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Sorry don't know why it posted like that, but mpmd has the answers you're looking for here.

Melvin you are truly the GOAT. Thanks man.

Hey man! I've been wanting to get on TRT myself and struggle with how to think about it with regards to hair loss prevention. This guy has a bunch of interesting videos in which he discusses his hair loss regimen along with TRT. Here's one video that may be relevant: Please keep us posted if you do start TRT and record your journey. It will be helpful to so many!

Good luck on your procedure! Keep us posted with how it goes.

First of all, so excited for you getting your ht soon! That is awesome. I will reply on your thread and be watching your progress. I feel I am having the same type of loss that you have. I don't have much thinning on the crown (yet), but I do have thinning in the midscalp area, right behind the transplant. Right now, I can make my hair look okay, since it is a bit long, but I am surprised at how much it has thinned over the past few months. Maybe that's because of a finasteride shed? I can't find any better answer on how to tell between a shed and permanent loss other than: wait and see. I am considering starting microneedling, but don't want to damage any more hair or produce more of a shed. I definitely don't want to put off another procedure and hate the idea of having to wait maybe years through this phase until it is gone enough to transplant. Ugh.

Wow wow wow. How do you feel?

Thanks for starting this topic! Any tricks for wet hair? I haven't really been to pools since covid, but I miss swimming. I guess just a swim cap?

Hey everyone, I am getting close to 10 months since my FUE procedure, which was 1852 grafts into the front (I was at Norwood 3V at the time of surgery). While I am happy with the results of the FUE, I am starting to worry about diffuse thinning behind the transplant area. I am not sure if this is permanent loss or shedding from finasteride, which I started five months ago. I have been taking 0.5mg, and tolerating it well, so I am upping the dose to 1mg per day. I have also used Rogaine since fall 2018. From a quick conversation with my hair surgeon, the plan is to wait another 4-5 months to see if the hair loss is loss or shedding. But I am concerned because it seems very risky to transplant into area that has diffuse thinning—it sounds like the risk to native hair in the area may be too great. That makes me pretty bummed out, because I want to do something about these thin areas and hate to think about wasting any more time. Has anyone had success with a transplant into diffuse thinning, or did you have to wait until the loss was greater? Thank you!

Any luck on getting in touch with Sinclair?

I know how you feel! I've been feeling really down lately and struggling with trying to understand how to differentiate between shedding from fin and hair loss. Is it just a matter of wait-and-see if it grows back? I'm going to stick with it, though, and hope you do, too.

I think this is going to look great. (Also a Dorin alum.) Any updates?

I had a consult with Lopresti and thought it was strange that they charged a flat fee for FUE. At the time, they quoted me $13k whether they were going to do 1000 or 2000. That said, his partner, Leonard, has a great reputation among celebs, having done Dave Portnoy's. To echo the others, five months is a bit too early to tell. Did Lopresti comment at all on your donor and how many grafts he might estimate you have to work with? It sounds like you are doing everything else you can to stabilize and potentially regrow hair. Are you finding that the finasteride etc has stabilized loss elsewhere?

I was concerned about sides so my doctor recommended that I start at 0.5mg per day. I plan to speak with him too after the holiday. But your plan makes a lot of sense. I hope that does the trick too and hair starts growing cause I’m definitely feeling bummed out and nervous about whether this loss is permanent…

Same—also logged on to post on this myself. I started finasteride 0.5mg per day back in late July, so nearly four months. I either have quite a bit of shed or my hair doesn't care about the finasteride and is falling out anyway. It's not super noticeable, though, unless there's a situation in which I lean my head down to my chest or am seen from above (I first noticed when walking through a store and seeing myself from an overhead security camera). I had been thinking about increasing my dose to 1mg per day, but am concerned I will shed even more. Would love to know more about other shed experiences, too...and how bad it was, how long it lasted, how much better it got. Thanks for starting this thread!

Thank you for starting this thread! Exactly what I was looking for. I started 0.5mg finasteride daily back in late July, so nearly fourth months ago. I had been worried about sides, which I fortunately had none of. That said, I did have shedding, for sure. I've been wondering whether to bump up to 1mg since I haven't had sides, but decided to come to this forum to see how well people do on 0.5mg daily. I am also a little nervous that I will get another shed if I bump up to 1mg. I will certainly post my results on 0.5mg finasteride in the coming months.

I also should note that I started 0.5mg finasteride back in late July so am roughly 3 months in. I’ve experienced some shedding (which I hope is) from the fin.

Hey! Here are a few more. Sorry I’m terrible with taking pictures. Happy to take more. I will post some others that I just received from Dr. Dorin that really show how far the hair has come.

Hey everyone, sorry for falling behind. At roughly 8 months, here we are. Had a big milestone: went to get a haircut that I was happy during and after. First time I can say that in years. Still feeling frustrated with lack of growth in some places especially left side and front-and-center. Can I expect more to sprout out at this point? It seems like there’s a lot of dry land where I could swear there were grafts. Seems a little late for hair to be emerging? Please say I’m wrong. Overall though I’m very happy. Life changing, no exaggeration.

I got a 45 degree angle pillow from bed bath and beyond and it was very worth it

I went back to the gym on day 10, wearing a hat. I probably wore the hat for the first couple of sessions, but fortunately my gym looks like a cool dark cave so I didn't wear the hat much after day 14...except everywhere other than the gym, ha.

Five months! Inspired by how Melvin takes pics in non-ideal lighting, I’ve done the same. Everything seems like it’s moving in the right direction even if there are some persistently lagging spots. (Fortunately that describes dead center where it’s super obvious.) Anyway very excited to be at month five! I have high hopes for the next two months. Here are some pics in the least flattering light I could manage!

Yeah, so here's where I feel I'm in a no-win—to try to get more of a shredded look, I'm on a low fat, low sugar, high protein, carb cycle diet that I had a nutritionist and IBFF bodybuilding pro build. (Yes, I paid someone to tell me to eat chicken and rice twice a day and fish and sweet potatoes twice a day and eggs and a protein shake.) But what you're saying about a low fat diet makes a lot of sense.

This is incredible as always. Thank you! Two questions if you have a minute: 1. Do you think it makes sense to take both oral and topical finasteride (if one can tolerate both without sides)? 2. This may be a dumb question but...is it possible to buy from H&W if you live in the US? (I couldn't find on their website so maybe I am just misunderstanding.) I've googled a bunch for topical finasteride but not sure how to tell what's reputable.