Ive been on Rogaine 2x daily for 9 months and Propecia for 7 months. I have constantly been reading about how results should be very noticeable at the one year mark, and most success stories show results in a matter of a few months, yet at this point, I am still considerably below baseline. Shedding has slowed, but I am not able to notice any regrowth. I am posting hoping for responses from people who took a bit longer than usual to respond, perhaps a year or more. Basically, are there people out there who truly saw success after such an extended period spent below baseline? Any input is appreciated, thanks.
For those who took much longer for treatment to work
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Success would also be the halting of further hairloss. I didn't re-grow much, by my genetics (brothers and dad) say that I should have been almost completely bald by the age of 25. I'm 27 and have about 85% of my hair still. I'd say that's still a success.
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My hair loss stopped or slowed down, I can pass my hands through it with no problem, and I shampoo it almost every day with no problem either. I couldn't do that last year without seeing dozens and dozens of hairs on my hands, now I only see 3 on one hand.
Although I have Sept 2009 pictures in which my hair looks a little bit worse than now, it could just be different positioning and the different camera phone. Also I went for the majority of 2010 without using finasteride or minoxidil, because of financial reasons.
This is the first time I have consistently stayed on treatment. Been on Min for 6 months, finasteride for 7 months. Haven't seen much regrowth to scream about, but it's not worse than 2 years ago.
I am gonna give it up to the 18 month mark to see what it's really done for me, and even after 18 months, i'm not gonna stop because it has sat least stopped my hair loss.
I also read you should start seeing results at 12 months on. I think in the 1st year, aggressive male pattern baldness sufferers, shouldn't expect to see that amazing regrowth you see some guys get at 4-8 months. Those guys are just lucky. Give it at least 1 year-1 and a half.
Although I have Sept 2009 pictures in which my hair looks a little bit worse than now, it could just be different positioning and the different camera phone. Also I went for the majority of 2010 without using finasteride or minoxidil, because of financial reasons.
This is the first time I have consistently stayed on treatment. Been on Min for 6 months, finasteride for 7 months. Haven't seen much regrowth to scream about, but it's not worse than 2 years ago.
I am gonna give it up to the 18 month mark to see what it's really done for me, and even after 18 months, i'm not gonna stop because it has sat least stopped my hair loss.
I also read you should start seeing results at 12 months on. I think in the 1st year, aggressive male pattern baldness sufferers, shouldn't expect to see that amazing regrowth you see some guys get at 4-8 months. Those guys are just lucky. Give it at least 1 year-1 and a half.
If I were you, I'd stick with it as long as I could. Think back to your pre-finasteride days and tell me where you'd be right now if you hadn't jumped on it when you did. Personally, I still lose hairs in the shower...and it's probably a bit more than a non-balding person. However, EVERY SINGLE MALE in my family (dad, brothers, uncles) were no better than a NW3.5 when they were 27. I would guess that I'm NW2-2.5. (my oldest brother was NW5 @ 23, and my half-brother was Norwood 4 @ 25). It may not be the magic bullet that all us balding dudes want, but so far it looks like it's going to extend my hair for about 5-15 years. Hopefully enough time until the next big thing in hairloss treatment comes out 
treatmentssuk
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futbol 14 i also wanna know if any1 out there has waited much longer for treatments to work say 11 month to start to get regrowth and thickening ,i was going to start a thread about it ,u beat me too it.longtime lurker im always post on hlh forums .
