23, is it already time to see a dermatologist?

[BurningCoals]

Yeah being bald and beardless sucks big time. Most white guys end up looking like a cancer patient, a baby or an egg. I think I'd look like Imhotep from The Mummy if I shaved both my head and my facial hair, which seems pretty hilarious to me because the guy terrified me as a kid and my dad used to scare me by pretending to be him.

Finasteride doesn't have much of an impact on facial hair as far as I know, since Testosterone is more important than DHT for beard growth. Where did you read that it could increase minoxidil'd effectiveness? I read that it works in synergy with minoxidil since finasteride maintains and gives slight regrowth while minoxidil regrows and guarantees some slight maintenance, do you happen to know if they works in synergy for facial hair growth too?

I would look like a straight up mutant bald. I would probably have to grow a horseshoe to look like a person... but I would have to grow a horseshoe. Lol, long time since I've seen those movies. Also they have the "bald is evil" trope haha.

There's alot of inconsistency regarding the importance of DHT on facial hair. On one hand, people with 5AR deficiency don't tend to have good facial hair, and I've seen reports of people claiming that their beards have thinned while on 5AR inhibitors, as well as their facial hair improving when coming off of it. But on the other hand there was a study where people with coeliac disease, whom apparently have lower DHT levels and higher T levels, had thicker beards but they grew more slowly which could indicate that T is most important for the maturation of the facial hair itself while DHT for the growth: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7126460/
And there's also people whom say that their beards stayed the same or even improved while on finasteride. So idk what to think.

I was shown a study by Selb where apparently DHT causes lower sulfotransference of minoxidil: https://www.hairlosstalk.com/intera...idil-nonresponders.130733/page-2#post-1947713

 

[NickyA]

But on the other hand there was a study where people with coeliac disease, whom apparently have lower DHT levels and higher T levels, had thicker beards but they grew more slowly which could indicate that T is most important for the maturation of the facial hair itself while DHT for the growth: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7126460/
And there's also people whom say that their beards stayed the same or even improved while on finasteride. So idk what to think.

I was shown a study by Selb where apparently DHT causes lower sulfotransference of minoxidil: https://www.hairlosstalk.com/intera...idil-nonresponders.130733/page-2#post-1947713

Good stuff, we'd probably have to consider this on a case by case basis. The fact that lower serum DHT may raise sulfotransferase and thus increase the effect of Minoxidil is particularly interesting.

 

[NickyA]

Alright, it's been nearly three months since I started taking 1 mg finasteride thrice a week and about 4 months since I started using minoxidil twice a day. I think I have recovered the frontal density I had back in my February 2020 holiday, which seemed like a Norwood 1 up front but you could see some slight recession on the left temple. I've left some pictures for comparison. I believe this regrowth was due to minoxidil, which I've been using twice a day. I've been growing more vellus hair on my temples, and some of it is starting to grow longer and thicker. It's unnoticeable on the pictures yet but the Die Hard hair that marked my 19-20 year old hairline is now surrounded by a bunch of terminal hairs now. I may have recovered 25% of my temples completely I think? Also I cannot see my scalp anymore when I turn on my mirror's bright integrated lights, so all the pictures I'll upload now are under harsh lighting. I'll start taking 1 mg finasteride from Monday to Friday next week.

EDIT: Apparently I cannot upload images at the moment, maybe it's a forum problem? I'll try again in a couple hours.

EDIT 2: Pictures uploaded.

 

[BurningCoals]

Alright, it's been nearly three months since I started taking 1 mg finasteride thrice a week and about 4 months since I started using minoxidil twice a day. I think I have recovered the frontal density I had back in my February 2020 holiday, which seemed like a Norwood 1 up front but you could see some slight recession on the left temple. I've left some pictures for comparison. I believe this regrowth was due to minoxidil, which I've been using twice a day. I've been growing more vellus hair on my temples, and some of it is starting to grow longer and thicker. It's unnoticeable on the pictures yet but the Die Hard hair that marked my 19-20 year old hairline is now surrounded by a bunch of terminal hairs now. I may have recovered 25% of my temples completely I think? Also I cannot see my scalp anymore when I turn on my mirror's bright integrated lights, so all the pictures I'll upload now are under harsh lighting. I'll start taking 1 mg finasteride from Monday to Friday next week.

