Hair Loss Journey 2016 to 2023 (Finasteride/Dutasitirde/Oral Minoxidil)

[stephcurry30]

I have been on Finasteride since early 2016. 

Dutasitirde since early 2017

On Oral Minoxidil since April 2022 and I wanted to get opinions on if my hair loss has been stabilized, worsened, etc. 

For reference I was 22 when I started medication and I am about to be 30 this year. 

2016-04 - https://imgur.com/a/lJOaipx

2016-05 -https://imgur.com/a/3dXIAnr

2016-06 - https://imgur.com/a/I9yc9Ho

2020 - https://imgur.com/a/sVuvrE6

2021 - https://imgur.com/a/hUZRvmv

2023 (Today) - https://imgur.com/a/1ZxJDc6

I have also tried topical minoxidil and derm rolling/penning but little to no regrowth on the hairline. 

I am scheduled for a hair transplant with Dr Konior and wanted to maybe have an idea of my hair loss being stabilized and how aggressive I can get my hairline to be. I have been getting little to no sleep the past 3 months and feel like my hair has worsened over the past few months and I am worried this may cause increase in hair loss. 

 

I appreciate all your responses in advance. 

Wanted to get thoughts from everyone. Appreciated in advance. 

[mavigo]

Quality of some of the pictures are iffy but your hairloss looks to be stabilized. I would keep your hairline has conservative as possible just in case.

 

You should get the insomnia looked into. Take meds & sups, that's what I do. 

[Melvin- Admin]

Honestly you don’t need to do anything, your hair looks fantastic. It’s clear that you’ve stabilized your hair loss. But honestly it looks great already.

[Mike10]

Hair  is stable. you do not need a HT. Benefits would be so marginal that outside yourself barely anybody would notice.  

[stephcurry30]

4 hours ago, mavigo said:

Quality of some of the pictures are iffy but your hair loss looks to be stabilized. I would keep your hairline has conservative as possible just in case.

 

You should get the insomnia looked into. Take meds & sups, that's what I do. 

I have a very old phone so that is why. I am on sleeping meds currently but just in a bad situation mentally and in a location where I'm unable to sleep for more then a few hours. Hoping my living situation changes in the spring!

Definitely going to try and do a conservative approach but the hair greed is a real thing!

4 hours ago, Melvin- Moderator said:

Honestly you don’t need to do anything, your hair looks fantastic. It’s clear that you’ve stabilized your hair loss. But honestly it looks great already.

Thanks Melvin! I've had this same hairline since I was 21/22 and I hate it. I've already made up my mind of doing a transplant at the age just held off as long as possible. I just want a nice straight hairline so I can style my hair. 

I do have other options in the background (like topical fianstiride, dutastiride, RU45581, etc.) to add is my hair loss continues. 

 

4 hours ago, Mike10 said:

Hair  is stable. you do not need a HT. Benefits would be so marginal that outside yourself barely anybody would notice.  

I agree but the hair greed is real. I've been part of this forum since I started medication and have made a decision to try and a solid hairline back. I think I'll take your advice accordingly and do a conservative hairline. 

[A Fue Good Men]

Picture quality makes it difficult but it looks like you’re better than baseline when looking at your left temple from 2016 compared to now.

 

what doses of each medication do you take? How many grafts are you slated for?

[stephcurry30]

4 hours ago, 5BetaReductase said:

Picture quality makes it difficult but it looks like you’re better than baseline when looking at your left temple from 2016 compared to now.

 

what doses of each medication do you take? How many grafts are you slated for?

I take:

1 mg of finastiride daily

0.5 mg of dutastiride daily (going to increase this to 2.0 mg for a test to see if increasing dutastiride dosage could theoretically regrow some hairs)

2.5 mg of oral minoxidil daily 

That's it. 

I am slated for 1500 grafts to restore the hairline. Don't really want to touch the temples and just want a hairline back. 

[A Fue Good Men]

32 minutes ago, stephcurry30 said:

I take:

1 mg of finastiride daily

0.5 mg of dutastiride daily (going to increase this to 2.0 mg for a test to see if increasing dutastiride dosage could theoretically regrow some hairs)

2.5 mg of oral minoxidil daily 

That's it. 

I am slated for 1500 grafts to restore the hairline. Don't really want to touch the temples and just want a hairline back. 

