optimystic
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Firstly sorry i don't have pictures
I fear being recognized + the pictures I have don't really do my story justice.
And i apologize in advance for the long read, I hope for those who read it that it's worth it.
I joined this forum 4 years back, I was 20 at the time and am currently 24.
I used minoxidil 2% for 2 years (so from age 20-22). I didn't think it helped much (there was still progression of my hair thinning, but it was slow).
I stopped minoxidil 2% around 2 years ago and the progression became much faster and more evident which made it clear to me the minoxidil was REALLY slowing it down more than i gave it credit.
I started it again around 1 year and the half ago (so for total i was 6-8 months off minoxidil) and i guess the progression slowed but the damage that had already been done was not reversed (i had a bald spot at the vertex, and a good deal of temporal recession)
I have to digress a bit here about my personal life, because i think it's pivotal to my success story.
4 years ago, when i first realized my hair loss issue and i got pretty sad about it for around 1 month looking for all kinds of solutions. Then I manned up, I shaved my head and decided it looks pretty good and almost re-actively to my concern about my losing hair, I became a much more confident guy. I got a girlfriend (while my hair was still low).
Then when my hair grew back, since it had grown thinner and softer and less dense than my usual thick hair, it actually looked better than it ever did. It was so easy to style. It was soft. It was much better than the thick rat's nest I used to have before my hair started thinning.
I decided I like my hair. And I didn't want it to get any thinner, or less dense, and if i could maintain it for at least 4 more years that would be great. You see I was still 20 at the time, and had just entered med school with my hair looking better than it ever did (even though it was thinning) and I had a girlfriend and loads of confidence. At the time i was so confident and happy and humble i remember saying to myself "I just want to enjoy 4 more years of this hair. I just want to keep my hair throughout med school after that it's fine if i lose it."
For the remainder of my story i refer to the timeline of my academic years, Med 1 to Med 4 (current)
Med 1 and Med 2: I used the minoxidil for the first 2 years, I wasn't sure if it was doing much but it had no side effects and i was able to obtain free samples so all was well.
Med 3: Entering the 3rd year of medical school i was still with my girlfriend who i love and who loved me past the point of physical appearances, and i got abit lazy and i was always skeptical about how much the minoxidil was actually helping, so I stopped the minoxidil (even though i had many samples remaining).
6 months later, i notice that i was really balding faster with my receding hairline + developed a bald spot at the vertex. I resumed the minoxidil, but about 6 months after that there really wasnt any improvement. My hair had lost too much density I couldn't style it anymore. The minoxidil was slowing it down again but it felt like it was too late.
To make things worse, at the end of Med 3 I broke up with my girlfriend (several fights, issues that had nothing to do with hairloss or looks, just compatibility issues that prevent us from taking our serious relationship to the next level)
Around 1-2 month after the break up, I was really depressed. My Ex-GF had left a void, and I had been unable to fill that void. My social life and relationship life had reached new lows. And I felt like I was aging and my best years were behind me. I became more self conscious about my hair again. I thought I was never again going to be as attractive as I used to be. My confidence was all lost.
Med 4 (6 months ago): Med 3 had finally ended (on that bad note), and luckily I had started recovering from my depression. I continued using the minoxidil. And I decided to work out and get fit again so that if i'm not handsome looking I at least have a hot body to work with. At the same time, I was reading about hair loss every now and again and just trying to apply what I learnt in medicine about the physiology and pathophysiology of hair loss in order to reach the best solution. From my reading and my own understanding of the topic, I decided to apply the following 3 lifestyle modifications:
1) I continued the minoxidil, but instead of applying 10 drops once daily I started to apply 5 drops twice daily in a targeted fashion so i get the same spots every day. + Scalp massage for 1-2 minutes twice daily after applying the minoxidil.
