Hey all long time lurker, just got on a regimen and I wanted to share what's happened in first 8 weeks on minoxidil and finasteride and 12 weeks on Nizoral and Nioxin.
I am 23 and noticed my hair was thinning at 22. It was very slow so I didn't think much of it. I never had clumps of hair in my hands after shower or on pillow or anything like. However after about a year of this the diffuse thinning began to become apparent. Also 6 months into diffuse thinning I began to positively "bald" at the front. Now I am a very quiet, "scholarly" person. I like to read and I hate attention and avoid large groups like the plague so going bald isn't so horrible for me honestly. I'm not excited about it but I'm not in despair either. I can understand if a person loves going out and loves being the center of attention going bald would be pretty weird but I'm pretty reculsive by nature so it wasn't a huge deal to me. (In fact I felt like it made me a deeper person becuase I internalized the truth that we all rot away and get old. You don't beleive it until it happens!) With that said however, I am young and on the dating scene so I thought I wouldn't mind buying myself a little more time with my hair so I got on the "big three". I wanted to discuss my results so far.
1) Nioxin - I took Accutane in high school for acne (which permanently cured me in 6 months btw) and the derm at the time recommended Nioxin since Accutane dries out your skin so much. Since I've heard Minoxidil and Nizoral can potentially dry out the scalp I decided to get back on this shampoo to try to counteract that. I actually regret not getting back on this shampoo earlier just for the fact it is such a gentle, moisterizing shampoo and settling for cheaper shampoos instead (which actually you can get a whole Nioxin setup for like 19.99 on Amazon so it's actually not even that much more expensive).
2) Nizoral - I've always had kind of a scratchy scalp. My scalp gets dried out easily (and I think I've always used kinda crappy shampoos I think which did not help the situation), but I realized that my scalp was really itching and burning way more than usual. I would wake up at night and scratch. I did some research and I read that this is often a symptom of male pattern baldness. Since I am a diffuse thinner and had never experienced this much itch before I am pretty sure it is a symptom of male pattern baldness. I began a regimen of 2% Nizoral twice a week. After only 3 or 4 uses (about two weeks) the itching and burning absolutely desisted and has not ever come back. Nizoral really does cure this completely. I was using T-Gel prior to the Nioxin/Nizoral combo (just as a non-fragrence shampoo, not for hairloss or anything else) and it really make my head flake becuase of the anti-fungal properties and did absotlutely nothing to help with the "male pattern baldness burn". After all of Feburary 2010 on these two medications I never flaked again like on T-Gel or other shampoos and my itching and burning completely vanished (which was for me the best part).
So in conclusion these two products have had all very positive effect on me with no negative effects. Also they are affordable. You can get 6 months worth of Nioxin shampoo and conditioner on Amazon for like 20 bucks and Nizoral is pretty cheap on Amazon too and lasts for a pretty long time. I'm no where near finishing my bottle of 1% or 2% after 3 months use. So that is my "success" in that comparment in only 4 weeks. I think I got all the desired effects and no negative ones.
3. Propecia - I began Propecia at beginning of March 2010. It's only been 8 weeks but I have no sexual side effects and no shed either. It cost me $80 whopping bucks to get my first perscription of Propecia, so I talked to my doctor and she perscribed me generic Proscar cut into fifths (it IS possible to cut them into fifths by the way) instead. The great thing about this? IT ONLY COSTS ME 5 BUCKS!! Yep. It's a generic and it's covered by insurance so a whole month of finasteride is only 5 bucks. Sweet. I was worried about that. So no negative side effects so far but I doubt any positive side effects have been from Propecia since I've only been on it for 8 weeks.
4. Kirkland Liquid Minoxidil - This is a great product but the one I am experiencing most side effects with:
a) There definitly is a massive shed that occurs in first two weeks. I began on the 8th of March and my shed was pretty serious until about the 23rd then things went completely back to normal. I have a great picture of what a Minoxidil shed looks like precisiely for those who are nervous but I will put it up later once I have more pictures to upload. But anyway the shed sucked but stopped after 2 weeks and has not come back.
b) The other negative side effect is it is lightening up my hair quite a bit. Any suggestions on how to avoid this?
c) The third side effect is that it dried out my scalp. I realized after I got done using Nizoral I had some flakes on my scalp which I hadn't had until I incorporated Kirkland's into my regimine. I was on Nioxin and Nizoral for a month until I started Kirkland's. So basically I bought some 1% instead and that helped a little bit. I then tried using 1% Nizoral three times a week (which I heard 3 times a week is actually optimal) and things have been going okay. I think getting off the 2% twice a week and onto the 1% three times a week was smart. It is still drying out my scalp a little more than I'd like though. I began using Nioxin conditoner two times a day to moisturize my scalp and that has been working good, but I definitly feel like I am on the brink of flaking at any moment. It's a a pretty iffy balance. Any suggestions?
The good news is that I think that my regrowth is coming from Minoxidil at this point. My mom said my hair looked fuller and I think Minoxidil is saving my bald spot in the front from permanent follicale inactivity. There is plenty of peach fuzz in the front and several of them even turned dark after only 7 weeks! And I've heard the front is difficult to regrow! Any ideas about what I should expect? Is peach fuzz this early in the front a good thing? Will it stay peach fuzz since the front typically doesn't regrow?
So that is my story. I've got some good pictures but I'm going to wait until I have a few more to post them. I'm taking a picture everytime I get my haircut so I'll have some pretty accurate documentation coming. My mom said my hair looked fuller a few days ago so that is encouraging after only being on a regimen for 6 weeks (I don't really count the 6 weeks on Nioxin and Nizoral for much other than moisturizing scalp and settling the "itch"). So nothing too sensational just some encouraging beginnings. Any further advice is appreciated.
