How much time can you buy?

[frank05]

If your male pattern baldness case is not too bad and you start treating it early, how much time can you normally buy before you hit NW3 or NW4 and consider a hair transplant or HM or whatever?
By treating it I mean using Finasteride, Nizoral shampoo and oral MSM (and perhaps some Fluidril). minoxidil wouldn't be used at the beginning because there is wouldn't be any need to regrow .
I know the time you can mantain depends on the person, but what would you guess for a normall person with average male pattern baldness (not too bad)?

 

[eppu]

well, if you start really early (under 20) I'd guess 20-30 years!

 

[frank05]

Does it mean there is a difference between starting at 20 or at 25?
Or by "starting early" you mean catching male pattern baldness in its early stages?

 

[Guest]

i wish i caught it earlier instead of leaving me Norwood 2.5 - 3

 

[md2002]

THe earlier you catch it the more time you have.....

Why, you may ask??

Most products out there allow you to KEEP the hair you have, no product ( don't care what anyone says ) grows back a great deal of hair. Therefore, the earlier you start keeping the hair you have, the more hair you will keep.... if you keep 70% of the hair you have now, you will look almost the same in 20 or 30 years. If you start trying to keep it when your a NW3 you will always be a Norwood 3. Just my opinion.

 

[Melbs]

And really... it depends on the person... I think i have kept my Norwood 2 for say 3 years... maybe it getting worse, but im analysing it a hell of a lot more than ion previous years.

So id be happy if i stay this way till at least 30-35. By that stage if my wife (dont have one now) becomes fat, i can threaten her with a potential Norwood 5 and keep her slim. Norwood Blackmail...... so there is power in baldness!

 

[Cornholio]

I say most can count on 5 years or so... beyond that individual results vary.

minoxidil and finasteride have 5 year studies individually that seem to show that most (not all) keep the same density (vertex) of hair at 5 years... Combining the 2 may be better, but isnt studied. Adding nizoral, spironolactone and tricomin or switching to dutas MAY help, but there are no studies of combination treatments and no studies longer than 5 years. Some report progression despite multimodal therapy, but really you are in uncharted waters. If it's worth it to you take multiple treatments and know you are doing more to keep hair than has been possible in the history of the world, but you dont have studies to show what may be expected. Individual results vary and, if you keep your hair, you will always wonder if you would have really lost that much anyway. If youre losing your hair on treatment you dont know how much worse it would be without treatment.

 

[HairyPotter]

So id be happy if i stay this way till at least 30-35. By that stage if my wife (dont have one now) becomes fat, i can threaten her with a potential Norwood 5 and keep her slim. Norwood Blackmail...... so there is power in baldness!

Norwood Blackmail.... LOL :lol:

 

[Greg1]

Hmmm...with the treatment that I'm on, the sooner that something is done about your hairloss the greater the chance that you're likely to keep what you've got. So, if you have already lost a great deal of hair in the crown, temple and front hairline area, it's not as likely to be regrown if those hair follicles have become dormant. I'd expect that this would be very similar to other successful treatments as well 8)

 

[wastingpenguins]

What I would give to buy myself five years on finasteride.

I'm almost nineteen (yes, that's right, 18 years old and sitting around on a hairloss forum. Sad.), and have using the Big 3 religiously for a little over a year now. In fact, when I started, my hairloss was in the VERY earliest stages, no one could tell yet, and I was very optimistic.

15 months later, I've got a very obvious bald spot forming. I comb my hair forward to hide it, but I have a feeling that the Big 3 just isn't doing it for me.

I don't even know why I'm still posting here again. I feel like I've been around the block and know pretty much anything you guys could tell me, and it just isn't working for me.

I'm losing hope. If I even have any left.

 

[md2002]

wastingpenguins -

I feel for you, that is very young to start worrying about hair loss. It has to be a little tough on ya!! Keep up the fight it may start working. I started losing my hair in high school too, I started on finasteride soon after that and was able to hold on to what I have. Looks like your heading down the same road I am, that was everyday since the age of 17 I had to think about hair loss. I'm not going to lie to you, it sucks and it will control your life, but you have to do what you can.

I know it is expensive but Hair transplants are an option, I got my first at about 22 - 23. I was thinking the other night of just blowing 5K on some more and then more after that and forget all these drugs and topicals. It would be so nice to not have to worry about keeping or growing your hair back. Some Transplant places have financing and things like that. Pretty sad that you have to finance hair!!!

Well, that's all I have for you. Good luck!!!!

 

[wastingpenguins]

md2002--

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

The hardest thing for me is that I'll be going off to college in a few months. It's going to be tough applying minoxidil and taking finasteride with shared dorms and community bathrooms, but that doesn't matter half as much as the thought that I'll continue to get balder.

Somehow, I don't think that balding guys are at the top of most college girl's lists. I could try to console myself with the thought that they're superficial b****s, but that doesn't stop it from depressing the hell out of me anyway.

I went from being very excited about college to absolutely dreading it, all because of hair. It's terrible.

And even if I'm able to adjust there, I keep thinking how it's going to be when I come home for summers and see all my old friends that I haven't seen for a year, and be balder than ever...

I'll continue with the Big 3 no matter what, in the chance that I might be worse off if I weren't using them. But I somehow doubt it.

Sorry to be so pessimistic. It's just hard.



Edit: Also, concerning hair transplants--

I don't doubt that I will go down this route someday, and with that in mind I'm confident that I won't be bald for the rest of my life. Just for a few years. The problem is that you have to be in pretty bad shape already to be considered by a transplant doctor. College is just NOT the time that I want to go bald...

It might be kind of tought to finance while in college, but I think I could make due somehow...

 

[md2002]

Yeah, it's going to be tough to apply all thay stuff in college and try to keep it a secret. It may get embarrassing. I was embarrassed at 1st too, when I was your age. Now that I am 31, I tell people that I am taking Propecia and to my suprise I find alot of people around me are taking Propecia too. I don't think to many people are using it in college but your going to gave to do something.

Good luck to you..... Hopefully when this is all said and done your hair is getting worse so that it can get better. You may be back on here in six months telling us your dorm room is like a wh*** house, because your getting so much ***