Peach fuzz???

[snowguy]

Hi everyone, I've been a lurker on the forums for some time now, and figured it was time to join the discussion! I'm 23, and judging from family photos I started losing my hair at about 18. I've only become highly self conscious about it within the last year. I've got mostly a receeding hairline, but a small amount of crown thinning too. Anyways, I've been using rogaine foam for 4 months and generic finasteride for about 2 months. Just the other day I was looking closely at the bald skin on my high temples and noticed tiny, tiny blonde hairs, like peach fuzz, on the skin. I don't know if they've always been there, but if so I've never noticed them before. Has anyone experienced this? I know rogaine isn't "supposed" to regrow a receeding hairline, and the area the peach fuzz covers is quite large, but I would like to hope that this is real, new hair. Am I simply being naive? I appreciate all input.

[SH1970]

I've experienced the same thing- but I'm just doing Rogaine, Nizoral and Nioxin Recharging Complex. About 6 weeks after I started, I noticed the peach fuzz. As of now, about 8 weeks in, probably 50%-60% of the peach fuzz has grown out. It's a different type of hair though - it has some wave in it (rest of my hair is straight). It's a little thinner, but fairly close to the 'old hair'. Most of them are probably in the 1" range, but some of them are just crazy long - had one yesterday that was probably close to 4"-when the longest 'old' hair in that area is maybe 2". Showed it to my wife and remarked that it looked like a whisker on our cat becasue it was so much longer than anything else & stuck straight out.

 

In the last few days, I've noticed something new - instead of the peach fuzz, I'm getting more of a stubble look - like regular hair but just real short. Definitely darker & thicker than the peach fuzz of the same length. It will be interesting to see if these grow out the same.

 

All of this is in the receding areas - as well as the crown. 2 months ago, there was a definite line of sparser hair on the top and thick hair on the sides - now I can't see any difference. Not sure how much (in measurement) the recessive areas (is that a word?) have filled in, but if I was to connect a line from the front peak to the temple area, I'd say maybe half has filled back in. Not quite as thick as the rest yet, but it's getting there.

[mahhong]

Hi snowguy,

 

Sounds like you might be getting some growth in the hairline! It's not entirely uncommon for these drugs to improve your hairline (especially if you're fairly young and the hairloss has only been active within the past 5 years or so) and these usually starts as "peach fuzz" and then grows into darker and more substantial hair as the fuzz matures and the health of the follicles improves.

 

In trials Minoxidil and Propecia were only studied in respects to their effects on the crown/vertex area. Because of this the drugs can only be advertised as having an effect in these areas, because officially there is little or no concrete data on the effects at the hairline. In reality, though, a lot of men post positive feedback about growth at the front of their hair and in the hairline so it's certainly possible you're one of them. In general these drugs tend to be 'not as effective' in the hairline/frontal areas as in the back, due to generally unknown reasons (though there are some theories), but I have seen very good results from propecia/minoxidil in the hairlines and frontal regions so stay optimistic and keep up with the treatment and hopefully in the next 6-12 months that peach fuzz will develop into much more susbtantial hair!

[snowguy]

Excellent! That is very exciting news. Now, can a HT surgeon implant new hairs around these ones after they've grown into real hair, assuming I get decent growth but not quite the density I would like? Thanks so much for your help in this!

[Swimmy]

Excellent! That is very exciting news. Now, can a HT surgeon implant new hairs around these ones after they've grown into real hair, assuming I get decent growth but not quite the density I would like? Thanks so much for your help in this!

 

You should order some Juveline and terminals 1. I'm not on minox or propecia but that stuff alone is causing all kinds of growth in the front for me. They may help boost those vellus hairs into terminals.