4 years on finasteride and Rogaine [NEWEST pics page 17, Sep 4 '12]
(EDIT: It's been over a year since I made this original post. I've tried to keep things updated, but I can't constantly put new pictures on this first post. I try to put the page of the most recent pictures in the post title, and the date that I posted them as well. I'm updating this today [May 12, 2012] to include a picture of my half-brother and younger brother and what their hairloss is, just to give you more of a clear picture of how aggressive male pattern baldness is in our family. I try to stay active, so feel free to ask me any questions!)
Baldness runs in my family. 1 of my mother's brothers is a NW6 at 45 years old, her other brother is a solid NW4 at 47 years old.
My dad is NW6
My older brother was NW5 at 23 years old
My older half-brother is 43, and this is his head
My younger brother's hair looked like this at 23
I've always had REALLY thick hair. Like, I could never pull off the Justin Beiber or Zac Effron look 'cause my hair just *poofs* when it dries. (side note, I can't stand either of those guys....it's just a hairstyle example)
I think I started noticing my hair falling out when I was about 18 or so. It wasn't anything super horrible, but I was noticing more and more hairs in my hands after I would shampoo my hair. It got to the point that I would see a decent amount in the towel after I dried my hair also.
I moved out on my own (actually with 2 friends) when I was 21, and then I REALLY started noticing it in the tub drain catch. I didn't know much about hair loss, but I know about propecia. I read up about it online...but happened across "propeciahelp" forums. That scared the **** out of me, so I got rogaine instead.
Now, at this point I hadn't even started to think about the hair going on my crown, I was just looking at the hairline. I was putting Rogaine on the hairline and that was it.
Jump forwards 2 years. I had just gotten back from a weekend at my girlfriend's parents' farm (who are now my in-laws). My boss was standing over my shoulder instructing me how to create firewall and VPN rules. I can remember his remark like it was yesterday.....
"You must have spent the weekend outside. It looks like your thin spot got a little sunburned."
:shock: :shock:
I instantly ran into the bathroom to take a picture of the top of my head. I was shocked.
Now, you might say "that's not bad", and it probably isn't. But I was 24, it freaked me out. Also, there were WORSE pictures than that, but I've since lost that old phone and the photos that were on it. Trust me, seeing it from the top down (instead of an angle like that) was MUCH worse. You could easily see the scalp.
So, a few days later I got a haircut (thinking that having my hair "down" was making it more visable) and went back to my old "spiky" look. I figured that the messed up hair would cover the thin spot a bit better. I was wrong
You can easily see the thinning, even on a picture with poor resolution. The next day I tried it with some product in it and kind of messed it up forward, hoping that would cover it some more. MEGA WRONG!
I went ahead and bit the bullet with finasteride. I ordered it from 4rx.com the very same day that my boss made the "thin spot" comment. I got it back in May of '08 and started into it as soon as it arrived.
Initially I had some "ball ache", and it freaked me the hell out. "Propeciahelp" was still fresh in my mind, so I ended up cutting the pills in half. The ache subsided after about a week or so (which, in retrospect, probably would have happened had I stuck with the 1mg dosage.)
So, 3 years later....no sides. Never had a problem getting it up, still horny as usual (probably jack off more now than I did 3 years ago), no brainfog. So, was it worth it? I dunno, you tell me
Wet hair 3 months ago
Dry hair 2 months ago
Dry hair last month
My hairline has not regrown, and I've seen a gradual loss...but it is NOTHING like what it used to be. Whereas I would get hair on my towel when I'd dry off, I now get nothing. I would put conditioner in my hair and be able to count 20+ hairs, but now I get a couple or so. The hair trap in the tub would catch probably 50-70+ hairs (the stainless steel kind with large holes in it), but I now get even less than that and I've switched to a plastic one with MUCH smaller holes.
I have no doubt that I would be much MUCH balder than I am now if I hadn't jumped on the finasteride, and I'm glad that I did.
What did I use?
1: finasteride, .5mg every day
2: Rogain foam, at LEAST 1x a day, usually 2
3: Nizoral 1% shampoo almost every day
4: Nioxin hair system shampoo and conditioner
I have now switched off to dutasteride and am trying minoxidil 15% and spironolactone S5 on the hairline to see if I can get some of my hairline back. I do a lot of local acting, and me and about 4 other friends are going to make the move to LA next year and try our luck. I know you don't HAVE to have hair to make it out there...but it sure as hell helps. I'm not Patrick Steward or Jason Statham :-/
(EDIT: It's been over a year since I made this original post. I've tried to keep things updated, but I can't constantly put new pictures on this first post. I try to put the page of the most recent pictures in the post title, and the date that I posted them as well. I'm updating this today [May 12, 2012] to include a picture of my half-brother and younger brother and what their hairloss is, just to give you more of a clear picture of how aggressive male pattern baldness is in our family. I try to stay active, so feel free to ask me any questions!)
