A little background info; I am a 23 year old male and began experiencing mild hair loss in the hairline area about three years ago, but nothing substantial until the beginning of the 2011 school year following a break up with my girlfriend and the beginning of my first year of law school.

I began using .5 avodart daily in November 2011 and it has been about 6 months now. The first 4 months alone on the drug were hell, I kept on shedding in the temples. I would have 2 to 3 week periods where it would subside, but then it would start again. I am a law student, however, and am constantly stressed, dont get enough sleep, and eat like crap. I have to admit, this was probably the reason I began losing my hair in the first place.

Once finals ended (about a couple weeks ago) my hairloss has completely stopped. Ill pull on it and maybe 1 to 2 hairs come out at most. This is much better than the 100 hairs id notice just randomly fall out of my head and onto my books while studying. Anyways, the left temple area looks great now and the hair there is strong, normal looking, and doesnt shed really at all. It is a little more sparse than the thick head of hair i have everywhere except the temples, but one cannot complain.

The only remaining problem is my right temple which goes significantly farther back. I purchased nizoral shampoo a few weeks back and completely recommend it. Using that stuff every other day has been a savior. My scalp isnt oily anymore and I dont get the annoying tingly feeling in my hairline id feel during a shed. It also got rid of all the annoying zits, or whatever these pussy sore spots were, and really makes my head feel great.

I just started rogain 5% normal on my right temple once a day right before bed (many doctors say this is all that is needed). It is covered by the natural hair part so I figured what the heck, people only see the good temple. Its only been a few weeks so I obviously havent seen results, but the shedding hasnt been too bad yet. It irritates my scalp a bit, and drips down onto my forehead causing some acne, but it hasnt caused any massive shedding/damage yet.

I will continue to monitor my results for the benefit of other people on this forum interested in trying the big three. However, I do have a few general questions I would like to ask y'all.

(1) Will avodart/propecia keep rogaine-grown hair if I quit the rogaine in 6-12 months if I hypothetically see results? (the stuff is a hassle and I dont want to apply it my whole life)

(2) If I switch from avodart to propecia will it simply continue the avodart treatment or will it essentially start over and make me endure another shed? or worse, not work? (I dont want to use avodart my whole life because it reduces T-2 which supposedly effects the brain and I may have a potential thyroid problem that I think the drug brought on and could have caused the shedding i experienced on the drug)

(3) Will rogaine even work in my hairline or make it worse?

(4) Lastly, I was hoping other people would post their results, negative or positive, on this thread!? It would be nice to bounce some ideas back and forth off each other to streamline our treatment methods and fight this horrible-genetic disorder/disease/whatever you call it, aka MPB.

I dont want to make anyone mad in this forum, I respect all of your input and understand the stress hair loss causes. I know plenty of people would be more than satisfied with my results and do not want to come off as greedy or disrespectful. But any advice is greatly appreciated and I would be extremely happy/grateful to receive it! Thanks

It depends. Some hairs are dependent on both the DHT blocker and the minoxidil for regrowth. Minoxidil dependent hairs usually won't keep growing on the DHT blocker alone, unless maybe it has returned to full health.

If you switch from Avodart to Finasteride, depending on how aggressive your hairloss is, you will see continued results. I see better results with Avodart, which is nearly 50 percent stronger at blocking scalp DHT. Since you are already on it, I'd certainly continue.

Minoxidil very rarely works in the hairline. Unless you are in the very early stages of loss and you have a lot of miniaturized hairs still hanging around, the only way to fix the hairline is a transplant.

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Finasteride 1.25 mg. daily
Avodart 0.5 mg. daily
Spironolactone 50 mg twice daily
5 mg. oral Minoxidil twice daily
Biotin 1000 mcg daily
Multi Vitamin daily

Damn, with all the stuff you put in your hair are you like a negative NW1?

I am happy to report that at the 6 month point for rogaine and the 10 month point for Avodart I am finally getting some great results. The rogaine has stopped irritating my scalp and the shed it caused has pretty much ceased. Also, I can feel stubble where the hair that fell out was. I actually have a few random thick hairs that have even popped up. I am pretty excited and my hairline looks much thicker.

For those interested here was my regimen:

- took .5 avodart every morning
- used the non-prescription nizoral daily in the shower
- applied rogaine once a day after my shower to the temple region (I did not apply the full dose, just half of it. I would then rub it into the area)
- 2 saw palmetto pills daily as well as a multivitamin and fish oil (more as a way to control any free radicals in the brain/body caused by my treatment)

I wish you all the best of luck with your own battles. It great to see results, dont stop the treatment just because of the initial shedding!

kingsea3,

Great to hear it! Thanks for keeping us posted on your progress.

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David (TakingThePlunge)
Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant

I am not a medical professional. All opinions are my own and my advice should not constitute as medical advice.

View my Hair Loss Website

Thanks for the read kingsea, I'm very interested in your progress.
I've read around a lot and it seems that minoxidil is supposed to do little to nothing for your temples (receding hairline is my problem too - NW II, i'm on finasteride only for it). Do you notice any difference from minoxidil that you haven't while taking avodart?
Also, have you kept any pictures during these times? I'd really like to see the results.