Does finasteride work on younger "aggresive" male pattern baldness sufferers?

[igotaBAWLhead]

Hey guys, I've been lurking this forum for a long time and just started posting. Either way I have some questions.
I'm 20 years old and have been thinning aggresively for the past 2 years, I've decided its time to do something, the soonest chance I get I will go get a script from a doctor for finasteride...
...that being said I've read many many posts about how people respond to it and it seems that the older guys who lose hair at a "normal" rate tend to respond better than guys like me who are 19-24 who go from NW2 to 2.5 in a year and tend to lose it at a more "aggressive" rate.
It seems that almost every story I come across of a guy within this age range who is losing his hair fast ends up complaining about how finasteride is making his hair worse and how he thinks finasteride is not strong enough... most of these guys start complaining at 6-8 months which makes me wonder if they are impatient or over observant of their hair.
So before I take the plunge I want to know about any guys on this forum who are losing their hair young like me and how they responded to finasteride.

 

[Dikek]

No one can have an answer until you try and go to a doctor, every one respond in different way, right now if you want to keep your hairs in long term you have only one solution, it's really simple here or you start some real medication and hope, or you don't and you will lose your hairs for sure in the next 4-5 years

In my opinion young people respond better to medication, anyway i would never suggest fina to a young 19 years old, at 23-24 it's different and your body is full grown, but i read about people at 19-20 that use fina with success and without any sides

 

[greg711711]

Most doctors say it works better on young people. You are definitely less likely to get side effects when you're in your early 20s rather than later in life. I went on finasteride right after my 21st birthday- didnt experience sides, but it did not give me satisfactory results and I continued to lose. a few years later and now im on dutasteride :/ For some of us the genetics are just too strong. you should give it a shot though

 

[Wolf Pack]

This is the ideal finasteride candidate generally speaking:

-Older person, above 30
-Recent hair loss
-Early male pattern baldness

Young certainly does not mean better, it's likely to be more aggressive.

 

[igotaBAWLhead]

This is the ideal finasteride candidate generally speaking:

-Older person, above 30
-Recent hair loss
-Early male pattern baldness

Young certainly does not mean better, it's likely to be more aggressive.

That's exactly what I was thinking because almost everyone under 24 whose story I read one here happen to somehow get worse on finasteride... it just doesn't make sense, I'm yet to see the ones I described respond well to finasteride

 

[xRedStaRx]

I started finasteride at 23, it certainly improved my hair. And I used much less than the recommended dose by Merck.

 

[igotaBAWLhead]

@xRedStaRx thanks for the response, would you consider your hair loss aggressive before you started treatment? Or was it still only noticeable to you?

 

[Folliman]

As others have said, you won't know until you try it. Anything can happen... Look at nickypoos's story he was on dutasteride, not on finasteride though. But people say the results are not that different. The eariler you catch your hair loss the better.

 

[Wolf Pack]

That's exactly what I was thinking because almost everyone under 24 whose story I read one here happen to somehow get worse on finasteride... it just doesn't make sense, I'm yet to see the ones I described respond well to finasteride

You won't know until you try though. With young people the response can vary as with anyone. Some may get a lot of growth but usually maintenance is seen. It could buy them a lot of years but if it's aggressive a few years. Some continue to lose even on finasteride/dutasteride from the onset.

 

[TransientHair]

Some continue to lose even on finasteride/dutasteride from the onset.

I've never heard of anyone losing ground on legit Dutasteride.

 

[qukslvr]

i wanted to also ask, if .5 mg isn't as effective, will going to 1 make that much of a difference?

 

[Wolf Pack]

I've never heard of anyone losing ground on legit Dutasteride.

hair transplant doctors have mentioned some of their own patients lose ground on dutasteride. You see it on this forum too with pictures, I doubt it's all fake medicine. There was even a short trial where people were moved from finasteride to dutasteride and some still lost hair. dutasteride is not a cure, you can't expect not to lose hair with dutasteride if you're on it from 20 to 70 with aggressive male pattern baldness. In fact even blocking 100% of DHT may not be enough in aggressive cases of male pattern baldness, it's not the be all and end all.

That would be plainly false to suggest dutasteride is a cure. It's very good though.

- - - Updated - - -

i wanted to also ask, if .5 mg isn't as effective, will going to 1 make that much of a difference?

Slightly better on paper, not much.

 

[0-100realquick]

Been on finasteride 1mg everyday for the past 7 months, no sides, hair hasn't improved.

 

[Red13]

Been on finasteride 1mg everyday for the past 7 months, no sides, hair hasn't improved.

Same :/

 

[Oriol]

You guys need to realize that the purpose of finasteride or dutasteride it's not to improve hair, it's to mantain what you got.

Yes, lots of people will see improvement, maybe you will too, but that's not what you should have in mind when you take it.

 

[Dench57]

Yeah I often get confused by what people mean when they say hair hasn't improved, or "finasteride hasn't done anything for my hair". Do they mean that their hairloss has continued as normal, or they've maintained and haven't regrown any? The latter would be a huge success in my book.

 

[I.D WALKER]

Yes it would.

Yeah I often get confused by what people mean when they say hair hasn't improved, or "finasteride hasn't done anything for my hair". Do they mean that their hairloss has continued as normal, or they've maintained and haven't regrown any? The latter would be a huge success in my book.

 

[robincurtz]

Guys I am one of the example of male pattern baldness sufferers who is loosing his hair aggressively while on dutasteride .5 mg daily.

 

[Wolf Pack]

You guys need to realize that the purpose of finasteride or dutasteride it's not to improve hair, it's to mantain what you got.

Yes, lots of people will see improvement, maybe you will too, but that's not what you should have in mind when you take it.

You're right, it's to maintain everything how it is. Both miniaturised and healthy hairs. It doesn't usually supercharge weak hairs. Within the first 6 months you will know the direction finasteride is taking for you. Is it towards growth, maintenance or just slowing of loss.

Having said that, I have had a noticeable response at the hairline of all places if you see my pictures. I am still growing too but it could take years.

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah I often get confused by what people mean when they say hair hasn't improved, or "finasteride hasn't done anything for my hair". Do they mean that their hairloss has continued as normal, or they've maintained and haven't regrown any? The latter would be a huge success in my book.

Hopefully they actually mean maintenance when they say my hair hasn't improved. If it went worse, they would definitely say it, people are quite vocal on this forum.

 

[1knox1]

This is the ideal finasteride candidate generally speaking:

-Older person, above 30
-Recent hair loss
-Early male pattern baldness

Young certainly does not mean better, it's likely to be more aggressive.

Agreed. If you fit this description, I believe you will keep your hair for a very long time on finasteride.