I haven’t used 1mg at all, most I have had is like 0.7 or 0.8mg when I cut 1mg pill unevenly and it was after taking a huge one month break last year due to covid.
Seems pointless to me to use bigger dosage. I was a nw6 and I think I have definitely improved to nw5(ish), my hairline has become stronger with more terminal hairs and mid scalp the thinned out hairs look terminal as well. My hairloss started severe at crown then towards mid scalp and hairline, hairline was intact even before finasteride just not as strong.
I started finasteride to not go nw7 shiny bald, was afraid that was gonna happen now I use it so toppik can work. Was really surprised to see regrowth lol, always heard finasteride just maintains, well in my case it regrew. Perhaps I can get more regrowth with higher dose but the most it can do is make me a nw4 at best and I’d still need fibers and hair transplant so yeah seems pointless.
As for sides, it’s weird. Before this forum, I used to get horny from finasteride and not even notice any sides. Now sometimes I feel horny, sometimes i feel nothing. I am sure I can dose 1mg fine.
My only regret is not starting earlier, it seems I could’ve maintained my full head with a dose as low as 0.2mg once or twice a week. But I was scared chickenshit of finasteride.