Losing Hair Faster After Starting Treatment

[jack martin]

Hi, i'm 25y and i noticed that i was balding last December after a rough period at work and the breakup of my relationship. At first i thought it was stress related, bc i was feeling really low and depressed and also was drinking more often. I lost a lot of hair, like a looot! If it didn't happened to me I wouldn't believe it was possible. Back in Oct/Nov I had super thick black wavy hair, and in late Feb i started to see a lot more space between follicles in the hairline which also receded a bit and my hair just thinned in general.
So, last month i went to a dermatologist who prescribed me finesteride 1mg and minoxidil 5% and i decided to take a chance bc i have a nice melon head and the shaved cut would probably make me look like a freaking grey alien. So... yeah...
The first 3-4 days taking finasteride and minoxidil I noticed an improvement in terms of my hair not falling as much, mood was better, had more energy but also some mild erectile problems. Since it wasn't too alarming I continued and my libido went to normal (some days higher) after 2 weeks.
The thing that worries me is that after those first 5 days i started losing more hair than before the treatment, literally twice as much. I read that this could be a good sign but also read that it could mean hyperandrogenism reflex or some kind of bad reaction and honestly, not knowing is the worst part. Its only been a month so I know its too soon to tell anything, i just feel like if this shedding continues for a couple more months goodbye hair. It's depressing. Any guys in the same boat ?

Okay so there are several serious misconceptions people have about hair loss - I will discuss a few and offer some advice.

First of all, "the big 3" is the combination of finasteride/minoxidil/nizoral they all server slightly different purposes but seem to work well together. I suffer mainly from thinning localised at the front inch of my hairline (thankfully), I therefore decided to avoid minoxidil entire and use only finasteride and nizoral as I had heard that minoxidil is better for treating areas of total/severe baldness. You should lay off the minoxidil for a while - nobody knows exactly why it works so putting it on you head is a risk - read about the history of minoxidil on wikipedia: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoxidil

Secondly, the idea that hairloss can be treated using only the big 3 is a complete lie. Hair loss cannot be solved by treatment alone, for long lasting success you will need to make informed decisions and lifestyle choices that include but are not limited to: diet, exercise, hydration, alcohol consumption, massaging the scalp, drying the hair, hair products etc. A well documented version of prevention techniques can be found at www.avoid-hairloss.com/prevention .

Finally, remember when you are hearing success stories that many undisclosed factors are in play and their success may be in part to any prevention/treatment method but not entirely so.

Keep your head up, there are millions of men in our position. It's a tough deal but at least we aren't alone.

Peace out.

 

[BaldingGuy]

Okay so there are several serious misconceptions people have about hair loss - I will discuss a few and offer some advice.

First of all, "the big 3" is the combination of finasteride/minoxidil/nizoral they all server slightly different purposes but seem to work well together. I suffer mainly from thinning localised at the front inch of my hairline (thankfully), I therefore decided to avoid minoxidil entire and use only finasteride and nizoral as I had heard that minoxidil is better for treating areas of total/severe baldness. You should lay off the minoxidil for a while - nobody knows exactly why it works so putting it on you head is a risk - read about the history of minoxidil on wikipedia: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoxidil

Secondly, the idea that hairloss can be treated using only the big 3 is a complete lie. Hair loss cannot be solved by treatment alone, for long lasting success you will need to make informed decisions and lifestyle choices that include but are not limited to: diet, exercise, hydration, alcohol consumption, massaging the scalp, drying the hair, hair products etc. A well documented version of prevention techniques can be found at www.avoid-hairloss.com/prevention .

Finally, remember when you are hearing success stories that many undisclosed factors are in play and their success may be in part to any prevention/treatment method but not entirely so.

Keep your head up, there are millions of men in our position. It's a tough deal but at least we aren't alone.

Peace out.

Hey man, thanks for the reply! You're absolutely right in everything you said but in the end of the day if you have strong balding genes you are going to be bald. Maybe in the future we can beat genetics but as of today we can only buy some time (which is great nevertheless). In my case, my father and grandfather were bald and on my mother's side my grandfather and uncle also don't have a full head of hair, so i know i will go bald eventually but if i could get to mid 30's with some hair it would be great! That's why i went all in.

