Finasteride: Sometimes It Can Take Years... Really?

[AnxiousAndy]

Been on finasteride 8 months, no temple hair left and crept up half a norwood since then no loss of density throughout my scalp though, solid mid and crown but those were never problems to begin with. f*** finasteride but i understand the fears of dropping it.

 

[g.i joey]

Seems like you and I are pretty much in the same boat.
I'm also in the same hope. Good luck to you too bro

What do you mean "improved hair quality"? Do you mean regrowth, thickening or something else?

Good luck to you too man, I mean the regrowth dream is over, I know we won't be getting any of that, I'm just hoping the quality of my hair will improve, what I mean by that is that my thinner areas thicken up, not by tegrowth but by my existing hair follicles thickening due to the lack of dht I've had this past year, that's all I can bank on at this point and I'd be completely content with that sort of cosmetic effects. I'm nw2.5 probably cms away from nw3; I'm ok with that but can't deal with it getting any worse.

 

[razzmatazz91]

Exactly what I'm hoping for mate!
I'm also VERY thin in my temples. so much so that my temples look "missing" when I'm under lights, or in the sun. If these translucent hair thicken up slightly, I will be happy. Right now they are thin and almost invisible. When I get real close to a mirror, I can see some thin hair which grow to 1 mm or maybe 2 mm max and no more. I guess these are technically not vellus.... or at least I hope not

 

[razzmatazz91]

Been on finasteride 8 months, no temple hair left and crept up half a norwood since then no loss of density throughout my scalp though, solid mid and crown but those were never problems to begin with. f*** finasteride but i understand the fears of dropping it.

At 8 months you shouldn't expect anything. Stay on it for 24 months total.
I guess a lot of people respond between months 12-24. don't quote me,.... it's just from what I've read on this forum.

More hair loss in the first year isn't such a good sign though. But it might be just a shed.

 

[lifewirecg]

I fkn hope so man I'm 8 months in and nothing. If anything I'm a tad bit worse.

What mg are you taking? Are you taking it every single day? Something doesn't seem right at all.

 

[g.i joey]

What mg are you taking? Are you taking it every single day? Something doesn't seem right at all.

Great questions btw, I'm actually 2 weeks short of 12 months now, my dosing schedule may be a little different from most but I take 1mg Sunday through Thursday and skip Friday and Saturday. I have pondered on the thought that my 2 days off may be the reason I'm not seeing anything, but then you have people claiming success off 1mg 3x a week and I take more than that...

 

[razzmatazz91]

Are you having sides? Why 5x a week?

 

[g.i joey]

Are you having sides? Why 5x a week?

Not really actually. But it may be because I take it 5x a week lol, when I tried propecia for a short time in 2014 I got some side effects on 1mg 7x a week but I was 35 pounds bigger, ever since I lost some weight, rearranged my diet and workout routine I haven't had any sides at all in the past 12 months.

That said, I just like having the weekends off and think it's good for my body to have a 2 day break. This is just broscience but I don't like the idea of surpressing dht 7/7 days per week. Studies show that dht starts to rise minimally 48 hours after last dose, which is why I considered giving myself weekend breaks in the first place, at the same time people do good with 3x a week so just wanted to find a midpoint between that and 7x a week.

 

[razzmatazz91]

Yup. Sounds like broscience all right.
But still, DHT blocked 5-6 days a week ought to have results. That's broscience too, but hey, WTH.

 

[applezz]

I have a new question. Obviously I'm looking for reinforcement. But I would appericiate if you guys are honest (which y'all usually are)

I've heard of three to four dudes who overy a year or two didn't have any results with finasteride, or who only maintained a lousy look, but later on had improvements. Members here have got me to stick to finasteride for another year when I see no results... and actually a little more loss after a year.

So my question is: how common is it for guys who only maintain, or don't see any results for a year to actually improve later over two or more years? Is there any improvement seen on hairlines as well?

It's been around 7-8 years or so since I first started Propecia/Finasteride. I honestly can't answer how long it took for it to benefit me because it's been so long ago, but, I'm a semi success story. It helped me maintain and help my hairline a little bit. I haven't got my full hairline back but finasteride does work for most people I guess. I'd say keep trying until year 2 at least, and if it really doesn't help by year 2, not trying to sound negative but maybe it would not be worth continuing. But finasteride definitely does work for most people. But recently not sure if I'm going through a yearly shed like "normal" or its starting wear off. But it's been a pretty good 7-8 years.

 

[AnxiousAndy]

@razzmatazz91 Unfortunately im sure it isnt a shed as where on temples i had hair pre treatment is now slick bald and my hairline has receded further i hope oral minoxidil works for me.

@applezz Glad to hear! I am very jealous as finasteride has worsened my situation. I dont think finasteride has as high a success rate to be considered helpful to most but probably over 50%.. or maybe im just bitter that im 20 with bad loss for my age and finasteride isn't working at all. Oh well, there are other treatments so ill give them all a go lol

 

[shadowcast]

There's just no way to know how this drug affects a lot of people. Out of all the people in the world who are on propecia\finasteride, think about how small a percentage join this forum to report their positive\negative experience. Even the sample size used in studies isn't that large.

I started finasteride about 6 months ago, at a state where a lot of my hair was miniaturized but no where near the level of being peach fuzz - still grew decently long (maybe 1-2 inches), but very thin and light. Today I'm in about the same place, hair seems to behave a bit better but pictures show no real change. In spite of what I said about sample size, if you look at almost every success story on this board, it seems like finasteride really needs to be combined with minoxidil.

 

[AnxiousAndy]

@shadowcast I agree with that, i feel minoxidil contributes significantly to someones success if they are a responder. Ive been on oral minoxidil about 10 days now, only just started shedding, thankfully its an all over shed ( including the horseshoe region ) so my hairline isn't suffering much. I hope this works.

 

[zetta98]

Yup. Sounds like broscience all right.
But still, DHT blocked 5-6 days a week ought to have results. That's broscience too, but hey, WTH.

Blocking DHT isn't the issue. It's how sensitive your hair is to DHT. Personally I've been taking dutasteride for 21 months now and have maintained what I have. Seeing regrowth unfortunately is the minority. Especially on the hairline where my hair loss is occurring at the moment. I will say I have shed time and time again and kept up with being patient. As of now my hair is thicker and as far as Iam concerned I might as well be optimistic in getting regrowth on the hairline. Wish you the best of luck man.

 

[shadowcast]

@shadowcast I agree with that, i feel minoxidil contributes significantly to someones success if they are a responder. Ive been on oral minoxidil about 10 days now, only just started shedding, thankfully its an all over shed ( including the horseshoe region ) so my hairline isn't suffering much. I hope this works.

I would be very curious to hear how oral minoxidil works for you. I've been using foam for a little under 2 months and have already seen regrowth beginning at my hairline (hard to tell for the rest of my diffused scalp\bald spot, and I dare not ask anyone else to check). No side effects so I'd consider trying oral minoxidil if the foam doesn't give me anything significant.

 

[AnxiousAndy]

@shadowcast I hope your growth continues , If you are noticing some growth or the hairline i would imagine you are also growing at the back too, maybe buy a hand held mirror?
How was the shed for you? Im currently 2 weeks on oral and started shedding about 4 days ago, its nothing heavy but it is noticable. I hope this is as bad as it gets as my hair is naturally fine so even a little loss is a big loss for me. I will stick it out though, i have no choice lol. Will keep everyone updated though

 

[N003]

It can take up to 12- 24 months. What you need is patience!