5 months on finastride and minoxidil, need your opinion!

[As2021]

Hey everyone, I am 21 yo asian guy.(English is not good)
I started observing hair loss when I was 16, I always had somewhat thin hair type. I didn't know about hairloss medicines at that time. I always find it difficult to brush my hair especially crown hair always feel awkward, I was only observing my frontal region but in 2020 when I was 20 I took a picture from the top and back side of my head and I noticed significant density loss there. Then I started searching about treatment options and went to doctor on 1st June 2021. He prescribed me finastride 1 mg daily and minoxidil twice a day. Then I researched about dosing on youtube n I found on hairloss show that even microdosing can give good results.
Now it's been 5 months on treatment,
My regimen:
Month 1 : 0.5 mg alternate days.
Month 2,3: 1 mg alternate days.
Month 4,5: 1 mg everyday ( I increased dose since I was not facing any side effects) and added ketoconozol shampoo for itchy head.
I use minoxidil 0.5 ml every day(night).

What I observed?

My hair used to be very thin, now it feels little thick and strong. Earlier I felt pain and itching on top of my head and now it is almost gone.
I shed a lot of hair before using finastride almost 40+ hair a day while pulling my hair/styling and 30-70+ hair while headwash and shampooing. And now I shed only 5-10 hair/day and in shampoo only 5-10 max.
but but, I didn't see any regrowth, only minaturised hair length increased a little and also they shed sometimes. I don't see long hair shedding easily in last 3 months.

Family history: My hair pattern is similar to my father, mine is just curly. He is almost Norwood 3 hairline(very shiny and smooth head on NW2) and bald crown(very thin and little hair are still there when I observe closely on crown,but it looks bald )

My questions(need your opinion)
1. How will my hair look after next 5-6 months from now, especially miniaturised hair on hairline?
2. I did not notice miniatured hair on crown region, so will I be able to grow new hair at crown with finastride and minoxidil. or do I need a hair transplant in future?

 

[As2021]

2 more months on the same regimen:
December 27 -21

Can you guys see any difference? I have shedded a lot in last one month.

 

[As2021]

In natural sunlight.
7 months of treatment (finastride and minoxidil once daily)

 

[As2021]

 

[Moz5x]

It’s good that you started treatment early. If you are not experiencing adverse side effects then you should be fine.

All of your pictures are different/inconsistent so it’s difficult to provide any feedback. You need to take pictures using the exact same camera angle, lighting, pose, hair length etc. No one can predict what the future holds for your hairloss. The best you can do is look at your family history of male pattern baldness to get a sense of what your final pattern might be. If possible, talk to your father/uncles/grandfathers about their hairloss (at what age did it start? Did it intensify at a certain age? Did it stabilize at a certain age?). This will help you gauge your own progress on Finasteride as you get older. It is not a cure but if you are lucky Finasteride may give you many more years of good quality hair than your father had.

No one can predict how well Finasteride will work for you or if you will need a transplant later in life. I advise you to take better pictures to properly track your progress and only evaluate every 4-6 months. Hair loss treatment takes time. Good luck.

 

[As2021]

View attachment 9

It’s good that you started treatment early. If you are not experiencing adverse side effects then you should be fine.

All of your pictures are different/inconsistent so it’s difficult to provide any feedback. You need to take pictures using the exact same camera angle, lighting, pose, hair length etc. No one can predict what the future holds for your hairloss. The best you can do is look at your family history of male pattern baldness to get a sense of what your final pattern might be. If possible, talk to your father/uncles/grandfathers about their hairloss (at what age did it start? Did it intensify at a certain age? Did it stabilize at a certain age?). This will help you gauge your own progress on Finasteride as you get older. It is not a cure but if you are lucky Finasteride may give you many more years of good quality hair than your father had.

No one can predict how well Finasteride will work for you or if you will need a transplant later in life. I advise you to take better pictures to properly track your progress and only evaluate every 4-6 months. Hair loss treatment takes time. Good luck.

Thanks a lot man for being geniune!
As you asked about my family baldness history, so I have my father's genes. He is 55 yo and is N 3.5 very shiny M shape hairline and very less density on top. Also crown looks completely bald, vertex thin, but when I observed his crown from a closer view, i see so many miniaturised hair.
Back of the head has good density but it is very small.( Just like me!)
Also temporal points have just slightly receded.

 

[As2021]

It’s good that you started treatment early. If you are not experiencing adverse side effects then you should be fine.

All of your pictures are different/inconsistent so it’s difficult to provide any feedback. You need to take pictures using the exact same camera angle, lighting, pose, hair length etc. No one can predict what the future holds for your hairloss. The best you can do is look at your family history of male pattern baldness to get a sense of what your final pattern might be. If possible, talk to your father/uncles/grandfathers about their hairloss (at what age did it start? Did it intensify at a certain age? Did it stabilize at a certain age?). This will help you gauge your own progress on Finasteride as you get older. It is not a cure but if you are lucky Finasteride may give you many more years of good quality hair than your father had.

No one can predict how well Finasteride will work for you or if you will need a transplant later in life. I advise you to take better pictures to properly track your progress and only evaluate every 4-6 months. Hair loss treatment takes time. Good luck.

No major side effects, just morning woods have became rare now(may because of my irregular sleep) and more libido!
My long term goal is to keep my hair atleast for 10 more years and have a hair transplant in thinning areas.
1.When Should I add dutastride in my regimen?
2. How should I treat my dry and itchy scalp? I apply ketoconozol shampoo, but it dries my hair even more!
3. Should I go for a buzz cut with faded sides(because I shed so many hair every day and I am doubtful of the minoxidil absorption because of long hair), will it look good for diffused thinner?

 

[As2021]

Trimmed down to Zero.

 

[fatelephant]

I'm not even sure you're going bald. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but not everybody has a straight, thick hairline and thick, dense hair so that you can't even see the scalp on the crown. In fact, that is quite rare.

There is a lot of 20-year olds on this forum freaking out that are not going bald. I don't know if you are one of them or not. In any case, your hair loss is definitely not bad and I think it's silly to take finasteride as your stage.


My 2c.