Asian Male 27 years old, Norwood 3A Suggestions?

[baldkitten]

Hi Guys, I've been lurking on here for a while but finally decided to create an account recently.

So my situation is that I think I'm a norwood 3a and have some hair loss in my hairline. I have recently gotten quite self-conscious and am worried that it will keep deteriorating. I haven't really noticed my hair loss until half a year ago, but I think after a bad hair cut I didn't know my hair line had receded that much!

I've recently started applying minoxidil 5% (rogaine) twice a day for 2.5 weeks. I'm not sure if that treatment is enough, or should I be taking finasteride as well? Or even possible option is hair transplant?? I've recently started to eat more healthier as I heard eating healthy can help with hair loss (eat almonds, fruits and green tea etc.).

I would really appreciate any comments from all of you guys!

[JohnMPB]

To stop or slow hair loss you need to address DHT. This is typically done thru use of 5 alpha reductase inhibitors (fin and alternatively dut, however only fin is FDA approved for this). Both are generic now. Rogaine just forces your hair into Anagen phase and sometimes provides some additional growth/thickening. However, DHT is still ravaging ur hair and will likely overpower minox overtime. The big 3 is usually what people use to address hair loss. It consists of finasteride 1 mg/day, minoxidil 2x/day, and nizoral shampoo 2-3 times a week.

[baldkitten]

Thanks for your reply. I was just wondering, do you know for my case do you think I should take propecia as well as nizoral? I'm just scared of the side effects that propecia has...I was hoping to eat foods that were "DHT blockers" such as almonds, pumpkin seeds and green tea etc. I heard they will be helpful and maybe a healthy alternative.

[JoeTillman]

I can't imagine anything bringing you a lot of success in restoring your hairline short of surgery but I have to think that your hairline was fairly high to begin with. The NW3A area is pretty barren but if you have a lot of miniaturization then that may have been something that could be thickened. As it stands, you should be on DHT blocks to prevent further loss instead of hoping to get any restoration. If you do happen to have some regrowth, consider it to be a bonus. Pumpkin seed/natural alternatives are fine only if you're willing and able to take bucket loads of them each day because that's how much you need to match what can be accomplished with Propecia. And guess what, when you do take a lot of those natural alternatives to fight DHT you might wind up having sides anyway because it si the act of blocking DHT that leads to side effects, not if the treatment is natural or manmade.

You should visit with an IAHRS accepted doctor and learn about your legitimate options and then go from there but you won't find your answers at a health food store. You should however eat as clean as you can, for your hair and your overall long term health.