- Reaction score
- 90
So I haven't been on here for many years but finally back attempting to once again save my hair.
I joined this forum in 2015 when I first discovered I was losing my hair, in the summer of 2016 I started taking generic finasteride 1mg daily, it's hard to tell if it actually worked or was just a placebo, but my hair loss didn't noticeably progress after that so I assume it was doing it's job.
In late 2018 I developed alopecia areata and had some huge bald spots in my hair, at this point I thought it was completely pointless continuing to take finasteride as I now had a much severe type of hair loss which was not affected by DHT so I decided to stop taking finasteride.
In 2019 my bald spots started to fill in and by the summer of 2019 I was pretty much back to normal, my hair was also very full so I decided I didn't need to get back on finasteride since my hair looked fine and other than a mature hairline there were little to no signs of hair loss.
Another thing to note about my alopecia, after the bald spots on my head, I started losing hair on my beard, arms and legs, which to this day I can grow almost no hair there, however since the hair on my hair is currently not affected by alopecia, I don't really mind not having a beard or hairy arms/legs.
From 2019-2022/23 my hair looked great, however in the summer of 2023 I noticed my hair was very thin in outdoor lighting, perhaps my genetic hair loss had been slowly progressing all the time I've been off finasteride and I hadn't noticed, or perhaps it came on rapidly in 2023, who knows?
However once I discovered my hair loss was back (male pattern baldness, not alopecia), I decided to get back on 1mg finasteride daily, my hair seems roughly the same as it was a year ago, perhaps a little worse. I am considering switching to propecia as I've heard that can be more effective for non responders to finasteride, it could also be that finasteride is just now preserving the hair I currently have and need to add minoxidill for regrowth, what are your thoughts?
I joined this forum in 2015 when I first discovered I was losing my hair, in the summer of 2016 I started taking generic finasteride 1mg daily, it's hard to tell if it actually worked or was just a placebo, but my hair loss didn't noticeably progress after that so I assume it was doing it's job.
In late 2018 I developed alopecia areata and had some huge bald spots in my hair, at this point I thought it was completely pointless continuing to take finasteride as I now had a much severe type of hair loss which was not affected by DHT so I decided to stop taking finasteride.
In 2019 my bald spots started to fill in and by the summer of 2019 I was pretty much back to normal, my hair was also very full so I decided I didn't need to get back on finasteride since my hair looked fine and other than a mature hairline there were little to no signs of hair loss.
Another thing to note about my alopecia, after the bald spots on my head, I started losing hair on my beard, arms and legs, which to this day I can grow almost no hair there, however since the hair on my hair is currently not affected by alopecia, I don't really mind not having a beard or hairy arms/legs.
From 2019-2022/23 my hair looked great, however in the summer of 2023 I noticed my hair was very thin in outdoor lighting, perhaps my genetic hair loss had been slowly progressing all the time I've been off finasteride and I hadn't noticed, or perhaps it came on rapidly in 2023, who knows?
However once I discovered my hair loss was back (male pattern baldness, not alopecia), I decided to get back on 1mg finasteride daily, my hair seems roughly the same as it was a year ago, perhaps a little worse. I am considering switching to propecia as I've heard that can be more effective for non responders to finasteride, it could also be that finasteride is just now preserving the hair I currently have and need to add minoxidill for regrowth, what are your thoughts?
