Ashitaka

Update: everything is going well again! I switched to finasteride teva a month ago and from liquid to foam minoxidil at same time and my hair is getting better again, dandruff reduced.

Well if you start shedding again, from my experience, it means the new finasteride tablets you are taking are stronger. I guess it also means it has effect otherwise shedding wouldn't occur. I also started shedding a second time after I changed from 1mg capsules provided by hair clinic to 5mg finasteride tablets that I cut into 4 parts. I experienced even more hair regrowth! I'd say no worries!!

Thank you stryker for your reply, it gives me some peace of mind! From your own experience, how long before second shedding stopped and when the results began noticing again?

Yes, I switched generics to a different generics because they don't have fin that I first used anymore in pharmacy, actually the company that made that generics and imported it in my country has stopped working (I am so lucky, am I?), but they told me in pharmacy this one is a little better quality, and the price is higher for this new fin. Do you think that this fin doesn't work or maybe it is just shedding phase because of change? Dandruff and itching can't be a good sign that finasteride works, right?

I either can continue using this generics that I use now, and see if anything happens, or to switch again to another generics we have here (TEVA finasteride from Israel). I read online that TEVA is supposed to be good one, and people had good results with it, but now I am affraid to switch again, how my body will react to switching every few months?

Anyone?

Hi to everybody here again!

As you can see from what I posted on this forum before, I started minoxidil and finasteride 1.25mg every day last june, and I had initiall shedding, a lot, a lot of shedding, and a lot of dandruff and itching problems caused by minoxidil in first two months of tratment. Back then, a member ''HARIRI'' gave me advice here to use shampoo Sebamed to treat my dandruff and that shampoo really helped me and my dandruff and itching problems gone rapidly (thank you HARIRI if you are reading this).

After 4 months of treatment I've got some crazy great regrowth, and I was extremely happy with that. But, in middle of december my hair started to shed again, and it is still shedding very much. I have lost lot of my gains but my hair is still way better than the baseline. I read that it is very common that second shedding happens, but I did not find much people posting if the hair returns back stronger after second shedding or not, so if any of you had similar experience I would like to tell me how it was?

Also, the thing that is very rare to me is that my dandruff and itching problems returned also with shedding. Is that okay or is a bad sign that meds are not working well anymore? Also to add that I haven't changed anything in my regimen, the shampoo that I use is also the same.

Sorry for the long post, but you can imagine that I am vorried about this a lot. Any response is highly appreciated. Thanks.

I think that real question is: If they find a cure, what will be with hair restoration surgeons? Whar about all FUT vs FUE debates, what about millions of potential customers for them? Will all that dissapear and be solved by one simple cure and all potential money that you would spend on surgery and on life long supplies of finasteride and minoxidil stays in your pocket? What will wig salemans do for a living if a cure comes? What about fibres, hair supplements, all fake oils out there that costs a fortune? All that goes to history and we don't have to use any of that anymore?

Sounds great, but it won't happen. Too much money in the game. Sad but true...

Well, I think that there is some loss. When you look at his old photos, seems like those corners receded a bit.

This doctor is without any doubt the best in the world! To get this kind of a result with 5407 grafts and with FUE is simply incredible. Congratulations on your result Jimbo34, enjoy your new head of hair!

Great improvement for this patient! Is he on any medication? I ask this because it seems from one after photo that his crown also improved and I don't see that you put any grafts there. Or just could be the light...

Seeing some comments on this and other forums I got impression that best candidates are people who aren't bald at all. So a paranoid NW1 would be an ideal candidate and people who get bald in a difuse patttern like me can only hope for a cure one day, and that day will never come.

Based on amount of your hair loss before the procedure, the result is really unbelievable. Do you have any before pictures of your donor (back of the had especially) with little longer hair or pictures right after the procedure so that we could see from where grafts were extracted?

Also, do you take Finasteride or Rogaine?

Thanks HARIRI, that helps me a lot!

I will either buy Sebamed or T/Gel Neutrogena shampoo as it seems that both contain Piroctone Olamine.

