4 months on Fin & Minox, beginning to see results

BeardedOne · March 19, 2014

Hello all, thought I'd share with you my update/progress on the meds. There doesn't seem to be too many logs on just meds here but I think this should be the first port of call for anyone considering a HT.

The Background: I started finasteride on 21 November so I'm creeping up on 4 months now. Touch wood but I'm beginning to see some decent regrowth - whether the smaller, darker hairs become fully terminal again I don't know. My initial desire was to go straight for the HT but that was in my ignorance, really, and I'm glad I opted for the meds first.

First, a caveat: Until today I have been taking photos with a good Canon SLR camera, and it just seems to penetrate right through any smaller hairs as if they weren't there. I thought that it would be best to use maximum light exposure etc but it just whitewashed the smaller hairs in favour of the skin and didn't pick up any of the new little fellas. I have recent enough pics with the SLR as well so you can compare my progress with that, but I believe that today's photos, with my iPhone, capture quite well the progress made. Anyway, it's not like I'm cheating. It's one of those things your teacher used to say to you about school exams, 'you'd only be cheating yourself'! I think from now on I will take only iPhone shots, they're far easier to take than with a larger camera and I can keep track of the new guys better. There is also a discrepancy with some of the SLR shots as I used flash in one set.

I have attached the progress photos to this post but if it's easier I will break down the posts according to the months taken?

The difference: it's not like I'm able to style any of these new hairs yet, but I believe they do make a cosmetic difference, in terms of the 'shadow' of a hairline. Hopefully, hopefully, they thicken up a little more and become part of my actual haircut! Further, I don't feel that MPB itch anymore - unless I drop out of a dose. I decided to cut down my dosage to just under 1mg a day (I cut a 5mg tab into 6), and the fact that I'm waiting for delivery of my next batch means I'm just trying to stretch out my last few tabs to make it over the line. It took a few months to actually realise but noticing that the MPB itch was gone was perhaps the best signifier that it's working for me.

The Emotional/Confidence difference: well, right now I'm doing everything I can. Seriously. In my line of work I am just not sure I will be able to get a HT. So I take my fin, I apply rogaine twice a day (now doing foam in the morning and liquid in the evening before bed), I use a 2% ket shampoo a couple of times a week, and I take MSN and biotin. Already, this has done a lot for my confidence. I've mentioned before that it's not really about attracting girls or whatever, it's a deep down 'how I see myself' confidence, and I do think that doing what I can has worked. I feel just, better. Because I'm doing something for myself that requires discipline. I still get that hair anxiety from time to time, but more and more I am getting to know myself (my hair?) like this and accepting it.

The Sides: I have noticed, from time to time, that I've had slight ball ache. Nothing too serious. It's probably happened for a grand total of 4 or 5 days over the last 4 months, and only really slight, and only for a short period of time. I have possibly experienced a drop in libido at certain times (and definitely a rise in libido at the start), but I know how psychosomatic libido is so I'm just trying to ignore it. I'm in a steady relationship and, it sounds funny, but every time I get any sort of doubt I 'test myself' with my partner and so far all seems well! On the whole sensitivity thing down there - I have noticed too, sometimes, that it feels a little different. But it's not like that all the time, it's not bad at all and not very different. Besides, I reduced the dosage somewhat and feel better for it. So on the whole, and I hope I'm not jinxing myself, the sides have been easily manageable.

I'm such a waffler. Sorry for the long post! Now to the pictures. As I mentioned I tried to organise them so you can see the pre-finasteride pic first according to each angle:

oscard89 · March 27, 2014

Looks good man! I have been on Minoxidil for three months and am seeing some progress. I am thinking about adding on Propecia. Do you think this would cause an additional shed? i should have started both at the same time!

GoForIt · March 28, 2014

Looks good man! I have been on Minoxidil for three months and am seeing some progress. I am thinking about adding on Propecia. Do you think this would cause an additional shed? i should have started both at the same time!

I was on minoxidil for a while before starting finasteride. For the first 3 months my hair thinned quite a bit - but no one said a thing, no one treated me differently. I do not think they noticed. Starting month 4 I thought my hair looked a little fuller /thicker and I started to get complements on my 'hair cut'. This continued to slowly improve uNtil month 6, and now my hair seems to be improving rapidly month to month ( at month 8 now).

What is 3 months of thinning hair to years of better hair? One study of finasteride even showed men getting continued improvement over 10 years!

Rootz · March 28, 2014

Nice documentation, thanks for sharing man

BeardedOne · March 30, 2014

oscard89, I noticed a shed for about a month after I started fin, so yeah you probably will experience that too. But it's positive, I thought of it as a way to make room for new, healthier hairs.

BeardedOne · April 15, 2014

I've definitely noticed a lot of hairs appearing around the hairline, and I think my hair is overall thicker. I definitely worry about my hair a LOT less, even if it's far from perfect.

The hairs at the hairline look better in some of the photos - I can't really style them yet and they're much shorter than the rest, although I hope they will grow out to match. The main difference, so far, that the hairs at the hairline make is that they create a sort of shadow of a hairline. They definitely make the receding far less noticeable. It's not like my hairline always received a lot of attention but there were a few glances here and there, and I've noticed far less of that.

I'm very happy with how things are going so far. Sides have been practically negligible.

NOTE

I ran out of my script for (proper) finasteride and I ordered some off the internet - bad mistake, I will NOT be doing that again. They were basically duds and I felt horrible on them, and I noticed a return of the MPB itch. I was on them for 2 weeks or more. I noticed my hair getting worse during this period - just generally unhealthier. I went to my GP here and he gave me a new prescription and happily things are getting better again.

I've included my before shots and also my 5 month update shots: