SVT26's sotry - (Very confused, could use some help)

[SVT26]

I'm 26, and thinning. I've heard that the male pattern baldness gene is actually passed to you by your mother, this terrifies me, because every single male on my mothers side of the family is bald. My brother started noticably balding in his late 20's.

If I had to guess, I would say I am not quite a NW2. I am more concerned with hair preservation than trying to load up heavy on some drug and regrow hair. I've spent alot of time on this board and others just lurking, and it seems to leave me with more questions that answers!

I'm thinking of starting up a minoxidil 2%, is this a bad idea. Other reccomendations? I'm concerned aabout the sexual side effects I read about with propecia and similar products. Also, is an internal (i'm assuming that means a pill) dht inhibitor more effective than a topical, or should they be used in conjunction?

thanks for all of your help.

 

[Goingat20]

Re: New here, very confused, could use some help

I'm 26, and thinning. I've heard that the male pattern baldness gene is actually passed to you by your mother, this terrifies me, because every single male on my mothers side of the family is bald. My brother started noticably balding in his late 20's.

This is just a hair loss myth

If I had to guess, I would say I am not quite a NW2. I am more concerned with hair preservation than trying to load up heavy on some drug and regrow hair. I've spent alot of time on this board and others just lurking, and it seems to leave me with more questions that answers!

Its good you noticed it early.

I'm thinking of starting up a minoxidil 2%, is this a bad idea. Other reccomendations? I'm concerned aabout the sexual side effects I read about with propecia and similar products. Also, is an internal (i'm assuming that means a pill) dht inhibitor more effective than a topical, or should they be used in conjunction?.

No if your at early stages of hair loss i wouldnt recommend using minoxidil. You should have a think about propecia, if you do get any sides you could stop it. Or you could look into topical spironolactone to help.

Goodluck

 

[dark_one]

If you are concerned about possible side effects with Propecia, start with topical spironolactone 2% liquid from Dr. Lee. The solution can be applied with greater coverage than the cream, given your fairly early male pattern baldness state.

An internal DHT inhibitor will obviously give you a better chance of covering all the affected areas of the scalp assuming you have diffuse thinning. With the topical, you can achieve close to the same percentage depending on how much you choose to use.

 

[techprof]

keep in mind that spironolactone is only a lousy (mediocore according to bryan) treatment in topical form.

You can wait till NW2 (if it is acceptable for you) and then bite the bullet, take finasteride. The finasteride will help you stay at around NW2 for many years.
good luck.

 

[dark_one]

keep in mind that spironolactone is only a lousy (mediocore according to bryan) treatment in topical form.

You can wait till NW2 (if it is acceptable for you) and then bite the bullet, take finasteride. The finasteride will help you stay at around NW2 for many years.
good luck.

I would definitely not say lousy. I am using spironolactone along with minoxidil alone and so far feel like I am maintaining and have greatly reduced shedding. I comb my hair multiple times per day, just to keep track of the number of hairs which come out. I will see roughly 10 months from now, how effective spironolactone is for me.

 

[techprof]

darkone,
your results are likely to be mainly due to minoxidil.

Can you show a single picture of an user who improved or atleast maintained just using spironolactone. Unfortunately the answer is no.
Even the studies/papers are not very confusing.

I am not saying spironolactone will not work, but to compare it with finasteride or dutasteride in effectiveness is insane.

Also even finasteride or dutasteride is only an average treatment. It will mainly maitain what you have and slow down your hair loss. finasteride and dutasteride are only average treatments.

If you have an headache, you take aspirin. It is cured. It is an effective treatment. Even finasteride and dutasteride are not effective for everyone.

I might sound like a pessimist, but I am not. There is no cure yet.
So use multiple treatments to fight the male pattern baldness.
If you use finasteride/dutasteride you have your base covered for dht. Use minoxidil and sods for getting regrowth.

 

[lithebod]

Ive been on spironolactone 5% lotion for close on a year now - I would never reccomend anyone use that on its own - I carry on using it but only alongside propecia as a supplementary measure (and a costly one at that)

the sides sound scary but if you get them and they bother you just stop taking it. I got sexual sides early on and it lasted for about a month now everything is pretty much as it was before.

