Don't Know Whether To Take Finasteride, Help

[Patrick_Bateman]

Without knowing much about it , I wouldn't take creatine. Maybe it's just me but risking being balder for slightly better workout doesn't sound good

Did you maintain on finasteride ? Regrow ?

I was on finasteride and ketoconazole for 6 months, went below baseline. Then I decided to add minoxidil aswell, went further below baseline for 3 months. Then I started regrowing again, as of right now I'm pretty much at baseline. (NW2.5 slightly thin crown, but I'm not a bald guy in my early twenties which I'm happy about.) I would probably be NW4 without treatment by now.
If you start to go bald in late teens/early twenties odds are you have aggresive male pattern baldness, and not getting on treatment fast means your hair will deterioriate, and the longer you wait the more difficult it will be to get it back.

Looking back I wish I started all treatment instantly when I was suspecting hairloss and went to my GP. To top it off my retarded GP didn't think I had hairloss, and started me on some for seborrheic dermatitis because my male pattern baldness itch was so bad I literally had open wounds on my scalp. This didn't help of course and my hairloss kept going strong untill I booked an appointment with a dermatologist which confirmed it was male pattern baldness and started me on finasteride.
Which made my male pattern baldness itch slightly better, and I thought I would make my scalp even itchier by adding minoxidil so I didn't do it for another 6 months, but when I started minoxidil it actually improved the itch, and now I barely feel it and my hairloss has been very stable for the last 1.5 years or so.

There's one scientific reference associating creatine use with increased serum DHT levels.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19741313

If you're on finasteride you obviously won't get the increase, as there's no five-alpha reductase in your system to make the DHT in the first place. Second, it's a single study and it's well that you shouldn't change your life based on a single study -- they're often flukes.

Ok, thanks. I'm going to keep taking creatine then, and if my hair gets worse I'm blaming you! (I'm kidding of course)
EDIT: I see on the study they were on 20g, This is 4 times my dose, you think that will have more of an effect on T to DHT? From what I've read once you go over the dose that the body can pick up you will just pee it out anyways, so I guess it doesn't matter.

 

[Rudiger]

A finasteride pill a day helps to keep the ugliness away

Sometimes Bowie's Spacy Oddity comes into my head except the lyric replaced with "Take your propecia pills and put your helmet on".

I don't know how this is related.

 

[Rudiger]

On a different note, is there any scientific research showing that creatine speeds up your hairloss? I recently started taking it, but if it speeds up hairloss I'll have to stop. Vaguely recall @David_MPN used creatine in the past? @shookwun you probably know more about creatine and hairloss.
Would really like if someone could shed some light on this as I don't want to use it if it accelerates hairloss.

I initially mentioned it, I never found hard evidence just anecdotal stuff on youtube and blogs. It's quite a specific thing for there to be "studies" done on it, so I instantly trusted what I was seeing and reading.

I was on it for about 3 days and noticed shedding, now it may have been coincidental, because I do shed a little bit at times like everyone does, but it sure freaked me out (and that's what made me look up whether there was an effect, it hadn't entered my mind creatine could cause such a thing).

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

Ok, thanks. I'm going to keep taking creatine then, and if my hair gets worse I'm blaming you! (I'm kidding of course)
EDIT: I see on the study they were on 20g, This is 4 times my dose, you think that will have more of an effect on T to DHT? From what I've read once you go over the dose that the body can pick up you will just pee it out anyways, so I guess it doesn't matter.

I think they did 1 week at 25 grams a day, then 2 weeks at 5 grams a day, so 5 grams is a day is where they spent most of the time.

 

[Dench57]

heard enough anecdotal reports even without the study to make creatine off-limits for anyone who values hair above physique (hint: everyone)

 

[CopeForLife]

bald guys are hot in bed!

 

[Rudiger]

heard enough anecdotal reports even without the study to make creatine off-limits for anyone who values hair above physique (hint: everyone)

Damn right, I'll also add that most personal trainers wouldn't advise creatine in your first year of training anyway.

But Scott Herman used the same study David mentioned and seems to think it reflects that it would cause hair loss, from 7:00 in:

I get David's point about 5 alpha reductase and finasteride, however I'm gonna trust my gut and broscience and stay the hell away.