TheLastHairbender's story

[Coffinhead]

Hello HairbendeR!


Great story, pretty inspirational actually! I am new to the forums here, not so much to hair loss though. I have been losing for quite a while now (since 18) and it has gotten pretty bad (now 22, check out my pictures)

I am also in Arizona. Went to ASU and graduated last May (bachelors). I blame my hairloss on ASU as well lol! I started my Minoxidil and Revivogen regimen last week and since being on the forums I am considering using finasteride/Propecia. I was wondering if you could PM me the info about the doctor you are seeing, and how much it costs to get an exam/ prescription. Also I think I read somewhere u said it costs $5 a month for finasteride???? I need to know!!! I hope you get time!

I hope I can grow some of mine back like yours, you look great man!

 

[TheLastHairbender]

^^^

Hey thanks for dropping in and glad to meet someone local doing something about their hair loss. I'm here for ya man, if you have any questions just fire away, I've answered a lot of things here in my story, and I'm happy to entertain any discussion by PM if you'd like too.

Yeah, 3 months of finasteride (rather, 20 x 5mg generic Proscar) ran me $14 at ASU Student Health Center's pharmacy (and I don't even have insurance!), so it works out to $4.xx per month, ridiculous!!! And all right there just a few steps off Palm Walk. That's also where I see the GP. My guy is Dr. Stanford Ho, and he's awesome, highly recommended, knows his stuff about male pattern baldness and isn't afraid to write a script for 5mg proscar. He's been able to give me all the answers, diagnoses, and prescriptions that other people might be referred to a dermatologist for. Fair warning is that he'll probably make you take an STD test to get on treatment - syphilis has been known to cause shedding and balding, and ASU has been known to cause syphilis. I was happy to test negative, although in retrospect curing baldness with a few week course of antibiotics might have been worth the genital lesions. Totally kidding about that part, but do be prepared to get a Q-tip shoved down your peehole before walking out with a finasteride script. Knowing how well the finasteride has worked for me, I would have let him stick his whole arm in there.

Good luck, let me know how it goes or if I can help out in any way!

 

[TheLastHairbender]

MY GOD!!!

I've never seen improvement like that. You were almost bald at the front ....

Delighted for ya, pal.

Dude, thanks SOOO much for following the story and offering your encouragement, reading back over my log I find myself holding back the smiles when I read your posts, thanks again!

 

[Northman]

Good looking results! Congrats!

 

[TheLastHairbender]

Thanks!

Just spent a few minutes in the mirror, still disturbed by the intensity and duration of the current shed, but I'm happy to see a whole new crop of fuzzy little vellus soldiers along the hairline preparing for ignition!!! I'm guessing it was the short-term break in minoxidil usage that caused the shedding to start, but so happy it seems to be coming back after I picked up the usage again on March 1st...so about 2 months from initial application to new sprouting, consistent with my positive experience from last year. And just in time for summer!

 

[israelite]

i would add topical to your hairline! topicals are good for targeting hairlines. ru? proxpihen? impressive results

 

[2020]

i would add topical to your hairline! topicals are good for targeting hairlines. ru? proxpihen? impressive results

come on.... I know you want to :jackit: :jackit: :jackit:

 

[israelite]

i would add topical to your hairline! topicals are good for targeting hairlines. ru? proxpihen? impressive results

come on.... I know you want to :jackit: :jackit: :jackit:

what? :dunno:

 

[2020]

what? :dunno:

did you know that instead of buying Swanson Ultra Hair Revitalizing Formula, you could just buy this:
http://www.vitacost.com/Country-Life-Maxi-Hair

which contains everything that swanson plus more....

 

[Coffinhead]

syphilis has been known to cause shedding and balding, and ASU has been known to cause syphilis.

Knowing how well the finasteride has worked for me, I would have let him stick his whole arm in there.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Something to look forward to haha, never tried sticking something up the pisser but gotta try everything once at least right? who knows man some people enjoy it :jackit: I might be one of the lucky ones too lol.

I am thinking about going in one of these days. How much does it cost per visit to see him? ATM I am working full time in a Lab, but I work the second shift so my schedule is kinda messed up. Do you have the bridge plan?? I am not a student anymore but man I hope I can get this 14 bucks for 3 month thing going.

I am kinda worried about the side effects though, I have been using minoxidil for a week and right now I have a dry cough/sore throat (everyone has cold in my house though) but this stuff can make u paranoid. now I know how my cat felt when I moved her to my new place and would freak out at every little sound.

!

 

[kc444]

Those are amazing results!! You look great!

I have a similar degree of loss, although it is more uniformly diffuse than yours was. I'm about a week away from the four month mark on the Big 3 + Biotin/MSM and I have seen great results so far. However, when I let my hair grow out, the difference in texture between the top and sides really stands out. Your hair seems to have gotten much coarser. At what month did you see your greatest improvement in this regard? Does your hair feel almost as coarse as the sides?

Thanks! Especially for posting pics.. it's a big motivator.

 

[TheLastHairbender]

Captain, I couldn't agree more.

Seven months on minoxidil for me with incredible results, and one month of laziness and it all started going bad about 4-6 weeks after discontinuing (I was equally lazy about marking the calendar during that time so I can only approximate the timeframe). I started back up with the minoxidil on March 1 and it's only now, towards the end of April (~6 weeks later) that my shedding has stabilized. As I noted earlier, now 8 weeks back on treatment, I have an army of tiny vellus hairs swarming the hairline. May is looking good for me. It does serve to underscore your point. MINOXIDIL IS FOR LIFE, even in the presence of daily finasteride which I never deviated from. But I also echo your sentiments that I am totally fine with that proposition. One year ago this time I was dying for hair, I haven't grown so greedy as to be unwilling to squirt a bit of liquid on my scalp every morning and night. And now that I've found the deal of a lifetime: 12 bottles of liquid 5% for $60 (will last me 6 months as I use 2mL each in the morning and night to get full coverage), I really have no problem with that.

