Very Impressive Dermarolling And Minxodil Results - From Tressless

Wergi

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Massages break up fibrosis all over the body, like when peope foam roll their muscles that's part of what they are doing.
You're talking a serious massage/pressure to break up collagen bundles, not moving your eyebrows.

It was a joke with the eyebrows :). I know about foam rolling, I don't see how massages can help break up fibrosis on your scalp. In my opinion you cannot make enough pressure to make a difference.
 

ToLGuy

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I have and idea that I'd like to share with you all. I am going to be taking pictures of my crown this Friday (February 1st) coz I finally get to 3 months of needling with me pen. Although I am kinda satisfied after seeing a seemingly positive (albeit mild and slow) trend for my hairline, I truly believe I am going to be disappointed for my crown. I haven't taken any pics during these 3 months so I don't how how it is, and I didn't want to obsess over it, but just by touching the area I can say I don't feel anything new.
Back with my idea. When I post my before and after pics, I will not label them. I will take about 4-5 "after" pics along with my "before" pic and I will post them in random order. Then, I want you guys to try to guess which one of them is the before, and which ones are the "after" pics.

By doing this kind off "blind" experiment with you guys as the evaluators I will certainly avoid confirmation bias as well as other subjective stuff. I suggest more of of us should try this method when assessing progress. Why is this needed? Because many users here and in other threads post before and after pics whose difference is rather difficult to assess, and in those instances in which hair status is roughly the same, other users tend to favor the after pics just because THEY TRY HARD TO SEE A POSITIVE CHANGE, mostly because they WANT THE TREATMENT TO WORK. In other words, this is called wishful thinking. We all want to think that needling is gonna work so we can live our lifes with hope. I understand it and I suffer from wishful thinking as well.
But to seriously assess the effectiveness of this, we must put our emotions behind and evaluate this process objectively, so we must follow a more scientific and less biased approach. A blind and randomized assessment is a way to get close to that. What do you guys think?
 
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Bill_Russo

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I have and idea that I'd like to share with you all. I am going to be taking pictures of my crown this Friday (February 1st) coz I finally get to 3 months of needling with me pen. Although I am kinda satisfied after seeing a seemingly positive (albeit mild and slow) trend for my hairline, I truly believe I am going to be disappointed for my crown. I haven't taken any pics during these 3 months so I don't how how it is, and I didn't want to obsess over it, but just by touching the area I can say I don't feel anything new.
Back with my idea. When I post my before and after pics, I will not label them. I will take about 4-5 "after" pics along with my "before" pic and I will post them in random order. Then, I want you guys to try to guess which one of them is the before, and which one are the "after" pics.

By doing this kind off "blind" experiment with you guys as the evaluators I will certainly avoid confirmation bias as well as other subjective stuff. I suggest more of of us should try this method when assessing progress. Why is this needed? Because many users here and in other threads post before and after pics whose difference is rather difficult to assess, and in those instances in which hair status is roughly the same, other users tend to favor the after pics just because THEY TRY HARD TO SEE A POSITIVE CHANGE, mostly because they WANT THE TREATMENT TO WORK. In other words, this is called wishful thinking. We all want to think that needling is gonna work so we can live our lifes with hope. I understand it and I suffer from wishful thinking as well.
But to seriously assess the effectiveness of this, we must put our emotions behind and evaluate this process objectively, so we must follow a more scientific and less biased approach. A blind and randomized assessment is a way to get close to that. What do you guys think?
This is 100% how it should be done.
We get some pictures showing clear progress, but we also get pictures that look roughly the same.
It's good to keep people motivated. However, we can't lose sight of reality.
If we really want to separate us from the other needling threads, this is the way to go.
I will be doing this too when the time comes.
 

ToLGuy

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New study January 2019
Association of Laser and Microneedling in Female Baldness.

" All patients will have their scalp anesthetized with 5% lidocaine and sanitized with 2% chlorhexidine antiseptic and will receive protection in the eye area."



http://apps.who.int/trialsearch/Trial2.aspx?TrialID=RBR-76vccv

It's a nice finding, but personally, I just don't like it. I would love to see more studies testing the effects of needling alone, rather than combining it with any weird thing the researchers think of. I have seen a few other studies about microneedling which sadly combine it with other stuff (the PRP one comes to my mind). Testing such a combination of elements is not helpful if there is not an experimental treatment with each of the elements alone and isolated for comparison. The Chinese study is the only one who has performed such a well designed experiment, we need more like that one and more ones to isolate length and frequency variables to optimize results.
This is just my personal opinion.
 

Bill_Russo

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It's a nice finding, but personally, I just don't like it. I would love to see more studies testing the effects of needling alone, rather than combining it with any weird thing the researchers think of. I have seen a few other studies about microneedling which sadly combine it with other stuff (the PRP one comes to my mind). Testing such a combination of elements is not helpful if there is not an experimental treatment with each of the elements alone and isolated for comparison. The Chinese study is the only one who has performed such a well designed experiment, we need more like that one and more ones to isolate length and frequency variables to optimize results.
This is just my personal opinion.
Someone mentioned in the ThinningConfidence success thread that there are new microneedling studies done in 2018, but their full versions are blocked. What a gaggle of c****.
Gonna try to find 'em.
The thread for those who didn't see it. Some motivation for the no Minoxidil folks out there: https://www.hairlosstalk.com/intera...or-finasteride-mechanical-stimulation.116396/
 

ToLGuy

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This is 100% how it should be done.
We get some pictures showing clear progress, but we also get pictures that look roughly the same.
It's good to keep people motivated. However, we can't lose sight of reality.
If we really want to separate us from the other needling threads, this is the way to go.
I will be doing this too when the time comes.
Absolutely. Your comment on keeping people motivated just reminded me of something I forgot to add to my previous post: I seriously think the result of that experiment will end up in people NOT picking the right "before" and "after" pics, meaning that I haven't made any progress yet. If this is also the case for others doing this same experiment, this should not take away motivation. Remember this is just month 3, and we are all aiming for a year!
Again I should remind you all of the few instances of late responses to microneedling (regrowth after 8-12 months) . There is no reason to think it's impossible to replicate those late responses until we try it for ourselves.
 

Headdy

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Someone mentioned in the ThinningConfidence success thread that there are new microneedling studies done in 2018, but their full versions are blocked. What a gaggle of c****.
Gonna try to find 'em.
The thread for those who didn't see it. Some motivation for the no Minoxidil folks out there: https://www.hairlosstalk.com/intera...or-finasteride-mechanical-stimulation.116396/
If not the full version, are there any partial documents?
Where do they mention these new studies?
Maybe we can try and look for it too
 

Bill_Russo

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If not the full version, are there any partial documents?
Where do they mention these new studies?
Maybe we can try and look for it too
You'd have to ask @MyThinningConfidence, as he's the one who mentioned it:
MyThinningConfidence said:
That's quite interesting, I imagine the only reason he saw his temples thinning again was because he's not on finasteride. I'm under the assumption if you regrow with microneedling you should be able to maintain the majority of your regrowth even if you stop microneedling.

I'd be highly interested in seeing how that device goes though. There are actually tons of wounding studies in 2018 that I've found but they're all locked behind a paywall so I can't view them.
 

Headdy

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Holy f*** I'm thinking about quitting. Finasteride possible side effects are nothing compared to this
If you're careful, you don't have to stop.
If you are afraid and want to be on the safe side - don't butcher your scalp, don't apply minoxidil right after needling, wait 2-4 weeks between sessions, have patience.
 

ZidaneBaldGod

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So maybe this means nothing, however a few of my colleagues commented on my hair, saying that it looks "better".
However, they haven't seen me with a buzzcut in a looong *** time, i rocked a shaved head all this time. So this might mean nothing.

But... (and i might be wrong, since my hair is now growing longer) it really does look a little fuller compared to before. So who knows? Getting comments by other people is always a good sign though.

I will take photos later.
 

