My 1.4 year update

[flux]

Hello old friends and newbies alike,.

I just wanted to pop in and let you guys know how things were going for me.

Last time I came through here was a little past the one year mark. My scalp was severly irritated from all the treatments and the resulting sheds had just ravaged my hair.

Damn, that sucked.

I have changed my regimen. This is my new regimen:
Every night, I take 1.25mg finasteride and 1ml minoxidil.
Thats it. Nothin in the morning. No spironolactone of Folligen. Just finasteride and 1 daily dose of Min.

Ever since I started using minoxidil just once a day, my scalp has felt great 100% of the time. I am a little worried that I'll have some big sheds, but I have been doing this for three months now and nothing yet.

But better then a healthy scalp, the hair I had lost has grown back, and now my hair looks GREAT!

w00t!!

Its about 2 inches long now, and I spike it up like a rockstar in the mornings. I can tell its still thin (it will never be back at 100%), but who cares? Its still thick enough to look good. I definitly have more hair now then I did when I started. I am loving this.

Thank god for finasteride!!! :hairy:

Now that I have posted this, I am going to start shedding. :shock:

 

[marsbtchsx]

good sh*t man

 

[marsbtchsx]

when did u start seeing results from finasteride?

 

[blue]

good to hear hopefully you continue to see results......if your responding well to it....that makes me think it will only get better.....goodluck man

 

[Molecular Help]

Last time I came through here was a little past the one year mark. My scalp was severly irritated from all the treatments and the resulting sheds had just ravaged my hair.

Damn, that sucked.

I have changed my regimen. This is my new regimen:
Every night, I take 1.25mg finasteride and 1ml minoxidil.
Thats it. Nothin in the morning. No spironolactone of Folligen. Just finasteride and 1 daily dose of Min.

So I take it you were using finasteride plus minoxidil twice a day plus spironolactone once or twice a day plus follligen every day? Anything else? Could you break down roughly the order and time you added and subtracted different products to your regimen? Seems like you found success in simplicity and totally overcoming irritation. I was wondering if perhaps the sheds you were experiencing came from always adding on new things or quitting others.

I'm interested to see if perhaps one should really wait upwards of 6 months or maybe even a year before adding new treatments to a regimen, starting with a fundamental like finasteride and ever so slowly adding as the situation demands. Perhaps the more products you use the less regular your hair cycles will be because of the myriad of influences from the different angles different hair treatments take, making it hard to ever make progress. It seems the guys with complex regimens have more ups and downs than the guys with simpler ones over and extended period of time.

Molecule Helper

 

[AKA]

Ahhh Flux, the voice of reason!

I think you've got the formula right. Cut out all the messing around, complications, and obsessing over your hair.

I'm currently on finasteride and nizoral alone, 4 months in. I'm seeing results and I think minoxidil would help, but I don't want to be applying it twice a day.

I think I'm going to follow your example and apply once a night.

 

[KK]

Flux,

I have similar problem, the itch and the flakes on my scalp really annoys me. I can take the itch but the flakes that makes me look un-hygiene. I am looking for a solution to this problem. However I can see strong regrow on using the minoxidil twice daily. I don't want to decrease the minoxidil application concern that it may not work as effective as it is now.

 

[KK]

Flux,

I have similar problem, the itch and the flakes on my scalp really annoys me. I can take the itch but the flakes that makes me look un-hygiene. I am looking for a solution to this problem. However I can see strong regrow on using the minoxidil twice daily. I don't want to decrease the minoxidil application concern that it may not work as effective as it is now.

 

[mvpsoft]

There seems to be anecdotal evidence that using copper peptides with minoxidil reduces or eliminates scalp irritation. I use Tricomin, which is pretty expensive, along with 5% minoxidil twice a day, and I have not had any scalp irritation or flakes. Of course, I don't know whether I would have if I had not used Tricomin.

Also, make sure you don't use Nizoral more than three times a week, and use a good conditioner along with it. I used it once without a conditioner, and my scalp itched all day. With a conditioner, no problems.

Folligen is another copper peptide solution that is less expensive than Tricomin, but people complain that it turns green when used in conjunction with minoxidil.

 

[Owl Jolson]

Hello old friends and newbies alike,.


Damn, that sucked.

I have changed my regimen. This is my new regimen:
Every night, I take 1.25mg finasteride and 1ml minoxidil.
Thats it. Nothin in the morning. No spironolactone of Folligen. Just finasteride and 1 daily dose of Min.

Ever since I started using minoxidil just once a day, my scalp has felt great 100% of the time. I am a little worried that I'll have some big sheds, but I have been doing this for three months now and nothing yet.

But better then a healthy scalp, the hair I had lost has grown back, and now my hair looks GREAT!