Maybe it was a shot in the foot going with minoxidil when i had still great density but since the shedding slowed down i will try to go 6 months and see. As for the rest i don't smoke, 6 months without getting drunk, eating the healthiest i can with the money i have, switched to an organic plant based shampoo (it's helping my hair a lot), hitting the gym quite often and my blood work has always been great and still losing hair
The strange part is that i noticed the itching and that i was losing more hair in the shower after the worst period in my life so who knows if that kickstarted the thing.. I guess i will have to wait and see..
But thanks for the great advice!!! Even if you're not balding it's great for your general health! cheers

 

[Maxima]

Derm said it takes 3-6 weeks to go away. I'm at week 5 and it has slowed down a lot and pain/itch are gone.

 

[BaldingGuy]

Derm said it takes 3-6 weeks to go away. I'm at week 5 and it has slowed down a lot and pain/itch are gone.

You are very lucky, I'm almost at week 12 and still have the occasional itch at night and still losing more hair than when I started the treatment. Currently my hair is at it's all time low. I really hope i recover at least some of the hair lost bc if not i will stop using minoxidil very very soon.

 

[Maxima]

You are very lucky, I'm almost at week 12 and still have the occasional itch at night and still losing more hair than when I started the treatment. Currently my hair is at it's all time low. I really hope i recover at least some of the hair lost bc if not i will stop using minoxidil very very soon.

I feel your pain.

 

[jack martin]

You are very lucky, I'm almost at week 12 and still have the occasional itch at night and still losing more hair than when I started the treatment. Currently my hair is at it's all time low. I really hope i recover at least some of the hair lost bc if not i will stop using minoxidil very very soon.

If you are thinning and not bald, id say try using finasteride and nizoral and avoid minoxidil.

 

[BaldingGuy]

If you are thinning and not bald, id say try using finasteride and nizoral and avoid minoxidil.

It was my derm who said i should use both fina and minoxidil, but now I'm realizing it was a huge mistake... I still had awesome density, no one could tell i was balding... Only my hairline and temples were receding a bit. Like you said i should've went with just fina and a keto shampoo...
But when i started to lose more hair in the shower, itching all over my head and my hair on top was taking longer to grow so I went all in ... Yesterday i hit my third month on treatment and my hair is getting worse and worse.. Lost tons of density my hairline is worse, only my temples are better. Oh and i still shed more hair than before treatment. I dunno if i should stay one more month or just quit now and use it only in my temples.
Also, can my hair just vanish? I'm losing 5 inch hairs, can they just stop growing all of the sudden ?? I'm afraid that if i stop minoxidil they wont grow back

 

[BaldingGuy]

So here's an update, I've been taking some pics with my phone to see the progress and here's a photo of day 23 (top photo) and today day 95 (bottom photo).. Sorry for the quality, i've been taking with the front camera of my phone.. But i think it's noticeably worse.. What you guys think ? Should i just call it quits before i destroy my hairline for good?

PS: Please don't comment just to say i have a full head of hair and I'm not balding etc because I know i still have a full head of hair. My derm told me i was in the very early stages of male pattern baldness. Just had slight recession of hairline and temples, and my hair was thinning a bit. She prescribed me fina and minoxidil to keep it that way for some more years, but i feel that it's speeding things up.

 

[Maxima]

So here's an update, I've been taking some pics with my phone to see the progress and here's a photo of day 23 (top photo) and today day 95 (bottom photo).. Sorry for the quality, i've been taking with the front camera of my phone.. But i think it's noticeably worse.. What you guys think ? Should i just call it quits before i destroy my hairline for good?

PS: Please don't comment just to say i have a full head of hair and I'm not balding etc because I know i still have a full head of hair. My derm told me i was in the very early stages of male pattern baldness. Just had slight recession of hairline and temples, and my hair was thinning a bit. She prescribed me fina and minoxidil to keep it that way for some more years, but i feel that it's speeding things up.

My opinion is that it is speeding things up. I don't hear much about hairline or temples that regrow. I went 60 days and it was enough for me.

 

[BaldingGuy]

My opinion is that it is speeding things up. I don't hear much about hairline or temples that regrow. I went 60 days and it was enough for me.

Did your hair recover after you stopped minoxidil ?

 

[Maxima]

Did your hair recover after you stopped minoxidil ?

No monoxidil for me, just finasteride. I suspect that the shedding was caused by a telogen affluvium. I've been off finasteride for about 6-7 weeks and the shedding has slowed a lot. I decided to ride out my hair instead of gambling with it. I choose to lose them in years instead of months. So your question is did I recover.. I doubt I will get regrowth but it stabilized.

 

[BaldingGuy]

Ok, another 10 days have passed and i'm currently at 3.5 months. I'm really starting to feel like minoxidil ruined my hair, especially my hairline and I'm currently still shedding more hair than before treatment.

