20 year old with early signs of balding. My Regime/ Story

[WTF CANADA]

Hello everyone. I am currently a second year University student. I am turning 20 in one week and have early signs of balding. My temples have receded slightly and I can now notice it. I would say I am currently a norwood 1.5 - 2. I have examined my crown under harsh light and do not see any signs of thinning there. I have the EXACT hair as my dad. My hair is curly and very coarse. My dad is a norwood 4.5 and based on my extensive amounts of research, would be a great candidate for a HT. He started showing signs of balding at about 19-20 as well. Anyway, I took propecia for about 5 months over the summer and it ruined my life. I know this is a topic for the propecia help website so ill cut this part short. I took it for 5 months with mild side effects, then about 4 months in I got very depressed and had SERIOUS emotional problems. Sexual side also got worse so I quit. Things then got ALOT worse. I was depressed, major sexual sides, body was transformed, lost strength and much much more. As a result, I have full blown POST FINASTERIDE SYNDROME. I went from a top student last year, to dropping 3 of my 5 classes this year. Things have gotten slightly better and I am hopeful for the future.

Now that I got that off my chest, here is my current regime.

- Folligen (Diluted 50/50 with water) EOD
- Spiro (Diluted 50/50 with water) ED
- Regenepure ED
- Emu oil ED
- LLLT device with 50 diodes (covers roughly half of head, homemade) EOD
- Supplements: zinc, biotin, ginkgo biloba, fish oils, omega 3 ED

As far as my Folligen and spiro go, I am diluting them now because I want to slowly adapt to these topicals. My hair loss is not very noticeable so I do not want to induce and huge shed. Same goes with the LLLT helmet. In a few months I will quit diluting my topicals and will double the number of lasers in my helmet.

What do you guys thinks of my regimen? What should I add or change?

Cheers!

[Tracy C]

What do you guys thinks of my regimen? What should I add or change?

Your "research" hasn't helped you much. You are wasting your time and money. Your best chances of success are to use the FDA approved medications. I am one of those who feels low level laser therapy is helpful. However I am not sure how much good a home made laser helmet is going to do you. It's worth a shot if you know how to make one though, which it sounds like you do.

You need to know that males do not get to keep their temple hair. Males develop a natural and normal mature male hair line. This is one of the physical characteristics that differ between males and females.

You also need to know that only a qualified hair restoration surgeon can determine if you are a good candidate for hair transplant surgery. If you are only developing a mature male hair line, you are not a good candidate for hair transplant surgery.

[IanIrving0]

LLLT device with 50 diodes (covers roughly half of head, homemade)

Pix or it didn't happen.

[UK_]

Your "research" hasn't helped you much. You are wasting your time and money. Your best chances of success are to use the FDA approved medications. I am one of those who feels low level laser therapy is helpful. However I am not sure how much good a home made laser helmet is going to do you. It's worth a shot if you know how to make one though, which it sounds like you do.

You need to know that males do not get to keep their temple hair. Males develop a natural and normal mature male hair line. This is one of the physical characteristics that differ between males and females.

You also need to know that only a qualified hair restoration surgeon can determine if you are a good candidate for hair transplant surgery. If you are only developing a mature male hair line, you are not a good candidate for hair transplant surgery.

Your "reading" hasnt helped you much either - didnt you catch the part about the sides? I would rather offer advice centring around accepting hair loss than advocating the use of a drug that chemically castrates you.

[25 going on 65]

Unfortunately, without a proven DHT blocker, I've never seen or heard of any guy who was able to stop his hair loss let alone reverse it. Short term, you may see some improvement in the quality of existing hairs, but over time you will continue balding (assuming you have male-pattern hair loss).
I've seen people claim some success with a couple of those experimental topicals, but not without also being on finasteride or dutasteride. Sadly the direct scalp treatments just aren't there yet.

[WTF CANADA]

Here are pics of my current balding state and LLLT device. My laser "half helmet" if you will, was about 80% complete in this photo.

Is there really no hope for me without fin? My main goal is to slow my hair loss. I plan to get a hair transplant in the coming years, one with a conservative hairline. If my hair loss becomes aggressive enough, I would resort to a combination of BHT and FUT in the future. I think I would be a good candidate for BHT because my hair is naturally very coarse and curly and I wear it fairly short in the back. If I was 100% positive that my balding would not progress further than my dads, (nw 4.5-5), I would not even worry about treatment and would simply receive multiple ht's as my baldness progresses. (considering my experience with Propecia) However because non of us know our balding progression for sure, I have resorted to various treatments.

Any advice?

Thanks guys.

[Tracy C]

Here are pics of my current balding state and LLLT device. My laser "half helmet" if you will, was about 80% complete in this photo.

Nifty. I hope it works for you.

Is there really no hope for me without fin?

Without treating the cause of your hair loss, you are fighting an uphill battle. Talk to a real doctor to get the real information concerning side effects. You may be able to slow down the loss some with only Rogaine (or generic Minoxidil) and low level laser therapy but ultimately you will have to come to terms with accepting your hair loss.

If my hair loss becomes aggressive enough, I would resort to a combination of BHT and FUT in the future.

Body hair transplants are an absolute last resort for the absolute worst case scenarios. Most ethical doctors are very reluctant to do body hair transplants - if they are willing to do it at all.

Any advice?

If you are unable or unwilling to use the only proven medications to treat hereditary hair loss, you need to come to terms with accepting your hair loss.

[clandestine]

Er, you're not really balding much mate. Chill out..

[25 going on 65]

I agree with clandestine that your hair doesn't look bad.

Anyway, if you're resolved not to go back on finasteride (which is understandable if you had severe side effects) and don't want to try dutasteride (which would probably give you worse side effects), the reliable treatments left are ketoconazole shampoo (Nizoral) and minoxidil (Rogaine). One or both of these will very likely produce results, but in the long term they won't prevent hair loss from continuing.
I don't know anything about laser therapy but Tracy and others say they've seen results from it.
As for all the other topicals and supplements, I see nothing wrong with giving them a shot, but just keep in mind they require time and money without having solid evidence to back them up as hair loss treatments.

I personally think transplants are risky without being on a proven DHT blocker, unless you're a Norwood 5a-7 that has nothing to lose. But if they're done conservatively enough (which seems to be the route you'd take), they might be fine. The results are getting better all the time.
I don't know much about BHT's except that they're much less "proven." I wouldn't plan my future around them if I was you - I think there will be much more viable innovations in hair loss treatment over the next 10 years than BHT.

[PatientlyWaiting]

I disagree with the last two posts, and telling him he's not balding is a disservice to him.

The faster you act on it, the better the medications will work. Of course he's balding, he has a classic case of MPB, starting in the temples. Don't lie to some one who's here asking for help.


About looking bad, no it doesn't look bad, not yet. But yes you are balding.