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