HairlossFighter's Story- ( 24 )

[The_Mentalist]

You also started finestride; so I am thinking the shed you experienced was probably finestride shed because many get it after 2 months or so. Also, dont quit minoxidil. I started using minoxidil many years ago and it helped me a lot for many years. I had then started finasteride and got some good result and got lazy and sidetracked from regular minoxidil use last couple of years and completely halted several months ago. I seemed to have now thinned out dramatically in the last few months that I pancked and have restarted minoxidil regulary. I do not think minoxidil stops working-it's just a rumour. finasteride. may have also stopped working for me after about 8 years on it and I have thinned out so dramatically that I did not want to risk any further and I got on dutasteride just a day ago.

So, dont quit minoxidil. In those early years, I could only get 2% minoxidil which helped me a lot too. I do not think it ever stops working. And also, dont switch to dutasteride yet. Let finasteride. run out its course then you will have dutasteride to fall back on.

 

[Johnx]

The_Mentalist, I'm using Finasteride more than 1.5 years now, never stopped using it. (2 months ago I switched from 5% to 15% minoxidil).
I guess I'll order some dutasteride after my current finasteride supply runs out after a few months. Btw - did switching to dutasteride helped you? How long after switching you noticed the results?

 

[The_Mentalist]

I switched to dutasteride just two days ago. And, to what I understand from all users, it will help dramatically. I would suggest you keep finasteride., minoxidil, and add anti-androgen topical. I recently started Anti-Androgen topicals, so I dont know but see if it helps you. Now I actualy regret why I did not start any anti-Andr. topical any earlier. So, here is something I managed to skim from so much information out there.

You may try one of these

A) dissolving dutasteride. about 6 .5mg tabs (3g total) in 30 ml of alcohol solution (Ithink it would be 1% dutasteride sol.) and use 1ml per day. No more than one per day needed because dutasteride stays active for 24 hrs or so

B) dissolve flutamide tabs 1 flutamide pill 250mg in 20 ml of minoxidil and use twice a day for 10 day supplu. Dont make too much at one time, as they may be unstable. Always try to make fresh sol. This should give 1% solution. Warning, flut., though dirt cheap online, is extremely potent with side effects such as liver problems etc. So just use it for 6 months and supposedly you will regrwo a lot of hair, and then I guess maintain with A above.

c) Use spironolactone solution dissolve 1200 mg spironolactone in 60 ml alcohol solution for 2% sol. and use it twice- a one month supply, though I would just make half of it for 15 days

d) You may also use finasteride in a solution, but dutasteride is better

e) You may use 5% Azelaic acid, if you can find it in powder form and make a solution 5% and apply it twice a day.

With regard to liquid vehicle/solution, I made out from my research that you can use 2/3 of 60% ethanol, and 1/3 of 10% Propylene Glycol so you could dissolve the above pills accordingly.

The above is just rough estimate I came up with and in no way my medical advise to you. You do your own due diligence to see if itwork for you.

 

[Johnx]

Why you are suggesting I keep on finasteride? Isn't 1.5 years enough to see if it works? (in my case it's below the baseline, so it clearly doesn't...). Wouldn't dutasteride do any better?

Are you sure those homemade solutions work effectively? (I'm kinda paranoid it may not dissolve well, or the minoxidil as vehicle can be not so suitable...).
I've found some premade solutions, wouldn't these be better?:
http://shop.genhair.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=7
http://shop.genhair.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=2

 

[WarLord]

You also started finestride; so I am thinking the shed you experienced was probably finestride shed because many get it after 2 months or so. Also, dont quit minoxidil. I started using minoxidil many years ago and it helped me a lot for many years. I had then started finasteride and got some good result and got lazy and sidetracked from regular minoxidil use last couple of years and completely halted several months ago. I seemed to have now thinned out dramatically in the last few months that I pancked and have restarted minoxidil regulary. I do not think minoxidil stops working-it's just a rumour. finasteride. may have also stopped working for me after about 8 years on it and I have thinned out so dramatically that I did not want to risk any further and I got on dutasteride just a day ago.

So, dont quit minoxidil. In those early years, I could only get 2% minoxidil which helped me a lot too. I do not think it ever stops working. And also, dont switch to dutasteride yet. Let finasteride. run out its course then you will have dutasteride to fall back on.

Finasteride very probably didn't stop working. You were only losing hair that was dependent on minoxidil. Finasteride can't keep hair saved by minoxidil, because the hair has already been attacked by DHT. There are many similar cases with the same experience.