I think that I will try the combination of using Minoxidil foam at morning and liquid at night. Is that good idea?

Hi, I have been using Kirkland Minoxidil liquid 5% twice daily for a month now along with Finasteride Sandoz 1.25mg every day.

I am also using KetMed shampoo (which has ketokonazole), but itching and big flakes of dandruff simply don't stop. Also hairs come off with dandruff especialy from my crown and I am having massive shedding (which is expected I suppose).

Since my dermathologist told me not to use Ket shampoo more than once a week I would like to add some anti-inflamatory/anti-dandruff shampoo to my regimen. First that comes to my mind is Alpecin Double Effect shampoo which I used before with some success in treating dandruff.

Do you guys think that is safe to use Alpecin Double Effect shampoo every other day with adding Ket shampoo once a week also with continuing with Minoxidil twice a day?

Or if you could recommend me some good shampoo that could help me with dandruff and itching which is really bothering me now.

Also, I think that I will switch to Minoxidil foam soon. Do you think that this would help?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Jast to update. I started using Kirkland Minoxidil 12 days ago, and I also started using Sandoz Finasteride 5mg 3 days ago, cutting it into quarters. Since Finasteride Sandoz is only avalaible brand in my country I have no other option but to use this one. I am little affraid if it could have less effectivnes than original propecia. What are your thoughts about this?

Regardles shedding, I find 70-120 hairs each time I apply Minoxidil (I apply it every 12 hours aprox.). Do you guys think that this is rare or too much?

And to add that I am also using a shampoo that has similar ingredients like Nizoral, it has ketokonazole, we don't have Nizoral here.

This is really great result so far. I believe that you are happy already.

You have great hair, really no need for a HT. Better save your grafts for future if you get into some real hair loss problems.

Can anybody share there views on Alpecin products. Do they work or are they a con?

Hi, Mr6435

I used Alpecin Double Effect Shampoo and Alpecin Liquid lotion for about year and a half and I think that it had probably slowed down my hair loss but, I am still losing my hair significantly. As I also had dandruff problems especially on my crown area, Alpecin Liquid deffiniely has helped me to solve that problem. I think that in first 3-6 months my hair with Alpecin looked better than before and I first was losing about 80-100 hairs every evening when I apply Alpecin Liquid, but after some time it dropped down to 50, even to 20 at some days. But then after a year my hair loss returned to about 70-80 hairs every evening and it is noticable that I have less hair than before.

I also noted that the smell (menthol and caffeine) of Alpecin Liquid were more stronger when I first started using it than lately so I started to get suspicious that they are not producting it as they were before. When I started using it my hair also looked more healthy and thick, but after some time it started to get oily and thin. I now don't use Alpecin products anymore, I started using a Ketokonazole based shampoo, and I will start Kirkland Minoxidil soon (probably with Proscar).

You can also look into my pictures on this thread to see how my hair looked after 4 months with Alpecin products and how it looks now after more than 20 months (first picture is after 4 months):

Please give me right advice - Forum By and for Hair Loss Patients

I hope that my reply helps to you.

Thanks Rawkerboi. I was thinking pretty much the same as you, since I am ok if my hair could stay like this, but going slick bald is a nightmare really and I want to prevent it. Regarding meds, I went to my doc because I thought it would be good to be under his advisory while using it, but he seems like he didn't even heard about fin being an option, and most of doctors here don't want to prescribe it. But I got surprised when he told me not to use minoxidil either, especially because I know guys with more hair than me that are using it. I guess that I will have to do things on my own now.

@FUEAsianHairline I really don't know about laser helmet, probably I will try it if medications don't work for me.

@Rawkerboi I must ask you did you have side effects with fin, and do you think that is better taking minoxidil 5% immediatly, or to start with 2% for a month or two and then switch to 5%. Also a note that I am still using Alpecin liquid daily for now, untill I decide about minox.

