Finasteride 1.25mg every day - Too much?

[Borsisto]

ok, I want to start by apologizing for creating yet a new topic about finasteride.  But I have used the search button, and probably read 100+ posts about finasteride, but 90% of the posts are about side effects and micro doses.  
 

I'm a Norwood 5-6 but have a lot of thin hair on my head and I don't want to make a mistake when I first start on finasteride in the hope of preserving as much as possible.  
 

Started with tropical which I bought first when I thought myself this was most effective when you took it head, used it for some weeks now (0.15%) but was advised on this forum to rather use it orally as it was better. I have bought 5mg tablets which I have divided into four and was thinking of taking 1.25mg every day except Sunday.  
 

But with all the posts I read it seems that the majority here is getting side effects from this doses and everyone talks about micro doses.

Can someone with knowledge about this give me feedback on whether I should go straight forward with regard to 1.25 mg every day or should I go about it differently?

I truly appreciate everyone that would guide me on this. Took the first pill today! 💪

Cheers!

[1978matt]

3 days a week is enough. 

Start with Monday, Wednesday, Friday (or any other 3 day a week rota) and see how it goes

[Borsisto]

49 minutes ago, 1978matt said:

3 days a week is enough. 

Start with Monday, Wednesday, Friday (or any other 3 day a week rota) and see how it goes

Thank you for the input! I can’t wrap my head around why the doctor would tell me 1 mg every day if 3 day a week is enough. 
 

I also have a follow up if you don’t mind, do you believe 3 day a week oral is better than the tropical I used two times a day ? 
 

I just don’t want to look back a year from now  thinking I should’ve done something different 

[1978matt]

1mg a day is the official dose.

But I've been around long enough to see people have good success 3 x 1.25mg a week.  Some even do well with 0.25mg daily, others 0.5mg every other day.

[HappyMan2021]

I feel like you are making this way more complicated than it needs to be. 

Why take 1.25? The dose is 1mg.

Why get the 5mg proscar tablets and awkwardly cut them up? Get a normal 1mg finasteride prescription

Just take the normal 1mg dose every day...case closed

[Borsisto]

3 minutes ago, HappyMan2021 said:

I feel like you are making this way more complicated than it needs to be. 

Why take 1.25? The dose is 1mg.

Why get the 5mg proscar tablets and awkwardly cut them up? Get a normal 1mg finasteride prescription

Just take the normal 1mg dose every day...case closed

The reason it’s 1.25mg is because I’m not able to get 1mg pills from where I live. 
 

Unfortunately I need this case to be open a little longer, because I can’t seem to decide what doses to take. Some say every day, other says every other day. 
 

I’m just here trying to keep the few lonely hair on my head 😀

thank you for your input! 

[RTC]

For sure the oral is probably more effective than the tropical. But it just depends on whether you want to minimise risk of side effects

[mafpe]

It depends on your tolerance honestly.

People microdose to get the least amount of side effect, meanwhile if you're practically unaffected, taking even more and or move to dutasteride is fine. Not that we would recommend it unless needed though.

If you think you have no side effect at all, taking 1.25 daily is fine. 

[Gatsby]

If you are going to stick with the 5mg tablet then taking it at 1.25mg every other day is a great strategy. Also being a Norwood 6/7 means that taking this orally, your donor (as well as what's miniaturized on top) will benefit just as much. Wishing you all the best!

[LookMaxx]

The dose they trialed in studies was 1mg for hairloss

But it is known finasteride has diminishing returns after 0.5mg and even 0.2mg does good 50% or so inhibition. Couple that with its long half life in blood and especially scalp and the daily dose seems redundant.

Also depends on your balding severity. For an aggressive balder, daily dose will be needed, for others less dose will be required.

Since you’re nw5-6 already you don’t need 1mg I would say as the damage is already done. Up to you really. 

I use 0.2-0.5mg EOD and I have maintained for so long. 
 

I don’t use the standard dose because what’s the point? I am not regrowing hair and when I should’ve been using it ie when diffuse NW0, I fell to the fearmongering and didn’t use it. The ironic thing is I get super horny on it when the reason I was scared was low libido and ED. 

Edited July 26, 2022 by LookMaxx

[LookMaxx]

In fact it has been trialed even once per month! and still had good results

 

[AlexMeister21]

I take 1mg fin. In my experience, I took it everyday when I first started out and noticed low libido after like 2-3 weeks of use. I continued using it for several weeks thinking that the side effects would dissipate, but the low libido persisted so I stopped taking fin. My libido came back after about 2 weeks of stopping fin. Then I started it back up again about 6 months later, but took it like every 2-4 days and everything was fine. I did this for about 3 months. Now I take it every day and don't notice any side effects.

[Borsisto]

Thank you for all the responses! This is truly a great forum!  

I guess I could start on 1.25mg every other day at the beginning and see how it goes! 

it’s only a hard decision because it takes so long to know if you have done the right thing. 

and @RTC, love your account on YouTube, keep up the good work   

[RTC]

Thank you sir @Borsisto

[NickJ]

0,5 mg every day never had any problems 

Some studies show that 0,2 mg every day does already a good part of the job. If you are over 40-45 I would go with that dosage