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Hi guys,
I've lurked on this forum for a long time. I'd like to say thanks to everyone who posts here. It's a great source of information and encouragement to lots of people out there who may never post. I found out a lot about hairloss from here and have been using nizoral for years thanks to someone's post here.
Anyway, my own story is that I went through denial for years with that nagging feeling that things were getting worse but not sure what to do or whether to take the risk/embarrassment of treatment. I had read about Finasteride and Minoxidil from when I first noticed balding in 2006/7 ish. I was in my late twenties and didn't have much money to spend on treatments. It all sounded a lot of hassle to order fincar and split it and put on regaine twice a day as well as the risks with finasteride. Well, fast-forward and I now wish I'd done this all sooner but then you live and learn. Mine is diffuse thinning so for a long time it wasn't too bad and I wore hair gel so it looked thin anyway. It was getting a bit worse as time went on. In 2010 I went to a clinic in Dublin (I'm from Ireland) where they basically massaged my head and put a few oils in and used a lasercomb or something. Didn't help except to relieve me of €500 for ten treatments. After that it continued slowly for a while longer until about 2013 when my hair was last decent. Since then it's deteriorated and the hairline has suffered and general thinning has become much more noticeable. I'm sure many will know the feeling of not wanting to talk about your hair or think about it.
In 2016 I took the plunge and ordered finasteride 1mg and used it for 2 years. I thought I would try finasteride to see what results would occur and then add min later maybe. Still didn't really want to apply something twice a day. Felt like a lot of hassle. It more or less maintained, although the hairline worsened.
Last December, I saw myself in one of those wrap-around mirrors they have in department stores ( I was in Next for UK/Irish readers). The horror of seeing my scalp and how it hadn't got any better (maybe worse) despite two year of finasteride. I felt gutted.
I let the last tablets run out and I eased off finasteride and bought some Regaine in January 2018. I started with the liquid for a month and then ordered some foam as reports were good. I basically applied twice a day and forgot about it. I didn't like the foam as I found it hard to get to the skin effectively. In April I ordered the liquid again and have continued twice daily.
In the past few weeks some friends have been asking "what's going on with my hair, am I using something?" (they knew I had tried a clinic previously). This gave me huge encouragement but I was still cautious. I'd just started dying my hair a bit as well and styling it differently so wasn't sure if it could be that. Anyway, slowly I think it's dawning on me that somethings happening and my hair is starting to feel fuller again (long way to go but). As I look in the mirror now there's less scalp looking back.
My confidence has taken a big boost and it's given me a determination to hope again. I've ordered some more finasteride and some foligain shampoo and am hoping to get a dermaroller soon. I want to up the ante and see where it goes. The biggest downer is my hairline which is terrible from where it was about five years ago. But I'm gonna focus on the positives and if I can thicken up who knows.
Anyway, thanks to you all. It's great to have a place to get advice, encouragement and facts rather than speculation.
Edit 21/06/18:
Just uploaded some side by side pics instead to show contrast better. Old ones are from Feb 2016, latest from May 2018. I think there's definitely some improvement. The front shot has more favourable lighting in the latest pic but even so...
Edit 12/09/18
Latest photos taken in different lighting but I think there is improvement. Let me know your thoughts.
Edit 10/01/19
Uploading some new photos. From the front things are not looking bad. The overhead shot is quite damning though. I can see progress up close though and am optimistic. Been using good derma roller to aid absorption and there's a lot of new hair coming up. The macro shots don't do justice I think. However there's a long way to go anyway.
I've lurked on this forum for a long time. I'd like to say thanks to everyone who posts here. It's a great source of information and encouragement to lots of people out there who may never post. I found out a lot about hairloss from here and have been using nizoral for years thanks to someone's post here.
Anyway, my own story is that I went through denial for years with that nagging feeling that things were getting worse but not sure what to do or whether to take the risk/embarrassment of treatment. I had read about Finasteride and Minoxidil from when I first noticed balding in 2006/7 ish. I was in my late twenties and didn't have much money to spend on treatments. It all sounded a lot of hassle to order fincar and split it and put on regaine twice a day as well as the risks with finasteride. Well, fast-forward and I now wish I'd done this all sooner but then you live and learn. Mine is diffuse thinning so for a long time it wasn't too bad and I wore hair gel so it looked thin anyway. It was getting a bit worse as time went on. In 2010 I went to a clinic in Dublin (I'm from Ireland) where they basically massaged my head and put a few oils in and used a lasercomb or something. Didn't help except to relieve me of €500 for ten treatments. After that it continued slowly for a while longer until about 2013 when my hair was last decent. Since then it's deteriorated and the hairline has suffered and general thinning has become much more noticeable. I'm sure many will know the feeling of not wanting to talk about your hair or think about it.
In 2016 I took the plunge and ordered finasteride 1mg and used it for 2 years. I thought I would try finasteride to see what results would occur and then add min later maybe. Still didn't really want to apply something twice a day. Felt like a lot of hassle. It more or less maintained, although the hairline worsened.
Last December, I saw myself in one of those wrap-around mirrors they have in department stores ( I was in Next for UK/Irish readers). The horror of seeing my scalp and how it hadn't got any better (maybe worse) despite two year of finasteride. I felt gutted.
I let the last tablets run out and I eased off finasteride and bought some Regaine in January 2018. I started with the liquid for a month and then ordered some foam as reports were good. I basically applied twice a day and forgot about it. I didn't like the foam as I found it hard to get to the skin effectively. In April I ordered the liquid again and have continued twice daily.
In the past few weeks some friends have been asking "what's going on with my hair, am I using something?" (they knew I had tried a clinic previously). This gave me huge encouragement but I was still cautious. I'd just started dying my hair a bit as well and styling it differently so wasn't sure if it could be that. Anyway, slowly I think it's dawning on me that somethings happening and my hair is starting to feel fuller again (long way to go but). As I look in the mirror now there's less scalp looking back.
My confidence has taken a big boost and it's given me a determination to hope again. I've ordered some more finasteride and some foligain shampoo and am hoping to get a dermaroller soon. I want to up the ante and see where it goes. The biggest downer is my hairline which is terrible from where it was about five years ago. But I'm gonna focus on the positives and if I can thicken up who knows.
Anyway, thanks to you all. It's great to have a place to get advice, encouragement and facts rather than speculation.
Edit 21/06/18:
Just uploaded some side by side pics instead to show contrast better. Old ones are from Feb 2016, latest from May 2018. I think there's definitely some improvement. The front shot has more favourable lighting in the latest pic but even so...
Edit 12/09/18
Latest photos taken in different lighting but I think there is improvement. Let me know your thoughts.
Edit 10/01/19
Uploading some new photos. From the front things are not looking bad. The overhead shot is quite damning though. I can see progress up close though and am optimistic. Been using good derma roller to aid absorption and there's a lot of new hair coming up. The macro shots don't do justice I think. However there's a long way to go anyway.
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Most people here suggests that you use Finasteride aswell in order to keep your new and existing hair.