Baldness runs in my family. 1 of my mother's brothers is a NW6 at 45 years old, her other brother is a solid NW4 at 47 years old.
My dad is NW6
My older brother was NW5 at 23 years old
My older half-brother is 43, and this is his head
My younger brother's hair looked like this at 23
I've always had REALLY thick hair. Like, I could never pull off the Justin Beiber or Zac Effron look 'cause my hair just *poofs* when it dries. (side note, I can't stand either of those guys....it's just a hairstyle example)
I think I started noticing my hair falling out when I was about 18 or so. It wasn't anything super horrible, but I was noticing more and more hairs in my hands after I would shampoo my hair. It got to the point that I would see a decent amount in the towel after I dried my hair also.
I moved out on my own (actually with 2 friends) when I was 21, and then I REALLY started noticing it in the tub drain catch. I didn't know much about hair loss, but I know about propecia. I read up about it online...but happened across "propeciahelp" forums. That scared the **** out of me, so I got rogaine instead.
Now, at this point I hadn't even started to think about the hair going on my crown, I was just looking at the hairline. I was putting Rogaine on the hairline and that was it.
Jump forwards 2 years. I had just gotten back from a weekend at my girlfriend's parents' farm (who are now my in-laws). My boss was standing over my shoulder instructing me how to create firewall and VPN rules. I can remember his remark like it was yesterday.....
"You must have spent the weekend outside. It looks like your thin spot got a little sunburned."
:shock: :shock:
I instantly ran into the bathroom to take a picture of the top of my head. I was shocked.
Now, you might say "that's not bad", and it probably isn't. But I was 24, it freaked me out. Also, there were WORSE pictures than that, but I've since lost that old phone and the photos that were on it. Trust me, seeing it from the top down (instead of an angle like that) was MUCH worse. You could easily see the scalp.
So, a few days later I got a haircut (thinking that having my hair "down" was making it more visable) and went back to my old "spiky" look. I figured that the messed up hair would cover the thin spot a bit better. I was wrong
You can easily see the thinning, even on a picture with poor resolution. The next day I tried it with some product in it and kind of messed it up forward, hoping that would cover it some more. MEGA WRONG!
I went ahead and bit the bullet with finasteride. I ordered it from 4rx.com the very same day that my boss made the "thin spot" comment. I got it back in May of '08 and started into it as soon as it arrived.
Initially I had some "ball ache", and it freaked me the hell out. "Propeciahelp" was still fresh in my mind, so I ended up cutting the pills in half. The ache subsided after about a week or so (which, in retrospect, probably would have happened had I stuck with the 1mg dosage.)
So, 3 years later....no sides. Never had a problem getting it up, still horny as usual (probably jack off more now than I did 3 years ago), no brainfog. So, was it worth it? I dunno, you tell me
Wet hair 3 months ago
Dry hair 2 months ago
Dry hair last month
My hairline has not regrown, and I've seen a gradual loss...but it is NOTHING like what it used to be. Whereas I would get hair on my towel when I'd dry off, I now get nothing. I would put conditioner in my hair and be able to count 20+ hairs, but now I get a couple or so. The hair trap in the tub would catch probably 50-70+ hairs (the stainless steel kind with large holes in it), but I now get even less than that and I've switched to a plastic one with MUCH smaller holes.
I have no doubt that I would be much MUCH balder than I am now if I hadn't jumped on the finasteride, and I'm glad that I did.
What did I use?
1: finasteride, .5mg every day
2: Rogain foam, at LEAST 1x a day, usually 2
3: Nizoral 1% shampoo almost every day
4: Nioxin hair system shampoo and conditioner
I have now switched off to dutasteride and am trying minoxidil 15% and spironolactone S5 on the hairline to see if I can get some of my hairline back. I do a lot of local acting, and me and about 4 other friends are going to make the move to LA next year and try our luck. I know you don't HAVE to have hair to make it out there...but it sure as hell helps. I'm not Patrick Steward or Jason Statham :-/
unk:
