Re: im new member and going bald need advice
Well, your hair still looks decent.
Here's the brutal fact - if you don't use any meds, hairs will go their own way and you'll be bald excactly when the nature intended to. The only chance to slow down the procedure is to use treatments. You have close to zero chances that things will be worse with meds available in pharmacies. It is true however that at the moment it is a life long commitment - couple of months after you stop using meds, they will stop working and hairs will go their own way as nature predicted. It is up to you to make your decision.
There are basically 3 options that are FDA approved (so called BIG 3):
1. Propecia (Finasterid):
Supresses DHT in scalp which is believed to be the main reason of male pattern baldness (man pattern baldness). Studies show that it works in majority of cases - it at least slows downs the balding process and if you're lucky, you get some regrowth. It works best for patients with top and crown thinning rather than recedeed temples. Some users report side effects, but study shows that side effects were more or less equelly distributed between group using true Propecia and the ones on placebo. Most often side effect is impotency. The thing is that you'll become a propecia junkie, because you can never know for sure (unless you progress to NW6+) that it's not working for it may be working in terms of slowing down the process regardless of you losing hair. The good part is that you can get very cheap generics that cost you like 10$ per month and it's easy to consume - one pill per day. I, however, buy original Propecia in pharmacy that costs me 70$ per month because I don't want to take any risk with corrupted batches.
2. Minoxydil
It is the ingredient that stimulates growth. It doesn't slow down your hairloss like Propecia does but it grows new hair. If I remember right studies show 80% of men responded to the drug, so you have good chances with it. Again - works best with top and crown, but users reported regrowth on temples. And again - if you quit using it, the regrown hair will fall out in a matter of months. Upside - cheap generics with minoxydil - Kirkland and others offer you treatments that cost like 10$ per month. I use original Rogaine stuff because of the above mentioned reason.
3. Nizoral shampoo
It has the ingredient called ketoconazole which clears scalp of sebum and is somewhat cherry on top to the above mentioned treatments. You can find it under different commercial names.
That's for the start. You have some other medications (RU, spironolactone, dutasteride, Saw Palmetto...), but they're not clinically tested to help with hairloss. People use them on their on risk and have reported various results. If you feel like experimenting, you can give it a try, but firstly I would recommend you to start with BIG3 and than see how things go.
Good luck with your battle!