ive never had shedding that ive ever noticed even before treatments ,im on rogaine foam nizoral 2% and 1mg finasteride ,for 5 months it is not doing anything ,no shedding no thickening. ive still got nw1 hairline and diffuse in a 2a/3a pattern..if i could thickening it up i would have no visible loss,
what worrys me is the sucess stories get growth at 3 or 4 months.i know the big 3 is not maintaining my hair as ive maintained for the last 5 years or more without treatments .i just want the big 3 to do something even shedding would be nice
ps used liquid minoxidil 3 years ago with 2% nizoral for 12 months ,it did nothing not even shedding ,and when i gave up no shedding either
ive never had shedding that ive ever noticed even before treatments ,im on rogaine foam nizoral 2% and 1mg finasteride ,for 5 months it is not doing anything ,no shedding no thickening. ive still got nw1 hairline and diffuse in a 2a/3a pattern..if i could thickening it up i would have no visible loss,
what worrys me is the sucess stories get growth at 3 or 4 months.i know the big 3 is not maintaining my hair as ive maintained for the last 5 years or more without treatments .i just want the big 3 to do something even shedding would be nice
ps used liquid minoxidil 3 years ago with 2% nizoral for 12 months ,it did nothing not even shedding ,and when i gave up no shedding either
Thanks for the responses. Yes, I am sure that the only source of my hairloss is male pattern baldness. My male pattern baldness is occuring around the hairline, temples, and crown, although none off these areas has become close to completely empty. Unfortunately I do not have pictures, but all these areas are thinning considerably. So I still have close to my original hairline, but with diffuse thinning. However my concern is that I feel that my treatment has increased my hairloss. At first I attributed my increased loss to shedding (which was really bad during the first 6 months), but now that the shedding has plateaued, I am still about 25% thinner than I was when I started. At month 9 of rogaine and month 7 of propecia, is this cause for concern?
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Hey, i'm going through the same thing. I'm 5 months into taking finasteride daily, and i'm worse than baseline. It seems like it's still getting worse too. I don't know what to think.
Question - where did you buy your finasteride from? Maybe we have dodgy brands
Question - where did you buy your finasteride from? Maybe we have dodgy brands
treatmentssuk
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well the amount of replys from people saying they had first signs of regrowth happening after 12 months is zero.
every sucess story ive read saw regrowth at 3 or 4 months at least.so i guess we are non responders.
even the leaflet with rogaine foam says stop using if no results at 4 months .treatment suk
every sucess story ive read saw regrowth at 3 or 4 months at least.so i guess we are non responders.
even the leaflet with rogaine foam says stop using if no results at 4 months .treatment suk
I use propecia, bought through a local doctor specializing in hair loss.
Well that is what I am trying to learn about here, are we non-responders, or are there people out there that have responded after the one-year or 9-month mark? I know the rogaine bottle says stop using if you don't see results after 4 months, but i think it also says stop using if shedding exceeds two weeks, and I think that is another underestimate of time for rogaine's process. I am not ready to give up yet, which is actually the reason for this post, simply as a means to get people who have responded after a long period of time to reassure those who aren't seeing immediate results.
Well that is what I am trying to learn about here, are we non-responders, or are there people out there that have responded after the one-year or 9-month mark? I know the rogaine bottle says stop using if you don't see results after 4 months, but i think it also says stop using if shedding exceeds two weeks, and I think that is another underestimate of time for rogaine's process. I am not ready to give up yet, which is actually the reason for this post, simply as a means to get people who have responded after a long period of time to reassure those who aren't seeing immediate results.
treatmentssuk
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we have had this thread going for a while with no response ,so thats our answer ,we are probably non responders .most sucess hits at 3 or 4 months
God damn this plague , has no roles, no logic ... everything is individual , everybody is different. just like fingerprint.
I had at least 3/4 of my birth hairs with very slow hair shedding. some hairs start thining but shedding was too slow.
But exactly one month after start using 1mg finasteride (and only use for 18 days then stop) shedding gets terrible. in 1 month I lost 30-40% of my hairs and the others get slacked and weak. I start again but shedding continued. then switched on Avodart but it wont stop. now I'm 3 month on Avodart and 6 month after starting drug and what I get? only loosing 50-60% of my hairs and accelerated shedding!
Some people says the drug elevated their free testosterone to max border or out of it, some says their estrogen gets twice than normal ... some say have a frenzied libido ... so they experienced reflex HA.
But what about me? I take a blood test and everything was excellent!!! fully normal. I'm sure it is not progressive male pattern baldness (because my older brother is on this way and gets the same result)
So my only hope is I'll be one of "those who took much longer for treatment to work". but it's more looks like a miracle!
