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. 

25 minutes ago, Judelaw said:

Totally up to you bro, but please read the posts of guys telling you to quit the drug. Dude warning of “lawsuits” creates a new account asking for surgeons that will do mega sessions without finasteride then tells young guys to make the same mistake. That’s a living hell and outweighs the risk of possible decreased morning wood imo. 

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

1 minute ago, DavidFrancis said:

I have the same issues and same question.. 

Now its better for you ? 

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

2 hours ago, DavidFrancis said:

I have the same side effects, loss of morning woods.m at 0,5mg per day.

Do you think its better to decrease at 0,25mg per day, or 0,5mg per day 1 day /2

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.

8 hours ago, yesplease said:

Occasional loss of morning wood isn’t a biggie. Consistent loss of it could indicate processes related to ED and/or its onset. So yes, personally, I would keep an eye on that if you choose to continue fin. 

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.

1 hour ago, DavidFrancis said:

Hi friend;

i have the same problem;

is it a solution to stop for two weeks to make a break of fin ? 
or it will destroy the benefits of fina

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

28 minutes ago, Ghhh said:

Real alpha males don’t get fin side effects especially sexual ones . 1/8th and getting side effects lol 

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?

2 hours ago, StillAlive said:

Nizoral 2% and 320mg of Saw Palmetto daily (ideally mixed in with some other hair boosting multivit) and see where it gets you. Minimal maintenance, your hair is quite good for 37, if this regimen stabilizes you, you may need a single HT to get a juvenile hairline. 

(If my hair looked like yours at 37, I'd never even consider an HT. You don't look like a dude with hair loss at all.)

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

11 minutes ago, mr_peanutbutter said:

stick to topical

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

5 hours ago, BurnieBurns said:

What sticks out to me is when you said you didn't think topical finasteride was working?

There's little reason to believe it wouldn't. Can you give specifics?

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

2 hours ago, Curious25 said:

Your loss isn’t that bad relative to your age. Crown seems solid enough, and you have a diffused pattern of loss across your hairline and frontal third - a hair loss type which usually responds very well to meds. 
 

I would recommend; 

- Discussing oral minoxidil 5mg daily with a reputable doctor. 
 

- Using 2% Nizoral twice weekly 

 

- Sourcing a compounded topical finasteride from a reputable pharmacy, ideally associated with a reputable hair transplant surgeon. 
 

Other options,

you could try a low dose of oral propecia such as 0.25mg on a 1 on 2 off schedule, and gradually build from there, given you feel ok. 
 

source a surgeon to perform 3 monthly dutasteride mesotherapy. 
 

Add in microneedling 1.5mm every 10 days. 
 

Good Luck. 

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

2 hours ago, GoliGoliGoli said:

As far as the itching/burning goes, I will say that although I've never experienced "burning", Nizoral does a great job of getting rid of any itching. I sometimes get itchy on my crown area where most of my loss is concentrated, but the Nizoral seems to take care of that. I use it about twice per week. 

As far as the utility of topical fin, it seems that fin is absorbed pretty well. Some studies show that topical reduces serum DHT about as much as oral so if you aren't getting sides from topical I wouldn't necesarilyl asume that means it isn't working either

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 😊

8 hours ago, LookMaxx said:

It seems like you’re using more than 1/3 of mg of fin if you apply 2ml but I am not particularly good at maths. I remember Kevin (haircafe) using a much more diluted solution than two 1mg tabs in 12ml. But if you’re convinced your math is right then ignore my post.

 

That’s why I mean if you might have had placebo effect on oral fin because the topical does get absorbed to bloodstream to a lesser extent than oral and suppresses DHT in bloodstream. But if you don’t get sides from topical then great.

Fin does get absorbed through skin rather easily so don’t worry about topical not being effective for hairloss. 

 

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