Bill_Russo

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Holy f*** I'm thinking about quitting. Finasteride possible side effects are nothing compared to this
Yeah, the only study reporting swollen lymph nodes was the Chinese study, IIRC. And guess what study was the one applying Minoxidil right after needling.
 

Headdy

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Not sure if this is a repost, but here they needled mice:

https://www.researchgate.net/public...nduces_Enhanced_Hair_Growth_in_a_Murine_Model

upload_2019-1-30_16-21-29.png

upload_2019-1-30_16-21-46.png
 
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ZenHead

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I’m working on my crown but have a different balding pattern. My crown was the last to go but I had a hair transplant on my hairline and it worked okay.

I’d say it’s been bad for about a year. Maybe nine months. I turn 41 this year.

My current regime is about fixing my crown.

My partner “derminators” my crown for me using 1.75mm on fast and it definitely bleeds. She advised me that after doing it once at 2mm it now bleeds more easily at 1.75mm.

She also told me that she presses pretty hard at 1.75mm “in some areas” to make sure there is a good equal spread of blood dots.

I’m not sure yet if it’s working - certainly no miracles yet. But I do think bleeding is possible for the both of you.

Cc @ZenHead
The thing is unlike @ToLGuy , my crown does bleed. It’s just not showing results like my hairline. However I did get a haircut yesterday and it does seem like I am maintaining there so hopefully that’s a good sign for regrowth
 

oneinabillion

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Hi there, long time lurker here (since 2013). I'm 21 years old and my hair started diffuse thinning slowly once I hit puberty at 12. I started to notice slowly at 15 and the docs told me it was male pattern baldness. Wasn't suprised since this sh*t runs on my dad's side like Usain Bolt. Anyways, I got on minoxidil at 15 once a day. I maintained what I had and got some regrowth. Did PRP twice in 2016 and 2017. Each time I did PRP I got regrowth, but I'd lose it again after 12 months. So minoxidil's effectiveness stopped mid-2018 after 5 years of use and I just felt like quitting and shaving around october. At the end of october I saw this thread and numberguy's results, so I wanted to try as well and hoped I'd get the same results. So I ordered a cheap dermapen from wish and started needling my hairline, scalp, sides, crown and back once a week at 1.5mm. Over the course of 2 months I increased the length and I now needle with 2mm length. I still use minoxidil, and increased my frequency from once a day to twice a day as of december 1 2018 (the day I started rolling. It is important to note I didn't use minoxidil on the rolling day because I was afraid of sides. As of last week (start of week 8) I tried minoxidil to see if I got sides and nothing happened, so from now on I'll be using minoxidil on needling-day as well.

Results:

I forgot to take proper pictures and my angles and lighting weren't consistent so I don't feel like they're of any use. My hairloss pattern was basically female pattern when it started and slowly my hairline and crown started thinning as well. When I started needling I was a NW1.5~2, and now I see tiny hairs (vellus and terminal!) sprouting all over my scalp and hairline.

Important things to point out:

1. When I started browsing the forums back in 2013 people on these forums were talking about microneedling, but didn't think much of it. I really wish joined them.

2. Every week after needling I check the tightness of my scalp skin by trying to pinch it. I noticed my skin slowly gets less tight and easier to pinch over time.

3. When I started off I could barely see any blood. Last needling session more blood was visible and my needling also started to hurt more. I would assume this is related to the idea that microneedling induces the synthesis of new blood vessels due to skin healing processes?

4. Existing terminal grows faster and thicker. They look more pigmented now.

My own thoughts:

If we assume new blood vessels get created after when your skin is trying to heal itself, we can conclude the blood flow in your scalp increases which leads to your dormant hair follicles becoming terminal again due to nutritions being able to reach your hair follicles. We know minoxidil increases blood flow as well. Add these 2 points up and we can conclude minoxidil aids microneedling and not the other way around. Applying minoxidil will only give you better absorption, so if you don't get any sides from increased absorption I think it could only benefit you in the long run.