I had at least 3/4 of my birth hairs with very slow hair shedding. some hairs start thining but shedding was too slow.
But exactly one month after start using 1mg finasteride (and only use for 18 days then stop) shedding gets terrible. in 1 month I lost 30-40% of my hairs and the others get slacked and weak. I start again but shedding continued. then switched on Avodart but it wont stop. now I'm 3 month on Avodart and 6 month after starting drug and what I get? only loosing 50-60% of my hairs and accelerated shedding!
Some people says the drug elevated their free testosterone to max border or out of it, some says their estrogen gets twice than normal ... some say have a frenzied libido ... so they experienced reflex HA.
But what about me? I take a blood test and everything was excellent!!! fully normal. I'm sure it is not progressive male pattern baldness (because my older brother is on this way and gets the same result)
So my only hope is I'll be one of "those who took much longer for treatment to work". but it's more looks like a miracle!
treatmentssuk
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exactly my point ive never heard of any1 who said the big 3 has done nothing then at month 12 say holy sh*t my hairs growing back.im on month 5 big 3 its not doing a thing no shedding regrowh or thickening .i may as well put water on my head instead of rogaine foam, use a sugar pill as propecia and use urine instead of 2% nizoral
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Remember success is also maintaining what you have or slowing down hair loss.
I think that in the Propecia study, 48% of users regrew hair, 42% maintained hair/slowed down hair loss, and 10% did nothing. Some one correct me if i'm wrong. This was a FIVE YEAR study, and you guys are going crazy about results after 5-6 MONTHS. Not patient at all. Remember the 3 P's, patience is one of them.
If you have not regrown any hair, but your hair loss stopped, like mine...then you're in that 42% that finasteride just maintained hair.
If you have not regrown hari or thickened hair, and your hair keeps falling like crazy and hasn't slowed down, then you're in that 10% that you're a non-responder.
I think that in the Propecia study, 48% of users regrew hair, 42% maintained hair/slowed down hair loss, and 10% did nothing. Some one correct me if i'm wrong. This was a FIVE YEAR study, and you guys are going crazy about results after 5-6 MONTHS. Not patient at all. Remember the 3 P's, patience is one of them.
If you have not regrown any hair, but your hair loss stopped, like mine...then you're in that 42% that finasteride just maintained hair.
If you have not regrown hari or thickened hair, and your hair keeps falling like crazy and hasn't slowed down, then you're in that 10% that you're a non-responder.
treatmentssuk
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my hairloss has maintained for years without any treatment .only thing i want from the big 3 is thickening my hair up.and so far its doing nothing ,you say 5 months is early but its not really as ive never heard of any major regrowh sucess after 6 months or so imo.im going to continue the big 3 for the full year if i get no thickening ill qwit as i know i can maintaine without any treatment
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treatmentssuk said:
I have, right here on HairLossTalk.com.
But anyways. Make sure you're doing everything humanly possible to stay healthy and to keep your hair healthy. Take a multi vitamin daily, take Biotin, MSM and other hair vitamins to speed up the process of your hairs growing thicker, if they are gonna grow thicker in the first place, Biotin, MSM, Silica, Pantothenic acid[Vitamin B5 should speed it up, or at least I think it should speed it up. I say I have maintained, but that's just me being modest, I see 2009 pics and compare them now, and it seems that I have thicker hair now with the same hair cut. But I started treatment consistently in December 2010-present. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you, the hair loss treatments, hair supplements have done nothing for me, because they have done a lot for my hair. I honestly feel more comfortable going out without a hat now, compared to never ever leaving home without a hat.
Maybe you have gotten regrowth, but you just don't realize it because it's such slow regrowth. So slow that it looks like it hasn't changed to you.
Also in the meantime while you're on treatment, try to cut your hair to conceal your hair loss as much as possible.
Don't give up just because you don't look like Pauly D from Jersey Shore at 5 months in to treatment, just keep going.
