Found my hair thining in the back crown area in 2009 and immediately went to dermotologist to get Propecia. He prescribed it and I was taking it until mid 2012 after some side effects. During the first 3 years on Propecia I started using Nioxin Shampoo and Conditor system 1, and noticed it made my scalp a bit ichly and caused flakes/dandruff, so I discontinued it and went back to my regular shampoo Matrix Biolage.
Aside from the minor side effects from Propecia I noticed the crown basically remained the same or got slightly worse (depending on photos) and the frontal area receided more compared to 3 years prior, especially on the right side. So I stopped taking Propecia.
From there I started Rogaine Foam 5% around April of 2012, on the crown area and on the frontal area. A few months after starting Rogaine, I also started using another hair treatment shampoo called Revita. This was around the summer months of 2012.
Around September and October I noticed the crown area stayed the same, but the frontal area became worse. Especially on the right side as that my hair was falling out more. I also experienced the shedding, along with some of the root/papila. But it seems the shedding was patchy as it went up the front hairline and mde the left hairline rather choppy looking.
So I switched shampoos to Nioxion Shampoo & Conditioner System 2. Then a few weeks to a month later stopped taking Rogaine out of fear that it would make my hair worse. In December of 2012 I started taking Propecia again (this time it was every other day) and 10-12 months later stopped taking Propecia as well. Since the minor side effects were a problem, and I really did not think it was helping much.
So now I am trying to find a way to fix my hairline, and maintain what I have as best as possible. I'm still young and it has effected a bit of my self esteem. I can no longer use much gel or styling products in my hair because i'm trying to cover the bald/thinning patch on the right side of my hailine by styling the hair over it, but it still looks like an uneven hairline.
It has been over a year that I stopped using Rogaine, the shedding hair from the Rogaine never grew back. I really hope I did not cause more damage, the purpose was to fix the problem! :confused: