forero medio's story

[pazguato]

I've been reading a lot on this forum the past months and I want to share my story with you

the last year I buzzed my hair at 1cm and saw the beginings of a diffuse thinning male pattern baldness. Went to the doctor and he prescribed me minoxidil 5% twice a day. I started the regimen and grew my hair. In 6 months my hair improved quite some and with the hairstyle I had (people called me Enrique Iglesias) I forgot about male pattern baldness, got lazy and stopped applying minoxidil cold turkey.

For 3 months my hair was great but then.. the mother of all sheds. I probably lost 30-40% of all my hair and the look of it was way below baseline. I did some research and found this graph that explains what happened:



This is how my hair was in the middle of the shed:



That shed scared me so much that I spent 6h every day reading every thread of this forum and others. Short after I started this regimen:

Proscar 1/4 every day
Minoxidil 1ml 2x every day
nizoral 2% 2x week

Aside of that I have hypothyroidism (can cause alopecia) so I try to keep my controls every 2 months and take my medication every day.

In the middle of the horrible shed I decided to buzz my head:




If there are parts more clear it's because the light and the shape of my head. Anyway when I rubbed my hand over my crown I could notice some weaker hairs (begining of miniaturization), and maybe the density there could be 30% lower than in the rest of my scalp.

The beginings of male pattern baldness. I don't have a very aggressive male pattern baldness, I've been losing hair since i was 20 and right now I'm almost 27.

Well, I started the regimen (big 3) and now It's been 4 months on minoxidil and 3 on finas. The fist month my libido was very high, the next was very low, now it seems to be normal as has always been. The sides I notice are watery semen and less frecuent morning erections. Everything is fine in the bed.
A couple of weeks ago for example I was at the swimming pool with a girlfriend and had to make an excuse to stay in the water a little longer swimming because of the boner I got. I think she knew... but I don't care. :whistle:
I think I can live with the sides, at least for now.

Here's a recent photo (hair is about 3cms long)



Here's another under the sun (excuse the scenario...):



Hairline:



I think my current results are only from minoxidil because it's been only 3 months on finasteride and everyone here says you need at least 6 months to see any regrowth/thickening from it.

I had very little temple recesion (less than 1cm) and now they are all covered by hairs turning terminal. In the crown I see a lot of small pigmented and vellus hairs, i think is the finas kicking in. We'll see what happens in the next months.

I must admit that I've been a little obssesed about my hairloss since the shed from quitting minoxidil and right now the idea of start dutasteride comes to my mind. I just want to have a head full of hair and forget about this problem... But i don't see any long term users of dutas and everyone seem to quit it after less than 2 years because of the sides, that prevents me from using it.
I'd also like to try CB in the future as soon as it becomes available.

Well, that's my success for now. I'll keep this thread updated with any future changes.

Excuse my english

Thanks

 

[pazguato]

Quick update.
I've been on finas and minoxidil for 4.5 and 5.5 months respectively. The shed is minimal and I think I can see little pigmented hairs growing, but they are still thin and very short.
My hair is 4 or 5cm long and photos are taken under a bright light.

 

[Jl8T]

Awesome results man, I think you're in good shape since you are 27 and still have that much hair. Propecia and minoxidil should keep you covered for a long time to come with such minor male pattern baldness. Could probably even get away with taking 1mg every other day just for maintenance once you get the desired result.

 

[pazguato]

I forgot to mention that I've been shedding very lightly for a month and it sill continues. Everytime I apply minoxidil i see 6 or 7 miniaturized hairs of half the size than the rest of my hair.

I hope those miniaturized hairs are shedding to grow again healthy and thicker

 

[Joe-1991]

Any side effects?

The buzz cut seems to look good by the way, i have a feeling you are a handsome chap!

 

[pazguato]

Yes, less frequent and intense morning erections. The first week I had some ball ache followed by high libido for a month. The next month i had very low libido. 3rd month and beyond everything has been fine.
I guess the DHT inhibition made my free testosterone to peak during the first weeks making me horny, then during the next weeks my body readjusted with ups and downs and balanced the hormones. Now everything is fine.

Oh, I also fotgot to mention that last month i bought Avodart at a local pharmacy. I took a loading dose of 1.5mg (3 pills) everyday for 5 days. My energy was very very low, had some brain fog, my libido was non-existant and my nipples started feeling way more sensible/itchy... So I returned to finasteride and took tamoxifen for 2 weeks to combat the beginings of gyno. Now 4 weeks later everything is ok.

I think the side effects/benefits ratio of finasteride is positive, that's why is FDA approved.