So today i started an experiment. I stopped putting it on my entire head and started to put it only on my frontal part since it's already f**ked up and a spot on the back of my head to see if it thins out quicker than the surrounding area..
Another thing is that my scalp was itching and hurting (even with nizoral) so maybe I'm allergic and thats why its getting worse ??

I'm really done with minoxidil! If by the end of the month my hairline doesn't show any sign of getting better or it gets worse i'll just cut my losses and go to a hair clinic to see what i can do.. I hope fina can hold the rest of my hair, but next month I will probably have to buzz my hair for the first time in almost 20 years...
It's really a devastating feeling honestly... Anyway, I will post a picture so you guys can see

 

[BaldingGuy]

Sorry for the quality but i think that it's not in my head that the hairline is getting worse.. And you guys can't see it but some weird bald lines and thin spots are appearing near the temples ...

 

[Hairmess]

It looks the same to me. How is your shedding now? I just started min and I'm shedding like crazy. I'm 25 days in.

 

[BaldingGuy]

It looks the same to me. How is your shedding now? I just started min and I'm shedding like crazy. I'm 25 days in.

The baseline photo or the last one i posted?? Because my hair is nothing like it was 4 months ago.... The irony is that my derm told me I would be fine and at the stage I was my hair would be better than it was before. Now, i just wish i could get my hair back to baseline..

Oh well, to answer your question my shedding has slowed down in the last month or so, but still shedding more than before the treatment.
Another thing, I never experienced those super sheds i've read about. My max was about 100 hairs in the shower/styling and just a couple of days in the last 4 months, but on the other hand i shed 30-70 hairs for 3 months straight.. (Before that it was 5-10 max.)

How much are you shedding now and before? Are you on fina?

 

[Hairmess]

I am female and I am not taking any anti-androgens. My doctor advised me against it as I am young and i would have to get on birth control as well because it can cause birth defects in male babies. Not that I am having children right now but either way not something I will try until I'm past child bearing age lol. Anyways I've noticed my hair getting thinner and thinner these last several years so I decided to try min about 25 days ago. I am also using low light laser helmet for a couple of weeks as well. Anyways, about my second week in I noticed drastic shedding. A lot more hair than usual falling everywhere and in my brush after I shower! Long hairs too. A lot of shedding in the areas where I am applying the foam and some noticeable thinning. More scalp visible. Which is on the top front and temples. It's been about almost two weeks of increased shedding so I understand the fear. My doctor said that it's normal as min causes immediate release of telogen hairs. The dormant hairs are shed to prepare for new hair to come in. It usually occurs the first 2-8 weeks. If it continues past that then there might be an issue. I'm hoping mine will only last another week or so. I'm afraid of how thin my hair will get!

Anyways, from what I read not many people experience awful side effects like total loss of hair that won't grow back after discontinuing minoxidil if you are experiencing long term shedding. Are you having any other side effects that might lead you to believe you are allergic to min? That's the only thing I would look out
For. Feel it out. I've read that some have shed for 4 months and had great regrowth.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1610-0379.2011.07802.x/full

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2684510/#!po=6.94444

Check these out and it might give you some relief. Unless you feel your are having some allergic reaction that is creating the increased shedding you might want to ride it out and see. After 6 month point and it feels like it's gotten worse I would stop. You will have a shed but according to the doctors it should last another 6 months and then return to the former state before using. There are some questions like yours on real self where they ask doctors. Some said that it can increase shedding and the user not see results and then they lost that hair from the shed . Idk! It sucks until you know if you respond or not. I just hope I don't end up with thinner hair than I started. Fingers crossed for us both.

 

[BaldingGuy]

I am female and I am not taking any anti-androgens. My doctor advised me against it as I am young and i would have to get on birth control as well because it can cause birth defects in male babies. Not that I am having children right now but either way not something I will try until I'm past child bearing age lol. Anyways I've noticed my hair getting thinner and thinner these last several years so I decided to try min about 25 days ago. I am also using low light laser helmet for a couple of weeks as well. Anyways, about my second week in I noticed drastic shedding. A lot more hair than usual falling everywhere and in my brush after I shower! Long hairs too. A lot of shedding in the areas where I am applying the foam and some noticeable thinning. More scalp visible. Which is on the top front and temples. It's been about almost two weeks of increased shedding so I understand the fear. My doctor said that it's normal as min causes immediate release of telogen hairs. The dormant hairs are shed to prepare for new hair to come in. It usually occurs the first 2-8 weeks. If it continues past that then there might be an issue. I'm hoping mine will only last another week or so. I'm afraid of how thin my hair will get!

