Sergio Tahini's Story

[sergiotahini]

Going bald sucks. I never realized how much it sucks until I found out I was going bald a few months ago (this is probably the case for most people, I would assume). I'm 29 years old, and it was only three months or so ago that I realized that I have male pattern baldness. In retrospect, I now realize that my hair loss probably started around three years ago, but since I have had a mature hairline for most of my adult life and have coarse and curly hair, I never really paid much attention to the thinning areas at the corners/sides of my hairline. Plus, my father has a full head of hair and I have the same type of hair as he does, so I naively assumed that I wouldn't lose my hair and male pattern baldness wasn't even on my radar. Now my whole frontal area is pretty beat up, and I'm praying that I'll respond well to treatment.

Before this terrible realization I never paid much attention to my hair, but I noticed it was getting harder and harder to style, and my receded temples seemed larger than they were a few years ago. I started noticing more hair in the shower about four months ago. The hairs seemed smaller than the hairs on my head, so at first I thought it was body hair (I'm a hairy guy), but after a while I started getting scared. Then, one day, I thought to myself, "Am I losing my hair?" and sure enough, after I poked around in my hair for a bit under a bright light I was shaken by the ugly truth. I moped around for at least a month before deciding to see what could be done.

I looked at all the supposed natural remedies out there, but the lack of pictures and data make me think many of the people that tout these methods are well-meaning but ignorant. finasteride scared the hell out of me, and it took me a few weeks to decide to try it out. Eventually I just came to the conclusion that finasteride is my best bet, and if I'm going to be serious about fighting this thing I ought to give it a shot and hope for the best. So, I got a prescription and have been taking .25mg of propecia per day for a little over a week now. I know 1mg is the recommended dosage, but I've read that quite a few people get results from a lower dose and I am currently experiencing basically no sides, so I figure I'll stick with .25mg (the first few days I had a slight ache in my groin and slightly softer erections, but these sides were minor to the point where I was unsure whether or not they were psychosomatic. they seem to have gone away after around one week of use) I have also been using OTC nizoral every other day for the same amount of time (about 1 week). My hair loss does not seem to have lessened, but while I'm naturally concerned and impatient about all of this I realize that it takes some time to stop further loss and even more time to see regrowth.

Thought about adding minoxidil, but I'd rather not use it unless I have to since it's yet another indefinite commitment. Plus the infamous "minoxidil shed" scares me. If I could just maintain and maybe get a little more thickness off of finasteride I'd be ecstatic, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If anyone has any advice or anything I'd love to hear it!

Finally, I'd like to say that this forum has been a great source of info. Thanks.

 

[mpbsux20]

Welcome to HairLossTalk.com bro

 

[sergiotahini]

So I bumped up my dosage to .5mg per day yesterday. Slight pressure/ache in the groin, but again, so subtle that I can't say for sure if it isn't psychosomatic.

I have to say that beginning the treatment, if anything, has eased the mental agony a bit. I went out to dinner the other night and realized as I was driving home that I didn't engage in any norwood spotting the entire night. :woot:

I'm torn about adding minoxidil; I figured the sensible thing to do would be to wait at least three months or so to see how I respond to propecia and then consider adding minoxidil, but at times I get impatient and want to know I'm hitting this from every angle. Guess I'll have to weigh the pros and cons a bit. :dunno:

 

[mpbsux20]

finasteride is the best weapon to fight against male pattern baldness.I would say stay on finasteride for at least six months before considering Minoxidil.

 

[sergiotahini]

So, tomorrow will mark three weeks on finasteride. I've bumped my dosage up from .25 to .5, and am now contemplating increasing it again to .75 or 1mg. I don't seem to be experiencing any real sides, so I wonder if it's worthwhile to try and take the recommended 1mg dosage.

My hair still seems to be shedding. It's been two or three months now that I've noticed 30 or so hairs per day in the shower (and sometimes close to 100), whereas throughout my life I never noticed more than five or six at a time. I don't have any hair on my pillow or anything, but I have curly hair and think most of the hairs that shed get caught in my hair and stay there before falling out in the shower.

I wish there was some way of knowing when/if I might see some positive results...I guess I just need to be patient. :whistle:

 

[rotsen182]

finas started to make effect on me after 4 months , so maybe u r gonna have to wait a bit, i use a low dose 0.6 mg and works great for me..

 

[sergiotahini]

So today marks 5 weeks on propecia. Feels like longer. Not much to report. I'm still shedding around 30-50 hairs in the shower, which has been going on for a few months now. Hair doesn't really look any better or worse, although I'm afraid to get it cut for fear of it looking really thin so I'm a bit shaggy at the moment. I see some very small hairs popping up along one side of my hairline that were not there before, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Still using nizoral 2-3 times per week.

