big 3 update

[artvandaley]

Well so far I've been on propecia for about 14 months (1/5 proscar for 5 of those months) and 5% generic minoxidil for almost 4 months. I've definitely not seen any improvement in my hair, and so far things have just gotten worse (I'm about a Norwood 1.5, probably soon to be 2). I don't have any hairloss on the vertex, just on the temples and hairline, and my hairline and temples continue to get thinner and thinner. The hairloss also seemed to speed up when I added minoxidil, so I hope things will improve over the next few months (i've heard people say after 4 months is when they see things turn around with minoxidil, so I hope there will be good times ahead). Propecia seemed to do an alright job of slowing things down, but there was still a gradual thinning and I always hear that both are better together than by themselves. I've also been using nizoral 1% for the majority of time on my regimen, and I also rotate T/Gel in every now and then.

My hair right now is at the lowest point its been in, and I really hope to see improvent soon. I was hoping to just get some assurance that at this point in my regimen things will start to get better. I plan on giving minoxidil with propecia another 5 months or so and see where I'm at then. If my hair keeps getting worse at that point I think I'm gonna drop both of them and try something else. I think I've given both treatments enough time at that point. After this week I think I'm gonna stop coming here for awhile and just see what my treatments can do, and hopefully after 6 months I can give an update and let everyone know how things are going.

Good luck to everyone with their battle, I know how frustrating it can be sometimes, and I just imagine how much happier I would be if something started to work. That hope is what keeps going with this.

 

[Bismarck]

artvandaley, how aggressive was your hairloss when you started your treatment? What did you notice after 2 months on minoxidil? Vellus hairs? Nothing? I've read many posts where people said that finasteride and/or minoxidil have worsened their hairloss.

 

[Kramer3]

Art: Did you notice any significant sheds while on proscar. I'm going through a pretty horrific shed right now, at the six month mark.

If at some point in time you want to try something new I'd suggest dutasteride as the next logical step. I think it's important you continue with minoxidil though just because of the traumatizing shed that commonly comes after cessation.

 

[The shedder]

Wow 14 months and your hair is at the worst its been? Are you being pessimistic, I would of figured it would at least slow your hairloss down and thicken up the existing hairs. Sorry to hear man.

 

[Ams99]

i've been on the big 3 for over 18 months now, and i have less hair than when i started. i'm going to start generic dutasteride when i get it in the mail in a week.

 

[artvandaley]

artvandaley, how aggressive was your hairloss when you started your treatment? What did you notice after 2 months on minoxidil? Vellus hairs? Nothing? I've read many posts where people said that finasteride and/or minoxidil have worsened their hairloss.

My hairloss wasn't too aggressive when I started. Just a gradual recession of the hairline. I didn't really notice anything after 2 months on minoxidil. I'm approaching 4 months and my hair is just thinner where i've applied it along the temples and hairline.

Art: Did you notice any significant sheds while on proscar. I'm going through a pretty horrific shed right now, at the six month mark.

I haven't really noticed any big sheds while taking proscar. I shed a little bit about 5 months into taking propecia and also for a few weeks when I first started minoxidil, but nothing major.

Wow 14 months and your hair is at the worst its been? Are you being pessimistic, I would of figured it would at least slow your hairloss down and thicken up the existing hairs. Sorry to hear man.

Like I said before I think propecia was slowing down my hairloss a little bit, but my hairline was still continuing to recede at a slow rate and there was no thickening of my existing hairs. This is why I added minoxidil into my regimen, but now my hair is thinner where i'm applying it and it's becoming a pain in the *** to style my hair. Isn't your hair supposed to get worse at first where you apply minoxidil and later come in thicker?
All I can say is I hope so.

 

[JesusFreak]

I would:

add topical 2% spironolactone and a copper peptide. I would also trash the minoxidil, it sounds like you may be allergic to one of the ingredients.