24 Year Old Finasteride For 1.5 Months And Dermarolling A Few Weeks

[Cmml]

Started thinning in my early 20's but my hair was still really thick but my hairline was a little higher. I had to do chemo for lymphoma and that's when my hair took a real hit and I waited 2.5 years and used some minoxidil to try and help regrow when I noticed my hair came out very thin and fine. After about a year or so it wasn't really helping so I dropped it and went through a huge shed and waited almost 6 months, realized I was actually balding and that chemo may have changed my hormones and just changed the course of my hair route overall.

So I went to the dermatologist for help and said I could keep waiting for my hair to maybe come back or hop on finasteride and see if it helps. It took my a month and a half after being prescribed the finasteride to pick it up and I finally took the leap to take it.

I've been on it for 1.5 months now and I've noticed no real bad symptoms. I have a bunch of little hairs growing on my hairline and the texture of the forehead where my hairline was as a teenager is changing if that makes any sense? The space above the juvenile hairline looks like it has pores again instead of being smooth and shiny. I have very small vellus hairs (very tiny) coming from my actual "v" base hairline, so small that they only show when wet in the light, but this area was VERY smooth and not a hair in sight. I'm hoping that this is good news.
Also my skin is nicer (again it feels more like when I was a teenager) and the thing is after chemotherapy my skin felt more rugged especially after being on minoxidil and aging I guess, but the finasteride has basically caused no symptoms besides skin texture change and growth of tiny little hairs, and there are sprouting new hairs a little higher up already and I'm noticing thicker hairs growing.

After chemo my hair grew in light brown and thin, I used to have very dark, thick wavy hair and my hair is darker now and not as fine and it has only been a month. I really hope this is all good news and it means I might get my hair back.

Anyways I know it's way too early but I'm just sharing the news. It took a lot for me to jump on finasteride so I hope it'll be worth it!

On Finasteride 1mg daily, nizoral 1% 3x a week, and dermarolling 3-4x a week

 

[Alphalete]

Pics pls

 

[Outsider626]

Whats the point posting this without pics?

 

[Cmml]

I updated with pics. The ones with darker hair are pre-chemo to show what my hair was like. The super thin fine hair last picture on my initial post is after 3-4 months of dropping minoxidil after a year or so of using it trying to get hair back. I did blood tests and everything came ot fine why I thought trying finasteride was the best move and so far it seems like it's working and no symptoms (knock on wood).

Here is today, a month and a half after finasteride. It's crazy how much my hair texture has changed. I don't know if you can tell but it's getting darker, courser, and less curly again.

The hairline pic if you zoom in shows a bunch of hairs and how my forehead texture is changing to less shiny and smooth.

 

[Alphalete]

Going strong man. Looks like you will recover well. Keep us updated

 

[Cmml]

Hey guys, today more hair came out and I wanted to show you what I meant by new hair follicles that were not open like this (it was slick shiny before and now there are dots everywhere).

Don't know if this is good but the reason I noticed something was up is because I was washing my hair with nizoral today and as I was massaging my scalp i was rubbing my hairline and it felt rough and was prickling my finger, it usually felt like there's nothing on my head and that im massaging something smooth, but yeah pretty cool. I hope this means its working well!!!

 

[Cmml]

So i know its only been almost 2 months, but my eyebrows are no longer extremely bushy and they've gone back to having the same shape and form I had before chemo. The other thing is, I've noticed my hair is darker than it was before starting finasteride. My hair feels more full and alive. I'm still shedding over the sink and it seems to be really small miniaturized hairs that are going to hopefully be replaced in a few months.

The big giveaway that something is happening though is the fact that my sideburns and the side of my hair is starting to look like it did a few years ago. My skin is softer and doesn't have that rugged, roughed up look it did post-chemo. And my eyelashes are longer again.

I think if you just compare it to my pics originally, clearly something is changing and my hair is looking thicker and healthier! Also I've noticed after dermarolling, my scalp has been releasing sebum or something that seemed to be stuck in the follicle. My scalp is also softer and not as dry and calloused feeling.

I hope my hairline recovers as there was hair there before my HUGE minoxidil shed; albeit the hairs were dying and thinning, but my minoxidil shed quit really knocked off a lot of hair and I accepted that I was balding pretty badly and hopped on finasteride asap. I haven't gone back to minoxidil though because I don't like the way it made my face look/feel.
As for symptoms, still so far so good!

 

[Outsider626]

Nice. What Derma roller size are you using and how hard to you press it? For some reason my left side of temple turns red(blood flow) but right side doesn't. Maybe i should press harder.

 

[Cmml]

Hey Outsider626! haven't been on here with an update for a while so haven't had a chance to reply. I've been using the recommended 1.5 mm for rolling with intention of reversing calcification and increase blood flow and whatever other benefits there are alongside finasteride.

I was wondering if I should use minoxidil again? I felt like when I used the liquid I had symptoms and it made where I applied red. Maybe if I used minoxidil foam instead i won't have that issue. Anyways, it has only been about 3 months since I started finasteride and about 9 months since I quit minoxidil and had a horrendous shed and realized how bad I was actually balding post-chemotherapy.