2) Masturbation reduction: I used to masturbate somewhat compulsively, around 2 times daily. Despite having a girlfriend (this dates to my age of 17, way before having a girlfriend) I used to ejaculate atleast once daily, and as I downloaded more and more p**rn this rate was slowly rising up till it became around 3 times daily. Instead I reduced it to 3-4 times per week (no masturbating 2 days in a row and no masturbating more than once in one day).
3) Diet control: I was never a fat guy, and always had high metabolism but any weight I used to gain from my baseline would concentrate all in my belly. This is known as central obesity, where someone would be slim but have a belly like santa clause. Anyway since i wanted to work on my body and wanted my six pack to show I started watching my intake of sweets and fatty food (previously uncontrolled).
4) As a result of the things followed above, + getting over my ex-gf (time heals everything!), my confidence and happiness levels were back to my baseline.
Where I am NOW: Med 4, A couple of months till I graduate, all my confidence is back. My hair seems to be getting thicker again. The bald spot at the vertex can be covered with just abit of combing. I know the bald spot is still there because i feel it, and i know that hair doesn't grow back once it's lost, but i still drop some drops of minoxidil there in case there are teeny tiny skinny hairs that can get thicker again.
My hair is thick enough to be styled again. It's like it was during 2 or 3 years back (Med 1 or Med 2). The difference now being I am not okay with losing it after med school like i said before. Now, I want to try to maintain my hair at least till I am 30.
The Message: So what I learned from medicine in general is that even though we have made such great progress in understanding physiology and pathophysiology of diseases, and really everyday such great progress is made with new drugs and new treatments and new ideas, the truth is despite everything we know most diseases ARE NOT straight-forward and they are MULTI-FACTORIAL.
Basically that word means that we know some factors involved in the process, but not all factors. Moreover, we don't understand yet which factors are more important than others, every individual might be unique with one set of factors being more significant than another.
The best approach is to try and look at yourself and deal with as many of the risk factors as you can.
Personally, I feel like if i took a blood DHT level you would find it quite elevated, and I might be a candidate to take finasteride safely without side effects.
On the other hand, I am pretty certain that by re-adjusting my masturbatory habits OVER A SIGNIFICANT PERIOD OF TIME, my DHT levels have decreased significantly without requiring medication.
I wish I took a DHT blood test 6 months ago and a new one now to confirm.
I'm not advocating that people try to masturbate less as a treatment of hair loss. But, FOR ME, my masturbation frequency which used to be 14+ per week and got reduced to 3-4 times per week has made an impact on my hair loss.
Still, I DID NOT DISCONTINUE MINOXIDIL because FOR ME, IT SEEMS TO WORK
Likewise, I advocate that NO MATTER WHAT TREATMENT REGIMEN YOU FOLLOW, ALSO DEAL WITH YOUR RISK FACTORS
1) If you are depressed, which i think people REALLY underestimate the importance of, you have to try to boost your morale and self confidence. The correlation between depression and balding is high. It can not all be explained by baldness causing the depression alone, because a greater than expected amount of bald people are depressed. The depression may very well be leading to increased baldness.
2) If you are obese, or lead a sedentary unhealthy lifestyle with minimal exercise, work on your fitness. Nutrition is known to affect hair and nails. Anorexic people and obese people have higher rates of balding.
3) Scalp massages are free. They don't take much time, especially if you apply topical solutions daily anyway. Frankly I'm not sure how much this has helped me, but it feels good regardless and it doesn't take time.
4) If you do masturbate more than once a day, I advise you to try and reduce it. You have nothing to lose, and much to gain not just in terms of reducing DHT but also getting more energy throughout the day and more success with the ladies. Once a day might be okay, but for me felt like a personal challenge because I don't want to be a slave to my sexual urges. Besides, it increases pleasure when i wait an extra day or two or three before releasing.
Again sorry for the long read,
Hope some of you guys find it useful,
And sorry I don't have pictures but if my bald spot does get covered with thicker hair then i might publish a case report about this (with pictures) and post the link here.
