My horrible hair loss experience and my new regiment.

[jamesst11]

What's up guys,
I am glad I became a part of this forum. It seems to be full of compassionate, educated people and for once I don't feel stupid talking about my dramatic experiences.

Well, here's my story... I am 32 and started noticing hair loss in my late 20's. My hair line was thinning, but for some reason way more significantly in my left than in my right. About 1.5 years ago I decided to get a 900 graft hair transplant performed by a major chain corporation. After that, my life went drastically down hill. I had horrible, HORRIBLE TE afterwards. For 8 months, I was shedding 300-400 hairs a day. Right when I was recovering, I had knee surgery and it started all over. I had literally lost 60% of my hair in one year.

I have always been a confident person... but man, I had no idea what a devastating effect hair loss could have on a person. My daily routine still somewhat revolves around how my damn hair looks. I have shyed away from personal relationships... it's even a task to see my own family.. I hate this. I am so f*cking tired of this. It's exhausting. It's not me. I have never cared so much about personal appearance until this happened and I am STILL having trouble coping with it. I don't even let my girlfriend touch my hair. Talking to people about it seems out of the questions as their response is always, "it's just hair, wear a hat"...

I suppose it's not just the hair loss that bothers me to this extent. It's the fact that I seemed to be balding quite gracefully and I went and f*cked it up by buying into a HT with a frowned upon company.

Well, anyways, thanks for letting me blow off some steam. It's time to deal with this nightmare head on. Here is my new regiment. Help me brothers, in whatever way you can and I'll try to return the favor where I can. ----

Washing
1) Nizoral 2% - every other day
2) Big 3 shampoo - on opposite days as nizoral
3) Jason's thin to thick Biotin conditioner

Topicals
1) Minox-5% 1-2 times daily
2) spiro - 5% nightly, only applied to hair line
3) emu oil - nightly on hair line

Internally
1) just started finesteride - 1mg every other day (still afraid of sides)
2) hair regrowth multivitamin
3) biotin
4) pumpkin seed oil
5) quercitin
6) toco-8
7) apple polyphenols
8) vitamin D
9) herbel prostate combo (saw palmetto, stinging nettles...)
10) Apple cider vinegar
11) raw meal protein / nutrient supplement (this stuff is amazing!!)

soooo... recommendations on what to cut out and what to add??

PS: Sorry for swearing in my posts... I am just f*ck*ing pissed off.

[Luca]

Ohh man, it seems you have done lot of research yourself. Personally, I don’t believe of self prescription and tend to go by doctors advice. As far as internal nutritional is considered, I swear by biotin and vitamin D. both of them can make a difference to your current state. In fact, vitamin D is not only good for hair but also for overall health. Be cautious while using Minox and Fin as side effects could be bothersome. It is best to use them under medical guidance. Good luck.

[bham1]

Do you have any pics of your current state? Im 30 and experiencing the same thing. The left side temple is significantly thinning more than the right and my hairline is vanishing. Its a struggle everyday to leave the house and my confidence is shattered. Would you get a HT again or has this experience totally put you off?

[jamesst11]

Bham, I'll post pics in a bit, once I download them off my phone... Here's the thing with hair transplants at your current state (and TRUST ME, I learned this the hard way.) - any ETHICAL surgeon would immediately turn you away. Why? because
1) you are not certain the route your future hairless will take... Sure, you can fill in the thinning area, like I tried... but you will be left with a scar on the back of your head, the transplants may permanently "kill" the existing hair in which they were transplant and if you are unlucky, like myself, the trauma from surgery may induce telogen effluvium, which causes a mass shedding... this happened to me and it really SPED up my MPB.. i.e. a lot of my hair didn't regrow.

2) A hair transplant at this stage in hair loss, I assure you, will accomplish one of two things: 1) dedicate you to a life of hair transplants 2) make you feel horrible and weird about your hair, like myself, and force you to cover it up or shave your head.

I AM NOT SAYING ANYTHING NEGATIVE ABOUT HAIR TRANSPLANTS. I am trying to help people, because, looking back, I wish I was smart enough and lacked vulnerability to do so myself. There is a time and place for hair transplants and when you feel ready, that is you are 100% certain the future of your hair loss... consult one of the MANY world renown IAHRS certified surgeons. They are NOT the ones that need to advertise constantly in the middle of the night and prey on you... They ARE the one's that are known through consistently good results and ethical care and guidance... sorry for my rant, I just never want to see someone go through what I did and think I could have done something about it... to answer your question, as turned off as I am about HT's.. I would get one again, BUT only after I knew the results would not destroy my life.