At this point being on treatment so long it’s unlikely that upping your dut dose will result in hairline regrowth but I guess you could try. The finasteride is redundant however if you’re on dut daily.

 

1500 grafts from konior should serve you really well 

[JP28]

4 hours ago, stephcurry30 said:

I take:

1 mg of finastiride daily

0.5 mg of dutastiride daily (going to increase this to 2.0 mg for a test to see if increasing dutastiride dosage could theoretically regrow some hairs)

2.5 mg of oral minoxidil daily 

That's it. 

I am slated for 1500 grafts to restore the hairline. Don't really want to touch the temples and just want a hairline back. 

Would you mind telling me in private who’s gonna prescribe you 2.0mg of duta? Been looking for months for a doc to prescribe me 2.5 and so far they all refused.

 

Concerning your hair, to me it looks completely stabilized and I think it’s gonna look great with a small transplant, plus you picked one of the best doc so you don’t have to worry about anything! 

[Curious25]

Picture quality is awful, but comparing your 2023 picture to your 2016 picture - it looks like your hair quality has strengthened. 
 

Why are you stacking finasteride on top of dutasteride? 
 

I would suggest a more logical direction to look into (research and consult with a professional) would be to up your daily OM to 5mg, drop finasteride, and potentially think about a topically applied anti androgen (which won’t get medical approval obviously). 0.5mg daily dutasteride is more than enough. 

I don’t know what your aim is by increasing your already very comprehensive regime - I think in any scenario, it would be unlikely that you experience any regrowth of your recessed hairline given the length of time it has been bald, and the length of time you have been on medication.  

I think you look to be a good hair transplant candidate - a successful hairline restoration and continuation of your maintenance regime will stand you in good ground for years to come. 

[stephcurry30]

8 hours ago, JP28 said:

Would you mind telling me in private who’s gonna prescribe you 2.0mg of duta? Been looking for months for a doc to prescribe me 2.5 and so far they all refused.

 

Concerning your hair, to me it looks completely stabilized and I think it’s gonna look great with a small transplant, plus you picked one of the best doc so you don’t have to worry about anything! 

I get 0.6 mg of dutastirde from strut health (American online pharmacy similar to keeps, Roman, etc.) https://www.struthealth.com/

And I will get my other 2.0 mg of dutastiride from alldaychemist (Indian pharmacy where you don't need a prescription to get medication. Ships usually within 3-4 weeks). I personally have used alldaychemist for alot of my medications and it works perfect for me. I was skeptical at first at the efficacy of the drug but I got my blood work done before and after jumping on dutastiride off of alldaychemist and it worked. Lowered my DHT in an insane amount. 

Thank you. I have been dreaming and looking forward to this transplant for a LONGGGGGGGG time. 

4 hours ago, Curious25 said:

Picture quality is awful, but comparing your 2023 picture to your 2016 picture - it looks like your hair quality has strengthened. 
 

Why are you stacking finasteride on top of dutasteride? 
 

I would suggest a more logical direction to look into (research and consult with a professional) would be to up your daily OM to 5mg, drop finasteride, and potentially think about a topically applied anti androgen (which won’t get medical approval obviously). 0.5mg daily dutasteride is more than enough. 

I don’t know what your aim is by increasing your already very comprehensive regime - I think in any scenario, it would be unlikely that you experience any regrowth of your recessed hairline given the length of time it has been bald, and the length of time you have been on medication.  

I think you look to be a good hair transplant candidate - a successful hairline restoration and continuation of your maintenance regime will stand you in good ground for years to come. 

I am stacking finastiride on top of dutastiride just because I am paranoid as crap and want to do everything to stop hair loss in it's tracks. I am essentially doing it for my own sanity. 

I plan on increasing OM to 5 mg hopefully this year. I feel like it's brought me big bags under my eyes and I want to find out who is the culprit for those whether it's my AWFUL sleep schedule the past 3 months or the oral minoxidil. 

I do have the future and potential use of adding a topical anti androgen but it's really been hit and miss from what I've seen and I haven't found a website or supplier that has a pre-mixed solution. Any ideas on where/which website I can visit and which anti-androgen to add in the future? RU?

And thank you! I will 10000% continue my hair loss regime until I am in my 60's/70's. I can't wait for my hair restoration procedure!

