Consultation with Dr. tomorrow regarding Propecia

Good luck. It was about 3/4 months for me on minoxidil/finasteride before I noticed more hair. Wish I’d started it earlier.

Keep in kind that finisteride is most effective for preventing hairloss, so monitor that as much as looking for new hair. I didn’t really notice much difference in terms of new hair, but it halted my hairloss. That to me is the main benefit of the drug and not regrowth, so don’t be disheartened if you don’t notice your hair getting thicker.

In the presence of high stress levels, you can suffer “rapid onset” alopecia. Your scalp will be red if you look at it closely, you’ll be shedding fast, and at times your scalp will actually be sore/aching. If you’re getting this, make sure you use anti-inflammatory treatments to arrest the process. It can be stopped, you just have to be quick.

I contracted a virus which (the dermatologist told me) triggered auto-immune related rapid alopecia.

I started 5% minoxidil, finasteride, and smeared every kind of anti-inflammatory goop I could find onto my scalp, and it worked.

Totally stopped my hairloss, it all grew back.

Once your immune system has “killed” the follicle however, that is it.

Didn’t suffer any side-effects from the Indian finasteride I was using either, thankfully

If I can only keep what I have, I’ll still be OK, but I am still hoping for some regrowth. I know my dad (who has very similar hair and similar thinning pattern as me) had very noticable regrowth, so hopefully it is in my genes to respond well to the drug. Do you only use Finasteride, or do you stack it with other treatments such as Minoxidil and Nizoral shampoo?

Interesting stuff. What all anti-inflammatory products did you use? I know that the Nizoral shampoo I use is an anti-inflammatory. What brand of Indian Finasteride did you use and where did you purchase it from? Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I had great thickening when I went on Propecia, all those thin hairs got thick again which makes your hair a lot fuller. I’m back on it again, nothing works better and so far six days and no sides, so keeping my fingers crossed. You should also do Minoxidil also because that keeps your hair in the growing state.

Did it help you at all with the hairline and/or temple areas?

Yep, wherever you have hair it will get thicker at least it did with me, not sure if I grew new hair or not. It’s really good at saving the hair you have and making it get thicker and healthy again.

Ordered some Minoxidil a few days ago, should be here tomorrow most likely so I will be adding that to my routine. I still don’t see anything happening yet but I’m like 5 weeks in. I don’t notice any side effects either.

OK, so I am about 2 months in for my Propecia usage, and 3 weeks in on Minoxidil, and I THINK I see new hair sprouting up along my hairline. It’s possible I guess that I’m just fooling myself, but I don’t think I had these hairs before I started. They are short, maybe .25-.5 inch long. I will try to keep everyone posted over the next month or two as I’m hoping this is the beginning of the results and that there will be much more to come!

I just wanted to post an update, as I’ve been using the Propecia now for the better part of a year. First, and most importantly, the drug appears to have completely stopped my hair loss and I did regrow a lot of what I’d lost on top. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive any benefits to the area where the hair was actually gone (my hairline and temples). I was hoping to see the corners of my hairline move back down again, but it didn’t happen.

I still view the drug as a major success and if it keeps working as well as it has now over the long haul, I could always consider a minor hair transplant procedure into the hairline area. I just want to wait that one out a little bit as I’m still rather young and might have to plan for more hairloss, but maybe not if Propecia keeps working.

I ended up ditching the minoxidil treatment after about 2 months as it was just too much of a pain in the ass to have to put it on and it made my hair look oil and really bad. I didn’t see the point using a product to regrow hair when it makes it impossible to have your hair look good when you have it in.

I’m glad I didn’t buy into all of the BS about the “life altering” side effects. I don’t feel anything different at all in terms of my erections or libido. Maby some people really do experience physical changed, but I believe almost all of that is placibo effect.

I’m not sure about how much help this will be, haven’t read all the replies, but I’ll post it anyway.
My mother’s brothers are bald. Apparently baldness genes comes from the mother’s family, or so I’ve been told.
When my older brother got into his 20’s his hair started to fall. He then started with finasteride and is taking it to this very day, never heard any complain after about 10 years.
When I was 18 or 19 I got a bit self conscious about what looked like receding hairlines on the sides, and took finasteride for a good 6 month, until I gave up taking it because taking a pill everyday was a pain for me to remember. I’m 26 now, don’t think my hair has changed much since (except for a few whites here and there).
I didn’t notice any changes on the hair or anything else on my body during and after I took the pills.

I guess I got better genes than my brother, so far holding up ok :)

Late 20s, finally noticing minor thinning/recession at the hairline. Going to try finasteride and see how it goes. I’ll report back here with my results.

Four days in, and no side effects so far. Boner hard, libido normal. If things stay normal for the next two weeks, I can probably count myself among the lucky majority who don’t notice anything from finasteride (other than, hopefully, a halt to the hair loss that has begun).

Two weeks in. Libido is definitely unaffected (been masturbating a ton recently). Boners are as hard as ever. Not sure about nocturnal erections, as my pattern with those is unpredictable anyway. The only unwanted change I may have noticed is a drop in semen volume and a bit of a switch from shooting to dribbling — although I think that both of those effects have already begun to reverse (if they were there at all).

I’ve been taking 1.25 mg/day. If I continue to have no side effects, I’ll probably stay on finasteride. Of course it’s impossible to know how much my hair loss would progress on its own (some guys recede a bit and then stop for decades…), but I’ll feel better knowing I’m doing what I can to slow or halt balding.