Microdosing on finasteride - Updates?

[MicroDoser]

I'd rather take it everyday, as it's easier to have a routine and I feel that it's at a low enough dosage to not be detrimental.
On top of that, there is a chart in this thread that shows that taking .05mg ED has a solid scalp dht reduction while not drastically reducing the serum dht. Honestly, it's just easier if I just have a routine is all haha. But if it comes down to it, I would do 2-3 times a week if they persist. However, I'm going to give it 2-3 months. For the time being, I'm tempted to stop taking it for just a day just to see if the itch will return. If it returns within 24 hours, obviously I'll continue to take it everyday, but if not, taking it EOD is definitely something I'll consider.

As for all you guys dissolving thins stuff in everclear- thoughts on how long the solution will last in an amber bottle?

 

[WangMQ]

So it's been 1 months or so since I started microdosing.

My benchmark of dosage is 0.125 mg, 1/8 pill ED. I have hardly noticeable sides on this dosage, which means my sleep quality, morning wood and energy levels are back.

Sometimes I'd go up to 0.15 or 0.2 just to see if I'm able to tolerate. But every time I ended up experiencing worse sides so that I had to return to 0.125.

So, considering sides, so far so good. But the PROBLEM is I don't think it's helping with my hair. Even though it feels better than being completely off the drug, my scalp frequently gets oily and itchy. And the shedding is not looking good! I'm losing 50+ hairs every day. When I was on 1mg before it was around 35.

I'm getting slightly doubtful about the trial results we discussed before. At least it doesn't work out so well for me. Ugh! FML.

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

Wang, I suggest sticking to 0.125 for now and maybe adding another treatment.

 

[WangMQ]

Yeah I don't think I should be toying with higher dosage for now...I'm getting very used to this healthy feeling and every time the sides return I'm in total panic!I've always been on minoxidil. Besides that I tried RU, it gives me immediate fatigue and brain fog. So I'm kinda out of options now.How's your minoxidilmax going so far?

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

Yeah I don't think I should be toying with higher dosage for now...I'm getting very used to this healthy feeling and every time the sides return I'm in total panic!I've always been on minoxidil. Besides that I tried RU, it gives me immediate fatigue and brain fog. So I'm kinda out of options now.How's your minoxidilmax going so far?

Fidia's equol/DGLA formulation probably comes out in 2017, just hold on for dear life. There is hope.

I'm on my second day of minoxidilmax so I couldn't tell you. I take ~1ml of the solution. I dump it in a small measuring cup. I fill it to ~5ml with Garnier stemoxydine, so that means 4ml of that stuff. I slowly put it on my scalp trying to spread it evenly and having none of it fall on my eyes. The current formulation really dries my hair, I don't know if it's due to the minoxidil or the PG. I might add in lavender oil or another oil.

When the RU comes in, which I ordered from Kane, I will add it in but at a very tiny dose, I'm afraid of anti-androgens.

I can tell you that Paul Mitchell's shampoo makes my scalp feel great so it's a good candidate. Try it out.

 

[shulk]

I'm in my third month now on the wee dose. Currently at 0.135mg a day. A little under the first two months of usage i still had some occasional soreness on the scalp, but a huge deal less than pre finasteride.For the last couple of weeks i have the calmest scalp on the block. Heck, i even forgot about it for a while.Just keep going Wang, even people on a 1mg dose report itching in the first months. I know its easy to get doubtful, but one month is not really a fair chance.Even if it does not work eventually, i think it would be better than nothing.

 

[abcdefg]

A little off topic, but I still wonder why propecia would help or reduce the scalp itch. So many guys on here claim that, and its just odd there is no actual scientific link between the two yet so many stories about it. My head itches, and I slowly lose hair there. It makes me wonder if its worth trying propecia for that, but I feel stupid trying a drug just off a story about it helping with the itch.

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

abc,

For scalp itch, I recommend Paul Mitchell tea tree oil shampoo/conditioner, they really soothe.
Other people are getting success with coal tar shampoo, which I have not tried.

Don't expect everything in male pattern baldness to be researched, it's an intellectual and scientific backwater. In general though there is overwhelming evidence from testimonials that scalp itch and male pattern baldness are related.

 

[abcdefg]

Okay so my next question is having the scalp itch and hair loss with it would it be worth trying propecia in hopes it helps with both? A long time ago I tried saw palmetto and made my itch go away completely, but I dropped it for sides and stuff. Maybe propecia would have a similar effect, but hopefully work for my hair this time

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

Okay so my next question is having the scalp itch and hair loss with it would it be worth trying propecia in hopes it helps with both? A long time ago I tried saw palmetto and made my itch go away completely, but I dropped it for sides and stuff. Maybe propecia would have a similar effect, but hopefully work for my hair this time

Saw palmetto isn't really understood, there's a huge amount of pseudoscience around it, on the other hand lots of people like yourself report side effects. I used to think it was just a weak finasteride, but others suggest it has a different mechanism.

What are you trying right now?

 

[technoport]

I have been micro-dosing for the past 4.5 months.