I started out with .25mg per day, and bumped up the dosage by .25mg per week. I now take 1mg per day: .5mg in the morning and .5mg in the evening. I don't remember why I did this, but I may just stick with this rather than taking the whole 1mg pill in the morning since I figure it can't hurt and I am no longer experiencing any sides. I take a lot of vitamins and what not, but frankly I doubt they do anything.

I'm feeling pretty bummed/impatient. I look at my thinning hair and I can't believe that I didn't realize I had male pattern baldness sooner; guess I was in denial. It sucks to think that the hair on top of my head will never be as thick as the hair on the sides again, but I guess I just need to cross my fingers and hope to maintain what I have at the moment. I just wish there was some certainty that the drug would at least maintain all the hair I've got.

The one good thing to report is that I'm way less stressed about my hair now that I'm doing something about it. I just wish I could at the very least see a reduction in shedding.

 

[sergiotahini]

7 weeks on propecia. I now just take the whole 1mg pill first thing in the morning, as it's easier that way. No real changes to speak of. I have some tiny lighter colored (but not vellus) hairs popping up on one side of my hairline, but it's nothing significant. No sides.

Still debating whether to add minoxidil. I think I ought to wait a few more months but I'm tempted. My one temple is very diffuse, so I don't want it to get any worse (I have a NW2-2.5ish hairline, but the one side is thinning very diffusely in a NW3 pattern). Right now I can style my hair so it doesn't look bad and I'd like to be able to continue doing this. Still shedding 30-50 hairs in the shower, but the hair on my head doesn't look any different, aside from that the quality has been a bit better these last few days.

 

[sergiotahini]

Approaching 14 weeks on propecia/nizoral. Not a whole lot to report, but things are not any worse and I have no sides. The problem areas have not gotten worse and definitely have small black hairs growing throughout them, although these individual hairs appear to be not as thick as fully terminal hair; hopefully these hairs will grow thicker over the next few months, but if I can just maintain I will be very happy. The quality of the rest of the hair on my head seems to have improved significantly. No significant changes in shedding.

 

[sergiotahini]

Been on propecia 16 weeks now. Shedding is down to about two dozen hairs per day, and the texture of my hair is better than when I started, but I don't think I have any real regrowth. My frontal area is probably thinner than when I started, with the regions between a NW3 and NW2 being very, very thin; those areas are diffuse and look like crap.

I guess it's still sort of early in my regimen (4 months in), but at this rate I am not hopeful that I will get back to where I was a year ago. The hairs in my frontal region are all miniaturized but grow long, whereas the rest of my head is unaffected by male pattern baldness. I'm still considering minoxidil, but minoxidil seems like an almost pointless treatment. The only good thing I can report is that I have no sides from finasteride - libido is as strong as it was when I was nineteen, semen is normal, no pains or brain fog, etc.

Another thing that sucks is that I can afford the cost of a hair transplant but can't afford to have the front half of my scalp being bright red for two or three months while I'm waiting for it to heal. Oh well. Maybe histogen will come out in a few years and save me... :jackit:

 

[sergiotahini]

Nothing new going on with the hair, but I've been reading up on male pattern baldness and I realize now that I think I may be a diffuse thinner. It seems like I'm thinning from a NW2 to a NW4a or NW5a. Again, I'm 29 years old.

I've been on propecia since mid-March, and things are sort of the same as they were when I started. If I'm a diffuse thinner should I change my regimen in any way? Should I stick with propecia for a few more months before adding anything, or should I bring minoxidil in now? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[sergiotahini]

Well, I began taking finasteride in mid-March, so I'm entering my sixth month on Propecia. I have hair sprouting up along my hairline that are miniaturized, and overall I'd say my hair looks a bit worse than it did when I began treatment. I'm pretty disheartened now as I was hoping I would have at least a slight improvement by this time.

I take propecia daily (never missed a dose) and use nizoral 1% almost every day. I think I may as well start up rogaine, but I'm not sure if I should use foam or liquid, or a combination of the two. I have to say my attitude has really taken a dive, which I guess is not too suprising. I still can't believe how this male pattern baldness picked up in the last year. Very disheartening.

Just have to say that I have been thinking about having to shave my head lately and I never before appreciated how depressing this is.

 

[sergiotahini]

Entering my 9th month on propecia, 1mg daily. Hair is below baseline and I continue to shed 30 or so hairs a day in the shower, many of them miniaturized. I'm going to stick with the propecia, but things are not looking good, in my opinion. It seems like most people have some results by the 9th month of finasteride.

I've also been shedding around my ears since June. Not sure if it's DUPA, as the strip of hair that I believe constitutes the donor area is very thick and not miniaturized, and does not shed. I think this area just gets diffuse in some men with male pattern baldness ("retrograde alopecia" I think is the term). In any case, it can't be a good sign considering I've been on finasteride since mid-March.

 

[Goatboxer]

Good to see you're sticking with it, remember some people don't see results until well over a year.