I fear being recognized + the pictures I have don't really do my story justice.
And i apologize in advance for the long read, I hope for those who read it that it's worth it.
I joined this forum 4 years back, I was 20 at the time and am currently 24.
I used minoxidil 2% for 2 years (so from age 20-22). I didn't think it helped much (there was still progression of my hair thinning, but it was slow).
I stopped minoxidil 2% around 2 years ago and the progression became much faster and more evident which made it clear to me the minoxidil was REALLY slowing it down more than i gave it credit.
I started it again around 1 year and the half ago (so for total i was 6-8 months off minoxidil) and i guess the progression slowed but the damage that had already been done was not reversed (i had a bald spot at the vertex, and a good deal of temporal recession)
I have to digress a bit here about my personal life, because i think it's pivotal to my success story.
4 years ago, when i first realized my hair loss issue and i got pretty sad about it for around 1 month looking for all kinds of solutions. Then I manned up, I shaved my head and decided it looks pretty good and almost re-actively to my concern about my losing hair, I became a much more confident guy. I got a girlfriend (while my hair was still low).
Then when my hair grew back, since it had grown thinner and softer and less dense than my usual thick hair, it actually looked better than it ever did. It was so easy to style. It was soft. It was much better than the thick rat's nest I used to have before my hair started thinning.
I decided I like my hair. And I didn't want it to get any thinner, or less dense, and if i could maintain it for at least 4 more years that would be great. You see I was still 20 at the time, and had just entered med school with my hair looking better than it ever did (even though it was thinning) and I had a girlfriend and loads of confidence. At the time i was so confident and happy and humble i remember saying to myself "I just want to enjoy 4 more years of this hair. I just want to keep my hair throughout med school after that it's fine if i lose it."
For the remainder of my story i refer to the timeline of my academic years, Med 1 to Med 4 (current)
Med 1 and Med 2: I used the minoxidil for the first 2 years, I wasn't sure if it was doing much but it had no side effects and i was able to obtain free samples so all was well.
Med 3: Entering the 3rd year of medical school i was still with my girlfriend who i love and who loved me past the point of physical appearances, and i got abit lazy and i was always skeptical about how much the minoxidil was actually helping, so I stopped the minoxidil (even though i had many samples remaining).
6 months later, i notice that i was really balding faster with my receding hairline + developed a bald spot at the vertex. I resumed the minoxidil, but about 6 months after that there really wasnt any improvement. My hair had lost too much density I couldn't style it anymore. The minoxidil was slowing it down again but it felt like it was too late.
To make things worse, at the end of Med 3 I broke up with my girlfriend (several fights, issues that had nothing to do with hairloss or looks, just compatibility issues that prevent us from taking our serious relationship to the next level)
Around 1-2 month after the break up, I was really depressed. My Ex-GF had left a void, and I had been unable to fill that void. My social life and relationship life had reached new lows. And I felt like I was aging and my best years were behind me. I became more self conscious about my hair again. I thought I was never again going to be as attractive as I used to be. My confidence was all lost.
Med 4 (6 months ago): Med 3 had finally ended (on that bad note), and luckily I had started recovering from my depression. I continued using the minoxidil. And I decided to work out and get fit again so that if i'm not handsome looking I at least have a hot body to work with. At the same time, I was reading about hair loss every now and again and just trying to apply what I learnt in medicine about the physiology and pathophysiology of hair loss in order to reach the best solution. From my reading and my own understanding of the topic, I decided to apply the following 3 lifestyle modifications:
1) I continued the minoxidil, but instead of applying 10 drops once daily I started to apply 5 drops twice daily in a targeted fashion so i get the same spots every day. + Scalp massage for 1-2 minutes twice daily after applying the minoxidil.
