jr1986

Thought I'd update as it might be of interest to other who struggled on fin. As I've already posted, fin caused me brainfog from the get go. It was horrible, basically hit an hour or 2 after taking it and persisted most of the day. For those that say it's all in your head I experimented with puting a 1/8th of fin inside a vit d capsule, the chose between one with and without fin, at the end of the day I'd check which one I'd taken. It was very easy to tell when I had taken the fin. Also had a couple if days I felt great, only to find when I got home I'd left my bit of fin tablet on my desk and had forgotten to take it. However I persisted and about 3 months ago started noticing my daily brain fog was not as bad. I started taking 1/8th of 1 mg everyday as opposed to 5 times a week. About a month ago I started taking 1/6ths and in the last week I'm taking 1/4mg some days. Brain fog has been minimal with this higher dose. 1/8th now causes basically no problems. I'm going to try and work up to 1/4mg most days. Morning wood was another problem, it disappeared when I started fin. However in the last few months I've had a few days here and there when I woke with a solid MW. Apart from this I've no other problems. Hair is looking really healthy although it hasn't thickened, it isn't staw like anymore. So at the moment I'm happy. I'm not sure if it took time for my body to adjust but I'm glad I kept going. TLDR started fin on low dose 11 months ago, had horrible brain fog but over time symptoms subsided and have been able to increase dose without major sides.

I personally failed to get the finasteride in tablets to disolve into ethanol despite the fact it is supposed to be freely soluble. I tried numerous methods including heating and shaking violently, all failed

Thought is give an update. I have continued taking a small dose of fin, around and 1/8 of a mg about 5x a week. I am still getting a bit of brain fog, so take the odd day off. Some days I don't get it at all. Also still have a loss of morning wood. However after a recent haircut after it had grown quite long I got a pleasant surprise. Normally when I styled it the thinning area would not hold shape and would basically collapse. This did not happen. I then realised that the hair looks healthier and rather than being dry and sick looking is beginning to shine. I thought at first I was imaging it but I'm now convinced it has improved.

You think loss of morning wood is okay and can be ignored?

Just wondering what is available in the United Kingdom, either topical finasteride or even topical dut? Looking for something without minoxidil. Xyon looks interesting but I don't think it's available here? Thanks

Went back on fin yesterday, but i had nearly a week off it and morning wood came back after about 3 days and had it a couple of mornings. I expect it will be absent now that I'm on fin again

Even at a low dose, oral fin stopped my morning wood altogether. Took a break for a few days and it started coming back. Because it basically happens while you sleep I cannot possibly see how it could be nocebo effect or in the mind in anyway. I'm pretty certain it's as a direct result of altering your hormones. I'm almost 3months in, I guess the question is will my morning wood come back on its own in a few months if I continue taking fin? I have my doubts tbh

You could try cutting back, I'm at such a low dose already I'm not sure there's much point. I don't know if loss of morning wood matters or not, but I've read of people experiencing penis shrinkage on fin, although that might not be true I sort of think regular mw is important keeping everything operating correctly.

Update, decided to stop for a few days. On day 3 woke up with strong morning wood, first of 2023.

Thanks, eq seems normal when it comes to sex at the moment but morning wood 99% gone so the hormonal shift clearly affects it, I'm sleeping fine, the only thing different is the fin.

You might not lose benifits but yo-yoing dht levels is not meant to be a good thing

Neither do they go trolling on hairloss forums but such is life

I haven't no, I'm not sure how available topical are in the UK. Would you consider complete loss of morning wood a deal breaker? Thanks

Hi everyone, last year I attempted to get on finasteride but struggled with side effects, mainly brain fog and I eventually stopped. At the start of this year I made a 3rd attempt, only taking 1/8th of a mg per day. This time the brain fog hasn't been as bad, can sort of live with it. However like the last time I have lost morning wood almost completely. Sexual function seems okay at the moment but I'm concerned about the loss of night time errections as I understood they the important for penis health? 1/8th per day is a low dose but I can say it has stopped my head itching almost completely so I'm sure it does some good. Any advice?

Unfortunately my experience was different, I always thought if my hairloss got bad enough I could take fin and be fine. Sadly I did have horrible sides, so I've no regrets not taking it earlier. Now on topical fin, no side but not sure its doing any good either

Thought I'd update this if anyone is interested. Still using my home made topical. Current formula is- 5ml 96% alcohol 5ml propolyne glycol 2ml distilled water 4 1mg finasteride tablets I'm using a mortar and pestle to crush the tablets into a very fine powder, add to the solution and shake vigorously then leave a few hours before using. I'm using 2-2.5ml 2nights in a row, then taking the third off. Solution lasts about a week. I have zero sides at all except that it seems to make my head itch worse than before. Only sign of encouragement I've seen is it appears I'm not shedding as much hair as I was before fin. This might just be a coincidence, but I used to see quite a bit of hair on my hands in the shower but this seems to have reduced.