I am 23 and noticed my hair was thinning at 22. It was very slow so I didn't think much of it. I never had clumps of hair in my hands after shower or on pillow or anything like. However after about a year of this the diffuse thinning began to become apparent. Also 6 months into diffuse thinning I began to positively "bald" at the front. Now I am a very quiet, "scholarly" person. I like to read and I hate attention and avoid large groups like the plague so going bald isn't so horrible for me honestly. I'm not excited about it but I'm not in despair either. I can understand if a person loves going out and loves being the center of attention going bald would be pretty weird but I'm pretty reculsive by nature so it wasn't a huge deal to me. (In fact I felt like it made me a deeper person becuase I internalized the truth that we all rot away and get old. You don't beleive it until it happens!) With that said however, I am young and on the dating scene so I thought I wouldn't mind buying myself a little more time with my hair so I got on the "big three". I wanted to discuss my results so far.
1) Nioxin - I took Accutane in high school for acne (which permanently cured me in 6 months btw) and the derm at the time recommended Nioxin since Accutane dries out your skin so much. Since I've heard Minoxidil and Nizoral can potentially dry out the scalp I decided to get back on this shampoo to try to counteract that. I actually regret not getting back on this shampoo earlier just for the fact it is such a gentle, moisterizing shampoo and settling for cheaper shampoos instead (which actually you can get a whole Nioxin setup for like 19.99 on Amazon so it's actually not even that much more expensive).
2) Nizoral - I've always had kind of a scratchy scalp. My scalp gets dried out easily (and I think I've always used kinda crappy shampoos I think which did not help the situation), but I realized that my scalp was really itching and burning way more than usual. I would wake up at night and scratch. I did some research and I read that this is often a symptom of male pattern baldness. Since I am a diffuse thinner and had never experienced this much itch before I am pretty sure it is a symptom of male pattern baldness. I began a regimen of 2% Nizoral twice a week. After only 3 or 4 uses (about two weeks) the itching and burning absolutely desisted and has not ever come back. Nizoral really does cure this completely. I was using T-Gel prior to the Nioxin/Nizoral combo (just as a non-fragrence shampoo, not for hairloss or anything else) and it really make my head flake becuase of the anti-fungal properties and did absotlutely nothing to help with the "male pattern baldness burn". After all of Feburary 2010 on these two medications I never flaked again like on T-Gel or other shampoos and my itching and burning completely vanished (which was for me the best part).
So in conclusion these two products have had all very positive effect on me with no negative effects. Also they are affordable. You can get 6 months worth of Nioxin shampoo and conditioner on Amazon for like 20 bucks and Nizoral is pretty cheap on Amazon too and lasts for a pretty long time. I'm no where near finishing my bottle of 1% or 2% after 3 months use. So that is my "success" in that comparment in only 4 weeks. I think I got all the desired effects and no negative ones.
3. Propecia - I began Propecia at beginning of March 2010. It's only been 8 weeks but I have no sexual side effects and no shed either. It cost me $80 whopping bucks to get my first perscription of Propecia, so I talked to my doctor and she perscribed me generic Proscar cut into fifths (it IS possible to cut them into fifths by the way) instead. The great thing about this? IT ONLY COSTS ME 5 BUCKS!! Yep. It's a generic and it's covered by insurance so a whole month of finasteride is only 5 bucks. Sweet. I was worried about that. So no negative side effects so far but I doubt any positive side effects have been from Propecia since I've only been on it for 8 weeks.
4. Kirkland Liquid Minoxidil - This is a great product but the one I am experiencing most side effects with:
a) There definitly is a massive shed that occurs in first two weeks. I began on the 8th of March and my shed was pretty serious until about the 23rd then things went completely back to normal. I have a great picture of what a Minoxidil shed looks like precisiely for those who are nervous but I will put it up later once I have more pictures to upload. But anyway the shed sucked but stopped after 2 weeks and has not come back.
b) The other negative side effect is it is lightening up my hair quite a bit. Any suggestions on how to avoid this?
c) The third side effect is that it dried out my scalp. I realized after I got done using Nizoral I had some flakes on my scalp which I hadn't had until I incorporated Kirkland's into my regimine. I was on Nioxin and Nizoral for a month until I started Kirkland's. So basically I bought some 1% instead and that helped a little bit. I then tried using 1% Nizoral three times a week (which I heard 3 times a week is actually optimal) and things have been going okay. I think getting off the 2% twice a week and onto the 1% three times a week was smart. It is still drying out my scalp a little more than I'd like though. I began using Nioxin conditoner two times a day to moisturize my scalp and that has been working good, but I definitly feel like I am on the brink of flaking at any moment. It's a a pretty iffy balance. Any suggestions?
The good news is that I think that my regrowth is coming from Minoxidil at this point. My mom said my hair looked fuller and I think Minoxidil is saving my bald spot in the front from permanent follicale inactivity. There is plenty of peach fuzz in the front and several of them even turned dark after only 7 weeks! And I've heard the front is difficult to regrow! Any ideas about what I should expect? Is peach fuzz this early in the front a good thing? Will it stay peach fuzz since the front typically doesn't regrow?
So that is my story. I've got some good pictures but I'm going to wait until I have a few more to post them. I'm taking a picture everytime I get my haircut so I'll have some pretty accurate documentation coming. My mom said my hair looked fuller a few days ago so that is encouraging after only being on a regimen for 6 weeks (I don't really count the 6 weeks on Nioxin and Nizoral for much other than moisturizing scalp and settling the "itch"). So nothing too sensational just some encouraging beginnings. Any further advice is appreciated.
