My Experience with Finasteride and Minoxidil | 12+ Months Results

[mister_25]

After seeing all these posts about Finasteride I thought I would chime in with my experience on using it and Minoxidil.

Quick Brief Hair Loss background: Started losing my hair at about 16 or 17. My temples were gone at that age so it was visibly noticeable. They have remained the same. When I was 18 I was a norwood 2, when I was 19 I was a norwood 3. And when I was 20 I went from Norwood 3 to Norwood 5 in a span of 6 months. My family history has indications of hair loss with my mothers side generally progressing to Norwood 4s at around 40-60. And my fathers side generally progress to Norwood 5s anywhere between 30-50.

Nearing the age of 21, I decided to see if there was anything I could do about it. I have never heard of hair loss medication before this and frantically researched and that's when I read about Finasteride and Minoxidil. In February of 2021 shortly before I turned 21 I started medications of Finasteride and Saw Palmetto, starting minoxidil a month later due to delivery issues.

After being on Finasteride/Saw Palmetto for two weeks, I started to get what I believed were side effects. Sex Drive was inconsistent, either higher than before or lower. After about a month on being on those medications those side effects subsided and back to normal. Same thing with Minoxidil, the first month though I had what I believed were side effects. Very itchy scalp, would go a bit red after application. Had heart palpitations when trying to sleep 2-3 times but those eventually subsided and have been without side effects for over a year on all medications. 

Here are the baseline images before medication. This is me at 20 (almost 21), I was a Norwood 5 going on slick bald. There is no indication of me going into a Norwood 6. The photos do not show this but I believe I had retrograde alopecia that would eventually thicken due to my usage of medication. These were taken my dermatologist so I cannot replicate the lighting as well in other photos. I should mention that my hair was long as I was experimenting growing it out and then went from Norwood 3 to Norwood 5 in 6 months. This is my hair grown out long for around a year. Sorry for the poor cropping, I read that you want to include the eyebrows to determine hairline height and such so I tried to crop what was needed while maintaining the eyebrows for this reason.

Below are my 13 month results on Finasteride and 12 Months on Minoxidil. The lighting/camera isn't perfect. These were taken on a lower quality lens on my phone. The lighting is quite harsh and has overheard bathroom lighting on it. These photos were used when I consulted with my surgeon and they believed I was a good candidate after sending them. I will also state that I was at the peak of a shedding phase due to reasons that are elaborated below in may pictures. Same situation

Here are some photos taken in May, in a much less harsh lighting. One of them was facing a window with morning lighting, the one was facing away from that window. 

And here are some photos taken in July. Please note that after May (two days after the photos above) I broke the tool I use for applying minoxidil and started to use a makeshift substitute. I was not able to get correct dosages or apply it directly the scalp so it would stick on hair and was eventually be combed off my head. I then shedded a bit and am still recovering (This isn't the first time its happened). It has improved a bit from the photos below. If you would look like examples photos showing my hair shedding then regrowing I can provide them if requested. These were taken on a better quality camera.

If anyone has any questions or input on these. Let me know, I am quite happy about the Finasteride/Minoxidil results but am still not overall satisfied with my hair. I am getting a Hair Transplant with Dr Hasson nearing the end of the year. 4000-4500 Grafts for the Hairline, Front working back into the midscalp if necessary. I will also be updating this thread because I will need to discontinue minoxidil for 6 weeks before the surgery to undergo the hair transplant, I will document and show the shedding to determine what is doing the most heavy lifting Finasteride or Minoxidil?

Edited August 8, 2022 by mister_25
Clarity on my 1 year photos + additional photos added

[Kendallyy]

This is insane.. great results bro.. When did you actually start seeing new groth or thickness ? I am on the 6th Month..

[stephcurry30]

Unreal results! This is a great job of documenting the progress as well as getting INSANE regrowth! Saved you tens of thousands of dollars on a transplant. 

[mister_25]

On 8/16/2022 at 11:24 PM, Kendallyy said:

When did you actually start seeing new groth or thickness ? I am on the 6th Month..

I started seeing growth at about 4 months in. But it really grew between the 7th-8th month mark. I shed quite frequently and the areas always grow back but I usually have like one "seasonal" weakspot. Back in November of 2021 my hair was at its best from regrowth. I will get a picture if I can.

 

[WillemJ]

Insane!! Great Result Bro.I've never used it because I'm afraid of side effects.

[mister_25]

Hey Everyone, I am going to post a update here as I am going for my HT with Dr Hasson very soon and would like to establish a very clear baseline to compare to.

I tried to get a photo with varying lighting but it was working against me. These are very harsh lighting conditions so this is working against me here. Keep in mind that in normal/bright lighting my hair is pretty much exactly the same as the final photo in the original post . The camera picks up more than what I can see with my eyes. If I can get a photo tommorow or so that is in better lighting conditions I will do so.

I took two sets of photos in two different bathrooms. One with the window open and the other with bright/harsh overhead lights.

In a few nights I'll see if I can take some wet photos. 

All of these photos were taken roughly 5 minutes apart, combed the exact same way (except the bonus september photo) Here are my 20 Months Finasteride + 19 Months Minoxidil results.

Front:

Front Tilt:

Top:

HD Top:

Bonus Photo from the beginning of September 

Just to recap. I was quoted for a 4000-4500 graft procedure that was to reconstruct the front working all the way back to the midscalp as much as needed. I would like something that would look strong/balanced everywhere when wet but does not need to look perfect. What do you guys think? is my goal achievable? and if so how many grafts in total?

Edited October 16, 2022 by mister_25

[mister_25]

I also wanted to provide a few bonus photos that I lost but just found.

Wet Hair Combed Back (Mid-June)

Crown at a Distance to show the size of it. (beginning of July)

Crown (today)

 

[Curious25]

Great improvement. 
 

Your donor looks plentiful, as does your beard - so I’m sure you will be able to bring yourself back to a pretty solid looking NW1 and remain like that for as long you wish, provided you keep up with your regime, and your HT grows in as we would expect! 
 

Any plans to touch the crown later down the line, or are you going to persevere with the meds to Strengthen it furthermore ? 

[mister_25]

On 11/11/2022 at 7:37 AM, Curious25 said:

Great improvement. 
 

Your donor looks plentiful, as does your beard - so I’m sure you will be able to bring yourself back to a pretty solid looking NW1 and remain like that for as long you wish, provided you keep up with your regime, and your HT grows in as we would expect! 
 

Any plans to touch the crown later down the line, or are you going to persevere with the meds to Strengthen it furthermore ? 

Funny that you asked this I did just have my transplant and there is work in the frontal third and crown.

I do have retrograde alopecia so my donor isn’t as strong as I’d like it to be, but I should be fine. I also have mild thinning in the Norwood 6/7 zones but I thinks it’s safe to say It’s been stabilised since I started medication. You can see in one of the previous photos that my crown closed in on the  Norwood 6 zones from finasteride. I will also be starting topical dutasteride and oral minoxidil when I’m back.

I will post my transplant when I’m back home in a week or two

[mister_25]

A small update for this thread. 

In about two weeks or so I would be 2 years into my usage of Finasteride. I would say the results peaked In November 2021 with no further improvement. I have not noticed any regression, sometimes I feel like I have and then compare to my old photos on around December 2021 and notice its the same.

On around January 3rd or January 5th I discontinued Topical Minoxidil for Oral Minoxidil. I was originally also going to start Topical Dutasteride but Dr Hasson told me to wait and see what Oral Minoxidil could do for about 6-12 months. Then reassess and I can start his XYON Topical Dutasteride if I'm able to get it shipped. 

So far after almost 1 month on Oral Minoxidil I've noticed increase shedding in the beard which I expect to be normal. It will be quite difficult to monitor improvements with Oral Minoxidil on the Crown and Frontal Third but the untouched midscalp of my transplant will be a good indicator if things thicken up.

No side effects.

 

[zenmu]

how’s the growth from your transplant going?

[mister_25]

On 2/3/2023 at 8:22 AM, zenmu said:

how’s the growth from your transplant going?

Here is my thread on my transplant.

As for growth I've noticed maybe 5 or less hairs that are probably new growth. They are much shorter than the hair that was transplanted on the day of the operation. This is a rather new development about three to four days ago. This is considered very early growth at the beginning of Month 2. 

