BaronVonHairline

Are you still on fin, or planning to continue? Have your sides subsided? I've wondered the same thing too. Was my DHT lower all those years and I didn't even know it? Seems kinda far fetched, but it was weird that my hair loss suddenly stopped for literally like 12 years, and then resumed, and when it resumed, all those other libidinal symptoms went away. I don't know. Half of me thinks it's crazy to think that, and that I could give fin a shot and save my current head of hair. The other half thinks, what if just 6-9 months on fin at age 24 altered my body till 36. That is terrifying, if it happens to be the case. I really wish there was an answer for all this. I keep trying to imagine myself, more and more, with a shaved head, to get used to the idea, so if/when it comes to it, I can just do it and move on, but it's really taking me a long time to get my head around. I just don't have that 'badass tough guy' personality. I've had long, shaggy guitar player hair my whole life. Bah! Such a drag.

Oh, on a side note, though I never noticed any sides when I was in my 20s on fin, there were some things I experienced afterwards that may have had to do with it, that I'm really not sure. Ie--I used to often have watery semen, and this was for a long while, and was years after stopping fin. I never knew that was a potential fin side at the time so I never connected the dots, and I also just kinda thought, "well, I guess some guys have that." It was also yellowy sometimes. Also, I hadn't had morning erections for years. I thought it was a thing that just went away with late teen/early 20s horniness. Then, out of nowhere, within the last few months, same time frame as when my hair started falling out again, morning wood came back with a vengeance as an almost daily thing. Also my erections have been better, harder, easier to get and keep, and more frequent than they have in who knows how long. Recently, I would get them midday, for no reason other than a hot girl would walk by, or I'd even just have thoughts of someone. Now, again, I have no idea if any of this has anything to do with fin, so I may be utterly grasping at straws here. But after coming back to research fin recently, all these years later, there were some things that have happened over the years that were similar to what some people describe as lingering effects. Then again, I didn't have bad problems with libido or erections all that time, just less frequent wood and some watery instances. It's really hard to say. I could be randomly connecting dots in reverse like a loon. But it seems weird to me that out of nowhere, all these years later, my hair would start falling out and at the same time, my erections et al would suddenly be better than they have in years. Maybe it's just an unrelated jump in testosterone or something of the sort? No idea. Long story short, I'm confused....which would be fine, so long as I could continue to be confused with a magnificent head of hair.

Wow, your story is almost identical to mine. I first tried Fin about 13-14 years ago(?) and took it for about 6-9 months. Around that time I had a small HT. I then stopped Fin even though I wasn't discernibly feeling sides. I just didn't like the idea of staying on a med like that for decades. So I came off it. Then, for whatever reason, I lost barely any hair for the next dozen or so years. I really don't know why. Then suddenly, around a year ago, I started losing a lot, and continue to do so till today. I am now 37, and just like you, after 12+ years off fin, and after many months of indecisiveness, I finally went and got some. I took 0.5mg every other day for just 1 week and already noticed some sides. I had been having very regular morning erections, and erections in general had been stronger and better lately than in a long while. Within a week of taking fin, no morning wood, and erections were weaker, harder to achieve, hard to keep, and felt slightly numb. Also occasionally felt some sharp pains in the shaft, very brief, but still. It is possible these are early sides that would subside with continued usage, or even totally possible this is entirely psychosomatic. However, I think even just these few days have turned me off from fin. #1 because it does feel like the sides were legitimate, and #2, because even if they aren't, I see that psychosomatic issues can be bad enough. So as of now, I don't think I will be continuing on fin. I will continue using Regenepure, and will consider adding Min and/or other things, but I think both for the legitimate risk, and for the fact that maybe I've just read too much about PFS for my own good, that maybe fin just isn't for me.

I'm also interested in topical fin. Unfortunately, it's not really available in the US yet. Hasson & Wong in Canada make some, but scripts are only available to Canadians, and I think you have to go to their office in Vancouver in person. Not sure where you are or if that's an option. But as far as I know, there really isn't much availability in the US other than, maybe, through some sketchy online pharmacies or something. Also, I don't hear much from people on this forum that are actually using the H&W topical, so not sure about effectiveness/side effects/etc I do wonder sometimes why it's not become a popular option, ie- why haven't any companies produced and marketed a viable topical option? Makes me think there may be a similar problem with side effects, in which case, if one were to have fairly equal risk of sides, might as well just take a pill rather than spread something all over your head daily. Either that or maybe since oral form is FDA approved, it's easy for companies to make their own Fin and sell it, while making a topical might require a new FDA approval, which is slow and expensive. Ultimately, it's not currently an easily obtained option for most of us. So, again, our options are more or less oral fin versus baldness. A bleak set of choices.

