minoxidil worth trying? What should I start with?Already on finasteride.

[souldoctor]

Hi there,

I've been trying to deal with my hairloss for about 2 years now, and have been taking finasteride alone 1mg (propecia), coupled with nizoral shampoo couple of times a week, whenever possible. I've pretty much cut out smoking and alcohol as well, except occasionally.

I've had odd experience with finasteride; just constant on/off shedding and regrowth consistently every 4-8 weeks, really. I'll shed a ton for a few weeks, then find it seems to be growing back, and then it'll shed again. I've never had extended periods of 'stable' hair, longest I had with it staying thick was probably from december up until middle of january (about 6 weeks of 'decent' hair), and right now am shedding again loads. But I'm not worried 'cos I'm by now used to this pattern with my hair.

Anyway I'm thinking of adding Minoxidil now; and wanted to ask a couple of questions;


1) Does this seem like a logical addition to my regimen, at this stage, in most people's opinions? Or would switching to dutasteride be better long-term?

2) Is there likely to be more initial shedding, and how does this interact with the Finasteride sheds? I'm asking people who use both here obviously, and what their experiences are.

3) What's the most convenient form of minoxidil around to apply in most people's opinion, and what strength should I start with? I'm cautious about rushing in and adding large amounts of a high-strength product to my hair.

Thanks in advance for any input

SD

 

[oni]

Hi souldoctor,

Is your hair in better shape than before you started finasteride ?

What style of hair cut do you have, is it long or short?

1)You could start dutasteride, the question is are you happy with the amount of hair you have, when your hair is "decent" if so then it has to be easier popping 1 pill a day than applying Minoxidil twice a day.

2)Could not tell you everyone is different.

3)The foam seems to be going down well on the HairLossTalk.com forums. I don't think many people use the 2% anymore.

If you need more re-growth Minoxidil is your best bet but if you just need a little! (this is not 100%) bit more re-growth on top of what you have got with finasteride then dutasteride is going to be easier.

 

[souldoctor]

Hi souldoctor,

Is your hair in better shape than before you started finasteride ?

What style of hair cut do you have, is it long or short?

1)You could start dutasteride, the question is are you happy with the amount of hair you have, when your hair is "decent" if so then it has to be easier popping 1 pill a day than applying Minoxidil twice a day.

2)Could not tell you everyone is different.

3)The foam seems to be going down well on the HairLossTalk.com forums. I don't think many people use the 2% anymore.

If you need more re-growth Minoxidil is your best bet but if you just need a little! (this is not 100%) bit more re-growth on top of what you have got with finasteride then dutasteride is going to be easier.

Hey man thanks for the reply...

I don't know if my hair's in better shape overall than before...as I was saying, some weeks it is, others it isn't! When it sheds, it's definitely worse than baseline, but after it recovers, it can be a lot better than baseline...

I could still use quite a bit of thickening up/regrowth though. I'm a diffuse thinner..my hairline's always been high, it's receded slightly with the thinning, but not in a hugely noticeable way..it's more the thinning, esp. at the front, which makes my hair harder to style in a brushed up+forward/spiky style. if i keep it short, it probably doesn't look too much different to before i started to thin.

I'll look into dutasteride. as well, but yeah rogaine foam seems to be working well for people here...