Also about telling that my hair loss is not so severe, I am affraid that actually it is and that I am balding over entire NW6 area. About familly history: My father is 55 years old and currently a NW 5A. In conversation with him, he told me that he also started losing hair when he was my age, but probably a little slower than me and he was significatly bald at age of 32. His father was a NW 3 as I remmember. But the thing that worries me the most is that my mathernal grandfather was a NW6 already at the age of 21 as my grandma told me, and later he maybe even became a NW7 (he was always wearing a hat so I don't remmember how his hair looked in general). It's obvious that I am not loosing my hair so aggresivly as him, but it's faster than my father was losing it. My conclusion is that I am probably somwhere beetwen those two.

Sorry about big post, but I had to write it somewhere. I expected to talk it with my doctor, but he was not so much interested in details.

Hello again. I was thinking a LOT about geting on meds lately and deep in myself I decided to give it a shot (I even talked with my parents about that and they agreed at some point) because my hair is getting worse and worse and it is coming close to the point where I can not hold it anymore. So I went to dermatologist with expectation that he will give me good evaluation and therapy, but he wont't even give me minoxidil, because he personally doesn't like it. So I didn't even asked him about proscar (finasteride is avaliable in my country only as proscar as far as I got informed about it). Instead of that he prescribed me a ketoconazole based shampoo (I managed to get Nizoral from Germany), some B vitamin capsulas and ''Panthenol'' (it's some lotion I suppose, I did not buy it yet). He also told me not to take any meds on my own, not even minoxidil. I now really don't know what to do. My hair loss is becoming more and more obvious, and I am really worried about it, my usual activities are not like before because of it, it's really depressing to lose hair at age of 22. I have found my ways to buy minoxidil (also from Germany) and proscar, but now I don't know who to listen, myself or my dermatologist. Any advice would be great from you.

I don't understand why he went to a HT. He had GREAT hair before the procedure....

Looks fine!

Is the first photo before his first surgery with other clinic or before his second surgery with your clinic? Does he use any medication?

So what are my options? Taking minoxidil and finasteride together, or taking only minoxidil could help also? I don't want to use medicine with side effect if not really needed, but on other side I don't want to get bald this early.

How about going for Minoxidil?

Do you think that I would get more benefits from using Minoxidil instead of Alpecin? I use Alpecin because my dermatologist recommended so.

Hi to all! First, sorry about my english, I'll give my best.

I am now 22 years old, and I'm suffering from hair loss from my age of 19. It first started with front corners of my head, but with the time It got worse and I am now losing hair on whole top of my scalp and in back of my head too (that's in area that I circled in one of my pictures, and It bothers me because I am aware that donor grafts should be there). I am using alpecin liquid lotion once a day and alpecin shampoo aproximatly every three days. I am using those products for about one year and a couple of months now. I stopped using it for two times and every time I noticed that my hair was falling of more then when I use it. I also need to use it because of dandruff and itching, especially on the back top of my scalp. When I use alpecin liquid, I don't have those problems. Before that I used Head&Sholders shampoo because of dandruff and I first thought that was the reason of my hair loss, but I now see that I's genetic.

In my family my father my uncle, both of my grandparents are/were bold in some point, and I think that my case is most similar with my father who is now NW 5A or NW 6. He has a little hair on his scalp and hair in back of his head has fine density, but he also has that ''hole'' that I circled on last picture.

So, I am now 22, and I am aware that I will probably lose more hair in next couple of years, and I am considering on having a HT (precisely FUE, because I don't want a scar, and probably in Turkey) till my age of 28. But I am wondering if I will have enough donor capacity for a solid HT, because I now see that hair on back of my head is sheeding too.

Considering that I will lose more of my hair on top, my expectations from HT would be to get a look of hair that I have now, because I can get solid hair cut from it (I cut hair on my sides to zero, and hair on top on 3, and I got a lot of compliments since I do so ). I could settle with compensation to have less hair on my crown, and get a solid hairline (I would probably get buzz cut then).

What do you guys think? Is it real or I should give up from hair and be reconciled on getting bold? Do you think that I should use some other non-surgical treatments instead of Alpecin (I don't want to use drugs with possible side effects).

Bellow are the pictures, the first one is from february 2014, and others are from last month.