+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 8 of 8
  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    199

    Default 2 years fighting MPB (pics)

    Hey guys I just figured I would show everybody my results after fighting MPB for 2 years. To start off, here is my original thread from 2 years from yesterday when I was on this site looking for advice:

    http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthread.php?t=8078

    So you can see where I was I was around a norwood 2v-3v but closer to a 3v. At the time I was using the Nioxin line of hair products. I continued to lose hair at the same speed while using the Nioxin products alone but it did give the hair some visual volume. After posting that thread and doing some research I decided to use rogaine foam 2x per day on the crown only and nizoral 1% shampoo 2x per week. The reason I only put rogaine on the crown is that I read that it can cause a shed and I could still sort of cover my hairline with existing hair. My plan was that if it worked great on the crown then I would also use it on the hairline, but until I saw results at the crown I didn't want to risk losing my styling option of covering my hairline from a shed.

    Here is the result in August after 4 months of rogaine and nizoral:
    From above:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    From head on:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    And the crown:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/

    I didn't see a cosmetically significant improvement during this time, but the shorter hair cut that I got for my big boy job definitely looked better. Disappointed by the results of minoxidil and nizoral, I talked to my doctor and got on Finasteride. I continued nizoral 2x per week and rogaine 2x per day at the crown just in case. The previous pictures are basically my baseline pics for Finasteride.

    Here are my results of 6 months on Fin (plus 4 months rogaine and nizoral):
    From above:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    From head on:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    And the crown:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    I also saw regrowth at the hairline:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/

    During this 6 month period I really didn't notice any side effects. However, I only had sex once. It was a one night stand, and I honestly didn't last very long. However, I attributed my poor performance to alcohol.

    Here are my results of 1 year on the big 3 (and 4 months rogaine and nizoral only):
    From above:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    From head on:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    Hairline:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    The crown:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    Close up of the crown:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/

    At this point I don't think anyone could tell that I had MPB unless they were looking for it and looked really close. About a month after I took these photos I became sexually active with a very hot girlfriend and noticed that I was not able to maintain an erection long enough to satisfy her. I could get an erection, and I could do a quickie, but I would lose the erection if I tried to maintain for a long sex session. I didn't notice this side effect when masturbating because I never really tried to masturbate for an extended time I always just get it done and go to bed. I stopped taking the medication and a week later I was a total boss in bed. I did some research and learned that one dosage of Fin keeps DHT levels low for a while and that supposedly many hair transplant clinics recommend taking Fin every other day, so I tried taking 1.25 mg every other day. Here is the graph to back this up:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/

    Unfortunately this didn't work for me. I had no side effects whatsoever and my hair seemed great for about 3.5 months. Then I had a massive, massive shed. I mean I was taking a shower one day before work and my hands were covered in hair after shampooing. Then I noticed the tub looked like I had a hair cut in it, my pillows were covered in hair, and it was winter so I was wearing a ski cap outside and every time I took it off it was filled with more hair. I did some research and learned that dairy increases DHT, so I cut it out of my diet entirely and that masturbation increases DHT so I stopped that as well, and continued to take the medicine every other day. I did this for six weeks and the shed just continued at the same pace. The shed was extremely stressful for me. It caused me great anxiety, caused an embarrassing drunken meltdown in front of my friends, and negatively impacted my performance at work. Me and my ex were already broken up at this point, so I just started taking Fin every day again and doing everything else as I used to.
    Here are some pics I took just before the shed began (sorry these arn't better but I happened to take these selfies right before the shed so I feel they are useful for showing how great my hair looked):
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/

    These are some pics about a month into the 6 weeks shed:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/

    Here are some pics at the end of the shed when I finally started taking Fin everyday again:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/

    So the shed continued for a while during the time that Fin built back up in my system but seems to have stopped, and I think my hair has improved a bit. I have now been taking Fin every day again for 2 months.

    Here are some pics I took on April 1st:
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/
    http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/sl...NAME=snapfish/

    So there you have it. 2 full years of fighting MPB. Regarding the side effect that I had, I have not noticed it return yet, but I also have not had sex yet recently. I have also read into pornography induced erectile dysfunction and, embarrassingly, I wonder if that had something to do with it. I mean I had no problem maintaining an erection with my ex at all after 1 week off Fin, but I also did not watch porn or masturbate during that week. I know a few of you might think its kind of lame that I didn't have a whole lot of sex in the past 2 years, but I did have a lot more sex in high school and college. I am truly thankful that my hair did not look bad until I was 22 and almost done with college so that I had great looking hair during the time that I had the easiest access to girls. Looking back though, I wish I had locked down a steady long term gf or wife. I have heard that most guys get better looking and have an easier time getting laid as they get older, but I don't think that is true for those of us with premature MPB. For anyone who is considering Fin I would highly recommend giving it a try, and for anyone who is considering taking Fin every other day I would not recommend it as that did not work for me. Anyways I just thought maybe someone would like to hear my story from the past 2 years. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

  2. #2
    Senior Member Notcoolanymore's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    A place hot as hell
    Posts
    2,259

    Default

    Hopefully you don't get sides this time around, but have you considered taking a smaller dose every day?