Here is my update. It seems like I'm starting to see more and more little hairs pop up. My hair texture feels better, but I still haven't had a huge physical change in appearance as my hair has been shedding. To be honest, I've been shedding hairs since before hopping on finasteride but the only reason I think it's working or I know it is, is because my hair started to feel much better and didn't seem like it was shriveling up and trying to die anymore. But the shedding hasn't stopped, I've been mostly shedding thin hairs and even some thicker hairs, but the hairs being shed on average are thicker than what I saw before starting finasteride.

I still have an obviously thin crown and hairline but I think I can see the outline start to come back in. The photos I put don't really show it, but I'm starting to see a bunch of slightly long, tiny blonde hairs that were not there. i guess they're vellus hairs, or something but I hope they grow and reverse miniaturize.

What do you guys think: Should I hold off on the minoxidil foam? And is this good news for being 3 months into finasteride?

some none hairloss changes i've noticed is that my eyebrows are not as bushy as they were post-chemo. They've returned to their more tamed state lol. I'm wondering if chemo shocked my body and changed my hormones which is why my hair and skin and everything and even facial features at one point were so much different to me. I thought I was just aging but i'm only 24, still young.
My skin is a lot less dry, and my eyebrows no longer have eczema/dandruff/flakes and redness. My scalp is also way less oily and the texture is completely different. My facial hair is also somehow thicker, the texture again is pre-chemo; post-chemo the texture was softer and thinner overall for facial hair as well. The weird thing is I'm starting to have a bunch of tiny hairs pop up on my face that are blonde and they were never there before. I wonder if any of this is related, but anyhow that's my ~3 month update and how everything is going.

 

[Cmml]

Wanted to show you guys what my right temple looks like today. This is just dermarolling every week and finasteride 1mg every day for the last 3 months or so. Should I jump on finasteride to expedite growth or just finasteride since it seems to be working alongside just dermarolling?

 

[londonhairlossvictim]

Do you have a tutorial on how you learnt to dermaroll? I struggle with this

 

[Alphalete]

Do you have a tutorial on how you learnt to dermaroll? I struggle with this

 

[Cmml]

Update from today. More little hairs sprouting, about 4 months into finasteride. A lot less shedding as well.

 

[Cmml]

I wanted to upload this pic to show how my hairline has all these blonde hairs that were not here, and they're getting longer. You can really see them when looking from an angle. Also to update on my shedding and be more clear; I've been shedding since stopping minoxidil back in August 2017. When I hopped onto finasteride this january, I started shedding thin hairs nonstop since starting it. Here's the thing, I'm still shedding, as I still can see a bunch of sink hairs. It's just not much shedding overall, and my hair quality is improving overall in texture. There's just a bunch of gaps and I'm waiting for all the months and months of shed hair to start growing back thicker again, hopefully it does!

I haven't had any hair on that V-portion of my hairline since being 18 or so, so this is really new and probably the DHT suppression haha.

 

[Alphalete]

Nice!

 

[Cmml]

Hey I'm about 5 months in and here's another update. Hair is definitely increasing in thickness slowly but surely. More and more small hairline hairs appear.

I'm wondering if I should just take the leap and start minoxidil or wait it out another 6 months before trying it? I'm gonna just use foam this time so my scalp doesn't get itchy. I feel like it'd speed up a lot of this.

 

[Recon_s]

Hey I'm about 5 months in and here's another update. Hair is definitely increasing in thickness slowly but surely. More and more small hairline hairs appear.

I'm wondering if I should just take the leap and start minoxidil or wait it out another 6 months before trying it? I'm gonna just use foam this time so my scalp doesn't get itchy. I feel like it'd speed up a lot of this. View attachment 90363

Minoxidil is the growth factor of the big 3 I'm not sure why people choose to ignore this and leave it out of their regime and then complain about the effect of maintenance or regrowth... I would for sure add it as you are having great results already

 

[Cmml]

Minoxidil is the growth factor of the big 3 I'm not sure why people choose to ignore this and leave it out of their regime and then complain about the effect of maintenance or regrowth... I would for sure add it as you are having great results already

You're absolutely right. Considering my situation and how bad my baldness is at 25, it's probably a good idea to stay on minoxidil. The other thing is, I've been on and off of minoxidil for two long periods of time so I think my hair is gonna be pretty minoxidil dependent regardless since each time was around a year or so in length.

Do you think going on the minoxidil liquid then switching to the foam after I run out of my old supply, would be fine? Just in case I get itchy-irritated scalp again.

 

[Cmml]

Here's my seven month finasteride and two or so month minoxidil update. Hair tsxrure on top is great but still missing a lot of hair. My hair looks so much better than it did prior to starting treatment and I think the minoxidil is working as I have so much hair growing on my hairline.

What do u guys think!? Looks like I'm responding !

 

[CrownBalding]

Hey man, looking at your first photos you had a freckle that was clearly showing.

Now with your hair even shorter, the freckle is basically completely covered. Congrats!