Let me start by saying Hair Loss sucks. Not everyone will look good shaving to bald and not everyone should. It's been my experience that nearly everyone experiencing hair loss can stop and reverse the process but it requires early intervention, diligence, patience and some monetary expense but if your willing to do the work I believe hair loss for most is a thing of the past. Im a diffuse thinner and started losing at 29, I remember sitting at a desk at work when a co-worker busted out "are you losing your hair?". I actually hadn't noticed but after going home and examining the reflection in the mirror was horrified to discover he was right, there was a substantial gap in my part and I was seeing a lot scalp. I did the predictable freakout and panic soon set in. This was 1999 and there were two FDA-approved products at the time Rogaine and Propecia. I tried the Rogaine first it was cheaper and didn't require a prescription but I had no luck and I was sensitive to the pg in the formula and all it did was cause scalp inflammation. I tried Propecia next, had no sides and had complete regrowth. I was elated and relieved believing my hair loss troubles were over and I would never have to worry about it again. A couple years later I switched to a 5 mg proscar and cut into fourths to save some money. This all went along fine for nearly 10 years upon which time after coming home from vacation my daughter pointed out to me that I was losing my hair. Naturally I laughed and said I have my magic pill that's impossible but after again going to the mirror discovered that the finasteride was beginning to lose effectiveness and I was beginning to see scalp again. Of course people don't look for solutions to problems they don't have so I had not been aware of anything new for the 10 years that finasteride was working for me because I didn't need it. Luckily in that decade low level laser technology had been fda-cleared in the form of the laser hair brush. I was fortunate in that after scouring the internet I came across a web page called Over Macho Grande and didn't waste time and money with the brush but instead made my own laser hair helmet with roughly 120 lasers. I started using it and within several weeks discovered that I had regrown what I had lost. The combination of the finasteride and the lllt worked perfectly for another 6 years when I began to lose progress again. I started doing a new search and came across dutasteride in the way of Avodart. I won't tell the lengthy story about my experience with that but I had horrifying side effects cognitive mostly anxiety depression difficulty thinking recalling memory gaps it was a nightmare. I had to go off both finasteride and dutasteride due to the side effects and I thought the game was pretty much up and I may have to look into a hair transplant. I had very little faith in the grey market IE the lotions and potions but had little choice but to try some things to see if I could reverse the process and get some hair back. I watched a YouTube of a show called The follicle 5 that had been on NBC and one of the five had taken a supplement called Viviscal. He used only the viviscal for 12 months and had no regrowth but his hair loss had stopped. It was a wild shot but I felt was worth it I immediately started on Viviscal Man twice a day. A pleasant side note to the Viviscal and further proof it was working was that I had been using cream twice a day for facial psoriasis breakouts. After starting the Viviscal the breakouts nearly stopped, not completely but mostly and I didn't have to use the cream anymore. Minoxidil drops and foam never worked for me and I had tried two or three times throughout all of those years but after watching a review on another website called hair loss from steroids, he was talking about a minoxidil product called Lipogain. Lipogain didn't just have 5% minoxidil it had a dozen other products one of which was axelliac acid which they changed later to be called as azetinol. Again I had little confidence but figured it was worth it for the $35 a month ordinarily it was 25 but I had to get the Sensitive Scalp and the shipping was another five. I'm not going to lie after starting the lipogain I had a massive shed but after several weeks the shed stopped and I began seeing regrowth. At the same time I was using these two I was still continuing the lasers and I added a Ketoconazole shampoo three times a week. That was roughly a year ago and as of today at 48 years old I have a full thick head of hair with no prescription medications. I'm ruthlessly diligent about my regimen, I use the lasers three times a week for 30 minutes I use the ketoconozale (big 5) I take the viviscal and I religiously use lipogain twice a day but it's well worth the money and the effort. I have no stress and a full head of hair which I did not expect with non-prescription products. I guess I really just wanted to pass along an old guy's story and let everyone know that there is hope and real results for not just a couple years but for decades. I can't say whether 10 years from now I will have the same result Im having now but I see no reason to believe that I won't have. I really believe though that early intervention and diligence are the keys. Here's my shed, a few weeks after and now. Keep the faith my follically challenged bretheren, follicles are tougher than you think and so are you.
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