Raz's Story: Big 3: Nw4v --> Nw1.5ish

[GoldenMane]

Once again, astounding hairline recovery. Interesting theory on twice a day minoxidil application for regrowth then once a day for maintenance. I might try upping the dose to twice a day. Has anyone gone from once a day to twice a day and regrown more hair? Never used it more than once a day... The wet scalp theory is also interesting. I would have thought the opposite, with the solvent being mostly alcohol and propylene glycol, organic solvents, I would have thought that a wet scalp would inhibit absorption. Then again, if you notice side effects it may well be true. I'll have to try it for myself...

 

[Raz]

Thanks, guys.

@Kuca: Well, it wasn't a success story to begin with. This is basically just my hair loss "blog" in here now .

@Notcool: Yeah, will do man. It's a pain to be applying twice a day, but ultimately worth it I guess.. However, we will see.

@GoldenMane: As for the wet scalp part, it's not really just my theory, but it's a pretty well known thing. The only risk is that the drug goes systematic from the increased potency which is why it's not advised to be used on a wet scalp . Google around if you feel like it.

 

[GoldenMane]

How is your hair if you apply minoxidil to a wet scalp? Does it feel greasy afterwards? Or does it clump? I never even considered that once a day might not be sufficient for regrowth, genuinely curious to see now if it can regrow more hair than once a day + finasteride...

 

[Raz]

Basically feels as sh1tty as it did whenever I applied it normally. Clumps a bit, but it's a bit easier to manage IMO than when applying normally.

 

[kuca]

hahah yea i know, i was just wondering why doesn t anybody move this to succes story section

 

[eenrak]

Hey raz, I would feel exactly the same if we were talking liquid minoxidil in the morning. Do you mean that foam limits your activities? The foam dries within minutes and is undetectable if applied correctly.

- - - Updated - - -

Ah, I see you are using the liquid. That is definitely hard to do in the morning. Have you not considered foam?

 

[Raz]

Good point with the foam, didn't think about it! Foam is not sold OTC in where I live, but I'll give it a shot if liquid at once a day usage results in losses of gains and if 15% minoxidil doesn't seem to be worth it.

 

[Raz]

Sup gents? Time for a May 2015 update!

Regimen and its specs can be found in the OP, but basically, "big three", pretty much.

Last month I also went from using minoxidil 2x a day to using it 1x a day. I'm like 40 days into that at the moment and I don't think I've lost ground. If I have, it has been very minor and probably because I had some financial issues up until two days ago, wherein I had to use 3-4 days' worth of minoxidil over the course of 9-10 days. (And that was with 1x a day usage in mind to begin with).

Will still need another 2 months or so to evaluate whether 1x a day will lead to any losses - periodical shedding aside.

I'll be doing updates monthly up until August I think, at that point I'm likely at my peak results and I will have been on finasteride for 2 years and doing updates might become trivial, if not for twice a year-esque check-ups.

Anyway, for now, have some May pics:



Basically the same format as before - pics from above from the relevant angles, in bright lighting (to be as harsh as possible) and identical conditions with the previous updates. Last picture is a herpaderpa-inducing token selfie to demonstrate how my hair looks "normally" I guess.

Thanks for checking out my thread as usual gents. unk:

 

[albionlad]

What an excellent turn around from your original pictures, long may your success continue int:

 

[Wolf Pack]

Nice update. I think I've commented in this thread at some point earlier. Such a turn around which is the key bit due to the situation you found yourself in. You seem to have very soft hair naturally rather than heavy/thick but the coverage is nice.

The diffuse thinning in the crown and middle is not that noticeable. Long may it continue to hold/improve.

 

[Raz]

What an excellent turn around from your original pictures, long may your success continue int:

Thank you mate, all the same to you!

Nice update. I think I've commented in this thread at some point earlier. Such a turn around which is the key bit due to the situation you found yourself in. You seem to have very soft hair naturally rather than heavy/thick but the coverage is nice.

The diffuse thinning in the crown and middle is not that noticeable. Long may it continue to hold/improve.

Yeah man, you commented in here like back when you just joined the forum, haha. Thanks.

You're right, I have very soft hair. On one hand, girls love it, but on the other hand, it's not really fortunate from a balding person's PoV. My diffuse thinning is not really noticeable at the moment in any circumstances, barring pictures like this I guess, and even then from a certain angle and lighting. The middle-crown is looking solid right now so I am okay with that (probably 80%ish of normal density), it's mainly that little spot in my vertex area that has semi-poor coverage (probably 50-60% of normal density). I'm growing my hair out though - in a month it's probably not even noticeable, combovers aside. The strands in there are sort of spiking up right now instead of covering the scalp, as they lag behind in growth speed it seems. (See pics #2 to #4 of this latest update).

