Hello all,
I first noticed that my hairline was starting to slide back a bit at the temples about a year ago (probably just a NW1-1.5). It was just shy of my 27th birthday, and it was then that I decided to act. I've always had a full head of really thick hair, so it was startling to see some thinning at first. If I'm going to lose it, I figured I'd go down swinging.
I should note that my family history is kinda all over the place. My paternal grandpa is fully bald. He lost all of his hair early in life and was completely bald around age 30. My Dad is in his early 50's and is now a NW3-ish. He's always had a bigger forehead and his hairline just seemed to steadily recede throughout the years. I tend to take after my Mom's side of the family looks-wise (not saying my hair will follow suit, just noting). My Mom's Dad & her brothers all have the receding around the temples at varying degrees, but none are completely bald on top. My uncles are in their 40's & 50's and none is worse than a NW2-2.5. No perfect hairlines, but no one is completely bald either.
Anyway, in early 2011, I decided to go right for the "Big 3" treatments. Was taking finasteride, using 5% foam Rogaine on the temples/hairline and worked in 1% Nizoral Shampoo a few times per week.
After a month or two, I noticed some slight side effects from the finasteride. I decided to try and press on to see if they may subside over time. As I got past the 4-5 month mark, the side effects started to become more severe (almost non-existent sex drive, softer erections & more watery ejaculate). It was then that I decided to stop taking it altogether. I would have loved to have continued it so I could have the peace of mind knowing I'm fighting against DHT, but obviously I couldn't accept those kinds of serious sexual side effects.
As for Rogaine, I didn't really notice much difference in the 7 months I was using it on my temples. I didn't see much regrowth, but I also didn't see much receding in my temples either. My scalp started getting extremely itchy all around though, and I was thinking it was caused by irritation from the topical Rogaine treatment and decided to stop using it until I could get my scalp back to a healthy state.
The Nizoral dried my scalp out quite a bit and gave me a lot of irritation and dry hair. I only used it a few times and stopped due to this discomfort & itchiness I got from it.
Clearly, I have sensitive skin as evidenced by the reactions I seemed to derive from Rogaine & Nizoral. I've been off all treatments for about 5 months now and am looking to begin a new regimen.
I've been looking into Revivogen and wanted to give that a try while maybe getting Rogaine going again. I noticed some users on here have been using both in conjunction with each other and getting some ok results. My hair loss doesn't seem particularly aggressive, just slow & steady. I just buzzed my head down to a 3-clip for the first time and got a good look at what's going on. It does seem to still be thinning a bit at the hairline around the temples. Middle-front of my hairline is quite thick and dense, so I'm not in full-on panic mode at this point. Just want to combat this while I still have a high amount of native hair. If I can maintain what I've got moving forward, I feel like I'll be doing well.
Also, I feel like if I can maintain what I have, I would be interested in a FUE to bring the temples slightly forward (only approximately 1,000 grafts) since I have such dense hair all the way around without any diffuse thinning. It would do wonders to alleviate my obsession with my hairline, but I'm also concerned about being too aggressive early in life with a hair transplant and using donor hair that may be needed down the road.
Any feedback or insight would be greatly appreciated.
I first noticed that my hairline was starting to slide back a bit at the temples about a year ago (probably just a NW1-1.5). It was just shy of my 27th birthday, and it was then that I decided to act. I've always had a full head of really thick hair, so it was startling to see some thinning at first. If I'm going to lose it, I figured I'd go down swinging.
I should note that my family history is kinda all over the place. My paternal grandpa is fully bald. He lost all of his hair early in life and was completely bald around age 30. My Dad is in his early 50's and is now a NW3-ish. He's always had a bigger forehead and his hairline just seemed to steadily recede throughout the years. I tend to take after my Mom's side of the family looks-wise (not saying my hair will follow suit, just noting). My Mom's Dad & her brothers all have the receding around the temples at varying degrees, but none are completely bald on top. My uncles are in their 40's & 50's and none is worse than a NW2-2.5. No perfect hairlines, but no one is completely bald either.
Anyway, in early 2011, I decided to go right for the "Big 3" treatments. Was taking finasteride, using 5% foam Rogaine on the temples/hairline and worked in 1% Nizoral Shampoo a few times per week.
After a month or two, I noticed some slight side effects from the finasteride. I decided to try and press on to see if they may subside over time. As I got past the 4-5 month mark, the side effects started to become more severe (almost non-existent sex drive, softer erections & more watery ejaculate). It was then that I decided to stop taking it altogether. I would have loved to have continued it so I could have the peace of mind knowing I'm fighting against DHT, but obviously I couldn't accept those kinds of serious sexual side effects.
As for Rogaine, I didn't really notice much difference in the 7 months I was using it on my temples. I didn't see much regrowth, but I also didn't see much receding in my temples either. My scalp started getting extremely itchy all around though, and I was thinking it was caused by irritation from the topical Rogaine treatment and decided to stop using it until I could get my scalp back to a healthy state.
The Nizoral dried my scalp out quite a bit and gave me a lot of irritation and dry hair. I only used it a few times and stopped due to this discomfort & itchiness I got from it.
Clearly, I have sensitive skin as evidenced by the reactions I seemed to derive from Rogaine & Nizoral. I've been off all treatments for about 5 months now and am looking to begin a new regimen.
I've been looking into Revivogen and wanted to give that a try while maybe getting Rogaine going again. I noticed some users on here have been using both in conjunction with each other and getting some ok results. My hair loss doesn't seem particularly aggressive, just slow & steady. I just buzzed my head down to a 3-clip for the first time and got a good look at what's going on. It does seem to still be thinning a bit at the hairline around the temples. Middle-front of my hairline is quite thick and dense, so I'm not in full-on panic mode at this point. Just want to combat this while I still have a high amount of native hair. If I can maintain what I've got moving forward, I feel like I'll be doing well.
Also, I feel like if I can maintain what I have, I would be interested in a FUE to bring the temples slightly forward (only approximately 1,000 grafts) since I have such dense hair all the way around without any diffuse thinning. It would do wonders to alleviate my obsession with my hairline, but I'm also concerned about being too aggressive early in life with a hair transplant and using donor hair that may be needed down the road.
Any feedback or insight would be greatly appreciated.