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

[GoldenMane]

I totally agree that schools should teach about hair loss and taking early preventative action. Obviously they should also discuss the risks and prevalence of finasteride sides, but imagine the mental, emotional and social problems that could be prevented by early intervention! My life would be so much different had I known about finasteride and early male pattern baldness detection...
Society doesn't understand how important this is.

 

[DHTpolice]

Update?

 

[Raz]

Update?

Just for you!

Some pics I took literally just now, after a morning shower + applying minoxidil foam.



Not much to say. I am still on finasteride (1.25mg per day, generic 5mg pills cut into quarters), and I try to do minoxidil twice a day. I do liquid (5%) at night, and foam (5%) in the mornings. Some days I do minoxidil just once a day if I can't be bothered, some days I use foam twice a day since I need to go out before I wait like 2 hours to pass. But I generally speaking (so 5 days a week or so at least) use liquid just before sleeping and foam after waking up and doing morning stuff, totaling that nice 2-times-a-day routine.

Don't think I have had any major sheds lately, or major gains. I more or less look like a fullhead to everyone, including norwood spotters, when I style my hair, but at its worst it has minor cowlick diffusing during a bad hair day - my hair gets kinda frizzy from using minoxidil foam, so that can add up some diffusing, so I try to make sure to comb and brush my hair well so it looks smooth. As of taking these pics my hair was a bit frizzy and sticky post-minoxidil and post-shampooing, so it didn't look its best. Usually looks its best 8h+ after showering, when the natural oils have kicked in more.

I'm trying to stick to daily finasteride and twice a day minoxidil from now on as well (as well as keto shampoo 1-2 times a week) - has worked well for me for 3+ years now. I have a dermaroller, but haven't used it in a long time. Not considering any other options at the moment.

Hope everyone has had a good time and major hair gains - sorry for not updating in a long time, but it is more or less maintenance mode at this point, so I have no motivation often. I understand it is important though that long-standing members update their topics to give some hope and to see if results are long-lasting.

 

[DHTpolice]

Thanks for update. I am glad you are maintaining with only Big 3. It's pretty rare to see such regrowth on conventional treatment. Your and Somebody's progress is the reason I want to give minoxidil a try, but still hesitate, cause I need to know how much I can gain from antiandrogens and estrogen. I would never say you are suffering from male pattern baldness, if I saw you on the street. Cowlick looks weaker, but it's much easy to fix than the frontal loss, which is aging badly. You are lucky in that your receded temples are in harmony with your facial structure. I am not sure about your age, but with hair you look really young, as if you were under 20.

 

[Raz]

Thanks a lot.

I agree with what you said. Cowlick area is easy to fix and conceal - in normal lighting and angles it doesn't look as thin as it is in those pics, and it already looks alright. It honestly also depends on how much minoxidil is clumping up those hairs at a given time - kinda creates a diffuse esque effect if it's frizzy and clumped, which usually happens right after applying the foam. But overall, it's fine.

I recommend waiting out a bit before minoxidil - you can start it if you need it and assess that to be the case. Who knows if you'll peak higher even without minoxidil? It's kind of a hassle to use, so I understand you. When it works, it works. But it doesn't work for everyone, and when you start, you stay on it. So, give it a bit time and keep it as an option.

Anyway, thanks for your words. I'm 27 by the way.

 

[Johnmpb]

Hair is looking good. Do u suffer from any scalp inflammation/issues and what do u do to address it?

 

[Raz]

Hair is looking good. Do u suffer from any scalp inflammation/issues and what do u do to address it?

Thank you!

I don't have any inflammation or related scalp issues that I can think of. I used to have some inflammation right in the beginning of starting Finasteride (see first page pics), but I think that was more to do with the fact I was visiting Japan for a month during the insanely hot late summer period, so my head was exposed to the infernal sunlight. (Didn't wear caps a lot). If finasteride had anything to do it, I dunno, but either way that passed as soon as I got home to cold Finland.

Aside from that, I had some scalp flaking at first for maybe 9-12 months when starting Minoxidil. That's pretty natural though, since you essentially put stuff in your scalp that then dries up there. It wasn't severe, and was negated by more frequent hair washing, and also by regulating Minoxidil use. Sometimes I put on tons just because it is kind of a false comfort for gains. Eventually that went away and it wasn't major anyway, and I think it would have been easier if I had used a combo of foam+liquid immediately (which I now do), instead of just liquid twice a day, cause I feel like that caused minor flaking more.

So, since I have no issues, I am not addressing it in any way. I do take all kinds of vitamins/supplements for general health - not saying that helps for hair and hairloss, but it could contribute to overall health. My advice would be to try avoid scratching even if you have the "male pattern baldness itch" (a feeling of your follicles being assaulted), or doing the same if you have some minoxidil-itch. Scratching will never help you, and can result in some irritation and inflammation. Good luck!

Edit: I hate this site's filters that autocorrect hairloss lingo to their 'official' long words. Can't even write M P B -itch without the site auto-editing it into "male pattern baldness -itch". Makes me sound robotic as hell. Admins plz.

 

[baldhermano]

Very inspiring.

 

[Raz]

Hey guys, I figured I'd post a yearly update here since it's been like 10 months since I last posted anything. Not sure if I'll do one of these anymore - unless asked - since I've been on the meds for like 5 years now, so things are stable.

The only reason I am doing this is just to give some members some motivation (I hope) about the longevity of results on a basic regimen, as well as not being that "I wonder how that old member who disappeared is doing" -guy.

With that being said, not going to be a very thorough one. Two pics:



I bleached my hair for fun for the summer time (well, and had to do it to dare my japanese friend to do the same..), other than that, it's business as usual. Good hairline coverage, pretty solid volume and thickness, looks good and non-balding to virtually anyone, but direct over-the-top-of-one's-head in harsh lighting still kinda shows the relative thinness, although there is coverage.

Overall I guess I've been perfectly maintaining this somewhat thin but satisfactory NW1.5/NW1.75ish, and appear fullheaded, which I find very pleasing.

My regimen is still the same: minoxidil foam during the day, minoxidil liquid (both 5%) at night. Sometimes I do foam twice a day, but I do stay consistent with minoxidil. As far as Finasteride goes, I take 1.25mg most days of the week, sometimes I do 0.60mg or so (halving a 1.25mg). I am overall pretty consistent, but it's just maintenance so I am not going crazy with things. Just making sure I don't get complacent and miss out too much, but that's it. Oh yeah and I use keto shampoo maybe only once a month nowadays.

Have a great summer y'all. -Raz

 

[michel sapin]

hey man ! SO you're hairline is still maintaining ?

 

[Raz]

hey man ! SO you're hairline is still maintaining ?

Hey dude!

Yeah it's the same it has been since I got my initial results with minoxidil in 2014. So it's been stable for 4 years. I used to have seasonal/random sheds for the first two years (which is normal), but I haven't had any real shedding periods in the last two years. (Or if I did, I didn't notice).

 

[LosingHairIsNotFair]

Your results were really incredible...going go try minoxidil (have never tried it), hope I can get those kind of results...

 

[CrownBalding]

Unreal

 

[Baldingdane]

Hey Raz. Still fighting male pattern baldness?

 

[JonnyGo]

So minoxidil didn’t stop working for you? Lucky

 

[CrownBalding]

So minoxidil didn’t stop working for you? Lucky

It’s the minoxidil finasteride combo n that he’s a super responder. NO ONE would have results like this for this long on minoxidil alone.

 

[kuca]

Where do you buy your minoxidile?