Anyways, from what I read not many people experience awful side effects like total loss of hair that won't grow back after discontinuing minoxidil if you are experiencing long term shedding. Are you having any other side effects that might lead you to believe you are allergic to min? That's the only thing I would look out
For. Feel it out. I've read that some have shed for 4 months and had great regrowth.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1610-0379.2011.07802.x/full

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2684510/#!po=6.94444

Check these out and it might give you some relief. Unless you feel your are having some allergic reaction that is creating the increased shedding you might want to ride it out and see. After 6 month point and it feels like it's gotten worse I would stop. You will have a shed but according to the doctors it should last another 6 months and then return to the former state before using. There are some questions like yours on real self where they ask doctors. Some said that it can increase shedding and the user not see results and then they lost that hair from the shed . Idk! It sucks until you know if you respond or not. I just hope I don't end up with thinner hair than I started. Fingers crossed for us both.

Thank you so much for those kind words!! It really helps!
I have an appointment this month with a derm specialized in hair. I'll ask him if he can see any signs of allergy because I honestly can't tell. My scalp isn't red or nothing like that. Maybe more dry, itching more and sometimes have a sore feeling in the scalp so dunno..... Next week I'll see.

Yeah, the majority of people shed in the beginning of the treatment so I wouldn't worry to much (although it's almost impossible not to). I've read threads of people who said it lasted for some weeks, other people said it lasted for a couple of months, even some that the shed only stopped after 5-6 months.. I guess it depends. I also shed long hairs, but logically speaking if pattern baldness is a miniaturization process a long hair can't just fall out and don't regrow.. So don't lose hope because it's very early in the treatment. Even when the shed stops you will have to wait a bit longer for the hair to grow enough to make a cosmetic difference. Patience is key I guess..

Anyway I really hope the shed stops soon for you
Another good news is that The American Hair Loss Institute says that minoxidil might work better for females so I really think your hair will bounce back stronger!! fingers crossed! Keep me updated on your situation ok ?

 

[Hairmess]

Thank you so much for those kind words!! It really helps!
I have an appointment this month with a derm specialized in hair. I'll ask him if he can see any signs of allergy because I honestly can't tell. My scalp isn't red or nothing like that. Maybe more dry, itching more and sometimes have a sore feeling in the scalp so dunno..... Next week I'll see.

Yeah, the majority of people shed in the beginning of the treatment so I wouldn't worry to much (although it's almost impossible not to). I've read threads of people who said it lasted for some weeks, other people said it lasted for a couple of months, even some that the shed only stopped after 5-6 months.. I guess it depends. I also shed long hairs, but logically speaking if pattern baldness is a miniaturization process a long hair can't just fall out and don't regrow.. So don't lose hope because it's very early in the treatment. Even when the shed stops you will have to wait a bit longer for the hair to grow enough to make a cosmetic difference. Patience is key I guess..

Anyway I really hope the shed stops soon for you
Another good news is that The American Hair Loss Institute says that minoxidil might work better for females so I really think your hair will bounce back stronger!! fingers crossed! Keep me updated on your situation ok ?

I sure will!! Thank you!

 

[BaldingGuy]

I'll just post a photo I took today and one that is 1.5 months old because I dunno if I'm going crazy or not.
In 3 days I'll hit precisely 4 months of treatment.. No regrowth from the months of shedding and still losing more ground in the frontal part of the scalp where I still apply minoxidil.
I feel like i'm done with minoxidil because it keeps getting worse but next week I have an appointment with a hair specialist and i dunno If I should stick with the treatment until then. I would really appreciate some feedback

 

[Hairmess]

I'll just post a photo I took today and one that is 1.5 months old because I dunno if I'm going crazy or not.
In 3 days I'll hit precisely 4 months of treatment.. No regrowth from the months of shedding and still losing more ground in the frontal part of the scalp where I still apply minoxidil.
I feel like i'm done with minoxidil because it keeps getting worse but next week I have an appointment with a hair specialist and i dunno If I should stick with the treatment until then. I would really appreciate some feedback[/QUOTE


Keep with it! Honestly i don't see any loss in density from your picture earlier in the month. If anything it's remained the same! I would definietly stick with until you speak with the specialist. But from my opinion I don't think it's making you lose any hair. Remember the suggested time is 6 months. I'm right here with you when it comes to the dreaded shed. I am still losing quite a lot of hair but when I loooked very closely to my hair line I see tiny little hairs sprouting! I am see a trichologist Monday that specializes in hair loss. I'm going to talk to her about rogaine shed and I'll keep you updated. Hope this helps.