Stopped recession but still thinning?

[aj218]

So basically, I've been using finasteride since last July and minoxidil since Jan 2014 (though I used liquid for the first month and have used foam since then, I've realised liquid is much better).

The thing is, my hairline hasn't moved since I've been taking finasteride (started finasteride as a nw1.5-2, it went from nw0 to this in 2 years) and it's moved down a cm since I've been using minoxidil, but my hair has been diffuse thinning at a steady pace. It's not so thin that you can see directly into the scalp but it bright light it's become more noticeable, got to use some toppik to make it look better. Though I do have to admit I've only been putting minoxidil on my temples, I do plan to put it on the rest of my scalp once I order some liquid minoxidil.

I'm confused now as to whether the diffuse hairloss has anything to do with male pattern baldness because unlike my temples, I don't see any miniturised hairs on my scalp. I know a receding hairline is a good sign of male pattern baldness but diffuse could be anything. I was diffuse thinning before I started treating my male pattern baldness.

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[WorkHardPlayHard]

Same thing with me.

14 months 1.25 fnasteride, 6 months minoxidil 2/day.

Shed, shed, shed. Hair sorta stabilized. Hairline has stayed about the same but the frontal region itself has diffused. Crown has improvied along with rear scalp. My front is just decimated, but at this rate, if my crown stays as is, I can fill in a solid NW3 with an hair transplant or two.

What kinda hair loss was yours? Mine is/was aggressive on the front but light on the back.

 

[aj218]

Well I would say my hairloss is aggressive because it diffused thinned quite quickly in the past 3 years. In terms of temple recession, I went from being a nw1 in Jan 2012 to close to nw2 by the time I was taking finasteride, July 2013. In my case the thinnest part is actually behind my hairline, my hairline is a bit thicker, though my right temple's been looking really bad lately. My crown's still relatively thick, I can get it cut short without any visible thinning. Funny thing is that even though my hair looks thinner it still has quite alot of life, when I sweep my hand through my hair I'm still met with a good degree of resistance (though not as much as it used to back in the day, my hair would eat combs because of how thick it was), the hair that I have left still has the same shaft thickness. If anything I think finasteride actually made some of them even thicker.

I've been contemplating going on dutasteride but I'm wondering if it'll be worth it or not.

I'm still confused about the fact that there was no sort of miniturisation stage for the rest of my hair. I saw the hairs get progressively smaller on my temples (and thanks to minoxidil they're doing the opposite) but the rest would just fall out and just never grow again, which is one reason why I question whether the diffuse thinning is male pattern baldness at all or a mixture of male pattern baldness and something else.

I might get some blood work done, see if there's anything else that could be causing it. I'm just hoping that they could grow back again. I mean if I'm able to grow back temple hair, which people claim is the hardest, I should be able to grow back the rest with more ease.

Do you use liquid or foam minoxidil?