 

[viperfish]

I agree that spironolactone is a complete waste of time. Ok, not a complete waste, but pretty damn close! I have been on these boards for years now and have seen spironolactone come and go, come and go. It will be all the talk for months and then people will stop talking about it. Then newbies come on the board and are fed with the same old spironolactone stick. They start talking about it on the boards, as if it is some miracle, and then again the talk on spironolactone fades.
However, keep in mind that it has been tested to some extent and was shown to be mildly effective. It is not something I would consider to be really worth using, but still should be included as a 'somewhat' proven product. Anyways, what does this tell us about what we have available to fight hairloss?
spironolactone should not be even placed in the same category with finasteride, as far as effectiveness goes. Dr. Lee does not agree with this, but he is a business man first.

 

[dark_one]

darkone,
your results are likely to be mainly due to minoxidil.

Can you show a single picture of an user who improved or atleast maintained just using spironolactone. Unfortunately the answer is no.
Even the studies/papers are not very confusing.

I am not saying spironolactone will not work, but to compare it with finasteride or dutasteride in effectiveness is insane.

Also even finasteride or dutasteride is only an average treatment. It will mainly maitain what you have and slow down your hair loss. finasteride and dutasteride are only average treatments.

If you have an headache, you take aspirin. It is cured. It is an effective treatment. Even finasteride and dutasteride are not effective for everyone.

I might sound like a pessimist, but I am not. There is no cure yet.
So use multiple treatments to fight the male pattern baldness.
If you use finasteride/dutasteride you have your base covered for dht. Use minoxidil and sods for getting regrowth.

Well, fine, at this point you may be correct - the minoxidil alone is accounting for my maintenance. But I cannot simply give up on the spironolactone and claim it does nothing at this point in time. Nothing indicates this. In five years time maybe, but not now. This is a long-term regimen for me and I will let you know in which direction things are progressing. BTW, I am a NW1.5 with some diffuse thinning on top, but most people say my hair looks just fine. This is not due to treatments either. So, I have more patience than someone who is say NW5. I can understand those peoples' impatience and frustration. But sometimes those sorts of people make statements such as finasteride/dutasteride are only average treatments. I really don't think they can be characterized as "average". And similarly we cannot conclude that the comparison between finasteride and spironolactone is "insane". There is no proof either way.

 

[dark_one]

Ive been on spironolactone 5% lotion for close on a year now - I would never reccomend anyone use that on its own - I carry on using it but only alongside propecia as a supplementary measure (and a costly one at that)

the sides sound scary but if you get them and they bother you just stop taking it. I got sexual sides early on and it lasted for about a month now everything is pretty much as it was before.

Why wouldn't you recommend (or at least try) spironolactone 5% on its own? Have you ever used it by itself as your only DHT inhibitor?

 

[lithebod]

the reason i wouldnt reccomend using spironolactone on its own is based on the following logic drawn from my experience:

1) I used spironolactone twice a day (along with revivogen) for 6 months - during that time I felt that my hairloss just worsened

2) If spironolactone is meant to act like finasteride (i.e. inhibit the effects of dht in the follicle) then why did I shed on finasteride but not shed on spironolactone - to me it seemed that spironolactone therefore didnt have much effect

3) finasteride is proven and spironolactone isnt

In fairness to spironolactone I only used it for 6 months without finasteride but I wasnt going to gamble on my hair worsening just to prove that it might work as well as finasteride based on the results I was getting in the first 6 months

The reason i carry on using it is cos i have this irrational fear that if I drop it any maintanence im getting might fall away, plus its easy to use

 

[dark_one]

the reason i wouldnt reccomend using spironolactone on its own is based on the following logic drawn from my experience:

1) I used spironolactone twice a day (along with revivogen) for 6 months - during that time I felt that my hairloss just worsened

2) If spironolactone is meant to act like finasteride (i.e. inhibit the effects of dht in the follicle) then why did I shed on finasteride but not shed on spironolactone - to me it seemed that spironolactone therefore didnt have much effect

3) finasteride is proven and spironolactone isnt

In fairness to spironolactone I only used it for 6 months without finasteride but I wasnt going to gamble on my hair worsening just to prove that it might work as well as finasteride based on the results I was getting in the first 6 months

The reason i carry on using it is cos i have this irrational fear that if I drop it any maintanence im getting might fall away, plus its easy to use

O.K., but how are you doing with the addition of finasteride? Maybe you have mentioned this, but I haven't seen it. If you are maintaining on both finasteride and spironolactone, maybe it has taken this long for spironolactone to act? I don't know. But based on what you have written, I can understand your doubts about spironolactone and that it is a risk to use it alone, but long-term use of spironolactone alone as sole DHT inhibitor cannot be assessed by you.

 

[techprof]

darkone,
I am sorry if I gave the impression that spironolactone is a total waste of time.
What I meant was finasteride and dutasteride are average treatments.
If they are a cure, then why we need minoxidil, sod or other things?