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    199

    Default

    I considered it but I am not taking a smaller dose at the moment for the following reasons:

    1. That shed was a lot of hair falling out at once and it was really messing with my head seeing that much hair fall out at once. I really wanted that to stop as soon as possible. My original speed of hair loss prior to finasteride didn't mess with me as much because it was so much slower.

    2. The side effect (which may honestly have been pornography induced) was gone entirely in a week after taking the medication everyday for 13 months, so I would expect it to go away quickly again if it did come back.

    3. That particular side effect wasn't completely unmanageable. I have read into l arginine and could potentially give that a try if it happened again. It seems like some users with similar problems have had success with that supplement. It's not like my dick wasn't working at all, I just wasn't able to perform like I used to. So far over 2 months in and I haven't noticed it again though, but haven't gotten laid in that time either.

    4. I'm using the 5 mg pills and splitting them into 4ths. I think it would be difficult to split these into 8ths or whatever.

    If it does come back I'll stop the meds until it goes away again (I expect a week tops like last time) and then I may either try a small dose everyday, or just bail on Fin and give RU58841 a shot.

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    199

    Default

    I'm sure that based on my last comment you might think, "but what about the possibility of that side effect being persistent/permanent?" Based on my previous experience I think that is highly unlikely. Also, my understanding is that even those who get permanent side effects are able to fix them through hormone replacement therapy. Obviously HRT would not be ideal, but worst case scenario I wouldn't be totally SOL.

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    169

    Default

    Damn, fin helped you much. When sheds do happen though, do consider a hair concealer so you don't have to go through that anxiety and terrible feeling. But wow those results are great don't drop fin.

  6. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    1,630

    Default

    Thanks for sharing your story. It looks like finasteride really did it for you. Good luck.

  7. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    199

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by goldnt View Post
    Damn, fin helped you much. When sheds do happen though, do consider a hair concealer so you don't have to go through that anxiety and terrible feeling. But wow those results are great don't drop fin.
    I have purchased Toppik and Dermmatch but have not received them yet. I plan to try both and see how I like them. Thing is though, I practice Judo and I can't imagine that stuff will hold during that. This basically means my hair won't always look the same since I can't wear the concealer during Judo, so when I see people outside of Judo they will surely know something is up. Plus friends and coworkers will obviously see the difference initially. Also I wear a hard hat during work and I don't know if that will mess up the concealer placement. I guess I'll find out.

    Quote Originally Posted by PatientlyWaiting View Post
    Thanks for sharing your story. It looks like finasteride really did it for you. Good luck.
    No prob I take a lot of pics of my hair and figured you guys would enjoy seeing some of them and hearing my story so far.
    Last edited by Mike K; 04-06-2014 at 09:20 PM. Reason: Left something out

  8. #8
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    200

    Default

    Fin would be amazing if it did not give me sides. Cheers to anyone that can use it without sides. It would do wonders for me right now. I am about nw2.5-3. Man why cannot Cb come out soon.

Similar Threads

  1. 22 years old - Considering HT. FUE or Strip? [pics attached]
    By dustier in forum Hair Transplant: Start Your Own Topic
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 04-13-2018, 04:44 AM
  2. Round 2 (six years later) - (Pics)
    By vinnyved in forum Introduce Yourself & Share Your Story
    Replies: 24
    Last Post: 07-04-2014, 09:14 PM
  3. 22 Years Old Hair Thinning (Pics)
    By Concerned22YO in forum Introduce Yourself & Share Your Story
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 04-26-2013, 05:42 PM
  4. 18 Years old with Pics. Need Advice as usual...
    By thebadhairline in forum Introduce Yourself & Share Your Story
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 12-05-2011, 02:32 AM
  5. 17 years old, and I can't tell if im balding or in denial, please look at pics.
    By Samiam in forum Introduce Yourself & Share Your Story
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: 05-06-2011, 03:20 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts

» IAHRS

hair transplant surgeons

» The Bald Truth