Jan 9, 2016 - Feb 4, 2016 = 1mg. Starting from 3rd week my hair loss reduced
Feb 4, 2016 - Feb 16, 2014 = NONE (went cold turkey) and started noticing shedding. (stopped because of sides)
Feb 17, 2016 - March 1, 2016 = 1mg. Sides started hitting me pretty hard
March 2, 2016 - May 7, 2016 = 0.5mg. Hair loss stopped and sides were less (mostly reduced penile sensitivity)
May 8, 2016 - June 6, 2016 = 0.25mg. No hair loss and sides were not at noticeable level. Felt like Penile sensitivity was restored (still getting better). Yesterday (June 6, 2016) i noticed some hair coming out when applying minoxidil/rogain foam. Ever since I started taking finasteride that did not happen. After shower in the gym I use a white towel and I don't see any hair in that (may be 1 or 2 very thin hair). So yesterday (June 7, 2016) I took a 0.5mg. I'll be back to 0.25mg from today onwards. But every week or every other week i'll slide in a 0.5mg. I will be taking a new pic tomorrow as monthly progress and I'll post it here. I don't see any falling hairs. Hair grows very fast and now I'm planning to grow hair longer and pull it back to cover the vertex. I'll post my pics this week. So by tomorrow I'll be completing my 5 months on Finasteride (with a ~10 days break in Feb).

 

[WangMQ]

I'm in my third month now on the wee dose. Currently at 0.135mg a day. A little under the first two months of usage i still had some occasional soreness on the scalp, but a huge deal less than pre finasteride.For the last couple of weeks i have the calmest scalp on the block. Heck, i even forgot about it for a while.Just keep going Wang, even people on a 1mg dose report itching in the first months. I know its easy to get doubtful, but one month is not really a fair chance.Even if it does not work eventually, i think it would be better than nothing.

Well, I did take 1mg previously and it's true that even back then I had itches. But I'm also quite sure my itch is more severe than before. Maybe it has something to do with summer coming and other stuff? I have some diet changes as well. Anyway if you never took finasteride before microdosing it's really hard to tell but for a finasteride veteran like me..... That's a sad story.

A little off topic, but I still wonder why propecia would help or reduce the scalp itch. So many guys on here claim that, and its just odd there is no actual scientific link between the two yet so many stories about it. My head itches, and I slowly lose hair there. It makes me wonder if its worth trying propecia for that, but I feel stupid trying a drug just off a story about it helping with the itch.

DHT triggers inflammation and that causes the itch. At least that's my simplistic version of science here. I remember reading detailed description elsewhere and PGD2 was related in the process.

That's also why some people tries different angles to fight inflammation without anti androgens.

 

[abcdefg]

Right now im on nothing just lipogain or basically minoxidil. I was going to ask my doctor next time I go for a physical or something about propecia and maybe trying that if I can find it cheap somewhere like 15 or less a month since I have to use it maybe forever. I can see if that helps with my itch because I know for a fact for me personally the itch is directly tied to my very slow gradual male pattern baldness. So if its DHT then propecia might be my answer, but I am still pretty hesitant to try it. I think I have higher estrogen and lower androgen levels already so I feel I have a good chance at something bad happening.

 

[MicroDoser]

Update:
.05mg has been fine, shedding is still going on, and hair is looking eh. Sex drive was wonky the first week of starting, but it ended up being pretty high towards the end of the first month of taking it. So much so that my s/o had a hard time keeping up.

It's been about a month since starting, and I decided to up the dosage to .075 last week. I've yet to notice sides, and if things are still the same for the next month, I'll consider upping the dosage to .1mg.

 

[shulk]

Well i weened on up to the Japanese 0.2mg dose and will stay there... This means i'm not microdosing anymore and most likely would not have sides on 1mg either.
My case is not of any use to people who have had sides prior and try to eliminate them. For people debating on starting or not it is a nice way to gently see if it works out.

I have zero sides at the moment, no ball ache, no watery semen, etc etc. My hair is still shedding more then usually though.
On my hairline there are a lot of mini hairs with seemingly a bit of pigment. I can't say for sure if this is regrowth or if these are hairs that are miniaturized and just started a new cycle.

 

[abcdefg]

Yeah if I tried finasteride it would definately be at .25mg for both cost reasons as more just safety even though its not a big difference then just taking the 1mg

 

[Dedicated12]

Just checking in with micro dosing
Been doing it for 3 weeks now
0.04mg 2x per week with ru 30mg 3-4 times per week.
No sides
Going to bump frequency up to 3x per week M W F.
First two weeks hair fall increased a little bit but nothing major. As of right now, vigorously rubbed my head/hair 2 hairs came out.
Hair obviously still looks like chit but I'm hoping this is a good sign.
Also using nizoral 2x per week + minoxidil/stem of every day to every second day.

 

[youngster]

I'm thinking of starting a dose of 0.125 or 0.25 mg EOD or M/W/F.
However, I remember reading somewhere that taking a smaller dose of finasteride might give the same sides eventually as finasteride "builds up" over time, can anyone confirm this?

 

[shulk]

has been asked on page 3

 

[abcdefg]

In an ideal world they would make the drugs like propecia in different dosages based on DHT inhibition levels. Why cant I buy weak propecia that inhibits DHT by like 25 percent and simply take more of it versus have to buy the 1mg and play around with that to lower the dose.
To be perfectly honest I dont like the idea of taking finasteride at all orally. Its silly to treat male pattern baldness orally when its local DHT that is the problem not the serum levels. Yet 25 years later and we are playing around with oral DHT inhibitors still. Certainly doesnt inspire much confidence. We might die in 20 years with these same treatments honestly.