GarthMarenghi
New Member
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Hi Everyone 
,
I'm 35. I started to notice when I was around 19/20 (in about 1995/96) that when I washed my hair there were quite a lot of hairs coming out in my towel. It was around then that I could see my hair was receding around my temples. I also started to notice that I had a very itchy scalp. Being young I didn't really tie the two together. My mum saw my itching and recommended a dry scalp shampoo from Boots (a shop over here in the UK).
Pretty much after that I did realise there was less hair appearing in the towel after I was washing my hair and there was no itching. My receding hairline seemed to halt right where it was for years and years.unk:
Fast forward to 2006 and I had noticed that in some photos my hair was looking much much thinner on top. Looking back, this is the year I moved in with a girl and we pretty much bought the same shampoo and used that....it wasn't the one I had been using for years and years, but that didn't seem important or relevant at the time. :shakehead:
I did at this point try some Regaine Extra Strength (Rogaine in the US) and it seemed to help almost immediately but I became ill with another medical condition and just seemed to stop using it for a few years. However, during this time my doctors thought I might have a prostate infection (it wasn't), and I did use some epilobium tea (small flowered willow herb tea) and I noticed after some time on it daily my hair was healthier, much less greasy and I was able to wash it every 4-5 days rather than every 2 as it was much less oily and greasy. However, this came with a price and all the oxalates in this tea that I was having twice a day contritbuted to some kidney stones. And anyone who has had these will tell you the blighters hurt ALOT!!! Another side effect of the tea was that my libido hit rock bottom. I just wasn't interested in sex and this wasn't good for my relationship which ended during this time. :shock:
Fast forward again to the start of 2011 and the thinning on my hair and receding hairline was becoming more and more prominent and I was starting to get an itch in my hair again. Alarm bells went off and I made the connection with the old Boots shampoo I used to use. So I bought some and things felt a lot better on my scalp again....but then Boots changed the formula and rebranded the shampoo. And the new shampoo made my hair look thin, brittle and the itch was back!
So to start with I heard about Nanogen Nanofibres. So I tried these. They looked great, but I really wanted to try to do something more than hide the baldness. So I looked around a few of these type of forums and got some ideas. I purchased some Spectral DNC and this seemed to thicken things up after a month, then I added some Nizoral (for the ketoconazole) but after a couple of weeks this made my hair feel like crap so I switched to Revita, which seemed to help almost immediately. :smack:
At this point I wanted to try and work out what might have been helping me in the old Boots Shampoo I had been using all those years ago.
I read many posts on this forum and others as a guest and found that Piroctone Olamine and zinc pyrithione were other contenders. So I amanged to find the older (pre 2011) formula for the Boots Dry Scalp Shampoo I was using here
http://www.cosdna.com/eng/cosmetic_772942300.html
This showed up the Piroctone Olamine in the shampoo and I confirmed this when I was at my brother's house and I found that shampoo in his guest shower room.unk:
So I found another shampoo that uses this, the Body Shop Ginger Shampoo, and added this to my regime. I'm actually cycling it every other day with the Revita. And so far, this is all working well. My hair is definitely thicker. The receding hairline is still at the same level it was at years ago, it's not improving, but it's not any worse. The thickness of the hair at the front is much better, and what used to be only tiny dead hairs that grew right at the front are now longer and healthier looking.
This is where I am now. I have considered a DHT blocker, but I don't want to mess with my hormones and would rather not end up back the epilobium tea took me a few years ago. I am also considering switching from Spectral DNC to Regaine Foam (Rogaine in US), mainly because Spectral DNC is always changing its ingredients and I reacted well with Regaine Extra all those years back and also with Spectral so minoxidil seems to help. I need to get my head around this forum to see opinions on that at some stage.
That's my story so far. I would say I was a NW2 when I was 19/20 and that I had become a NW3 after ditching that shampoo from 2006 to 2011. And right now I look more like a NW3 again with the thickening hair on my scalp with my regime. I know I'm not a severe case and my dad lost his hair in similar fashion but I do feel that the PO shampoo I used for years contributed to helping me without me really knowing it too well.
I will post some pics soon. I need to blur my face out and such like, but I hope to pick up some more ideas from here and get some help and support from those here.
