Since i've been on the medicine I've been cutting my hair shorter and shorter. Now, I cut the sides to 1/8" and the top to a 5/8". I notice that the shorter you cut the sides, the better the thinning top looks if it's a little bit longer. It's a comparision thing. If the sides are very short, the thinner hair on top will not be able to be made out as well to the average person ( this depends on how bad the loss is). I believe that mine is diffuse thinning, although I notice most of the thinning right above the crown ( which is weird because my crown is pretty intact).
If the hair i'm losing is really from shedding, than I've been shedding non stop for about 3 1/2 months. In my opinion, it may not be shedding and just be normal male pattern baldness progression because I'm only losing hair off the top- not the sides- and the thinning seems like its creeping its way further along up the top of the scalp. Maybe I'm thinking too much, maybe it's working, maybe it's not. I dunno, but it blows.
I'm currently taking only finasteride, but i may throw in minoxidil. In my opinion, I'm set with the fact that one day soon i'm going to lose my hair. Im in no way happy about it, it actually sucks d*ck and i think about it every day and it sometimes depresses me. But, you gotta keep your head up and think about the rest of good things you got going for you. VERY much easier said than done, but I guess it's true. Some people just get very luck and either lose it later in life or never. But, maybe something else is wrong with them that is worse than male pattern baldness and they'd give a million dollars to be stuck with what I got than what they have. Either way, I'm 21 and losing my hair and it sucks.