Anyways, for me microneedling works and since it benefits my hair I will keep doing this. I took a picture of a part above my right temple today which has gotten pretty thin before needling. As you can see there are a lot of hairs growing there and I guess they'll become terminal over time. Same for my hairline. Big thanks to the people who showed their results because it motivated my to do this as well. I hope I can motivate others to do this as well since I think it could be beneficial to a lot of people.
 

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tined22

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Hey man.
The results that started this thread were with a £50 pen. In fact, they started with a cheap dermaroller.
The guy has been at it for almost a year now. No problems to report.
I myself am using that pen, but I'm not a good example of long term use as I'm only one month in.
I'm sure there are more people here using a similar pen. Don't really think you have to worry about that, honestly.
Thanks! Hopefully will get some decent results then
 

Arrade

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Hi there, long time lurker here (since 2013). I'm 21 years old and my hair started diffuse thinning slowly once I hit puberty at 12. I started to notice slowly at 15 and the docs told me it was male pattern baldness. Wasn't suprised since this sh*t runs on my dad's side like Usain Bolt. Anyways, I got on minoxidil at 15 once a day. I maintained what I had and got some regrowth. Did PRP twice in 2016 and 2017. Each time I did PRP I got regrowth, but I'd lose it again after 12 months. So minoxidil's effectiveness stopped mid-2018 after 5 years of use and I just felt like quitting and shaving around october. At the end of october I saw this thread and numberguy's results, so I wanted to try as well and hoped I'd get the same results. So I ordered a cheap dermapen from wish and started needling my hairline, scalp, sides, crown and back once a week at 1.5mm. Over the course of 2 months I increased the length and I now needle with 2mm length. I still use minoxidil, and increased my frequency from once a day to twice a day as of december 1 2018 (the day I started rolling. It is important to note I didn't use minoxidil on the rolling day because I was afraid of sides. As of last week (start of week 8) I tried minoxidil to see if I got sides and nothing happened, so from now on I'll be using minoxidil on needling-day as well.

Results:

I forgot to take proper pictures and my angles and lighting weren't consistent so I don't feel like they're of any use. My hairloss pattern was basically female pattern when it started and slowly my hairline and crown started thinning as well. When I started needling I was a NW1.5~2, and now I see tiny hairs (vellus and terminal!) sprouting all over my scalp and hairline.

Important things to point out:

1. When I started browsing the forums back in 2013 people on these forums were talking about microneedling, but didn't think much of it. I really wish joined them.

2. Every week after needling I check the tightness of my scalp skin by trying to pinch it. I noticed my skin slowly gets less tight and easier to pinch over time.

3. When I started off I could barely see any blood. Last needling session more blood was visible and my needling also started to hurt more. I would assume this is related to the idea that microneedling induces the synthesis of new blood vessels due to skin healing processes?

4. Existing terminal grows faster and thicker. They look more pigmented now.

My own thoughts:

If we assume new blood vessels get created after when your skin is trying to heal itself, we can conclude the blood flow in your scalp increases which leads to your dormant hair follicles becoming terminal again due to nutritions being able to reach your hair follicles. We know minoxidil increases blood flow as well. Add these 2 points up and we can conclude minoxidil aids microneedling and not the other way around. Applying minoxidil will only give you better absorption, so if you don't get any sides from increased absorption I think it could only benefit you in the long run.

Anyways, for me microneedling works and since it benefits my hair I will keep doing this. I took a picture of a part above my right temple today which has gotten pretty thin before needling. As you can see there are a lot of hairs growing there and I guess they'll become terminal over time. Same for my hairline. Big thanks to the people who showed their results because it motivated my to do this as well. I hope I can motivate others to do this as well since I think it could be beneficial to a lot of people.
Nice testimony.
It is said that Julius Caesar himself theorized he was balding from a lack of blood flow
 

Bill_Russo

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Nice testimony.
It is said that Julius Caesar himself theorized he was balding from a lack of blood flow
Worst part is that even he could've tried this. Needles were a thing back then! Goddammit.
 
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