Thanks for the comments gents. I do potentially plan on adding E7D dutasteride to my regimen at some point, though.

 

[Wolf Pack]

I think we discussed dutasteride recently yeah. I would add in dutasteride anyway once a week now, unless you feel your crown is improving the last 6 months or so. If it's on an upward curve, then don't change your regimen. If it's stable or slightly getting worse, I would try using dutasteride and drop it if it makes no difference.

I plan on using Dutasteride in maybe 6 months if I need to. I will use it once a week or maybe twice.

I like your determination.

 

[Raz]

Sup guys, sort of slacked with a June update, because at this point the progression/regression is kind of unnoticeable to the point where I am thinking of slowly transitioning from monthly updates to bimonthly, to quarter-year updates to perhaps twice or even once a year updates - unless something changes dramatically. I feel like I have documented the most important time well enough (first year on minoxidil and close to two years on finasteride).

So yeah, here's a few pictures, early July, 2015:




I didn't take a temple-shot but my hairline is really good right now, you can refer to some of the older updates for that if you wish.

Regimen-wise nothing has changed (Big Three - Finasteride for 23 months or so now, minoxidil for 14~ months, Keto for close to 24 months). No shedding to speak of, albeit I do notice some more hairs on my comb lately. We shall see.

For now, it's pretty smooth sailing and maintaining my gains. I am probably gonna get a haircut soon (if I can bother) - I will still keep growing out my hair, but it's funny how the hairs on the sides and back grow faster than the hairs on top, even if both are healthy hairs. I guess it's due to male pattern baldness as well. So that makes it look a bit inconsistent, especially given the fact shorter hair on the sides with more hair on the top gives off the illusion of thicker hair. So yeah, I'll probably cut the sides and back a little bit soon while the hair on top catches up.

I will probably look into dutasteride by the end of 2015, if it seems like I can't get any further oomphing of the gains with this regimen. Don't get me wrong, I've been incredibly lucky with my results and I feel great having hair and being 'normal', but still, why not give the bigger gun a try, to see if I can push even more gains and eventually maintain more in the long run? We shall see.

Thanks for looking at the thread as usual gents.

 

[Wolf Pack]

Nice Raz. Even though things are more or less the same it's still nice to see updates. I agree on cutting your back and sides shorter if the top is taking longer to grow.

 

[youngguyhairloss]

Updates???

 

[Dench57]

I had a problem with hair loss 2 years ago, I tried many different substances and supplements Now I can say all supplements are bull****. The best way is laser hair growth treatment.

Lol.

 

[Raz]

Updates???

Hey man, thanks for the interest-bump.

Alright, a little update then:

November 2015

Nothing much to speak of in terms of changes to my hair. Well, I've been undergoing a shed since about early/mid-August, but it seems to have been gotten better in the past two weeks or so - so it feels comparable to the shedding I had between months 6 and 8 of Minoxidil use. (Refer to my original post for the timeline if you wish). However, this time around, the shed only feels about 50% as severe as that time, in terms of thinning and stuff, so I guess there're some more hairs gone terminal fully (or "normal", as it were), or maybe the fact I am not stressed at all by now is contributing to it.

Apart from that, all is going well - my Finasteride supply will end in about 3 weeks from now, and when I meet my Doctor again, I am gonna ask for dutasteride, but if he doesn't comply, I will be fine taking finasteride still. (Have had some earlier discussions in the thread mainly with Wolf Pack about maybe hopping on dutasteride if finasteride doesn't boost my results at all by the 2 year mark). Eventually, whether it's this year or the next coming years, I am gonna give dutasteride a shot to see if I can gain some ground. I have no urgency with it as long as things are stable, but if things do go downhill, I will hop on it quicker. (And eventually, hair transplant is an option in X or Y years depending on how things go).

So yeah, still on finasteride, minoxidil and Keto. I don't feel like doing a full update with pictures galore now, so I'll post two:



Shedding a little bit on the top, but it's invisible to everyone and barely visible when taking these kind of shots from above and parting my hair to expose the flaws, so no worries there. Forelock, hairline and overall hair health is still fine and I do think I am better off than a NW2, so all in all, still super happy. Also, I had just woken up there so ignore the sleepy look and some weird sh1t going on.

I'll edit the minoxidil shedding timeline in the OP, but apart from that, expect a new update in 3-4 months or so I guess. Or on demand/bump, at least. Thanks for checking out my thread as usual, and if you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them.

 

[Swoop]

Damn brah. Impressive. You are a great responder.

 

[youngguyhairloss]

Raz when you say you saw significant improvement month 3 - 4 your speaking of days 90-150 ?

 

[KO21]

Thank you raz for giving me hope