I've had this for years in my thinning area. I do not necessarily think it correlates to aggressive balding, more scalp sensitivity. I've had it a long time and still have a lot of hair left. Washing hair helps for a day or 2, but repeated washing every day with head and shoulders makes it worse! It's aver fine line, so I normally only use shampoo once or twice a week. Oral finasteride helped a lot, but I had to stop due to sides. I'm now on topical finasteride with propolyne glycol and alcohol, this has made the itch worse. So now I can't tell if topical is helping or not. Going to get nizoral and see if it helps

Hi everyone, For the past few years I have experienced itchiness in the area I'm thinning in, which is 95% restricted to the left side of my forelock. Lot of people claim this is dht attacking the follicles, or that its seb derm. Whatever it is it can be quite annoying. I normally only shampoo with head and shoulders once or twice a week, otherwise I just use water. Washing seems to bring relief for a day. Thinking it was just dandruff I tried washing every day, although this helped for a couple of days, it soon seemed to make thing a lot worse. To the point where my scalp was burning and pretty painful, but again only in this area on the left. After a week or so I quit and it got better. I tried oral fin for a month, this seemed to sooth my scalp a lot. Due to sides I stopped, but have been using my own homemade topical by crushing pills and adding to ethanol, propolyne glycol and water. I don't know if its working, I've no sides and I guess time will tell. But it seems to have irritated this same area again. Some times it can be pretty sore and very itchy. I'm not sure what I need to do, it this due to dry scalp? If so what can I do to moisturise it? Any thoughts?

Thanks very much, I'm willing to give saw palmetto a go. Is it possible to use it while also applying finasteride topically?

Homemade or should I try sourcing a proper version? I'm in the UK I'm not sure where to get it. Thanks

Well I'm making my own by crushing pills. Current recipe is 5ml ethanol, 5ml propolyne glycol, and 2 ml distilled water. I then crush 3 1mg finasteride and add to the 12ml solution and shake well and leave fir a while. I am applying 2ml per night which is 0.5mg of finasteride each time. What makes me doubt its doing anything is complete lack of any sides and my scalp is itchy where I'm thinning. When I use oral my scalp settled pretty quickly and I was only microdosing using 1/6th of a pill every second day. Its a tiny dose but enough to calm the scalp. It was also enough to cause brain fog and get rid of morning wood. Maybe my topical is working (I'm still using) it's only been about 7 weeks

Thanks for the reply and suggestions. I was already trying a small dose of fin every second day, and it's giving me sides which is quite surprising. The brain fog isn't very nice, and from what I have read even a tiny dose can cause it. If I thought it would go away I would power through a bit longer. But from other things I've read it probably won't go away and it's best to stop

Thanks. Do you think nizoral getting rid of the itch means it's helping or is it just soothing the symptoms as it were? As for my diy topical, I'm waiting for a mortar and pestle to come to crush the pills into a very fine powder as I've noticed there's a lot of bigger bits not fully dissolving. We will see if this makes any difference

I attempted to get on a low dose of fin back in August but encountered side effects. The worst was brain fog, a feeling that you had to force yourself to concentrate, lack of energy and just feeling out of it. I gave up after a month. I had read numerous threads and reddit stories about people making their own topical fin by crushing and dissolving tablet in an alcohol/propolyne glycol/ distilled water solution and claiming results. So I did just this. I have been increasing the strength since I started and have had no side effects what so ever. I can apply 10 times more finasteride in a week than I was taking orally and feel nothing. I honestly don't think this method works. But for those saying my sides on oral were nocebo I'd just say that that did not happen via topical even though I was expecting sides. A second attempt at oral fin in the last week and its the same as the first, feeling out of it completely. At 37 i have frontal thinning, especially in the left. The zone marked red has lost 50% density from baseline. The area itches and burns occasionally, this was greatly diminished with oral fin but not diy topical. Which is one of the reasons I've come to think it doesn't work. Now thinking about minoxidil, saw palmetto and nizoral but is that really enough? Other options are a transplant without fin in my 40s, as I think I'm going to nw4 in the next few years and maybe even higher. Couple of pics. Any suggestions welcome 😊

2mg in 12ml is 1mg per 6ml of solution, so 1/3mg per 2ml dose. Kevin has a video where he dilutes 1.25mg into stemoxydine from L'Oréal. He says that this is a legit way to take finasteride as instructed by his doctor. He says you can use your own alcohol/propolyne glycol solution to. I'll keep going and see what happens