Marvin

This is a normal reaction to starting Propecia. The shedding should stop in a few more weeks and that hair will grow back.

It might be interesting to have a single thread here where everybody can explain who they are and what their situation is. I'm 23 years old, about to turn 24. I've been losing hair since freshman year of high school, albeit very slowly. Currently, I'm a late-stage NW2. My hairline is the classic NW2 hairline, though you can see miniaturization at the temples. There is noticeable miniaturization on my crown, but it has not yet coalesced into a proper bald spot. Rather, the back of my head looks as if there's a middle-part there. My father is in his mid-50's and an advanced NW5, with NW6 knocking on the door. Based on pictures I've seen of him, I can tell that he was a NW2 when he graduated high school, and that he was a Norwood 3v or 4 in his early 30's. I have a picture of him playing tennis where you can see a prominent bald spot, but his hairline seems far more intact. My maternal grandfather, who is deceased and whom I only have vague memories of, appeared to be no more than a NW5 at the time of his death. In my family, on both sides, pretty much all of the men have substantial hairloss. But they are all NW5's; there are no NW7's that I know of and the only NW6 married into the family and thus isn't related to me by blood. I often wonder whether having tons of NW5 genes mean that I am fated to be an NW5, or if they "compound" and will result in me becoming a NW7. I've been taking Propecia since April 2009, so it has been almost a year. I'm not sure if it worked or not (I was losing hair rather slowly already) but I haven't had too many adverse side effects. Things haven't gotten noticeably worse. Then again, I understand that for a lot of people, age 24-25 is when things really start to go bad. So maybe that will be the real test. How about you?

I believe they only tested it on the crown, and thus legally the crown is the only thing that they can claim to treat. Plenty of people here have claimed that it worked on their hair line.

Propecia can reduce libido and in some cases cause either permanent or temporary erectile dysfunction. Either of these have the potential to reduce or eliminate your sexual performance. However these side effects occur only in a very small percentage of users.

Didn't the one company investigating hair cloning just go out of business? I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.

I know how this feels too. One of my professors in college looked a lot like me; that is, same height, same face shape, etc. The difference was, he was a NW5.75 or so. It used to make me depressed to look at him, because I know that one day I'll look just like him. But, on the other side, it didn't stop him from being very successful in his field.

I know exactly what you mean about your ID photo. My passport photo shows a full head of hair. Right now, I am somewhere between NW2 and NW3, so I can still sort of look like I have a full head of hair (at least when my hair is short). Once I progress past NW3, I am going to "lose" my passport and get a new one. I'll cut my hair really short for it, so I'll look as bald as possible for it. That way, for a few years at least, I'll be able to say "at least I look better than in my ID photo"

My Seborrheic Dermatitis got much better after I graduated from college and started washing my hair every day. I rotate between Selsum Blue and Head and Shoulders.

Dr. Humayun in Pakistan does a lot of work like this.

Everybody in my family has the same hair color, so I can't give examples from my family. But most traits are not linked like this. Odds are that hair loss and hair color are on entirely different chromosomes and there's you can get either combination of any of them. In fact, baldness is probably controlled by multiple genes.

It's extremely difficult to predict how much more time you have, as you put it. Baldness proceeds at different rates for different people, and even worse you often can't predict how bald you'll get just by looking at relatives. I had two friends in college who started to go bald at the exact same age I did. All three of us looked very similar when we were 19, and now we are each at three different stages of baldness.

Yes, I use only finasteride. Most people here use three things: (1) Finasteride (2) Minox (3) Nizoral This is in order of strength. I find Minox annoying to use so I only use fin. But the "correct answer" is to use all three of these.

The consensus at this forum is between 9 months and 1 year.

Finasteride is by far the best treatment for hair loss. I buy my finasteride on the internet from India, in fact!

Nizoral does not actually retard hair loss.

I think what he's asking is what the physiological mechanism is by which a gene causes hair loss to start at age 20 or age 30. I have no idea, by the way, and I'm not sure anybody does.

I have been taking generic finasteride (from Quality RX) since April 2009. I had a few of the less annoying side effects, but nothing major. Last month, however, I started to have heavy dandruff. I started using Head and Shoulders as my primary shampoo, and to a large extent the dandruff went away (slowly). However my scalp still feels dry. As a long time poster here, I know that minoxidil can cause this problem. But this is one of many reasons that I don't use minoxidil! Can this be a side effect of just the fin, or is something else causing this?

NW6 at 17 sounds insane. I was freaked out when I saw NW3 at 19 on one of my college friends.

I have been taking Propecia since April of 2009 (so seven months) and am still losing hair. I have several of the side effects, however, so I know it is "working".

The most reliable/cheapest online sites are in India, not the US. Do they also reject your card for some reason. In my home town (which is not in Washington) there are some pharmacies that illegally sell prescription drugs without a prescription. Many of them are run by immigrant groups and only trust people who speak the language. I have no idea if these exist in your area or if you speak the right language. Have you considered obtaining a prescription?

If Finasteride gets into a woman, birth defects could be caused.

Yes, this is not uncommon. Many people start going bald as early as 14, 15, 16, 17, etc. Your best bet is to start taking the drug finasteride.

Some people also buy finasteride on the internet without a prescription. You can buy it from websites that ship it from factories in India. But you're taking a risk that it could be a scam. If you do nothing, you will keep losing hair. If you take finasteride, any one of the following things could happen: (1) you could stop losing your hair (2) you could stop losing your hair for 5 years, and then start again (3) you could keep losing your hair, but at a slower rate (4) you could keep losing your hair as if you did nothing (no effect) (5) it could do one of 1 through 3, but with strong side effects that would force you to abandon the drug despite the fact that it is working So it's not a sure bet, but it will at least give you a chance.

Start taking Finasteride immediately. It is most likely your only hope.

Good luck. I'll give you the same advice I give in every thread: if you want to do something drastic, do it only for yourself, and not for others. Don't do it just because you think women, employers, clients, etc. want you to have hair. There are plenty of bald men who are successful with all of these groups. Do it only if you think YOU want you to have hair.