I’m an 18 year old cisgender male who has been experiencing shedding for the past year or 2. I hopped on dutasteride nearly a month after I first started shedding, but it’s done nothing. My hair fall has not changed and my hair is getting visibly thinner by the day. I tried RU and it did nothing. I tried Zix, same thing. Minoxidil works but it’s not working fast enough and I’d really like to halt my shedding. As of today I ordered spironolactone and I might order estradiol and oral minoxidil as well pretty soon. Hopefully this is just a temporary solution, although I know that the effects of chemical castration don’t always go away after you stop taking the drug. I want to stop wasting my money, time, and precious follicles that die while I mess around with phony products. It feels like I just got around the bend on puberty where I’m no longer so awkward looking or a social outsider, but I didn’t realize the boogie man was waiting for me behind the corner. I just wanted to pause for a minute before I go nuclear and ask for any advice y’all may have on precautions I can take to make this as safe as possible.
Spironolactone isn't exactly chemical castration, it's a testosterone blocker. To stop testosterone production, you would need to use cyproterone acetate - I believe this is actual chemical castration.
I'm glad you're on dutasteride, but you have to use it for a certain period to see results. People have seen great results from a combination of dutasteride + spironolactone and don't get gynecomastia. Oral minoxidil will be great, as long as you are fine with the potential of producing excess facial / body hair (my dermatologist said this can be prevented using spironolactone / cyproterone acetate).
Personally, I am currently taking 100MG of spironolactone and 2MG of estradiol (as hemihydrate, through buccal administration). I will be adding in dutasteride within the next few weeks, along with switching spironolactone for cyproterone acetate. It's quite an extreme regimen, but I am quite desperate. Using estradiol for a certain amount of years can make you infertile, depending on the person, so you have to be aware of that. It will also give you the potential to grow permanent breasts. However, on the plus side it can get rid of acne, regrow significant amounts of hair and give you a younger appearance.
Precautions: you will experience some sort of breast growth on estradiol. On spironolactone, you might not experience gynecomastia but you will most likely experience a loss of libido, erectile dysfunction and other sexual issues.
I do think people overreact, I am experiencing the sexual side effects but it's not effecting me at all... I no longer get morning wood, I no longer get embarrassing public boners, and I no longer can get hard from just thoughts. But, I don't see these as bad things, I just see it as I finally have control. My day goes on as usual, and I continue doing daily tasks.