Apologies for the long post.... It's nice to be here.
,I'm 35. I started to notice when I was around 19/20 (in about 1995/96) that when I washed my hair there were quite a lot of hairs coming out in my towel. It was around then that I could see my hair was receding around my temples. I also started to notice that I had a very itchy scalp. Being young I didn't really tie the two together. My mum saw my itching and recommended a dry scalp shampoo from Boots (a shop over here in the UK).
Pretty much after that I did realise there was less hair appearing in the towel after I was washing my hair and there was no itching. My receding hairline seemed to halt right where it was for years and years.
unk: Fast forward to 2006 and I had noticed that in some photos my hair was looking much much thinner on top. Looking back, this is the year I moved in with a girl and we pretty much bought the same shampoo and used that....it wasn't the one I had been using for years and years, but that didn't seem important or relevant at the time. :shakehead:
I did at this point try some Regaine Extra Strength (Rogaine in the US) and it seemed to help almost immediately but I became ill with another medical condition and just seemed to stop using it for a few years. However, during this time my doctors thought I might have a prostate infection (it wasn't), and I did use some epilobium tea (small flowered willow herb tea) and I noticed after some time on it daily my hair was healthier, much less greasy and I was able to wash it every 4-5 days rather than every 2 as it was much less oily and greasy. However, this came with a price and all the oxalates in this tea that I was having twice a day contritbuted to some kidney stones. And anyone who has had these will tell you the blighters hurt ALOT!!! Another side effect of the tea was that my libido hit rock bottom. I just wasn't interested in sex and this wasn't good for my relationship which ended during this time. :shock:
Fast forward again to the start of 2011 and the thinning on my hair and receding hairline was becoming more and more prominent and I was starting to get an itch in my hair again. Alarm bells went off and I made the connection with the old Boots shampoo I used to use. So I bought some and things felt a lot better on my scalp again....but then Boots changed the formula and rebranded the shampoo. And the new shampoo made my hair look thin, brittle and the itch was back!
So to start with I heard about Nanogen Nanofibres. So I tried these. They looked great, but I really wanted to try to do something more than hide the baldness. So I looked around a few of these type of forums and got some ideas. I purchased some Spectral DNC and this seemed to thicken things up after a month, then I added some Nizoral (for the ketoconazole) but after a couple of weeks this made my hair feel like crap so I switched to Revita, which seemed to help almost immediately. :smack:
At this point I wanted to try and work out what might have been helping me in the old Boots Shampoo I had been using all those years ago.
I read many posts on this forum and others as a guest and found that Piroctone Olamine and zinc pyrithione were other contenders. So I amanged to find the older (pre 2011) formula for the Boots Dry Scalp Shampoo I was using here
http://www.cosdna.com/eng/cosmetic_772942300.html
This showed up the Piroctone Olamine in the shampoo and I confirmed this when I was at my brother's house and I found that shampoo in his guest shower room.
unk: So I found another shampoo that uses this, the Body Shop Ginger Shampoo, and added this to my regime. I'm actually cycling it every other day with the Revita. And so far, this is all working well. My hair is definitely thicker. The receding hairline is still at the same level it was at years ago, it's not improving, but it's not any worse. The thickness of the hair at the front is much better, and what used to be only tiny dead hairs that grew right at the front are now longer and healthier looking.
This is where I am now. I have considered a DHT blocker, but I don't want to mess with my hormones and would rather not end up back the epilobium tea took me a few years ago. I am also considering switching from Spectral DNC to Regaine Foam (Rogaine in US), mainly because Spectral DNC is always changing its ingredients and I reacted well with Regaine Extra all those years back and also with Spectral so minoxidil seems to help. I need to get my head around this forum to see opinions on that at some stage.
That's my story so far. I would say I was a NW2 when I was 19/20 and that I had become a NW3 after ditching that shampoo from 2006 to 2011. And right now I look more like a NW3 again with the thickening hair on my scalp with my regime. I know I'm not a severe case and my dad lost his hair in similar fashion but I do feel that the PO shampoo I used for years contributed to helping me without me really knowing it too well.
I will post some pics soon. I need to blur my face out and such like, but I hope to pick up some more ideas from here and get some help and support from those here.
Apologies for the long post.... It's nice to be here.