I shedded about 98% or 99% of the transplanted hairs or so. Those remaining 1%-2% of hairs haven't grown any longer (whilst the ones I shedded were growing longer before) There are two hairs that are the exception to this and have grown longer in length and are about half the length of my native non miniturized hair (double the length of my native miniturized hair)

Edited February 10, 2023 by mister_25

[zenmu]

9 minutes ago, mister_25 said:

Here is my thread on my transplant.

As for growth I've noticed maybe 5 or less hairs that are probably new growth. They are much shorter than the hair that was transplanted on the day of the operation. This is a rather new development about three to four days ago. This is considered very early growth at the beginning of Month 2. 

I shedded about 98% or 99% of the transplanted hairs or so. Those hairs haven't grown any longer (whilst the ones I shedded were growing longer before) There are two hairs that are the exception to this and have grown longer in length and are about half the length of my native non miniturized hair (double the length of my native miniturized hair)

i’m hella excited for your results. your donor hair and quality in general is really good, and now that you’ve got a transplant to thicken up hairline and crown i can’t wait to see you grow your hair out luxuriously. it’s just a waiting game at this point

[mister_25]

24 minutes ago, zenmu said:

i’m hella excited for your results. your donor hair and quality in general is really good, and now that you’ve got a transplant to thicken up hairline and crown i can’t wait to see you grow your hair out luxuriously. it’s just a waiting game at this point

I'm at the peak of the ugly duckling phase right now, but I would say my Finasteride/Minoxidil shed was much worse, I practically became a Slickbald Norwood 5/6 for about 3 Months. If I can get a photo I'll post it here. The waiting game aint easy lol.

As for Donor hair and quality. Dr Hasson said it was Average Donor Density and Average donor characteristics. The donor is in pretty poor shape right now and waiting for recovery to happen.

I will need a 2nd HT to fill in the midscalp a bit and a small portion of the crown but otherwise this HT should get me the appearance of a full head of hair

Edited February 2, 2023 by mister_25

[zenmu]

14 minutes ago, mister_25 said:

I'm at the peak of the ugly duckling phase right now, but I would say my Finasteride/Minoxidil shed was much worse, I practically became a Slickbald Norwood 5/6 for about 3 Months. If I can get a photo I'll post it here. The waiting game aint easy lol.

As for Donor hair and quality. Dr Hasson said it was Average Donor Density and Average donor characteristics. The donor is in pretty poor shape right now and waiting for recovery to happen.

I will need a 2nd HT to fill in the midscalp a bit and a small portion of the crown but otherwise this HT should get me the appearance of a full head of hair

definitely. you’re set for life for good hair, especially considering your beard if you ever need grafts in the future. but your on a solid hair loss prevention protocol so it might not even be necessary.

as for hair quality, i just mean the actual appearance of it, fill in those spots and it looks basically perfect in my opinion 

[Joseph James]

On 8/17/2022 at 9:37 PM, mister_25 said:

I started seeing growth at about 4 months in. But it really grew between the 7th-8th month mark. I shed quite frequently and the areas always grow back but I usually have like one "seasonal" weakspot. Back in November of 2021 my hair was at its best from regrowth. I will get a picture if I can.

 

May I ask, what was your finasteride dosage?

[mister_25]

On 2/6/2023 at 4:12 AM, Joseph James said:

May I ask, what was your finasteride dosage?

1mg once a day

[Joseph James]

39 minutes ago, mister_25 said:

1mg once a day

Thanks

 

[Aveno]

Can you share any recent updates on your progress? It would be great to see some current photos and hear about your experience so far.

[mister_25]

@Aveno I updated my thread on my HT on the 1st of April. Here is the link to it.

Otherwise, two years have gone by last month on Minoxidil if you count oral and topical as one package. Beard is still shedded since starting oral minoxidil at the beginning of January. Although it probably needs a trim so the lengths can match. My crown might of slightly improved, or it could be from the transplant, it’s not easy to tell. Otherwise for side effects, other than increased body hair growth I haven’t had anything else.

I will probably revisit this thread when I hit 6 months in June. Otherwise my other thread is where I’ll be having monthly updates.

Edited April 10, 2023 by mister_25

[mister_25]

6 months have gone by on oral minoxidil. I am at baseline after a few months of being behind it, hopefully i will see improvements from here on out.

Edited July 7, 2023 by mister_25