My Big 3++ story...Month 11 update! Coming close to one year
- Thread starter WillNotLetItHappen
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Much better than I am, in any case. I am positive that you can hold male pattern baldness to at least 50 - within the next 15 years there's bound to be better, safer treatment options become available.WillNotLetItHappen
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Thanks Kirby, yes I'm doing quite ok. Hang in there buddy, there will be more options available for you as well!!
WillNotLetItHappen
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Hello boys, it is close to my 1.5yr mark of finasteride and minoxidil. Amazing how time flies. If I take a step back I can say that I maintained and improved somewhat in terms of my status. Like I wrote so often, I definitely improved in the front where I have a thick head of hair. In the back the picture is mixed, I'm not sure I even maintained. I can still hide my hairloss fairly well on the vertex although I'm not sure that the whirl doesn't get bigger. The reduction in the dose has alleviated my sides as far as eyes and libido are concerned. Everthing works fine in that department, but I am sure my sensation is somewhat subdued and I take a lot longer nowadays (not always bad).
Ok on another note (if I don't take a step back) I'm shedding again! I'm currently shedding more than in a long time, probably when I started to take finasteride. Today I had about 200-250 hairs in the shower alone. That is pretty damn scary. The itch is back a little too. I will restart nizoral which I haven't used for 3-4 weeks cause I ran out. Anyway, I don't know what's up but this doesn't seem normal. I am afraid I'm losing ground on the vertex, but I'm not sure yet. I don't know what to do and I'm in a pretty nervous state for the first time in a long time. I have almost forgotten about hair loss but I seem to be a real shedder. I will keep you posted, but don't know what to do. Hope it's not from the dose reduction to 1.25 EOD instead of ED. I doubt it...
Ok on another note (if I don't take a step back) I'm shedding again! I'm currently shedding more than in a long time, probably when I started to take finasteride. Today I had about 200-250 hairs in the shower alone. That is pretty damn scary. The itch is back a little too. I will restart nizoral which I haven't used for 3-4 weeks cause I ran out. Anyway, I don't know what's up but this doesn't seem normal. I am afraid I'm losing ground on the vertex, but I'm not sure yet. I don't know what to do and I'm in a pretty nervous state for the first time in a long time. I have almost forgotten about hair loss but I seem to be a real shedder. I will keep you posted, but don't know what to do. Hope it's not from the dose reduction to 1.25 EOD instead of ED. I doubt it...
I think this guy is freakin crazy. He's taking pictures of his waxed of wet hair combed to the front, taking pictures from the top with a fell camera light, Yes you'll see your skin on the scalp. He only has a little receding on Telogen Effluvium hairline norwood 2. The great 'improvement' pictures are those without water of gel, noticed? BDD i guess imo.
WillNotLetItHappen
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You can talk straight at me, I'm here. I take this as a compliment. I can assure you I'm losing my hair, but yes I'm better off than a lot of others. None of the pics except for the very first ones (when I didn't knw better) I have wax or gel in my hair.
WillNotLetItHappen
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I'm 35. Yes my hairloss is not easily captured in pics but it is there and it is evident. I'm still in a comparably early stage of hairloss but I'm definitely losing it. I was uneducated about hairloss, so I didn't notice it for 3-4 years that I was losing hair. It happened slowly. Then I noticed it, but lost another 2 years where I tried to convince myself I'm not losing it and only went on minoxidil. You don't start as a Norwood 3, but you go through a Norwood 2 on the way. It is key to start early and buy time. Hopefully when you get to keep a lot, you can restore most of it when better treatments are around in say 5 or 10 years. It is a constant battle however and you can only hope to halt its progress.
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Thank you and good luck! Keep us posted. Be patient!
WillNotLetItHappen
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Added a teaspoon full of Acelaic Acid flakes to my minoxidil in the hope it makes a difference...I have lots of vellus hair where nothing seems to be going on.
No he is not crazy but smart to catch it early. Some people said the same thing to me about 11 years ago when my crown began to thin. That they wished they had my hair because I didn't have any problem. Others were somewhat in the middle saying I probably had about 10 years before I would need propicia But one guy, who I just recently realized runs one of the other hair boards said that while my crown loss was just starting, that I should not wait as he could almost say with certainty that it would really start to expand without propecia. I waited about 1 /1/2 years and he was right and it did not stop till I added propecia to the mix. So yea I think he is doing the right thing to keep things at bay before he has a problem. Just my 2 cents...
WillNotLetItHappen
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Thanks for the support!
It is now month 19 completed. Things have gotten better. Shedding is pretty ok now, I'm less panicked. I believe my crown got darker. I'm hoping for some more improvement. It is now looking better even when the hair is wet. I don't know about pics, I can't really capture it in pics. I just keep on improving I believe...also on the hairline. I have a very full head of hair again. I'm just really starting to turn gray on the sides....but I much rather take this. Unbelievable...over 20.000 views of this thread.
Guys...best of luck to you. My advice: start early, don't worry too much, be consistent and don't be IMPATIENT.
It is now month 19 completed. Things have gotten better. Shedding is pretty ok now, I'm less panicked. I believe my crown got darker. I'm hoping for some more improvement. It is now looking better even when the hair is wet. I don't know about pics, I can't really capture it in pics. I just keep on improving I believe...also on the hairline. I have a very full head of hair again. I'm just really starting to turn gray on the sides....but I much rather take this. Unbelievable...over 20.000 views of this thread.