Trump takes finasteride - NY Times A bit off topic, but an article that says Trump takes fin. So whacked out as his hair is, we know why it's still on his head. In case the html link doesn't work-- https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/us/politics/trump-prostate-drug-hair-harold-bornstein.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

Story of all our lives, man. Seems so simple, right? Just let me keep my hair without risking my dick and/or brain. Not asking to win the lottery here. It's really gotten disheartening though, seeing more and more visible spots open up on my head every few weeks. Really don't know what to do. I actually went and saw a Dr. and got a prescription for fin, but still haven't committed to taking it. Those pfs stories scared the f outta me. I really wish there were just a solution for this.

Moderators---sorry, just realized this was in the Drugs section of the forum, and should've been in general/open topics or somewhere. Please feel free to move if necessary.

Just a bit of an odd thought, would transplants harvested from one person's head grow successfully on another person's? There should be no issue with that, in theory, right? Like organ transplants. I wonder if there could ever be a market for outside donors selling some transplants to those willing to pay. Like guys who didn't need/want an HT, but could use the money. Maybe I can start a gofundme page and a bunch of random dudes can just donate like 10 grafts each. And I can get plugged up like a champion.

I still don't get, with the oral being legal here, what the f-n hold up with a topical is. How is it possible, with the huge sales of oral fin, that no company in the US has brought out a topical yet? I mean, I know the FDA is probably slow as shit, but you'd think by now... I'm seriously considering trying to just find someone in Canada willing to fill a script and mail me a tube.

Re: prostate cancer--as I recall, the study I read said not that fin CAUSES that cancer, but that it can mask symptoms due to its effect on the prostate, which can result in false negatives for a man who in all likelihood would have gotten that cancer anyway, and that can allow the cancer more time to spread further. So fin doesn't cause the issue, but may make it harder to detect. (My memory on this is a bit fuzzy, though.) As far as other sides, the medicine is the same, so you statistically have the same % of chance of having sides now as you did then. But, yes, stories of bad effects from sides are much more prevalent now than they were a few years back. I'm in a similar boat. I took fin in my early/mid 20s (I'm now 37) for a bit less than a year. It did seem to halt my hair loss, and I don't recall having any sides, but I didn't like the idea of being on it indefinitely, so I stopped. Then, for whatever reason, my hair loss didn't really resume to a worrisome degree until about the last year or so. Now I'm shedding a lot and have gone back and forth on the idea of using fin. But now, with all the horror stories out there, I am very reluctant to do it. Also, I've started to wonder, did that ~1 year on fin affect me slightly for these last ~13 years? I know it's probably crazy, but I was shedding a lot, started fin, shedding stopped, then stopped fin but hairloss didn't resume for a loooooong time. And at the same time as hairloss has resumed, I've noticed some other stuff, like my semen was suddenly thicker/less watery than in years, morning wood came back as a very regular thing, erections come easier and more often now than in years. Now, I know this is all uber-anecdotal, and I may be crazy...but I don't know, it seems like things that had been gone for years and I chalked up to aging are now coming back out of nowhere, and at the same time as hairloss has resumed. The very idea that maybe 1yr of fin altered my body for that long is terrifying. But I could just be batshit insane. I wish the old story on fin were true--ie, try it, if you have sides, wait it out or stop and they WILL go away. If that were the case, I'd have started months ago. But the stories out there about PFS and the cognitive issues and genital shrinkage et al, no matter how low the odds of being one of those guys, those are mortifying, utterly horrifying potential sides. So, here I am, balder by the week, and still unsure. So, in closing....I have no real advice for you. You just gotta decide if stopping baldness is worth the gamble; because, essentially, with current options, for most of us the choice really is gamble on propecia vs. guaranteed baldness. Sigh.

Ditto. This is what I'm wondering. If the oral version is legal, I don't understand what the hold up is with the topical.

Awesome, thanks for the replies all. I think I'm finally ready to give it a go with fin. I have been really reluctant due to potential sides et al, but I'm shedding a lot and it's only gonna get worse. I tried being zen about it and 'accepting myself,' but visualizing myself as a totally bald dude seems to be overriding the buddha in me. And yeah, I wouldn't risk it with some sketchy online pharmacy or anything. I'll go through CVS or something like that so it will be legit. But it's good to know that generics are an option if propecia itself is too pricey.

Hey all, Just curious if there is thought to be any difference in quality, safety, efficacy, or anything else other than price with Propecia vs generic finasteride. Is there any known uptick in risk of side effects with generic, or are generics less effective? Just curious. I know the ingredients are the same, but I recall reading somewhere on a forum that someone was told by a doctor some generics may be more risky in terms of potential sides.

Never heard of it until just now. All I can say up front is that if it's been around for nearly 30 years and it really worked, I'm pretty sure it would be way more well known by now. I think with these things, there's usually a reason you haven't heard of them. Especially something that's been around forever.

