Propecia Questions

[Noname2001]

Hi Im a 19 year old (I posted before) and Im going to start taking propecia next week. I want to ask will it halt my beard development? Are side effects common? Are there reverseble? And Is propecia enough? Or should I add anything else? And what is your propecia experience? Did you had any side effects? How long have you been using it? And Is there anyone here that started at my age? 

(I added this tags to that people my age can see it and learn)

[TommyLucchese]

Here's what I did and would recommend...

Begin gradually. Cut up the pill and take half of the pill every 3 days for about 6 weeks. Let your body slowly adjust to the medication. You don't want to be taking the full dose daily for maybe 3 months or so. 

If you do that - and if you don't concern yourself with potential side effects - hopefully you'll see huge improvement in your hair, no change in your beard, and no other side effects.

If you begin worrying about side effects and jump straight into the full dose, you may well get them even if it's just your mind playing tricks on you. 

Look into topical finasteride if you are worried about side effects.

Propecia / finasteride is usually used in conjunction with minoxidil. 5% rogaine foam is good. 

[TorontoMan]

I want to echo what was said above. Start low and build up gradually, you may start at 1mg and worry yourself the entire time as I made the same mistake. Take 0.25mg every third day and I would do this for 6 months. If that’s being tolerated well, do 0.25 every other day for another 6 months. at that point I think you should assess how that dosage is doing for you and if you’re getting prevention stick with it, the percent change from 0.25 up to 1 isn’t as significant as people think. if you do decide to go up do it gradually again. Propecia is still the greatest thing we have for this battle, so I wouldn’t add anything else to your protocol because

1) it may not be necessary

2) you need to trial and see how you tolerate it for at least a couple of years

3) Truthfully, it works best when you pop the pill and move on with your day and not obsess about your hair and the rest of your protocol. 

Given your age I would do this under the guidance of a good doctor, and probably get blood work done to test your baselines of testosterone, dht, estrogen and SHBG, just to have something to reference it doesnt hurt. I would start with fin for a year before adding anything else including minoxidil, and in the next 2-4 years we may get CB-03-01 approved and on the market at a more reasonable price with some safety results. And of course, clean up your diet now and begin exercising regularly, stress and inflammation do play a small role and you need to reduce them. When I was your age I didn't value my sleep and stayed up long nights working and spent a good amount of time out with friends aimlessly drinking and doing other stupid things, a regret. 

Edited November 2, 2020 by TorontoMan

[Richie888]

On 11/2/2020 at 10:27 AM, Noname2001 said:

Hi Im a 19 year old (I posted before) and Im going to start taking propecia next week. I want to ask will it halt my beard development? Are side effects common? Are there reverseble? And Is propecia enough? Or should I add anything else? And what is your propecia experience? Did you had any side effects? How long have you been using it? And Is there anyone here that started at my age? 

(I added this tags to that people my age can see it and learn)

I would not take propecia at 19 years of age. Right now your body is a ball of hormones and playing with chemistry just to save hair follicles is too big a gamble in my opinion. It isn't just a magic pill that saves hair, it could possibly affect any other bodily development and more importantly your mental health which is still maturing. 

Judging by your questions your knowledge of Finasteride seems limited for someone who is starting it so soon. I would take time out to assess what your current condition is and what is your end goal. Once to commit to meds it's a life long journey of commitment and adjustments and everything else. 

You've got plenty of time, if you can't wait it out to do more planning than due to aggressive loss than whatever condition your current hair is in is probably not DHT related. Obviously you have not explained your current situation but there could be a multitude of lifestyle factors affecting your hairline. 

Trust me, take time, assess your hair and loss pattern, maybe speak to proper medical professionals and above all else on start meds if advised and if you are adamant. 

I hope this helps man and it might seem intense but honestly in the world of hair you're just a puppy and there's a lot of factors to consider. 

[Noname2001]

48 minutes ago, Richie888 said:

I would not take propecia at 19 years of age. Right now your body is a ball of hormones and playing with chemistry just to save hair follicles is too big a gamble in my opinion. It isn't just a magic pill that saves hair, it could possibly affect any other bodily development and more importantly your mental health which is still maturing. 

Judging by your questions your knowledge of Finasteride seems limited for someone who is starting it so soon. I would take time out to assess what your current condition is and what is your end goal. Once to commit to meds it's a life long journey of commitment and adjustments and everything else. 

You've got plenty of time, if you can't wait it out to do more planning than due to aggressive loss than whatever condition your current hair is in is probably not DHT related. Obviously you have not explained your current situation but there could be a multitude of lifestyle factors affecting your hairline. 

Trust me, take time, assess your hair and loss pattern, maybe speak to proper medical professionals and above all else on start meds if advised and if you are adamant. 

I hope this helps man and it might seem intense but honestly in the world of hair you're just a puppy and there's a lot of factors to consider. 

Well you’re right about the things you said. But I will take propecia under the surveillance of a doctor. I think my hair getting affected by dht. (I will take a blood test to fully understand) All of my body is covered with body hair. (High sign of dht) And I work out regularly and I have a beard which is not fully developed yet and I also eat healthy. My lifestyle is a healthy one. It’s most likely genetics that’s causing this. (My father is a norwood 7) But I will update this once I done my blood tests. Then we can fully understand the problem. Also Sorry If I made any grammar mistakes I don’t speak english as my first language.

