My Finasteride Regrowth Theory

[heardme]

It seems to me that regrowth (for those fortunate enough to have it) can happen anywhere from 3 months to even stories of having regrowth after 5 years.

Since the anagen phase typically lasts 2-6 years, is it possible that this dictates when regrowth occurs? Perhaps the miniaturized hairs stay in this phase and remain "dormant" because it's only producing miniaturized hairs. Then once it completes the catagen and telegen phases, the hair sprouts out stronger than before.

Perhaps those with early regrowth are people who just so happen to have short anagen phases (hence, a lot of shedding) and so they experience regrowth sooner. People who experience regrowth after 2 or more years on finasteride might have longer anagen phases.

I ask this because of what something I noticed recently:

I seem to have caught my hairloss relatively early, having loss primarily on my temples and in the form of thinner hairs (miniaturized) there that still grow to a decent length. I've been on finasteride for about 15 months with no further hairloss. These miniaturized hairs in my temple recession haven't thickened up at all, nor have they fallen out at any period of time during these 15 months. However, I noticed one (lol) of these hairs recently came out much thicker than the rest of the miniaturized hairs in that region. It's about the thickness of my "terminal" hairs and right in the middle of my patch of receded miniaturized hairs.

Added notes:
-I didn't experience any shed whatsoever.
-Before and after finasteride, when I ran my hand through my hair in the shower I would see maybe 15 hairs in my hand at the very most if I ran my hand through my hair multiple times and added them all up. This suggests to me that perhaps I have a longer anagen phase and thus, less shedding in general?
-No further loss during these 15 months so I at the very least seem to be a decent responder.
-I did sprout vellus hairs, but they never improved.

Does my theory have any basis? Has anyone suggested this before? Is this maybe just common knowledge I haven't stumbled across yet?

Thanks

 

[heardme]

Your right about DHT resistant hair and regrowth, it is two to six years. The problem is DHT sensitive hair. They sleep more than
they grow, as the follicle eventually shrinks and dies.

Minoxidil could probably grow those hair back, but combined with Finasteride. Actually, some guys do better in the second
half of the year with Finasteride, than the first six months! They make more gains.

Did you try Minoxidil to grow the temple hair back to full terminal hair? I bet the strands would get thicker, and they
would grow back, and faster as well.

I do apply minoxidil, but very sparingly. I apply it at night, maybe 3-4 times a week at most. I applied minoxidil for about 5-6 months before starting finasteride, and after about 6 months on both, i stopped applying it religiously as I didn't see any new growth than the first vellus hair that appeared and never lengthened or darkened.

The reason I'm still using minoxidil, just sparingly, is that I heard we can build a resistance to minoxidil and while my thin temple hairs weren't grown from minoxidil, the vellus hair in front and maybe in between them might have been and they help the appearance. I'm afraid of losing these.

The hairs are there, just thin. They grow at the same rate and length as my terminal hair, but they are just a lot thinner. They're the same color as well.

 

[M.G]

The most extreme cases of finasteride regrowth I've seen, massive gains were made in like 2-3 months.

I'm sure their growth fase they were in in that period must have been optimal.

 

[oye_rg]

The theory is solid.
However it comes across as you assuming all hair are in same phase at any time. Different follicles will be in different stages of their cycles at any time. The theory needs to be adjusted for that.

 

[Armando Jose]

The theory is solid.
However it comes across as you assuming all hair are in same phase at any time. Different follicles will be in different stages of their cycles at any time. The theory needs to be adjusted for that.

Very good input, human scalp hair is asynchronous, not all hairs are in the same hair cycle phase. And it response is different to a med.

 

[myhairbegone]

The most extreme cases of finasteride regrowth I've seen, massive gains were made in like 2-3 months.

I'm sure their growth fase they were in in that period must have been optimal.

Iv read that those that shed during the first few months get the best regrowth. ..any truth to this?

 

[heardme]

The theory is solid.
However it comes across as you assuming all hair are in same phase at any time. Different follicles will be in different stages of their cycles at any time. The theory needs to be adjusted for that.

Right. Which is why I included that I came up with this little theory of mine because amidst my thinner temple hairs, I noticed one single strand of thicker hair. I'm just thinking that perhaps my hair is on a longer regrowth cycle (perhaps closer to 6 years) and perhaps the regrowth is finally happening, slowly.... to hopefully thicken the hairs in my patches of thinner temple hairs.

Maybe I'm just finding some hope in finally having some form of regrowth rather than 1 1/2 years of almost no change.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it halted the hairloss, but I'm sure you can understand my hope for a little more.