 

[The_Mentalist]

If you have the money, sure go for those. I think they may be better in terms of exact chemical combo and absorption. I showed you the same thing how you can make at home for dirt cheap. I specially liked the 2% Flutamide-I have been told it has great benefits. The prescr.. Flutamide is dirt cheap at online Indian/generic pharmacies, so genhair prices are quite high. Same goes for spironolactone, but they dont have 5% spironolactone in liquid. Cream is a mess to apply. I would just start with flut. first and see how it works, maybe later add spironolactone after discontinue flut. I am impatient, so I think I will try both together at different time of the day.

Warlord,
You are correct. minoxidil hair is probably gone. However, I did not have any shed, but it happened slowly and what I noticed, hair strands got very thin and I had never seen my hair like that.

Also one thing about finasteride sol that gen has. I admire them for being honest in descrition and they tell you that it inhibits only 2-AR, and that there is more of 1-AR in scalp. But their finasteride is still expensive. I would rather go with dutasteride. solution. On another website, an experience guy has good thing to say about it. He told me to just dissolve about 6 pills of dutasteride (3g total) into 30ml of minoxidil solution and use it once a day. If you use minoxidil already, I would just divide them into two bottles, one with dutasteride and use the other normal minoxidil. for the second dose of the day. I think about 300mg in 30 ml will give you 1% dutasteride solution. Not sure if any stronger would be beneficial and if even can dissolve/absorb well.

Also, know that I am not an expert, but that is what I gathered from reading from experienced folks out there

 

[Johnx]

If you have the money, sure go for those. I think they may be better in terms of exact chemical combo and absorption. I showed you the same thing how you can make at home for dirt cheap. I specially liked the 2% Flutamide-I have been told it has great benefits. The prescr.. Flutamide is dirt cheap at online Indian/generic pharmacies, so genhair prices are quite high. Same goes for spironolactone, but they dont have 5% spironolactone in liquid. Cream is a mess to apply. I would just start with flut. first and see how it works, maybe later add spironolactone after discontinue flut. I am impatient, so I think I will try both together at different time of the day.

Warlord,
You are correct. minoxidil hair is probably gone. However, I did not have any shed, but it happened slowly and what I noticed, hair strands got very thin and I had never seen my hair like that.

Also one thing about finasteride sol that gen has. I admire them for being honest in descrition and they tell you that it inhibits only 2-AR, and that there is more of 1-AR in scalp. But their finasteride is still expensive. I would rather go with dutasteride. solution. On another website, an experience guy has good thing to say about it. He told me to just dissolve about 6 pills of dutasteride (3g total) into 30ml of minoxidil solution and use it once a day. If you use minoxidil already, I would just divide them into two bottles, one with dutasteride and use the other normal minoxidil. for the second dose of the day. I think about 300mg in 30 ml will give you 1% dutasteride solution. Not sure if any stronger would be beneficial and if even can dissolve/absorb well.

Also, know that I am not an expert, but that is what I gathered from reading from experienced folks out there

Thanks for your reply. I think I'll get some dutasteride, and also make some solution with minoxidil as you suggest. Do you think minoxidil would still be effective mixed with dutasteride? (I was thinking maybe I wouldn't need to apply dutasteride solution, then minoxidil, instead one application would deliver them both?)
I'll probably also order Flutamide solution to add to regime.
Even those two extra applications added (dutasteride & Flut) will be a hassle, so I guess I'l wait and not add S5 for now...

Btw, I've read somewhere that when you start using Dutasteride, "Loading" your body with it in the first weeks/month (take more than 0.5 mg per day) helps achieve quicker results. How much should I take and for how long?

 

[Johnx]

Hi all,

Long time since my last login, so I thought I'll post some updates, and a few questions...

So, the things were going pretty f***ed up since the last summer, even though I was switched to 15% minoxidil for more than six months. As you see in the picture, the situation got pretty bad in 2012-November. At that time (2012-November) I switched to Dutasteride and started taking Foligain hair supplement caplets, which I believe helped big time - Overall hair quality and density improved, as seen in 2013-January photo. I'm still taking Foligain and planning to take it at least for 4-5 more months to see if it helps.

However, since even 15% minoxidil stopped working for me, I decided to switch to Flutamide 2% Topical, and added S5 spironolactone 5% Cream - both of these in the beginning of 2013-March. And as of today (approx two weeks later) I noticed insane shedding - you can see in the second photo how my sink looks - easily 200 hairs if not more (every morning!) These shed hairs are all thin and short ~3cm (my other thicker healthy hair are 5-6cm).
So, I'm pretty much back to 2012-November photo condition again...

A question - is it possible this shed is caused by starting Flutamide or S5 spironolactone? Any hope the shedded hairs will come back? Anyone using Flutamide please share your experiences!

Thanks!

 

[talmoode]

hi! sorry to hear that you are having bad shedding. Just wanted to let you know that I am still shedding as well (13 months in on the Big Three) and even worse, I have painful burning sensation on my scalp which makes my everyday life miserable...