My story of shedding and shedding

[spmorgan]

So I thought I would post my (horror) story about shedding, since I think about it on a daily basis.

My background. I'm 37, and I have red hair, and it has always been very thick. Over the past few years, I have noticed some loss of hairline, nothing terrible, but as time went by I thought that maybe I should do something about it. My father lost most of his hair in his early 40's, and I know redheads are prone to hair loss.

Anyway, I decided that I would order finesteride online. About three months ago I got my order. It is 1mg and is called Finatas. Anyway, I started about three months ago.

Within a couple of weeks, I noticed that there were tons of hairs on the floor of my bathroom. I didn't think too much about it, however, as more time went by, I started noticing more and more. Then I started noticing that when I would blow dry my hair there would be a bunch of hairs on the counter. Long story short, I'm losing hundreds of hairs a day...probably around 300-500.

I've noticed a huge thinning on the top of my head. The other day, I also noticed that I've started to get a balding spot on the top of my head. None of this was happening before I started finasteride.

I'm trying to ride this thing out. I'm feeling super down and wondering if I did the wrong thing (seems to be a common occurrence). I've started using Toppix to cover the balding spot on the top of my head. I keep hoping that the hair loss will stop, but it isn't. I know this can go on for 3-4 months, but it is very very tough to deal with.

I'm holding off on starting minoxidil because I want to see if this stops and if my hair comes back. *sigh* This sucks. I'll try to come back and keep you up to date. It doesn't appear that many people come back and update their shedding stories.

S

 

[skribb]

Most people scram when they're on the rebound (or regrowth), because they no longer need the support of our community, and no longer feel like wasting time on here. I can understand them. I will probably do the same. It's something I don't really want dominating my free time. I might commit for life though, I mean, who knows for sure, right? Anyway I'd appreciate it if you would stick around.

Also, where did you read that gingers are more prone to hairloss? I'm a ginger meself, see.

 

[spmorgan]

Thanks for your story, although clearly not what I hope to hear.

I'm really struggling with this because it isn't making any sense to me. If this was just a shed and things were going to grow back, wouldn't it be shedding everywhere? Why is it mostly on the vertex and peak area? Also, these are large, otherwise healthy hairs...not something from miniturization.

*sigh* I feel like I made a terrible mistake. Maybe it would have happened over time anyway, but I've fast forwarded it by years, it seems. And I'm quite worried to keep going...

 

[gutted]

spmorgan - your experience with finasteride sounds a lot like mine. I took the drug about six years ago, and also got MAJOR shedding three months in: 300-500 hairs daily. I continued using finasteride for about a year but things never got better... and sadly the severe hairloss, although less now, never went away. Before starting with finasteride I NEVER saw any hairs in the shower, sink, pillow, etc... I was just paranoid to become as bald as my older brother. I probably didn't even have male pattern baldness to begin with. male pattern baldness definitely kicked in after that year on finasteride, though. Other side effects i got: severe acne on face and back (almost never had any during puberty, especially not on my back), oily face, a LOT of stubborn sebum build-up on my scalp which the barber thought was chewing gum + increased body and beard hair.
Everybody's different so maybe you'll recover from the shed, who knows. In my case, losing 1000's of hairs in mere months while not growing any back, was not a sign of better things to come.

Good luck.

joshua your experience sounds like mine, i ahd exactly the same effects as you, except i did not shed on the sides and back of my ehad, just my temples and frontal area became diffuse.
i should say i was on saw palmetto and beta sis not finasteride.

did you recover the lost hairs after stopping finasteride?
how long was you on it for?
what norword are you now? and what is your age?