2) Masturbation reduction: I used to masturbate somewhat compulsively, around 2 times daily. Despite having a girlfriend (this dates to my age of 17, way before having a girlfriend) I used to ejaculate atleast once daily, and as I downloaded more and more p**rn this rate was slowly rising up till it became around 3 times daily. Instead I reduced it to 3-4 times per week (no masturbating 2 days in a row and no masturbating more than once in one day).
3) Diet control: I was never a fat guy, and always had high metabolism but any weight I used to gain from my baseline would concentrate all in my belly. This is known as central obesity, where someone would be slim but have a belly like santa clause. Anyway since i wanted to work on my body and wanted my six pack to show I started watching my intake of sweets and fatty food (previously uncontrolled).
4) As a result of the things followed above, + getting over my ex-gf (time heals everything!), my confidence and happiness levels were back to my baseline.
Where I am NOW: Med 4, A couple of months till I graduate, all my confidence is back. My hair seems to be getting thicker again. The bald spot at the vertex can be covered with just abit of combing. I know the bald spot is still there because i feel it, and i know that hair doesn't grow back once it's lost, but i still drop some drops of minoxidil there in case there are teeny tiny skinny hairs that can get thicker again.
My hair is thick enough to be styled again. It's like it was during 2 or 3 years back (Med 1 or Med 2). The difference now being I am not okay with losing it after med school like i said before. Now, I want to try to maintain my hair at least till I am 30.
The Message: So what I learned from medicine in general is that even though we have made such great progress in understanding physiology and pathophysiology of diseases, and really everyday such great progress is made with new drugs and new treatments and new ideas, the truth is despite everything we know most diseases ARE NOT straight-forward and they are MULTI-FACTORIAL.
Basically that word means that we know some factors involved in the process, but not all factors. Moreover, we don't understand yet which factors are more important than others, every individual might be unique with one set of factors being more significant than another.
The best approach is to try and look at yourself and deal with as many of the risk factors as you can.
Personally, I feel like if i took a blood DHT level you would find it quite elevated, and I might be a candidate to take finasteride safely without side effects.
On the other hand, I am pretty certain that by re-adjusting my masturbatory habits OVER A SIGNIFICANT PERIOD OF TIME, my DHT levels have decreased significantly without requiring medication.
I wish I took a DHT blood test 6 months ago and a new one now to confirm.
I'm not advocating that people try to masturbate less as a treatment of hair loss. But, FOR ME, my masturbation frequency which used to be 14+ per week and got reduced to 3-4 times per week has made an impact on my hair loss.
Still, I DID NOT DISCONTINUE MINOXIDIL because FOR ME, IT SEEMS TO WORK
Likewise, I advocate that NO MATTER WHAT TREATMENT REGIMEN YOU FOLLOW, ALSO DEAL WITH YOUR RISK FACTORS
1) If you are depressed, which i think people REALLY underestimate the importance of, you have to try to boost your morale and self confidence. The correlation between depression and balding is high. It can not all be explained by baldness causing the depression alone, because a greater than expected amount of bald people are depressed. The depression may very well be leading to increased baldness.
2) If you are obese, or lead a sedentary unhealthy lifestyle with minimal exercise, work on your fitness. Nutrition is known to affect hair and nails. Anorexic people and obese people have higher rates of balding.
3) Scalp massages are free. They don't take much time, especially if you apply topical solutions daily anyway. Frankly I'm not sure how much this has helped me, but it feels good regardless and it doesn't take time.
4) If you do masturbate more than once a day, I advise you to try and reduce it. You have nothing to lose, and much to gain not just in terms of reducing DHT but also getting more energy throughout the day and more success with the ladies. Once a day might be okay, but for me felt like a personal challenge because I don't want to be a slave to my sexual urges. Besides, it increases pleasure when i wait an extra day or two or three before releasing.
Again sorry for the long read,
Hope some of you guys find it useful,
And sorry I don't have pictures but if my bald spot does get covered with thicker hair then i might publish a case report about this (with pictures) and post the link here.