BTP11's story - (now with pics) (20 month update)

[btp11]

Re: btp

So you didn't see any improvement until 10 months in? Wow, you have some incredible patience. Did you experience tremendous shedding in the first 2 months? Right now, my head is super itchy, much more than before I started Propecia, did you ever suffer from any itchy head? I am using Nizoral 2 times/week.

thanks for your reply,

i saw small improvements around month 10...then a shed. the 10 month shed was my last big one....i would comb my hair and lose 10-20 hairs or so. after that though, its been a steady improvement....as recent as early september i was still worried if things were working...i played in a softball tourney out of town, and had to stay in a hotel...hotel bathrooms are about the WORST place to look at your hair....anyway, around november, i started messing around spiking my hair again...then i went to my xmas party at work in early december with it spiked, and several people said they thought it looked good. since then ive been spiking it...again, i really think part of it is the volumizing gel i use, and the fact i apply it to damp, not wet, hair.

some days i still feel bad about it, and getting out of the shower with it really wet isnt the best feeling....but for the most part, i feel a lot better about the whole situation. i think giving it even a year is too short a time...id give it two years to evaluate everything.

 

[bababa]

Congrats on your improvement and your ability to keep up your routine btp11.... I'm about to come up to my 7th month on finasteride . So far I haven't any new noticable hair growth on my hairline, but it has most definitely slowed/stop the hair lose I was having.
Were you losing heaps of hairs when u combed your hair in the shower and as soon as you came out... I was gettin like 40-50 caught in my comb and thats when I started to freak (that and the fact my hair line was starting to change a little). After about 3 months that seemed to stop, but I still get about a dozen out, plus I find one or 2 hairs inbetween my fingers every second time I run my hand through my hair (this is an improvement on what was happening before).
I'm interested in how it seems most people start finding noticable improvements with finasteride in the later stages of their first year of treatment much like yourself.
Keep up the good work man, its looking good from the pics

 

[btp11]

Congrats on your improvement and your ability to keep up your routine btp11.... I'm about to come up to my 7th month on finasteride . So far I haven't any new noticable hair growth on my hairline, but it has most definitely slowed/stop the hair lose I was having.
Were you losing heaps of hairs when u combed your hair in the shower and as soon as you came out... I was gettin like 40-50 caught in my comb and thats when I started to freak (that and the fact my hair line was starting to change a little). After about 3 months that seemed to stop, but I still get about a dozen out, plus I find one or 2 hairs inbetween my fingers every second time I run my hand through my hair (this is an improvement on what was happening before).
I'm interested in how it seems most people start finding noticable improvements with finasteride in the later stages of their first year of treatment much like yourself.
Keep up the good work man, its looking good from the pics

thanks man....i was never losing "heaps" of hair...i may be repeating myself from the first page, but since it was diffuse, i never really noticed it at first...i really startd to know it when i was in my CPA review classes during the summer of 05...id run my hands through my hair and 2 or 3 would fall out. even at my worst shed, i never lost more than 50 or so in the shower...i do remember combing my hair at times and losing 10 or so hairs with each stroke...but those were during my big 3 month and 10 month sheds.

if i still play with my hair enough, ill get hairs to come out....and when my hair is greasy or dirty, hairs come out easier. (ive also noticed how thick my hair seems when i go a day without washing it). ill never have my 15 year old hair back, but if i can keep what i have, id be thrilled.

again, give it at least a year....ive had the urge to shave my head, stop treatment, everything everyone else goes through...eventually it passes. its funny though, i went from "when will it start working?" to "will i see any more improvement?" and the dreaded "am i at my peak/is it all downhill now/etc etc."

and at the risk of repeating myself again, for anyone that doesnt want to search for it, my weapons in the war for hair have been:
1. propecia (first thing in the morning - have missed maybe 5 pills in a year and a half)
2. nizoral (m w f)
3. t-gel (t th weekends)
4. MSM (i forget to take these a lot - maybe 4-5 a week)
5. rogaine foam (just for the crown - 2x a day 5 days a week, 1x 2 days)
6. goldwell lagoom jam (gel - i highly recommend it)

 

[bilbobaggins]

sweetpipe and congratulations...

i'm currently in month 10 on propecia and i have to say i think my hair is getting thicker. Funnily enough my hair looks fluffy and kinda sh*t when i wash it but a day after its pretty much fine, some days i don't even style it in the morning. I would say i've had much regrowth, if any, but the hair i had is definately more healthy hair which in turn has led to better scalp coverage. Since i started treatment my hairline has definately gotten worse but hopefully that will get a little better over time. Hopefully i will see some more improvement but i have to say that its definately better than at baseline...at least in the crown anyway.

 

[btp11]

well...i promised pics....and here they are, fresh after a haircut this afternoon.....







the "bald spot" isnt really that bad....especially since you can see that my hair is gelled, and has been since about 7:30 pm (it's 12:50 am as i type this).

thoughts? i think ive maintained, and ill take that any day of the week.

 

[RaginDemon]

well...i promised pics....and here they are, fresh after a haircut this afternoon.....







the "bald spot" isnt really that bad....especially since you can see that my hair is gelled, and has been since about 7:30 pm (it's 12:50 am as i type this).

thoughts? i think ive maintained, and ill take that any day of the week.

Judging from your latest pics, I cannot see your suffering from male pattern baldness at all.

good job man

 

[btp11]

wow....no other comments?

also, id like to mention (again) how good the gel i use is...its called goldwell lagoom jam....its $15, and id pay double that, it works so well. it makes my hair look so much thicker.

 

[Wash n' Gone]

Your hair looks good. I can't see any signs of male pattern baldness, but I couldn't in the original pictures either to be honest.

 

[RaginDemon]

Your hair looks good. I can't see any signs of male pattern baldness, but I couldn't in the original pictures either to be honest.

That was what I thought too... whoever told you you were going bald must be joking.

 

[btp11]

wow...7 years since my last post.....thought I would log in and do an update. Still on Propecia.....9 years now. I have been VERY lazy with Rogaine foam.....I almost never use it. I take MSM and Saw Palmetto very infrequently.


I've attached the latest pic. This pic makes it look better than it really is. I still have my bad days (a lot of them recently, actually), and while I don't really notice any hair loss, my hair has seemed more limp lately....and I think my crown is going a bit But.....revisiting the wedding pictures from 2004...I feel like I have done the best I could.

 

[The Far Side]

Thanks for update, any chance you could rehost your 2004 (and any other) "before" pics? They're not loading anymore.

 

[SayifDoit]

Yeah, its kind of pointless posting these progress pics when there is no before pictures. Have no idea what you looked like before...
Congrats on the maintenance bud.

It's funny propecia kinda makes us guys normal(some of us I guess), because it can delay hair loss for up 10-15 years and alot of guys on here are either in there early 20's or late teens, kinda puhes our hair loss back so we are in our mid 30's (or more if we're really lucky) making us much more normal. I guess I'm saying there is nothing ok or normal with loosing your hair in your 20's.