order.

I ended up hurting my back a bit during the move so I was unable to workout for about a month. I noticed that my shedding decreased to almost nil and my hair thickened up great. Once my back felt better I started working out again and now about 3 weeks later the shedding has since increased and density is lost once again. Also during this time I never had any sides but during the month I was unable to exercise I developed some minor gyno I believe.

I can't say for sure because I have a condition called Pectus excavatum but my nipples look a little bit puffy to me. I have a doctors appointment coming up next month and I am gonna get my hormone levels checked to see where I stand. Could be the exercise is raising my DHT so much that the Fin isn't as effective. I really have no plans or desire to go on Dutasteride so if the Fin experiment doesn't work for me I am done.

Great! So what you are saying is we can either be out of shape with a great head of hair, or in shape with no hair!

[mpbsucks]

I experienced the same thing. I started Fin about a year and a half ago and a few months into starting noticed that my hair appeared to be thinner, as in I could see scalp. I assumed it was the "fin shed" but it was March of 2012 that I notice the thinning and my hair hasn't recovered.

I went to see my doctor and a dermatologist about it and they both basically said there is no way it could have been caused by Fin and for all we know I could be worse off by now if I wasn't taking it. The thing is, I didn't actually get my prescription filled until about a year after seeing my doctor about my hair, and all of that time I kept an eye on my hair loss and didn't notice it getting any worse. But once I started Fin, I thinned out dramatically.

Yo Buster, the same exact thing happened to me. I stuck with fin cause everyone on these forums emphatically states that fin couldn't possibly be the culprit, what a crock of s***. My crazy shed has been going for 14 months straight now with no end in sight. Whatever happened with you?

[Buster]

Yo Buster, the same exact thing happened to me. I stuck with fin cause everyone on these forums emphatically states that fin couldn't possibly be the culprit, what a crock of s***. My crazy shed has been going for 14 months straight now with no end in sight. Whatever happened with you?

My hair is more or less the same. No better, and no worse (as far as I can tell). My hair didn't "shed" in the way that I noticed a lot of hair fall, I just noticed it thinning to a point where I can see my scalp fairly easily through the hair in certain lighting. I'm still on Fin.

[Widowmaker]

Could be the exercise is raising my DHT so much that the Fin isn't as effective.

I run a lot and I've been using hair loss as a motivation. I figure if I lose my hair, it'd be good to at least be in shape. I also thought the aerobic activity would help circulate blood to those tiny capillaries in my scalp that feed meds to inhibit DHT...hope exercise doesn't raise DHT. Maybe losing weight means less adipose tissue and less circulating estrogen and greater testosterone? Too many variables to consider.