Shedding hair with tapered ends after 3.5 months on Regaine/Finasteride

[lmt400]

I have been using Finasteride and Regaine 5% for approx 3.5 months on diffuse hairloss triggered by a TE, after having also been diagnosed with AGA.

 

After approx 2 months i noticed a dramatic slow down in my hair shedding and a lot of new hair on my hairline (whether this was a result of the drugs or just hair that was growing back after the TE - I dont know). However, in the past 1 - 2 weeks I've noticed a lot of shedding again, but its all "tapered" ended hair - i.e. hasnt been cut. Most is about 4 or 5cm long, so probably about 3 months old.

 

Is there anything particular which would cause this? Ive recently switched to generic minox. I use Nizoral 2% eveyr other day. Im on 1mg finasteride per day.

 

About the same time as this started I experienced a really bad dandruff. Lasted 3 or 4 days, my head itched a lot. In the end i combed my head until the dandruff stopped (there was an amazing amount) - and the itching hasnt really come back. Maybe this was built up regaine on my scalp - i dont know.

 

Sometimes I wonder if my application method for the regaine is good - i have longish hair for a guy (7-8cm), and i always end up with wet hair after applying, so im wasting at least some of it. My hairloss was mainly diffuse, so its hard to spread the 1ml over my entire head.

 

Finally, on occasion in the last 1.5 months, ive been known to drink to excess, and also smoke every now and then (binge drink and binge smoke, i guess). While I know the other health reasons not to do this (and ive cut down a lot on the partying) - is there any way this could cause a noticable change in hairloss? Im not a "smoker" as in I dont smoke during th e week.

 

Any ideas would be great guys as its going to take me about 3 months to get to see another derm here.

 

Thanks