In fact, the break might have been good for me...if it's true that even with continued use you can expect a moderate shed every year or so, as I've heard from some, then this allowed me to time it out almost perfectly: discontinue use for one month in the winter when you can wear a beanie and stay inside most of the time, then get it kick started back into high gear just in time for summer with no worry of the random shed hitting you in the peak of pool and swimsuit season. I'm not sure I'm committed to this idea yet, but proper management of inevitable minoxidil sheds is something I'm going to think hard about going forward.

Thanks for keeping in touch and giving my story a look, so glad we can all be discovering and sharing the best practices for treatment together. We're gonna be hairy boy!

 

[rwhairlosstalk]

Has anyone had any REGROWTH success with anything but minoxidil? Like the monistat stuff? Miconazole? Reason being, I can't use minoxidil. It dries my scalp and hair to pieces that it breaks. So that's like having no hair also. And even if it didn't, it gives me these heart palpitations like I'm about to take my last breath. An overworked heart is certainly not the way to go, that's what kills fat people. So it's no minoxidil for me.

 

[TheLastHairbender]

Dude you took too much man, too much. I've had the same thing before, thought I had a small heart attack and almost passed out several times. It's actually pretty strong stuff. I apply 2mL at a time, once in the morning and once at night, but I worked up to that by taking the recommended 1mL at a time for the first few months then increased. Make sure you're not applying more than 1mL per application. I find it easier to meter out with the liquid than with the foam, the 1mL pipette included in the liquid minoxidil bottles is total win. I save them and use them for all my other topicals too. I never got the foam, I can understand how some people like it, my best friend won't touch the liquid and swears by the foam, but how the heck are you supposed to know what 1mL is? Half a capful? WTF is that?

If you're sensitive to it then you're sensitive to it and there's no way around that, you'll have to find a substitute. But before making that judgment make sure you've really done your best to apply it as recommended and not just go all willy-nilly; despite being an otherwise unobtrusive liquid that goes on topically, it actually has pretty powerful systemic cardiovascular effects, even when just soaked up through your scalp. So be careful.

I understand the drying and breakage, it definitely makes my hair drier, waaay coarser, like more coarse than my hair has ever been, like the hair on a horse's mane if you've ever felt that, and a bit brittle feeling too, although not to the point of breakage. It possible that it's not for you, but darn if it isn't about the best regrowth option in our toolbelt at present, so avoiding it unnecessarily seriously biases you against having positive results.


Good question about the miconazole too: I've heard some really trustworthy people say that Miconazole Nitrate 4% has given them the best results of anything, especially at the hairline. My interest has been piqued and I'm going to give it a serious look in the near future. I'll be sure to post about it but I have a few other things in the pipeline to try out and my results are going great so far, so I'm trying not to rush things. As far as I know right now its effects are somewhere between an anti-inflammatory (like the similar anti-fungal ketoconazole we all know and love) and a growth promoter like minoxidil. I can say with certainty that its structure is more closely related to that of ketoconazole, but its biological effects have been reported to resemble more closely those of minoxidil. Go figure. I'm quite certain that the method of action is still not well understood, but that's never stopped anybody before...not even the FDA. I can't recall off the top of my head who the big miconazole proponent in the room is: squeegee or 2020 maybe? Do some searching, there's been a decent amount said about the stuff on here.

Just do your homework before lathering vadge cream on your head, unfortunately I can't give any more details than that without further research. The good news is that if you're married or have a girlfriend you probably don't have to worry about running out of mico in the middle of the night! Good luck buddy!

 

[Scoot11]

Awesome progress man!! You really turned things around. I'm thinking about going on a similar regimen.

 

[rwhairlosstalk]

TheLastHairbender,

Thanks. I actually thought I was using to much Min so I reduced it to just a little bit at the temples and top, :shakehead: same deal. I guess my body is just sensitive to it? Either way it makes my heart work like a racehorse Whew! I just can't do it.

Well, so you say 4% Miconazole? Ok I just checked my tube from walmart and it's 2% and it does help my existing hair to grow so it makes me feel good that there is something out there that could help regrow. I'm guessing I"ll need a prescription?

 

[TheLastHairbender]

Not sure man. I'm not the miconazole expert yet, you'll have to search the forums for more info. I know somebody around here has the details on that stuff.

 

[Coffinhead]

I had the weird feelin in my chest at first too. I was using almost 1.5 caps of foam instead of the half a cap recommended. I have since cut my hair super short and started on the liquid. I can definitely tell what 1ml is and no problems since then.

 

[Sharpshooter]

Congratulations on your regrowth thelasthairbender

You have quite a bit of hair at the frontal region now, wouldn't you upgrade yourself to a nw3?

I always thought nw4 was somebody who has lost most of his frontal region with a some portion left, but mostly bald nonetheless at the front. Your photos suggest that you look like you've only had severe recession (unless you've style it to make it look that way). But it looks pretty good. My 54yr old dad's a nw3-3.5 but I wouldn't say he's that much different from you.

 

[TheLastHairbender]

Yeah NW3 / NW4, the classification doesn't really matter to me, just happy to have so much grown back. I just hope the finasteride effect holds out for another 30 years so I can still have NW3/NW4 at 54 like your dad! I don't hold out much hope for those kind of numbers, but making it into my 30's before hitting NW6 again would be very satisfying. Thanks for the positive comments!