Guys...best of luck to you. My advice: start early, don't worry too much, be consistent and don't be IMPATIENT.
WillNotLetItHappen
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How do I edit the thread title? Hmm
You have to e-mail to admin I think....
WillNotLetItHappen
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Alright...this is my long term update on my hairloss regime.
I'm very close to two years on finasteride and about 4 years on minoxidil. The good news is, it works. I'm turning 36 now and have a very good head of hair where it is very hard to detect my crown loss. It is just thinning and I have no bald spot yet. However the size of the loss area is quite large and I expect to have a bald spot in about 1-2 years without finasteride. Anyway, things are great and I can sport a great haircut at my age which I don't take for granted. Also, my hairloss is less of a concern for me anymore, I don't think about it as much and I don't count hair anymore. I still shed quite a bit but found this to be normal apparently.
Now for the downside of things. I will be very honest on this one as it bothers me and I often think about it. Side effects. I continue to suffer from low libido. To the point where I always need stimulation to make things work. I don't get an erection from watching p**rn or just from being with a girl. However, I'm always able to get and maintain an erection with stimulation. Now the thing is, of course this gets in your head. And as I've been single and only had occasional encounters every now and then, it became important to be able to perform (even on alcohol, which got hard in the last few years) when I got the chance to. I went to see a urologist, and of course what he did is, he prescribed my with drugs for ED. I was shocked and embarassed and didn't want to touch them. However, I did. And now I'm in a relatively stable relationship and continue to take some pills from Singapore. With that I can live a relatively normal live - hair, s*x and a normal reaction to female touch. I don't tell her that and try to think about it as little as possible.
Now, as you can imagine this is not an easy thing and it is still a very hard thing for me to get to grips with. The price I'm paying is high. I don't know if things would get back to normal if I dropped finasteride, or if things would get worse. I don't know if what I have can be called ED even. The mind is very powerful in this respect and I haven't dared to try to have s*x without the drugs as I'm scared of me failing. Of course the outlook of me having to take these pills for 35 years to come is not nice. Also, I have no guarantee if any damage has been done already. I have just come to the conclusion that I want it all - hair and s*x. I get the most female attention ever in my life and I couldn't stand losing my hair. I couldn't deal with looking at me and it would be devastating for me.
What I'm currently doing is to reduce the dose to 1.25mg EOD again to try to see if it improves. However I don't think it does much.
Anyway, that was my long-term update. Hope you guys are well and find this useful. Advice is appreciated but please no scare stories. I've seen most of them.
I'm very close to two years on finasteride and about 4 years on minoxidil. The good news is, it works. I'm turning 36 now and have a very good head of hair where it is very hard to detect my crown loss. It is just thinning and I have no bald spot yet. However the size of the loss area is quite large and I expect to have a bald spot in about 1-2 years without finasteride. Anyway, things are great and I can sport a great haircut at my age which I don't take for granted. Also, my hairloss is less of a concern for me anymore, I don't think about it as much and I don't count hair anymore. I still shed quite a bit but found this to be normal apparently.
Now for the downside of things. I will be very honest on this one as it bothers me and I often think about it. Side effects. I continue to suffer from low libido. To the point where I always need stimulation to make things work. I don't get an erection from watching p**rn or just from being with a girl. However, I'm always able to get and maintain an erection with stimulation. Now the thing is, of course this gets in your head. And as I've been single and only had occasional encounters every now and then, it became important to be able to perform (even on alcohol, which got hard in the last few years) when I got the chance to. I went to see a urologist, and of course what he did is, he prescribed my with drugs for ED. I was shocked and embarassed and didn't want to touch them. However, I did. And now I'm in a relatively stable relationship and continue to take some pills from Singapore. With that I can live a relatively normal live - hair, s*x and a normal reaction to female touch. I don't tell her that and try to think about it as little as possible.
Now, as you can imagine this is not an easy thing and it is still a very hard thing for me to get to grips with. The price I'm paying is high. I don't know if things would get back to normal if I dropped finasteride, or if things would get worse. I don't know if what I have can be called ED even. The mind is very powerful in this respect and I haven't dared to try to have s*x without the drugs as I'm scared of me failing. Of course the outlook of me having to take these pills for 35 years to come is not nice. Also, I have no guarantee if any damage has been done already. I have just come to the conclusion that I want it all - hair and s*x. I get the most female attention ever in my life and I couldn't stand losing my hair. I couldn't deal with looking at me and it would be devastating for me.
What I'm currently doing is to reduce the dose to 1.25mg EOD again to try to see if it improves. However I don't think it does much.
Anyway, that was my long-term update. Hope you guys are well and find this useful. Advice is appreciated but please no scare stories. I've seen most of them.
WillNotLetItHappen
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Yes I did! My crown is the best it has ever been! Stick with it. It works amazingly.
Kirby
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So after 18 months on finasteride, your crown thickened/improved further? Serious? That's encouraging to hear!
i am using minoxidil for 7 month now.. if i take finasteride is it will happen a shed again?
although the flash is good to show the thinned out areas, it isn't what people or the human eyes see on a regular basis. on top of how you style your hair (spikey and vertical), it will make the bald spot look a lot worse than it really is. you take a guy with NO male pattern baldness, and have him style his hair like yours, and take a flash photo, it will look like he is going bald too. Not saying that it is in your head, as your initial pictures clearly show crown thinning, but your recent pictures under normal lighting and no gel show VAST improvement. Good job.. Crummy about the sides though.