:shock:

Hey flux...congratulations on the newfound simplicity and attendant success.
I seem to be having the same problem. For most of the year I used 5% minoxidil in the morning and Xandrox 15 in the evening. The PM application usually gives me no trouble but the AM application induces anything from a hot, tight feeling on top of me head to to tingling and itching (or a combination of all three). There was no redness of flaking but it felt pretty unhealthy.
Right now I'm using Jojoba shampoo then nizoral three times a week and T-SAL on the other days. I use Dr. Lee's 5% (without propylene glycol) for both applications and wash my hair with plain hot water in the morning. In addition, I've been doing Tom Hagerty's scalp exercise http://www.hairloss-reversible.com/my_approach_ 2.htm. before each application. I also do the flexilibilty exercises described on the bottom of the page.
My scalp has been feeling better the last two days with only a greasy feeling the first two hours after the AM application. Nevertheless, do you think your approach might hold any benefits for me? Is there anything besides anecdotal evidence to suggest that one application works well?
Am I doing anything correctly?[/url]

 

[Hairybush1]

Werent you using fluridil for awhile? If you were, why did you stop taking it? I was thinking of ordering some for myself, thats why Im asking.

 

[youngguy_uk]

hey, quick bit of advice i heard, take your finasteride in the morning, soon as you wake up. absorption to the blood is more efficient on an empty stomach. just a little thing

KK - have you tried dr lees minoxidil that is PPG free? supposed to be a lot less irritating to the scalp.

i believe, personally, that a really clean scalp helps a lot with results on any regimen. i mean, fungal infections, scaling and dandruff...they go hand in hand with the balding process..knock them out, and youre part way towards combatting the balding process

 

[Axon]

Sup flux, good to hear.

 

[chieftain]

well flux I posted that same regimen a while ago and it has been 1.75 years on minoxidil and .5 years on finasteride. I use the same dosages but I take my finasteride in the morning and like you I apply minoxidil at night. It has been going well for me, I do shed but I think its been minimal. After my shed is finished it seems my hair grows more..So its a good thing.

 

[KK]

UK,

I am from Ozzie, we don't have Dr Lees, and I am still looking for minoxidil that is PPG free in OZ.

I have a very mild itch from time to time. The flakes only appears the area where I apply the minoxidil.

 

[absmon]

Yet, there are many others who do not get irrated from using minoxidil twice. In fact, I would assume, majority of the people are fine using minoxidil twice. Using it twice is likely to speed up one's results.

 

[Guest]

Flux,
How have you been man. Long time no post. I'm starting to fade from this site too, but will continue to update periodically. Good to hear that you've had good results.
late,
badasshairday

 

[flux]

when did u start seeing results from finasteride?

Its hard to say, because first results were from minoxidil. I'd say I felt it was working about 9-12 months in.

So I take it you were using finasteride plus minoxidil twice a day plus spironolactone once or twice a day plus follligen every day?

I never actually started spironolactone, athough I thought about it quite a bit. I've experimented with Zix, Folligen, the LaserComb (collecting dust, but I still believe it could be useful), Emu Oil, Saw Palmetto (nasty stuff), GSE, and more. Once my regimen started working though, I knew it was the finasteride and Min, and tossed everything else to the curb. And yes, fighting irritation is a big part of the battle,. but it isnt everything.

I'm interested to see if perhaps one should really wait upwards of 6 months or maybe even a year before adding new treatments to a regimen

Always a good idea. And yes, as long as it works, then the simpler the better.

Owl, I believe it has been shown that 1 application does work. However it is also known that it is not nearly as effective as 2. However, with the irritation causing sheds, it seems that 1 is my magic number. Heres my test,. I put my hands above my ears and push them up/together. If its uncomfortable, then my scalp is irritated. Do what you can to get your scalp in better health, but if nothing works, then maybe 1xday apps are the right thing. Also, if you're not using finasteride, well, thats way more important then minoxidil.

Hairybush1, I believe you have me mixed up with Funkster.

Youngguy, cheers. Actually by the time I go to sleep at night my stomach is pretty empty, and I usually have a hearty breakfast first thing in the morning. I think I'll stick to my nighttime routine. Hope all is going well for you.

Axon, w3rd, holms. How's your invincable scalp of steel doin?

Chieftain, good to hear! Actually I expect that I'll get a fallout any day now from lowering my Min dosage. I just expect that it will stabilize well enough afterwards.

Absmon, I used minoxidil 2xday for a year. For the most part my scalp was ok, but whenever I'd try to grow my hair out my scalp would get trashed. (I'm guessing the alcohol in the minoxidil would sit on my scalp longer).

badasshairday,. lol, nice avatar. Did I miss more ken bashing sessions? I spent far too much time reading this site last year. I really appriciate all the support I recieved here, and the friends I made, but we all know our ultimate goal is to not need this site. I hope you're having success as well.



To all,. I cannot nessisarily condone my regimen change yet. From what I have heard, upon quitting minoxidil, your gains fall out around three months. Thats around now. So in a month or two I will have a much better idea of how the future stands. However, I am really not too concerned. I have accepted that I am losing my hair, and with that, not only is it much easier to accept the lows, but the highs are that much more satisfying.

I took some pics. I need to shrink 'em in photoshop. I'll do that later tonight.

 

[Axon]

Axon, w3rd, holms. How's your invincable scalp of steel doin?

http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... hp?t=10845

No one seems to give a sh*t, though.

 

[blue]

Axon people prolly dont give a sh*t cause you said your doing really well battling your hairloss....i think that makes people jealous lol.