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Alright guys, the very first picture is from the day I started treatment, on 11-11-13, my one year anni was obviously a year from that so it has been almost 15 months total treatment. Pics 2-5 were from today, the other pics are all recent to about one month.
Regimen: finasteride 1.25 ED morning time, rogaine foam 5% twice a day 95% of the time. There may be one day a week when I don't apply rogaine twice a day. For about the first 6 months I used OTC nizoral, then stopped using it out of laziness and I don't think its made a difference, maybe the prescription strength would have been better, I don't know.
Progress: As you can see, my hair has definitely improved. My existing hair appears more dense than before, and there has been some "fill in" in my bald spots. The hairs in my bald spots aren't really functional, I guess they're villus, (although they are black and not blonde) they have not grown long like the rest of my hair so far but do in my opinion serve a cosmetic purpose. I would like to add these hairs do seem darker and longer than they ever have in the last month, my girlfriend pointed this out to me the other day and I agree. This is idiopathic and I have done nothing different that would've caused this. I think that maybe my temples have improved slightly, but its really hard to say.
Shedding: (i cannot make the bold function turn off now for some reason) I personally can not identify any noticeable shedding phases. Sides: I have less energy and less sexual desire than i did when i started. However, I work more now than i ever have and am not as motivated to work out like i use to because im comfortable in my relationship, so this could contribute to having less energy. I also have less sexual desire than i use to, this could also be due to the fact that I have been in a 2 year relationship now and well frankly its just not as exciting as it use to be (God forbid my girlfriend ever read this thread). So you see, these sides can possibly be attributed to the above. Being completely honest, i don't care if they are due to the finasteride/rogaine, i will take a little less energy and a little less sex drive so that i don't look 50 at the age of 27. I may have had more energy then, but my confidence is greater and that carries weight. I need to get back to work at this point I know i haven't covered everything, any questions just ask ill be monitoring this thread every day over the next week since i'm posting an update so feedback should be speedy. On a side note, i realize that my hair style right now is not the most flattering when its worn down, if i cut my hair shorter i am sure that i would be able to conceal my weak areas a little better however i am growing my hair out very long to the point i can put it up in a bun (i don't care about the trend i had almost shoulder length hair about 3 years ago before "manbuns" were cool"). I do doubt this decision sometimes and worry that it may be too thin once grown out to that length but if i pull my hair back into a headband and push the back up (see last two pics) to simulate what it would look like long and pulled back, i think that i could pull it off again, so im going for it. I do value your opinions so let me know what you think about the long hair and if any of you have longer hair that has receded and/or thinned or know someone who matches that description please share pics with me it would be highly appreciated. Thank you and looking forward to your feedback!!