If finasteride and dutasteride are average treatments, spironolactone can only be termed mediocore.

If one decides not to use finasteride/dutasteride, then spironolactone is probably the best you can do.

 

[Lopfraze]

Hasn't HairLossTalk.com had good maintenance reults with spironolactone (in combination with Revivogen & Nizoral):

http://www.hairlosstalk.com/discussions ... rofile&u=3

 

[Aplunk1]

HairLossTalk.com claims that the combination of topical spironolactone and Revivogen create an optimal environment for regrowth.

He doesn't participate on these boards anymore, and hasn't in many months.

Without photographic assessment, you'll just have to take his word for his word.

To save yourself the time and hassle,
stick to the proven treatments, and look at people with PROVEN results.

http://www.hairlosshelp.com/forums

(More users tend to display results here)

is a good place to start.

 

[dark_one]

darkone,
I am sorry if I gave the impression that spironolactone is a total waste of time.
What I meant was finasteride and dutasteride are average treatments.
If they are a cure, then why we need minoxidil, sod or other things?

If finasteride and dutasteride are average treatments, spironolactone can only be termed mediocore.

If one decides not to use finasteride/dutasteride, then spironolactone is probably the best you can do.

Techprof, I would hope that someone who has spent so much time learning about male pattern baldness and spending time and money trying to reverse it would know better.

Well first of all, finasteride and dutasteride target the actual balding process, without acting as a growth stimulant, while minoxidil, sod etc. act as growth stimulants without attacking the underlying problem. This is why the two types of treatments must be used together for optimal results. There is no "cure" yet for male pattern baldness, Merck does not claim finasteride to be a cure. I don't see the point in naming any of the big 3, "average" treatments, that is meaningless in the year 2006. spironolactone may not be "proven" but it may be a viable substitute for Propecia in MY case, I will have to see having quit Propecia after several months due to side effects. And if it works in my case, it probably will in others as well.

 

[Aplunk1]

I don't feel that spironolactone should be used in place of an internal DHT inhibitor.

I think that spironolactone is a good addition to any hairloss regimen, however.

 

[dark_one]

I don't feel that spironolactone should be used in place of an internal DHT inhibitor.

I think that spironolactone is a good addition to any hairloss regimen, however.

Well, it should be used for those of us who can't handle an internal DHT inhibitor. We have no choice but to try it.

 

[Lopfraze]

I don't feel that spironolactone should be used in place of an internal DHT inhibitor.

I think that spironolactone is a good addition to any hairloss regimen, however.

Well, it should be used for those of us who can't handle an internal DHT inhibitor. We have no choice but to try it.

Unfortunately I'm in the same boat. I came of Propecia recently because of sides, and now I'm considering going with a possible spironolactone/Revivogen combo. I won't make any decision on it for a couple of moths, while I research it etc, but I am thinking about it.

 

[lithebod]

[/quote]O.K., but how are you doing with the addition of finasteride? Maybe you have mentioned this, but I haven't seen it. If you are maintaining on both finasteride and spironolactone, maybe it has taken this long for spironolactone to act? I don't know. But based on what you have written, I can understand your doubts about spironolactone and that it is a risk to use it alone, but long-term use of spironolactone alone as sole DHT inhibitor cannot be assessed by you.[/quote]

Since I started using finasteride with spironolactone I first experienced a shed (I classify a shed as a noticeable increase 50-100 hairs while washing my hair every day) in the first few weeks of starting finasteride - if spironolactone was protecting my follicles from dht then why did they shed. The shed has since stopped and now I am losing less hair then I ever did before when I was on spironolactone and rev.

HOWEVER - this is another reason why I still use spironolactone (forgot to mention it in my previous post)

During my spironolactone/rev/cu peptide use I know for a FACT that there was some vellus regrowth on my hairline - the reason I know this is that I had this strange sort of raised bit in the centre of my hairline where no hair was growing - I mean totally slick - and then since using my treatments vellus hair started to sprout so i know it wasnt hair that minaturized and was just growing back as vellus - a couple of them are now strong terminal hairs - the others are still vellus and I check on them everyday hoping they sprout further- the question remains -was this the spironolactone? or was it the copper peptides I use or was it even rev? I'll never know but since I can afford it I decided I'd stick with spironolactone just in case this was what cause this result.

If I couldnt use finasteride for whatever reason I probrably would stay with spironolactone get back on revivogen and throw minoxidil into the mix