[Richie888]

33 minutes ago, Noname2001 said:

Well you’re right about the things you said. But I will take propecia under the surveillance of a doctor. I think my hair getting affected by dht. (I will take a blood test to fully understand) All of my body is covered with body hair. (High sign of dht) And I work out regularly and I have a beard which is not fully developed yet and I also eat healthy. My lifestyle is a healthy one. It’s most likely genetics that’s causing this. (My father is a norwood 7) But I will update this once I done my blood tests. Then we can fully understand the problem. Also Sorry If I made any grammar mistakes I don’t speak english as my first language.

You've made perfect sense to me mate. Thanks for the extra details on your scenario and hopefully it all comes together for you. As stated by the other forum members, the key is to start low and slow and monitor what your body is saying. Double doses doesn't necessarily mean double impact. Test your tolerance, take pictures every month or so and keep a timeline on your phone/computer but above all else don't let it take over your younger years, there's more to life! Good luck 

[Ronnieman]

On 11/2/2020 at 9:56 PM, TommyLucchese said:

Here's what I did and would recommend...

Begin gradually. Cut up the pill and take half of the pill every 3 days for about 6 weeks. Let your body slowly adjust to the medication. You don't want to be taking the full dose daily for maybe 3 months or so. 

If you do that - and if you don't concern yourself with potential side effects - hopefully you'll see huge improvement in your hair, no change in your beard, and no other side effects.

If you begin worrying about side effects and jump straight into the full dose, you may well get them even if it's just your mind playing tricks on you. 

Look into topical finasteride if you are worried about side effects.

Propecia / finasteride is usually used in conjunction with minoxidil. 5% rogaine foam is good. 

 

I'm (nearly) 32 years old with norwood 2.5 vertex, and seriously considering this.

 

When you say 'cut the pill and take half every 3 days', which dosage are you talking about? 

Edited November 28, 2020 by Ronnieman

[TommyLucchese]

On 11/28/2020 at 10:48 AM, Ronnieman said:

 

I'm (nearly) 32 years old with norwood 2.5 vertex, and seriously considering this.

 

When you say 'cut the pill and take half every 3 days', which dosage are you talking about? 

1mg propecia.... cut that into halves and take one half every 3 or 4 days. Basically, avoid putting 1mg daily into your body for 3 months or so until your body is used to it. 

Over time you can switch to the cheaper proscar but i think it's best to go with propecia to start with.

i'm currently doing a topical fin and minox combo and it seems to be working well so it's definitely worth considering

[Cody95]

Hey, so I have some experience now with Finasteride, I've been taking for a year now. I was 24 when I started ans naturally I was freaked out reading all the horror stories online haha... 

Yes Fin does have side effects, every single pharmaceutical on the market does. The severity of these sides can vary immensely depending on the person of course. I started Fin and everything went well for the first 6 weeks. Then I experienced side effects. First reduced semen volume, then I felt a major drop in my libido and that freaked me out substantially.. it was basically the point where I felt Assexual. HOWEVER, this didn't last. I know its scary and when it happens is very stressful which literally just worsens the problem... i ended up with minor ED but it was 100% because of stress. But I read a lot of Controlled Fin studies online saying that in almost all cases sides resolved with continued use. So Instead of getting scared like most and quitting, I continued. By month 3 all of the noticable side effects were completely gone and I've never seen them again since. The results at the end of the day have been good, some new regrowth but significant increase in the quality of my hair strands, and it did stabilize my hair loss as well. So just take it as it comes, it will be reversible if you get them and will most likely go away on its own. Just try to remember to keep the stress and anxiety about the Fin down because it won't do you favours. Good luck, you'll be fine and you'll be thrilled that you did it! My big regret is that I didn't start when I was younger like you!

[jolly]

I do not agree , I have personally had a horrid experience with fin , and also many of my friends have as well , i developed sides after 5 months and depression after that , had to stop urgently but the sides continued and it took me 1 full year to get my old self back , but 2 of my friends were not so lucky they crashed after 3 and 5 years and have since not recovered fully , one is a bad case of gyno and has already done surgery and the other just does not feel like his old cheerful self again .

I just frown at the mere thought of taking this drug again , it just fucks your neuro transmitters .

[Cody95]

4 hours ago, jolly said:

I do not agree , I have personally had a horrid experience with fin , and also many of my friends have as well , i developed sides after 5 months and depression after that , had to stop urgently but the sides continued and it took me 1 full year to get my old self back , but 2 of my friends were not so lucky they crashed after 3 and 5 years and have since not recovered fully , one is a bad case of gyno and has already done surgery and the other just does not feel like his old cheerful self again .

I just frown at the mere thought of taking this drug again , it just fucks your neuro transmitters .

You and your friends seem to be amongst the unfortunate few. The majority of people won't see those kind of unbearable side effects. I know tons of people who take fin, atleast a dozen. Many of them taking for over 5 years. Only one of them decided to stop Fin due to side effects and it was because of a weakened libido. The rest of them found that they only had temporary, managable or no sides. For the record I'm not trying to discredit you or write off what you experienced. I'm sure it was very damaging. I just think its important to point out that not everyone has this experience because everybody tolerates the drug differently. But nevertheless, someome should always take the potential for this under consideration before starting Fin.

Edited December 10, 2020 by Cody95