HairlossFighter's Story- ( 24 )

[Johnx]

Alright, I went for a haircut today, so I thought it would be a good idea to take a picture of my crown, since I took the baseline picture right after a haircut too. So it should be as close as possible for comparison.

Well, to me it looks like it improved a bit, of course it might be just in the photo, but I tried to comb it exactly the same and use the same lighting, also the hair is dry after shampooing in both pictures..
What do you think?

However it looks horrifying when wet, I don't even want to post that picture here... :sobbing:

 

[Johnx]

Crown looks better! It also looks like the quality of your hair has improved, looks like there is now more texture and density to it. But you have to zoom in on your photos to really see it. Wait to the finasteride kicks in! :bravo:

Well, I'm very careful assessing the changes, as I don't wan't to give myself false hope.. but if others can notice a change, it says to me that there's definitely some improvement, thanks for confirmation

You've said "wait to the finasteride kicks in!" - when do you think this can happen? When it happened to you?

 

[Johnx]

Was it a bad shed? I mean was your hair cosmetically looking worse/more scalp visible because of the shed?

 

[Reibun]

Good results. Definitely can see improvement in the crown area. And the front is starting to see a little bit of an improvement as well in my opinion.

Im also curious, have you had any side effects from finasteride? And further more whats your lifestyle like (sleeping habits, what do you eat, do you work out a lot, so on? ) I think interesting connections can be made from this, just a thought though. Heres a link to a topic I am HOPING to take off - viewtopic.php?f=11&t=66059 .

Anyways, keep up the good work and keep us posted on your results!

 

[Johnx]

Interesting research, Reibun.
I will gladly answer your questions.

I'm on finasteride for almost a month and didn't notice any sides whatsoever (although there's always a chance my pills may be fake). I'm using generic finasteride (Fistide) btw.

Now regarding my lifestyle. Well I'm a student and also a freelance graphic designer, so this means I'm spending too much time by the computer, usually 9 hours or more a day, because there's loads of work to do. I'm often get tired of it and get eye tiredness/pain, headaches from it...
Well, my sleeping habits are really bad.. I usually get up at 10-11 am and go to sleep at 2-3 am. So I get 6-8 hours of sleep. I sometimes get insomnia.
I'm quite a skinny guy (63 kg), and I don't work out, although I probably should..
I eat all the food, but mostly home cooked, pretty healthy I think - meat, vegetables, etc. I don't like greasy food with lot of fat. I don't eat much fruits though.. I like drinking coffee, maybe it contributes to the insomnia problem..
I don't smoke, and drink only during parties, which is quite rare, probably a couple times a month.

So this is probably all about me..

 

[Johnx]

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3 MONTHS
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Alright, it's now 3 months I'm into fight with my hairloss...
Here are some pictures. I'm also including the combed temples pictures (not pulled back) with temples exposed as much as possible, maybe it will show a general "hairline" situation better...

Not sure if there's any good improvement since 2 month mark, but I think I can surely spot the difference between baseline and 3 month mark pics.
This 3rd month was super stressful to me, I was very busy working, preparing my thesis for graduation, worked late at nights, lack of sleep, missed many minoxidil applications and several quarters of finasteride too... So this didn't help the regrowth for sure..

You guys can give me a more objective opinion, what do you think is the improvement noticeable from month 2 to 3?

 

[Rawtashk]

Holy crap....why is this not in the success stories section yet!?

 

[Johnx]

Holy crap....why is this not in the success stories section yet!?

Are you kidding? Is the improvement really that noticeable?
It's a slight improvement to my eyes, but I'm hoping the new hairs will thicken up and fill the temples – then I'll be happy to post my story in success stories

 

[Johnx]

If you spiked your hair up a bit at the front i would bet that most girls would'nt know you have a balding problem. It works wonders for me.

No, this wouldn't work for me, at least yet... Not enough hair, it looks horrible if I do that... Plus my hair are "wavy" and when longer it's very hard to force them even with styling products...
I'll need to wait for that at least 2-3 more months if all goes well...

 

[ukmale24]

wow, they are some incredible results. i got improvement on my crown after a few months but none on my temples or hairline like you 8( infact, my temples and hairline continue to shed. i'm happy for you. maybe i should use the liquid once a day too.

 

[Johnx]

Well, I feel like I'm getting more rapid growth at the temples/hairline than in the crown...
Yes I can definitely say that the crown now looks a bit better than 3 months ago, but still there's scalp visible...
The temples seem to filled in a bit but still not giving a better/fuller overall look, I hope I'll see some cosmetic improvement after a few haircuts...

ukmale24 – sorry to hear your temples are not improving yet, but maybe you have to wait some more, the fact you're still shedding might actually be a good sign – the shedded hairs usually regrow thicker.
It's strange, but I actually barely experienced anything I could call a shed, but still getting new hair growth and thickening of existing hairs, weird... I guess we all are really different.

Oh btw guys, do/did you experience any of this – my nose hair seem to grow really long now, I actually had to pluck some hairs 'cause they were sticking out :shock: and I think my eyelashes start to grow longer... Any ideas this will stop or continue? I certainly don't want to get forests growing from my nose and girly eyelashes.. :laugh:

 

[moonbase]

Great thread. Just wanted to say thanks for documenting your story so well.

 

[Johnx]

Great thread. Just wanted to say thanks for documenting your story so well.

No problem
Documenting it consistently gives me clear realistic view of the progress and just helps me not to go out of my mind when evaluating the changes :laugh:

 

[moonbase]

Haha, sound forethought.

 

[Johnx]

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4 MONTHS
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OK, not 4 months yet (July 15th would be the exact mark), but I won't be able to take pictures then so I'm posting today.

So, as of today I'm almost 4 months on minoxidil, 3 months Nizoral, 2.3 months finasteride.

Looking at the pictures I think I didn't get any improvement this month whatsoever... Well, maybe just a very slight improvement at the crown area.
So, this is quite sad, it kinda stopped but I'm keeping my fingers crossed to see some difference next month.

[attachment=3:i7n85pc3]top_4mths.jpg[/attachment:i7n85pc3]
[attachment=2:i7n85pc3]4mths_right.jpg[/attachment:i7n85pc3]
[attachment=1:i7n85pc3]4mths_left.jpg[/attachment:i7n85pc3]
[attachment=0:i7n85pc3]temples_4mth.jpg[/attachment:i7n85pc3]

 

[Johnx]

The top and back are looking good still, hopefully finasteride will maintain that. Some good PICS of your temples, which are slowly improving. Hopefully that will continue, but as you know it is the most difficult area to get regrowth from. (but good improvement there from baseline)Might be worth upping the minoxidil dose in the temple region, to see if they can get any better.

So, you think the temples slightly improved from 3 month mark?
I'll try to increase the amount of minoxidil on the temples, but I don't really know how to do it as when I apply the minoxidil, the temples are really wet with it, so any more would simply run down..
For now I'm using 1ml for the crown and temples, so maybe it's too little as 1ml is probably meant for crown only...

How long a can of Rogaine foam normally last you? I'm using it only at mornings and managed to stretch the last can almost to 7 weeks.

 

[ukmale24]

I've been using my can of foam for over a month now (granted, i have missed a few days) and i'm applying it to temples, hairline and crown.

 

[Johnx]

I've been using my can of foam for over a month now (granted, i have missed a few days) and i'm applying it to temples, hairline and crown.

Two times a day or only at morning? How much is left of that can?

 

[ukmale24]

Yep, twice a day, but like i said, i have missed a few days! I think i have another week's use out of the can.

Also depends how you apply it too. I put little blobs along the hairline and on the temple. and same on the crown.

 

[Johnx]

Thanks for the comments Captain. If you spot a slight improvement in last month, this gives me some hope all is not lost...
Wow, 2-3 cans per month sounds crazy! (I would go broke like this )
When I was using foam two times a day, I was getting 3-3.5 weeks per can, so you are probably using loads of foam, maybe that's why you're getting such great results!

I'm kinda cheap so I'm trying to stretch my supplies as long as possible, so roughly [a can of foam + a bottle of kirkland] lasts me two months.
I'm also thinking like you - now religiously doing morning/night applications, but hope to go down to only night applications for maintenance if the Hair God will be gracious to me...

Cpt. Combover - how is your progress? Btw, did you lose/shed any new hairs from stopping minoxidil, or just got them individually thinning again?