[AnnaM11]

I would agree to Luca. Rather than starting all of these at a go, I would further carefully filter and choose the most reviewed/discussed one. This will also help to understand what has been effective and what’s not. Finasteride and Minox may cause initial shedding so you need to be really persistent. Personally, I used EMU oil and feel applying it, couple of hours after the Minox dried out, could fetch optimum result. Hope it helps.

[Aonyx262]

I'm not sure what most of those things listed under the "Internals", but it seems hugely excessive and potentially dangerous to be putting that much stuff into your body. As hair loss sufferers we tend to get desperate to get results quickly. I've certainly tried doubling up on the minoxidil, or taking a double dose of Avodart during a shed, but as disturbing as losing our hair is, it is important to be sensible. Herbs can be more toxic than pharmaceuticals in many cases, and if you're using 20+ different things you'll never be able to judge the efficacy of any individual treatment. If I was in your situation, I would start with the proven treatments and add things that probably aren't going to hurt you. The big question is about minoxidil. I'm not sure if it ever did anything huge for my hair loss, but I can't quit without shedding, and it makes my scalp an itchy, flaky mess.

So:
1. Finasteride
2. Maybe Minoxidil
3. Any multivitamin if you feel deficient in your diet.
4. Biotin, some people love it, but its Vitamin B7, which is water soluble and not likely to hurt you. I have some, I don't know if its ever done anything.
5. MSM; A lot of website report that it speeds the hair growth cycle, which if true could be cosmetically beneficial if you're suffering TE;
6. Nizoral or any dandruff shampoo if you plan on using minoxidil. I found Selsun Blue to be great for my shedding, and I'll admit that I use Nizoral 1%, but I'm really skeptical about ketoconazole having a meaningful effect on scalp DHT.

I think this would be a good start. I like drinking apple cider vinegar because of the way it feels going down my throat, but it wouldn't really do anything for MPB.

[asianguy]

How much acv do you really consume? I have acv but was thinking of using it topically.

I stopped using minox as I think it caused me permanent thinning in concentrated areas of use when stopped due to side effects.

I'm only on biotin, msm, fish oil and gnc multi which comes with vitamin D and saw palmetto berry extract. I also use an organic sulfate free shampoo and coconut oil as conditioner once a week. No nizoral or big 3 as I wasn't sure if it was the minox or nizoral that was causing more shedding but I like how my hairs been with just a natural shampoo without chemicals although I know it probably won't help much with regrowth.

My crazy personal experiment has been using an inversion table daily and massaging my scalp while upside down for 5 to 10 minutes. I have back issues so this will help my back anyways if it doesn't help my hair.

Also forgot to mention laser helmet every other day

[jamesst11]

No way I was consuming all those everyday, just alternate. but yup, I have a more refined regiment now, consisting of the following:

1mg fin EOD
nizoral 2% alternating with big3 shampoo
minoxidil
hair and nails multi vit
healthy diet / exercise

Asian guy: I like inversion for my back and knee... I personally think the issue with inversion for hair loss is this. Yes, you may get a bit of increased blood flow to the scalp tissue, but DHT circulates in the blood along with all that good stuff! haha... It may speed up hair growth a bit, but your aortas top branch directs a lot of blood to your head as it is, so the scalp is always getting sufficient blood supply.

[Jaclyn]

My crazy personal experiment has been using an inversion table daily and massaging my scalp while upside down for 5 to 10 minutes. I have back issues so this will help my back anyways if it doesn't help my hair.

Hiya, I have ordered inversion table and waiting for delivery. I discovered the inversion method for hair growth while searching online for a growth aid. It is said that hanging upside down increases blood flow to the scalp to stimulate hair growth. Gravity will pull the blood down. The whole concept seemed completely ridiculous at first. But when I read that it increases mental alertness by increasing your circulation and also good for decompression of the spine, I decided to give it a try. So I do hope it helps with my back pain at least, if not with hair loss. I am planning to use it every evening, for a minimum of five minutes and a maximum of ten minutes. How often, do you guys use?

[BiqqieSmalls]

DONT USE NIZORAL 2% EOD!!!!!! Use it once a week!!!!!!! It will dry your hair out and it'll look like sh!t!