25 years old, 7 months usage of Propecia, losing battle?

[Holcomb1]

I'd say around 21 my hairline started going only on the right side, and it wasn't bad. Left side was fine, crown was fine. It stayed about the same for the next 2 years, hair overall looked good with the exception of the slight receeding on the right side of my hairline, a bit on the temple as well. It started to get worse and at 24 so I hopped on finasteride (ordered online, I'm beginning to question if it's real or not).

So, at 24 I hop on finasteride and on and off with both nizoral and minoxidil. Never missed a day for finasteride. I can honestly say there has been no improvement, and it seems like as each month passes the loss continues. 7 months ago my crown was for the most part fine, it JUST started to thin which was what made me hop on finasteride. I set the razor to 3/8 about 2 weeks ago to get an idea of how bad it really was (with longer hair it didn't look too bad, covered up a lot, only looked bad when wet)

I think I'm a decent looking person, but this blows. I've come to terms that the finasteride may be fake and I'm sitting here greatly debating making an appointment with the Doctor to get real propecia and give it a last effort shot. I refuse to do a hair transplant, I'll shave if all else fails. My mother's father is bald, my brother went bald VERY early. It's definitely male pattern baldness. Does finasteride just not work for some people? Should I assume what I have is fake and get some real propecia asap? I've heard plenty of people say upon switching finasteride meds that the thinning gets worse? Any...any advice other than the obvious (shave) is GREATLY appreciated!

Picture attached for the hell of it, took it a few minutes ago, hair was wet.

 

[jamesfinch]

where did you get your finasteride?

 

[Holcomb1]

I honestly do not remember the actual site. The finasteride came from India, I ordered it in the middle of March but my emails do not go back that far (checked the CC statement). I can take a picture of the finasteride packaging, but from what I understand the meds from India are legit, but it's which website you go through that may determine if it's a scam.

Should finasteride at least temporarily stop all hair loss? If I'm still losing hair on this is it safe to assume the meds are fake? Or is there a possibility that the finasteride is real and it's just not going to benefit me in any way?

 

[jamesfinch]

finasteride works differently in different people. I was told by an online doctor that propecia works differently for everyone but it will at least slow down your hairloss even if it doesnt stop it, so your tablets maybe actually slowing your hairloss down but not very much. also you're only 7 months in, people say that 10-12 months are when you see propecia acting at its best.
out of interest did you get any side effects form the tablets, loss of libido, or erection problems. (even though you dont want these) it might at least suggest it is the real stuff.

i get my finasteride from inhousepharmacy
i buy fincar (generic proscar) and split each tablet into 4. all i can say is this stuff is working really well for me.
its cheap as well you're looking at 50 pounds sterling for a whole years supply of the stuff, so it might be worth a go, if you want to change.

in my opinion you are less likely to get fake generic drugs like fincar. The people who fake the drugs would make more money out of faking propecia and proscar its not really in their interest to fake the generics.

 

[Holcomb1]

I would definitely say there is a loss of libido, but at the same time that's about the only side so I won't rule out the possibility of the whole mental issue making it seem that way.

I too have heard others say it's not until past 6 months and even upwards of a year that the effects really kick in, I just always assumed at the very least finasteride will stop the hair from thinning further. 7 months ago my hair was full/just beginning to thin. I was looking into getting proscar and splitting it, it was just whether or not I go through another online pharmacy to avoid a prescription or buy it through a real pharmacy, but deal with getting the prescription.

 

[treeshrew]

If you haven't seen any results on finasteride in 7 months I'd be very concerned...

I think you should get legit propecia, and see where that takes you - you still have a lot of hair so good chances to thicken it up if it turns out your current meds were fakes.

According to Merck's study finasteride worked for ~ 90% of people - so yes, there are definitely some it doesn't work for.

 

[PersonGuy]

If you haven't seen any results on finasteride in 7 months I'd be very concerned...

I think you should get legit propecia, and see where that takes you - you still have a lot of hair so good chances to thicken it up if it turns out your current meds were fakes.

No effin way would I be concerned if I didn't see results in 7 months. Don't worry about it. Some people on here hadn't seen results for 10-12 months and then all of a sudden they had noticeable thickening, myself included. Ride it out and stay on it for at LEAST 12 months. With the way hair cycles it absolutely could take a year before you start to notice results.

As for the fake finasteride. I would definitely get some that I knew was legit. Go to an online pharm that has been approved by a site like PharmacyChecker.com. That's just my opinion. I wouldn't want to mess around with something that may be fake when dealing with something that affects your life in such a way.

Good luck and stick with the finasteride, whether it be in the form of Proscar, or Propecia.