Nothing beats taking oral Finasteride,, but if you can't bec its giving you sides; I definiatly would say stick with Revivogen. I used it alone for 3 months (on my whole scalp) before I went on finasteride, and it stopped my shedding and started thickening my hair. Topical finasteride is also good. Merck just applied for a topical finasteride patent , so we might see a topical finasteride solution coming out soon. But if you're going to go through the topical route,, Its better to take Revivogen since it blocks both 5ARs as well as the androgen receptor while topical finasteride would only block 5ar type 2 and would also be totally usless unless it gets into your hair follicles, while Revivogen can prevent scalp and hair root dht from forming as well.
spironolactone is also good,, and I'm on the same boat as you; its fu$$king impossible to apply if you have hair, only possible on temples/hairline region. Also,, if you are going to use minoxidil and Revivogen ; you are going to have to go through topical hell like I did finding time to apply minoxidil twice and revivogen once lol.