Nicely done. Sounds like a good plan, and I'm glad to hear someone getting positive effects from a lower dosage.

Good luck! I'm still on the fence at the moment, but will admit I have moved from 'hell no' to 'ok, maybe' on fin. We'll see,

I was wondering...this is the first I'm hearing of ED tied to minox.

Just curious, if you don't mind sharing, what dose are you taking now? And I know you said you have no sides, but are you seeing discernible results in terms of hair maintenance or regrowth? I've been considering trying fin, going daily for a few months to stop loss and hopefully get some new growth, and then cutting back to a partial dose, like 3 days a week, or something, and just seeing if there's a sweet spot where I can get good maintenance on minimum usage, coupled with other things such as certain shampoos, vitamins, et al But I'm still uncertain, for all the reasons we've been discussing here with sides/long term/etc etc.

Well, though they may be rare, it's the potential for persistent sides after stopping fin that scares many away. There are horror stories out there. And even if those don't occur, as mentioned in this thread, not everyone is comfortable with the idea of messing with hormones and the endocrine system for years or even decades. We really don't know what that might do over time. The body is extremely complex, and hindering a major hormonal process really might be a terrible idea. Or many men may never end up with issues from it. We don't know for sure. But I certainly don't find it 'mind blowing' that a certain % of guys are reluctant, or even plainly unwilling, to gamble with their bodies that way. We don't have good studies of long term effects of these processes, so caution is understandable. Remember, there was a time when thousands and thousands of people smoked cigarettes because they were thought to be perfectly healthy. Seems pretty mind-blowing in retrospect.

I believe it. Can I ask what regimen you have, if any? Ie- finasteride, rogaine, shampoos, raw cow placenta smoothies, anything?

I'm not against HTs either by any means, I'm just staying patient on getting one done right away, because I feel I'm still in a phase where I need to find a way to stabilize the loss first, so I can have a smarter plan of attack for HT. I do worry a bit about rushing in and using too much donor supply without knowing the future loss, especially because I'm not desirous to use propecia, let alone indefinitely for decades. So you've strengthened your front, but what about your crown and top, and do you know how much donor you have left? Are you ok with having a strong front but eventually going bald on top and back, or are you using rogaine or etc? I'm not saying this as a critique, I just like to hear others' plans to get an idea of what might make sense et al Shallow is a relative term. If you're one of those who can easily accept baldness, shave and move on, then that's great and congrats. But if not, no need to add even more pressure by chastising yourself with the "shallow" label. We're a visual species, we judge by appearances, simple facts. It is what it is. And I think it's really important, as you said, to be happy and confident, and looking your best helps a shitload with that. Fact.

Do you have a specific protocol you use? Ie- specific juices/veggies in certain amounts, or do you just wing it? And if you do have a set plan, do you gear it specifically towards things thought to improve hair growth, or do you just do it for health purposes, and the hair was a bonus? Would love some insight, if you wouldn't mind. I actually have a juicer, and would like to start using it more for general health improvement. Uber bonus if hairs start a'poppin.

For me it gives me a lot of anxiety and depression. The anxiety was bad enough during a recent shed that I was losing sleep and just feeling super wiped out after a few weeks, and ended up getting sick with an infection. I am convinced the infection happened because the anxiety wore down my immune system. I've had spells in the past from other big stressors where I went through long bouts of very high anxiety (weeks, sometimes months) and at the end of those spells I always get sick, usually some kind of bacterial infection or similar. In general, the hair loss just makes me feel ugly. I hate the way it looks. I'm a musician and have had long black hair my whole life, and now my part is widening visibly and the front is sparse, and I can feel in general it's just less dense. I notice people checking it out whenever they're talking to me up close, I know how it glares when I'm in the sun or bright light. It just makes me feel insecure and ugly. I really don't like wearing hats, and based on my features and head shape/size, I don't think I would look good shaved, and really don't want to try it out. If I were able to stop my loss now with meds, then I'd still have a decent head of hair left, and 1 medium sized HT would help fix the problem areas. But the only thing that really seems to work is propecia, and I can't seem to get off the fence on it. I'm 'this close' to trying it, but when I read some side effect stories, I just feel the risk is too big. Also, I feel like there may be long term effects we don't know yet if you mess with your hormones daily for years on end. But, I also know a lot of guys take it for years and are generally ok. I don't know. I keep trying to get myself to just accept my hair loss and not make such a thing of it, but I can't help it, it makes me feel like shit when talking to a girl and I see her eyes constantly ricocheting up to my thinning hairline. And just the thought of being a bald guy just depresses the crap out of me. I really wish I didn't care, and could just be zen about it. But as of yet, it bothers me to the point of depression and obsession, and I'm not sure how to handle it.

Awesome, thanks for the advice.

Hey, just bumping this topic once. Any advice? Anyone...anyone...Bueller?