EDIT: Apparently I cannot upload images at the moment, maybe it's a forum problem? I'll try again in a couple hours.

EDIT 2: Pictures uploaded.

Wow it's weird how much different your hair color is between those pics, like it's black in some and almost blond in others.

You got a solid hairline and density, congrats

 

[NickyA]

Wow it's weird how much different your hair color is between those pics, like it's black in some and almost blond in others.

You got a solid hairline and density, congrats

My dad used to be blond but his hair darkened as he grew up and turned black by the time he was 11 or so. I'm still not sure what Norwood I am hahaha but at least my density is back, due to Minoxidil. Thanks for following this thread man!

I forgot to write that I'll be ending my second cycle of oral castor oil today. The next one will be the 1st of May.

 

[Will Be an Egg in 5 years]

Your Temples look great

 

[NickyA]

I've been taking 1 mg of finasteride from Monday to Friday and I've adapted nicely to this upped dosage. Think I will stay on this dosage for six months or more. Have barely lost any hairs after showering or brushing. My hair is quite long right now, so I wanted to show my temples and sides clearly. I think most of my density gains were from Minoxidil 5% twice a day, because my facial hair started growing dramatically after I started using it on my face. Think I've also regrown a bit more of my temples but I'm not sure. I can't tell if the oral castor oil is doing anything, but it's pretty cheap so I've kept doing cycles.

 

[Sseoud86]

Keep up the finasteride and you'll be good. People actually see thickening up to five years after. Hair cycles can be very slow. Just give it time....it's a long term commitment.

 

[NickyA]

Thanks for your advice! I'll probably post another update in a week or so. I've adapted nicely to finasteride, I think titrating upwards really helped and avoided any possible nocebo effect that could have happened due to stress at first.

 

[infamousrodi]

Thanks for your advice! I'll probably post another update in a week or so. I've adapted nicely to finasteride, I think titrating upwards really helped and avoided any possible nocebo effect that could have happened due to stress at first.

Awesome to see you get nice results. I might hop on it again if I see worsening of my hair again. I’m gonna do 1mg 3x a week as i experienced increase breast tissue with 1mg ed

 

[NickyA]

Just had a haircut today and wanted to update the thread. Looks pretty much the same to me. Love how nice my hair looks now when I style it. Can only see some thinning at the very front under harsh lighting. As usual, I will post some pictures under average lighting conditions first, and those under harsh lighting second. Won't post any temple pictures under harsh lighting conditions because they look pretty much the same as under average lighting after recovering most of my 2018-2019 frontal density. The "Die Hard" hair on my left templebhas grown longer and is now surrounded by a couple of thin, long baby hairs, but you cannot notice that on the picture since that part of my temple is covered by longer hair at the front that goes leftwards.

 

[NickyA]

Wanted to post another update here after three months, haven't had any problems with 1 mg finasteride five times a week so far, nor with minoxidil. Haven't been able to find minoxidil cream here so I use your average 5% liquid minoxidil two or three hours before sleep or when at home and a different brand of 5% liquid minoxidil that has 60 ml of 96° alcohol and 20grams of propylenglycol (So more alcohol than PG, the opposite of most brands of liquid minoxidil). I've found that this composition dries faster, in an hour or less, so that's why I use it for my first application of the day often.

I have also been losing 20 to 40 or 50 hairs daily for a month or two, I believe this may be my first shed... Hopefully the hairs will come back thicker and stronger, haven't really noticed much of a difference in the quality of my hair though so I'm not concerned. Leaving some pictures under average and harsh lighting here for reference.

 

[BurningCoals]

Seems to be maintaining well, under bright lighting you can still kinda see the thinning, but that's to be expected. Hopefully you'll get regrowth after the shedding!