[JP28]

20 minutes ago, stephcurry30 said:

I get 0.6 mg of dutastirde from strut health (American online pharmacy similar to keeps, Roman, etc.) https://www.struthealth.com/

And I will get my other 2.0 mg of dutastiride from alldaychemist (Indian pharmacy where you don't need a prescription to get medication. Ships usually within 3-4 weeks). I personally have used alldaychemist for alot of my medications and it works perfect for me. I was skeptical at first at the efficacy of the drug but I got my blood work done before and after jumping on dutastiride off of alldaychemist and it worked. Lowered my DHT in an insane amount. 

Thank you. I have been dreaming and looking forward to this transplant for a LONGGGGGGGG time. 

I am stacking finastiride on top of dutastiride just because I am paranoid as crap and want to do everything to stop hair loss in it's tracks. I am essentially doing it for my own sanity. 

I plan on increasing OM to 5 mg hopefully this year. I feel like it's brought me big bags under my eyes and I want to find out who is the culprit for those whether it's my AWFUL sleep schedule the past 3 months or the oral minoxidil. 

I do have the future and potential use of adding a topical anti androgen but it's really been hit and miss from what I've seen and I haven't found a website or supplier that has a pre-mixed solution. Any ideas on where/which website I can visit and which anti-androgen to add in the future? RU?

And thank you! I will 10000% continue my hair loss regime until I am in my 60's/70's. I can't wait for my hair restoration procedure!

Ahaha I also get my duta from strut actually!

Still looking for someone to prescribe higher dosage of duta… I’m sure all the health online website will be offering higher dosage of duta soon… 

[AlBrown]

Agree with others that your hair looks better now than 2016 so the regimen definitely works. 

Are you wishing to lower the hairline or just strengthen it? How is your crown?

[Tiger2050]

Your pictures are very low quality so it’s impossible to tell how your hair loss has progressed. Need to see high definition photos in natural light.  
 

Also please don’t self-medicate, alldaychemist sells drugs that fail the quality control requirements of the FDA. There is no doctor that will prescribe 2mg of dutastride because its safety has not been studied. You might end with much worse problems than hair loss if you keep treating yourself like a guinea pig. Ask your hair transplant doctor to prescribe you dutasteride and oral minoxidil. People have reported issues with drugs from Strut on other forums, Dutasteride typically comes in a gel form but Strut sells a powdered pill. There was user a who had the Dutasteride from Strut tested at a lab and there were some questionable ingredients. Your best chance at stabilizing hair loss is 0.5mg dutasteride and 5mg oral minoxidil sourced from a high quality pharmacy. Drugs from shady online pharmacies are being sourced from low quality factories in India and China.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Tiger2050

[stephcurry30]

2 hours ago, AlBrown said:

Agree with others that your hair looks better now than 2016 so the regimen definitely works. 

Are you wishing to lower the hairline or just strengthen it? How is your crown?

No thinning what so ever in my crown. I do not want to lower the hairline. Keep it where it is and thicken the hairline. 

 

1 hour ago, Tiger2050 said:

Your pictures are very low quality so it’s impossible to tell how your hair loss has progressed. Need to see high definition photos in natural light.  
 

Also please don’t self-medicate, alldaychemist sells drugs that fail the quality control requirements of the FDA. There is no doctor that will prescribe 2mg of dutastride because it’s safety has not been studied. You might end with much worse problems than hair loss if you keep treating yourself like a guinea pig. Ask your hair transplant doctor to prescribe you dutasteride and oral minoxidil. People have reported issues with drugs from Strut on other forums, Dutasteride typically comes in a gel form but Strut sells a powdered pill. There was user a who had the Dutasteride from Strut tested at a lab and there were some questionable ingredients. Your best chance at stabilizing hair loss is 0.5mg dutasteride and 5mg oral minoxidil sourced from a high quality pharmacy. Drugs from shady online pharmacies are being sourced from low quality factories in India and China.

I agree with the photos. I still have the same iPhone 6. It's tough to judge but I think based roughly on the photos it's safe to assume minimal hair loss.

Thank you for the informative post. I have done more diligence and actually found the post.

That is scary and astonishing from Strut. I will be calling them first thing tomorrow morning and literally be asking for a refund and cancel my order IMMIEDATELY!! I appreciate your concern regarding ordering medications from alldaychemist but I have had a great experience with them but I do share your concern regarding my health. I have come across medicalwellnesscenter and you can get a prescription for dutasitirde from an American pharmacy. I will be going that route to getting my 0.5 mg of dutasitirde.