My goal: go from Norwood 3 (with crown) to a Norwood 2

[mrsmith]

I have slid down the slope to a Norwood 3 with balding crown. It almost looks slick now, but very fine blonde hairs still grow there. Age 36, had success in the past with minoxidil. Great responder in my 20s and responded to large doses of Saw P a little. Condition worsened in 2005... minoxidil was very on and off.


1 - I am also in the process of ordering from Dr. Lee as opposed to using any brand minoxidil 5%. Is his minoxidil better?

2 - What about his Xandrox 12.5%?

3 - Currently taking finax, after being on finasteride for about 4 months. Missed a couple of weeks here and there to shipment/reorder delays. Will two weeks off mess up the effectiveness?

4 - Should I use both Xandrox and minoxidil?

5 - finasteride or maybe move to avodart?

6 - Concealers. Could they be part of the "problem"? Can they cause bad scalp conditions if left on for 2 days or from regular use? I am now alternating between Dermmatch and Toppik. I thought I would like Derm and it CAN work well if done just right. I've also messed it up a lot and made my hair either look like a single color matte finish OR it rubs off too much. Toppik is a better "quick fix" to thicken the hair.



Suggestions welcome. I'll start taking and posting pics no matter how embarrasing.

 

[techprof]

give finasteride one year. if it doesn't work move to dutasteride.
i suggest that you use plain minoxidil twice a day. instead of wasting money on azelaic acid use it on SODs (copper peptides, proxiphen-N, proxiphen, tricomin, folligen).
good luck.
nw3 to nw2 is a realistic goal.

 

[mrsmith]

I'll stick with finasteride. Where can I find the least expensive SODs?


Looking at the Norwood scales again, my frontal is more NW2-NW3 but the crown is larger than the Norwood 3V shown here:
http://www.hairlossmagazine.com/hairlos ... -loss.html

I also have diffuse thinning on top.

 

[Def]

As far as I'm aware, the cheapest SOD's (copper peptide sprays in this case) are those made by American Crew under the Revitalize line.

I'm in Australia, and here the spray costs about $60 per bottle (!!!) so I just order it online from the US. This site seems to sell it quite cheap, however, it may be even less in local supermarkets etc:

http://healthandbeautydepot.com/ac-revitalize.htm

Definitely stick with the Finasteride for at least a year and you will need to use Minoxidil twice a day to achieve regrowth. It would be a good idea to also use some Nizoral shampoo twice weekly and a very gentle shampoo / conditioner for every other day.

Keep your expectations realistic and if you're persitant I see no reason why you can't achieve your goal.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing your results!

Def

 

[techprof]

no one knows how much copper peptides are there in american crew.
you can order folligen or tricomin from this site. (http://www.gourmetstylewellness.com).
I rank SODs in the following decreasing order
1. proxiphen-N
2. tricomin
3. folligen

spintrapC is potentially a better SOD than proxiphen-N, but I am not sure it absorbs very well and it can taint your scalp orange. Also proxiphen-N has NANO the regrowth agent which none of the other SODS have.

post your pictures if you want to know your exact Norwood. you can order proxiphen-N from http://www.drproctor.com or from the http://www.lef.org

good luck.

 

[mrsmith]

Your front looks better than the NW5... I'd say more like a 3 with a larger crown loss.

I'll post pictures sometime this weekend.

Also, not to pick on anyone, but we need a standard for taking and posting pics.

1 - If your camera has a timer, try using it and getting some distance away from the cam. Pictures too close up are actually more confusing than those with some focus and distance.

2 - If you are using a flash, turn off nearby heavy light sources... too much blare and glare.

3 - Hair styles.... to accurately show the TRUE extent of your hairloss...
take all pics with hair parted in the middle or combed away from the center of the head... combing the hair forward or over to the side does hides what may be a trouble area. No gel or product either.

 

[Chadman]

I'd like to get a bump on this and the regimen you decided on.

This is exactly my goal. I'm something like a NW3V (too bad I'm 26 and not 36), but I have decent coverage of hair on top so I'm hopeful that I can simply get the minimized hairs to join the party. My hair line is gone, and I honestly couldn't care less. Just want to maximize the top.

I'm currently only on nizoral and NANO, but I'm adding a SOD as soon as it gets here. I'm trying to see how well I respond to these very basic things, and then beyond that I'll consider the DHT inhibitor, etc.

 

[mrsmith]

I'd like to get a bump on this and the regimen you decided on.

This is exactly my goal. I'm something like a NW3V (too bad I'm 26 and not 36), but I have decent coverage of hair on top so I'm hopeful that I can simply get the minimized hairs to join the party.......

Hey! 36 doesn't make it any better. I don't anyone willing to "give up" or accept baldingness until they are SUPPOSED to be all grey and "older" looking anyway, which isn't until about age 50-55. Some people go grey in their 40s, but still look "middle aged" which is supposed to be "NOT-YOUNG/NOT OLD" looking. When I am an older gent at or near retirement, I will stop OR when I find a woman I love and trust enough to marry.

Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt are both just over 40 now and I don't think they would accept losing hair now, though I'd argue that Depp is a NW2 and Brad Pitt wasn't far from it.

You're like me. No white men and few black men over 23-25 have a full Norwood 0 hairline. Only 14 years olds are really supposed to have that. Not to be racist, but I can't help but notice that Mestizzo (Indian mixed) Latinos rarely lose hair past a NW0-1. Anyone else notice? Their hairlines start an inch above their freakin' eyebrows!
Not for this white boy. I have a long scandinavian upper head/lobe


Anyways... Here's my regimen:

• 
  *finasteride -finax 1mg (for about a month), fincar and finpecia before that dating back to Dec 05/Jan 2006
  
  *Nizoral 1%
  
  *MSM 1500 mg combo with Calcium

Before this past month, I had one month 2 months a month apart on minoxidil and Saw Palmetto. I plan on adding a fast drying minoxidil 5% very soon. I will then just use:

finasteride, minoxidil, MSM and Nizoral for about a year. I MIGHT kick in minoxidil 12-15% when it's available. I also drink soy and green tea, but I don't think those are really part of the regimen.

Pics coming soon. I have some definite thickening of hair, including miniaturize diffuse hairs and some new regrowth hairs along temple line and forlock.


I would be most happy with a thick Norwood 2-3 (low side of 3) with no obvious crown loss or diffuse thinning on top. Goal is to fill that in and maybe grow 1 cm back on temples and side hairline. My forlock/widows peak grows down fairly low (Julian Sands/ younger Jack Nicholson) so no regrowth needed there, though there is a little bit at the front of it.


I haven't had time but I'll post a profile and pics w/ my shed loss a month ago as a baseline and then the new pics I have now. But really, the regrowth didn't happen in one month... I've been on some sort of finasteride since Dec/Jan - 6 months.

The MSM and Nizoral IMO are adding thickness.