 

[pazguato]

Little update - 6 months on finasteride, 7 on minoxidil

Shedding increased, now I'm shedding hairs from the hairline too. Most of them are smaller and less pigmented. However my hair looks better than a couple of months ago. Sure it's longer but I think the fallen hairs are regrowing stronger or at least I hope so.
I think that from the day you start with treatments until the day you reach the peak results (15 months maybe) miniaturized hair have to go through a couple of cycles when it sheds and then grows stronger.

I'm not posting photos because there's not much to see, it looks very good, like a nazi helmet. I promise next month I will make some photos to track the progress.

Take care!

 

[pazguato]

Update - 7 months on finasteride, 8 on minoxidil

Shedding still continues, but now only 10% of the shedded hairs are miniaturized. Even shedding, the look of my hair is still improving so I suppose those hairs are regrowing stronger. When I part my hair I can see new little hairs growing at the crown.

I stopped using Nizoral because it made my scalp red and irritated. Now I've been 2 weeks off it and feels great.
I think is a good anti-dandruff shampoo but if you abuse it you can do more harm than good to your scalp. Using Head & Shoulders now.

I'll post some photos of my hair parted and from different angles when I get a haircut, but I'm very happy with it. Noone can say I have male pattern baldness.

One more thing: side effects are zero. I'm getting rock-hard morning erections and my libido is good.

Take care and keep up with the fight guys!

 

[pazguato]

Photo update

front, crown and hair parted in the middle
Photos were taken under a bright light and had the levels adjusted to show more contrast between hair and scalp, that's why they are a bit darker.
[attachment=0:2hqavmu6]january.jpg[/attachment:2hqavmu6]

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

Nice results man. You kept an eye on it and stopped it early. You probably never have to worry about major loss unless you stop.

 

[pazguato]

I'll keep my fingers crossed..

I'm back on nizoral 2% btw. I was leaving it too long on my scalp before washing it off (10 minutes or so). Then I read this:
http://www.hairlosshelp.com/forums/mess ... adid=83942
Now I'm leaving it for 2-3 minutes and the irritation is gone.

 

[Ofeni]

thanks for the advice!

Since the last month I have irritation on the scalp all day, it's so annoying and I don't know what to do; when I read your post I remember that I leave nizoral to act for 5 or 6 minutes, now I leave it only 2 or 3.

 

[Ofeni]

The history of the media, starting with radio, through television and the internet.

what do you mean with this?

 

[pazguato]

Quick update, my current treatment is:

1.25mg finasteride every day
1.5ml minoxidil twice a day
0.5mg dutasteride twice a week
keto 2% twice a week

I've been almost 10 months on treatments and I've been shedding badly since month 7 but the current state of my hair is better than ever. It is growing back stronger and I can see new little hairs growing at the crown area. I guess it takes a couple of cycles for a miniaturized hair to be back to normal.

I've added 2 capsules of dutasteride every week (on monday and thursday) to my regimen 3 weeks ago and I don't notice any side effect. The only thing i've seen is a little more shedding and my scalp feeling very healthy.
I've added the small dose of dutasteride to achieve the maximum 5ar suppresion that I can handle without side effects.

I'll post some photos when I reach the 1 year mark but right now my hair is in better shape than in any of the previous photos posted.

Keep up with the fight guys!
Take care!

 

[Kev123]

You caught it at it's baby stages. You'll be good, probably.

 

[FueledByRice]

this is amazing. i started thinning about 2 years ago but never did anything about it until now. im currently 26 and plan on goin on finasteride this week.

question:

-where and what kind of finasteride did u get?
-why did you add dutasteride? seems like finasteride was doing good enough for you

 

[IrishFella]

I'm flabbergasted as to why someone with so much hair would even waste his time with minoxidil.

:/

 

[Kirby]

^ agreed.

 

[TheGrayMan2001]

I'm flabbergasted as to why someone with so much hair would even waste his time with minoxidil.

:/

Unless your forehead is so small it looks stupid you can't ever have too much hair.

 

[pazguato]

Hey guys.

I take 1/4 of Proscar every day.
I know minoxidil is a pain in the *** to apply (even more with long hair) but I use it hoping it can help me maintain my hair for more time.

Regarding dutasteride, I buy original Avodart at the pharmacy... but I think I'm going to stop using it.
Even at a low dose of 2pills/week I've started noticing recently a weird feeling in my nipples and a sightly decreased libido. I've also read some reports saying it affect fertility and sperm count in the long term so I guess is not worth it.

So that's it, I'm on the big 3 again.