Shedding or rapid hair loss?

[kaliber]

I have always had a really receded hairline. However, over the last year I noticed thinning on the top of my head. I began taking propecia at the end of december and I started using minoxidil 5% twice a day and now the thinning looks like a huge bald spot.

 

Please review the pictures. They were taken a month apart. Any advice would be appreciated.

[dip_alone]

if u use minox ....shedding will appear....point is....whether the lost hair...will come back...thats a unknown factor.

 

4 me...they did not....and i stopped using.

[kaliber]

I think you gave up too early homey. You should lose hair at first but that is because it is preparing to grow back in stronger and fuller from what I understand.

[Einstein]

Kaliber, stick with your current regimen and for the love of God don't stop it unless sides are untolerable. You should start seeing postive results from months 4-6 onwards.

 

Btw, I find it strange you have a near bald spot dead center your vertex. In your hairloss pattern it looks as if you will keep receding from the front towards the back if it were to progress, or thinning from the crown outward and eventually meeting with your front. Eitherway, stick to your regimen.

 

Shedding/hairloss, what's the difference? If you're asking if it's a shed due to your 2 week finasteride and minoxidil treatment then no, I very much doubt you'd experience a shed to that degree that fast.

Edited January 17, 2011 by Einstein

[kaliber]

Einstein-I thought that was weird too. I wonder if that is a result from spinning on my head a lot during my breakdancing years. Thanks for the observation and my hopes are that my regiment at least halts my hair loss. I might get a minor fue procedure in the future just to fill in the temples some. I don't mind having a receding hairline. I think it looks good with age.

[kaliber]

6 months of propecia. I'm not quitting I'm just doubting things are getting any better or that they have even halted hiar loss.

[Spanker]

Hard to tell, but give it another 6 months. You could be just now recovering from a shed of miniturized hairs from the fin.

[Posrex]

Hi Kaliber,

 

I'm experiencing the same thing in terms of continued shedding after 7+ months of being on fin. All I have noticed during that time is that my hair has gotten a lot thinner all over and I've been losing a lot of hair on this particular spot in the front of my hairline which is causing my hair to part in a way that never used to. I have short thin hair and my front hair just used to grow straight out. Now that I've been losing volume and thickness, the front no longer holds together well.

 

I haven't added minox to my regimen yet because i feel like the added shedding to be induced by starting rogaine would make things worse. As people have responded, i hope that this is the beginning stages and that the hair will grow back...but it's been a while now and i haven't noticed a halt in hair loss (rather an acceleration) nor any signs of regrowth. My diffused thinning has just gotten progressively worse...

 

anyways, i feel for you man and hope for the best for you...us.

[Spanker]

I am 11 months on fin and I think my shedding has increased, altho I can't tell that there has been any loss.

 

Maybe just a bit where I was alread miniturized but not sure.

[haircut]

Some MD's will even tell you to give it two years.

[mattj]

I think the dead-centre bald spot could be a bit of an illusion in the first set of photos, due to the low level of light. The other photos make it appear like you have a typical loss of density throughout the vertex.

 

It's hard to be sure because the lighting and the way your hair is styled differs from pic to pic, but I think your hair looks much thicker and healthier after these 6 months on Propecia. It looks like more than simply the result of having longer hair now. The next 6 months might bring further improvement.

 

Also, if your first photos were taken after only around a year of thinning, then that suggests quite a rapid and aggressive rate of hairloss, so it's promising that after a further six months things haven't deteriorated.

Edited July 29, 2011 by mattj

[kaliber]

I started propecia back in January and I added minoxidil seriously about 2-3 weeks ago.

 

I've always had a very receded hairline but it's the hair loss on the top of my head that has me really concerned.

[kaliber]

Regardless of what happens this feels like a fun science experiment. Thank you everyone for your help and support and comments!

 

First two pictures are from a year ago. The third picture is from either April or March of this year.

[auteur55]

This is ridiculous folks does this stuff work or not. I"m 9 1/2 months on Fin quartered and my hair has nothing but get worse and worse. And before I got on this stuff it was thinning very slow. My acceleration has been noticeable by everyone. It's disheartening to get on here and find out everyone seems to be shedding hair 10 or 11 months into this. Have we all been bamboozled by the pharma company? Could this stuff be making us worse? Can we demand our money back and compensation if our hair actually got worse on this crap?

[kaliber]

I originally started both propecia and rogaine at the same time but because I moved to Korea I stopped the Rogaine. However, since I started it again about a month ago I noticed severe shedding and what was once getting better deteriorated quickly. However, a heavy shed should mean a heavy return. At the end of the day, it's just hair anyways and since I'm already going bald no reason to quit this train until I atleast reach one year.

[kaliber]

I think I note improvement.