New to hair loss and terrified of Finasteride. My story.

[Gordknight]

Wow, I never thought I'd be here. I have been a lurker since I first started noticing that my hair was starting to thin out. It has completely kicked me the curb mentally. This is simply a problem I never thought I'd have to deal with. Let me explain my story.

I am turning 31 in February. I am a married man. My main profession is I am a working actor that is part of the Screen Actors Guild and the Actors Equity Union. Acting/Performing have been my primary source of income for the past 9 years. Losing my hair will (I feel) completely destroy my Career. I am a very good looking man (not trying to brag) and I owe most of my looks to my hair. I have always had super thick, long dark hair. My father started to lose his hair when was in his early twenties as did my older brother. Both were Norwood 6 by age 32/33.

Having the exact same hairline and thickness through all my twenties I figured I was in the clear and did not inherit his baldness. My grandfather on my Mother's side is mostly bald, but is 80 years old and didnt start losing his hair until his early fifties. All three of his sons ranging from ages of 47-58 all still have full heads of hair. I don't know if any of them are on treatment.

However, about 10 months ago I started to notice my hairline receding and that same day when I looked up at a monitor in a gas station that was an overhead cam, I could see clearly that my crown was thinning. I was devastated. What do I do? What can I do?

I started doing as much research as I could and what I found disgusted me. Here we have an affliction that has been destroying the lives of men (some women) for centuries and not a SINGLE product exists that works that was originally designed for hair loss. Finasteride and Minoxodil were both discovered by accident and one isnt that effective by itself and the other carries the possibility of permanent side effects.

When I was first reading about finasteride and saw results from the drug I was thrilled. But after reading all the horror stories about it I am terrified to try this drug. I went to a local hair loss surgeon who is going to do a HT on my older brother next month and he said I am definitely losing my hair but at a slower rate and different pattern than my brother or my dad. He recommended I get on finasteride immediately as to the untrained eye I still look like I have a full head of thick hair.

I am so scared to take this drug. If I do I think Ill do .25mg a day for 6 mos to a year to minimize the risk of sides. All I want to do is keep my hair till something better comes along. From what I see CB is looking very promising and its only a matter of time before they can do HT's and grow back the donor hair as well. Then HT's will only be a question of money and donor area wont matter. I just dont think I can afford to wait that long. The MPB cure has been just 2-5 years away for over 25 years. I just dont trust waiting.

Any advice or suggestions? Thanks for taking the time to read and I am glad that I am not alone in this and love what Spencer is doing for all of us. I need to save my hair/career and start LIVING MY ****ING LIVE again for a change.

[Dan26]

I'd consider starting fin on a low dose man. Even 0.2mg/day showed solid results in the clinical trials. Not as good as 1mg/day, but still significant.

Get some baseline blood + hormone tests beforehand.

Could even do what I did and microdose at first to have some peace of mind (0.05mg/day: 1mg pill crushed and dissolved in alcohol)

IF you envision your hairloss really bothering you and see yourself hoping on fin if your hair gets worse, you may as well just get on it now. If you think you can deal with the loss and the side effects really bother you, don't do it.

Minox is also an option. Perhaps even RU as a topical AA.

[baldybald]

do not believe the horror stories about finasteride, they are all fake, trust me!! there is no permanent side effect and all temporary. so please please please do not do the same mistake i did please please because you will regret it later on. go to a good doctor to prescribe propecia for you

[Dan26]

do not believe the horror stories about finasteride, they are all fake, trust me!! there is no permanent side effect and all temporary. so please please please do not do the same mistake i did please please because you will regret it later on. go to a good doctor to prescribe propecia for you

This guy is dead wrong...There is a chance for serious side effects. The chance it very small, but it exists.

[Notcoolanymore]

Fin is the best thing we have. Like all meds it has risks. If you cant deal with going bald then give it a try. Start off on a small dose, if no sides, slowly work your way up.

[ChrisM]

Dutasteride is the best thing in my opinion in terms of an ingestible anti androgen DHT blocker however that was after a year and three months of Finasteride showing little in the way of results. But Dut shares the chemical profile as Fin just stronger and it blocks both type 5AR1 and 5AR2 enzyme in DHT that binds to the receptor in the hair follicle leading to shrinkage, recession, and fallout. Fin only blocks the 5AR1 type according to clinical trials supporting that. But if you have fear of taking Finasteride then don't even look at Dutasteride which is nearly three times stronger than Finasteride as it stays longer in the body per usage.

[Gordknight]

Thanks everyone. I have done a lot of research on the subject. I really just cannot afford losing my hair. As I am sure you all realize, I spend the majority of my day stressing and thinking about my hair. I compare my hair with every other man I see. Its the first thing I look at now and I hate that. Always feeling insecure about it, even though I know to others my hair looks good.

The statement is true that the unhappy people scream the loudest and I am sure that the majority of people get good results and no sides from fin and so arent that vocal on the forums.

I think Ill just bite the bullet and start out on .25mg of fin and work my way up if I have no sides and am not getting the results I want. If I get good results an no sides with .25 then I dont see a point in ever increasing the dosage.

On a side note. Anyone else thinking that CB is going to replace Fin as its more powerful and has no sides?

[Notcoolanymore]

ChrisM, I think you are right about Dut being the best thing we have. I haven't tried it yet, but will if I don't get decent results from fin. It is commonly prescribed for hair loss though, or will only certain doctors prescribe it? My doctor was hesitant to prescribe fin. I had to actually persuade him to do it.

Gord, You are making a good decision, especially as an actor. You need to hold onto your looks and being a high norwood is not going to cut it. Unless you plan on being a double for a danny devito type actor.

[Gordknight]

Notcool: Haha, I know that with my body build type and my head shape Id look horrible if I lost my hair. I have to at least give things a shot right? I have my appointment to get my fin on Wednesday. If I can just keep my current hair until something better comes along and still be able to have sex with my wife then Ill be good to go.

To be honest the Gyno and Brain Fog are even scarier sides than having trouble getting a boner. At least with the latter you can take some Viagra or something on a tough night, but the man boobs and inability to recall my lines would **** me right hard and fast.

Though I think so many of these sides are so over dramatic and the successes of fin fat exceed the times of failure.

[Gordknight]

You know one of the things I hate the most is when people say that "its all in your head" and you arent losing your hair. While I dont think my hair loss is aggresive, I definitely see a difference then when I was 22 or 23. Here are some pictures of what I think is the loss. Let me know what you all think.