 

[NickyA]

It's been almost a year since I started this thread, and so far so good. The shedding when I apply Minoxidil is much lower and I think I am losing less hair when I shampoo. So hopefully the shedding is stopping. No problems at all with Finasteride either... I think most of the regrowth was due to Minoxidil in my case, because my facial hair has grown a lot compared to how it looked a year ago, now I have to regularly shave my cheeks and neck if I don't want to have stubble, whereas last year I wouldn't grow any hair there at all. But it isn't a strong full on beard yet. I believe some of the temple regrowth I got was due to minoxidil too. Right temple seems to have recovered way better than my left temple. Nowadays I have to regularly trim my eyebrow hair or I get a unibrow, prolly due to minoxidil. Don't really notice much of a difference hair wise, maybe Finasteride caused some thickening since my hair is now less wobbly and easier to handle, but not much else. But maintenance and no sides is still great. I'll post two pictures in average lighting and the rest under harsh lighting for comparison. You cannot see any frontal thinning under average lighting anymore, whereas you could see some last year. So that's some nice improvement.

 

[BurningCoals]

Congrats, I'd say you are arguably around NW1 now.

I'm around 4.5 months into finasteride alone, and idk if it is working, I can pull out hairs pretty easily and I've been shedding for quite a while now Maybe it is just the finasteride-induced shedding and things will improve but idk anymore. I'll probably stick to finasteride alone for a few months more and then consider readding minoxidil as an extra layer of protection.

 

[NickyA]

Congrats, I'd say you are arguably around NW1 now.

I'm around 4.5 months into finasteride alone, and idk if it is working, I can pull out hairs pretty easily and I've been shedding for quite a while now Maybe it is just the finasteride-induced shedding and things will improve but idk anymore. I'll probably stick to finasteride alone for a few months more and then consider readding minoxidil as an extra layer of protection.

Finasteride takes six months minimum to start seeing improvements and for most people it actually happens after the year mark, so don't worry about it. If you ditched minoxidil that might be the cause of the shed too. Finasteride for me at least stopped my hair loss altogether after the first four or five months, I would shampoo my hair or apply minoxidil and would only maybe pull out two or three hairs, then at the seventh to tenth or so month mark I kept losing like twice the amount of hair that I used to lose while shampooing (Dunno if that was a minoxidil or a finasteride shed, or maybe both) but my hair kept looking similar to before starting my regimen, so I didn't worry too much. Nowadays I lose maybe half or less of the hair I used to lose while shampooing or styling my hair, and most of the strands I lose look unhealthy. In any case, some degree of hair loss is normal for everyone, so I wouldn't coun't too much on the number of hairs you lose but on how your overall situation looks when you compare pictures.

 

[BurningCoals]

Finasteride takes six months minimum to start seeing improvements and for most people it actually happens after the year mark, so don't worry about it. If you ditched minoxidil that might be the cause of the shed too. Finasteride for me at least stopped my hair loss altogether after the first four or five months, I would shampoo my hair or apply minoxidil and would only maybe pull out two or three hairs, then at the seventh to tenth or so month mark I kept losing like twice the amount of hair that I used to lose while shampooing (Dunno if that was a minoxidil or a finasteride shed, or maybe both) but my hair kept looking similar to before starting my regimen, so I didn't worry too much. Nowadays I lose maybe half or less of the hair I used to lose while shampooing or styling my hair, and most of the strands I lose look unhealthy. In any case, some degree of hair loss is normal for everyone, so I wouldn't coun't too much on the number of hairs you lose but on how your overall situation looks when you compare pictures.

I ditched min almost a year ago so that’s not really the cause. I’ll keep going with the finasteride.

 

[NickyA]

I ditched min almost a year ago so that’s not really the cause. I’ll keep going with the finasteride.

Ohh I see, don't worry about it then. It could be the beggining of the finasteride, and it could last a couple months. I believe there are periodical sheds every now and then too.

 

[BurningCoals]

Ohh I see, don't worry about it then. It could be the beggining of the finasteride, and it could last a couple months. I believe there are periodical sheds every now and then too.

Let's pray for that, it's mainly miniaturized hairs that shed and are easy to pull out. Man the waiting is annoying.

 

[NickyA]

Let's pray for that, it's mainly miniaturized hairs that shed and are easy to pull out. Man the waiting is annoying.

Shedding miniaturized hairs is good, it's a sign that you're losing unhealthy hairs, hopefully they'll grow back thicker and stronger. Wouldn't expect to see results from finasteride till you've reached nine months of treatment at least though, unless you're a super responder. I'm nearing that mark for finasteride and I still think most of my improvement was due to Minoxidil, Finasteride may have caused some thickening though.