The 3 Month Shed!

[JackWhite]

Guys,

been on Proscar cut in to 5ths for just over 3 months and my hair has just never looked so thin. I was receeding slowly for 3 years but always had density and now only 3 months into treatment my scalp is entirely visible!

This is no-way a coincidence so please no "imagine where you would be without propecia!" comments. My opinion is a) it's hyperreflexangenicitytyty or whatever it's bloody called or b) a shed.

If I stick with the treatment and it is just a shed, how long can I expect to wait until it's improves or returns to it's normal state?

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Skaff]

It's a shed...why would you think it was anything else? No one can give you a definative answer as to when it will end...could be tomorrow, could be another 3 months. If you want results then you've gotta tough it out.

 

[JDW]

I'm in the same boat Jackwhite and I feel like it's sinking rapidly...

Have to believe that this rapid thinning is just a shed and hair will regrow stronger but am not blindly optimistic about the chances. Especially as my hairline has receeded 2 cms in the last month and is now very very thin.

 

[KR78]

I had my first shed on finasteride after 70 days and it continued for a week but now things have returned to normal.
Hopefully ur shed wave will also go sooner.

 

[RP]

3 months and my hair has just never looked so thin

Exactly same thing happend to me. My hair looked worse than ever. And I had been loosing it very slowly for 10 years when I decided to start finasteride. And all of a sudden harloss accelerated dramatically.

A good thing is that the shed stopped after a few weeks, and by now I am nearly at my baseline. Actually I`m so confident about my hair that I just booked a haircut at my regular barbers. A thing that I haven`t wanted to do since my last visit in July .

Just hang in there. It`ll propably look much better in 2-3 months.

 

[JDW]

mine seems to be getting worse and worse...

no hope it seems. can ANYONE on here reassure me that these clumps of hair that are coming out when I run my fingers over my head will actually REGROW?!
I find it near impossible to believe

 

[biglemoncoke]

i've been going through my fincar shed for the past week...hair thinner than ever...but its all good..dream about the hair that gonna regrow

 

[JDW]

3 months and my hair has just never looked so thin

Exactly same thing happend to me. My hair looked worse than ever. And I had been loosing it very slowly for 10 years when I decided to start finasteride. And all of a sudden harloss accelerated dramatically.

A good thing is that the shed stopped after a few weeks, and by now I am nearly at my baseline. Actually I`m so confident about my hair that I just booked a haircut at my regular barbers. A thing that I haven`t wanted to do since my last visit in July .

Just hang in there. It`ll propably look much better in 2-3 months.

was this even at the front though? I've lost my whole hairline in a month!
Why are we bothering with this sh*t if it's going to be back at baseline in a few months?! why not just not touch it and we'd be at baseline!
argh

 

[barnabas]

Yeah. I have been on propecia for four months, and all of a sudden about a month ago it started shedding like crazy. My hairline was probably 2.5 before, now it's basically a 3a. It's receded back almost another inch and the middle "widow's peak" is disappearing fast. No one I've seen complain about sheds on here ever said it actually receded further, just that they noticed tons of hairs falling out. I think this probably means either propecia does almost no good or I'm having some nasty reaction.

 

[JDW]

Exactly the same as me Barnabas... Ir receeded back another few cms and the front portion of hair thinned out unbelievably.
Waht is your plan now as I';m so unsure. We seem to be in the same situation here man.

Our options are:

a) keep going and hope that this shed regrows (I have my doubts)
b) quit propecia and cut our loses (dangerous tactic?!)
c) add minoxidil to Telogen Effluvium regime and hope it helps regrow.

What are you thinking my man as I'm very very scared and confused right now

 

[barnabas]

I really have no idea, I guess all I can do is continue it. Since most people who get on minoxidil also have a horrid shed I'm sure as heck not starting that yet. If the front goes entirely then i'll start it, sure, but I'm just going to stick it out for another few months and pray that it starts coming back. Unless I'm allergic to propecia (I doubt it, since I was on the stuff for 3 months before any of this happened with no adverse effects or shedding whatsoever - though I was on name brand for the first three months and then switched to finpecia), I think quitting it would be the worst thing I could do, cause that would basically guarantee its failure to regrow. It IS happening at the time everyone says there's supposed to be a big shed, but unfortunately no one on this site who had any success seems to have had one like ours where there's actually more (and severe) recession before having it return to baseline. The problem is, at this rate, I will honestly have NO hair left in the front 2 inches of my hairline in just a month or two. Just today I discovered there is now a nearly 1 cm part in very middle of my head in front, to go along with the strip of hair that exists in the middle between the recessed corners only being about 3 inches wide to begin with. Blurgh. If there IS anyone on this site who's had this kind of experience, it's unfortunate they don't read this sub-forum.

So, my plan is to continue the propecia no matter what, as if I quit it I'll go bald for sure, while if I stay on it there's at least a chance it will come back. But yes, this is an absolute nightmare. In a couple months if things haven't improved I'll add minoxidil, that stuff seems to be more for regrowing than maintenance so I think even if everything falls out it would produce about the same results as if I'd started it now (since it wouldn't have kept the hairs that were going to fall out).

 

[JDW]

It's crazy but we seem to be singing from the same songsheet here! Only yesterday did I part my hair at the front and find a huge gap in the front of my hairline! It looks so sparse that I just can't imagine it filling in with new hairs at all. I some ways I just wish all my hair that is going to fall out would fall out right now so I could at least know what I'll have to work with in future and get a conservative hair transplant or something.


It's soul destroying though isn't it man as only a month and a bit ago I was high on life due to almost no hairs dropping throughout the day and my hair looking thicker than it has in ages.

:roll:

ok I'll stick with your judgement on this one and keep going but I think we have to set a time limit before we bring in minoxidil if things keep getting worse/don't improve.

Come on regrowth!!!

 

[barnabas]

Yeah, it really is completely crushing. After the first month or two on propecia I was thinking I saw some regrowth and was surprised it had happened without any sheds, and then BAM! My hair isn't coming out in clumps or anything (thank god, it was pretty thin already), but it's been an increase in shedding and without regrowth, so it's REALLY, REALLY noticeable. My hair got visibly thinner maybe 3 weeks to a month ago, so I got a different haircut (before then, I would comb my hair straight back with a combover on the temples, which were a bit recessed, now I comb it straight forward and it's fairly long yet hardly goes below my hairline of a few months ago).

Then, I quit folligen, which I'd been applying nightly to the hairline and temples. I figured it wasn't doing anything, since I'd only been on it for about 2-3 months, and my hair was thinning out more anyway, so I figured it might be irritating it or something.

Now, after another 2 or 3 weeks, not only is the remaining frontal hair much thinner, but the front center of my hair has receded at least an inch, as have my temples. They actually ARE creeping back further every day, I've been keeping measurements on it. Just today, I felt for my front hairline, and discovered there was a slick strip about 1/4" long below it, which was not there a few days ago, meaning it's receded another 1/4" in just THREE DAYS. It's really, really bad. And when it does stop (it will be hard to tell when it does, as there was never a really obvious increase in hair fall), I will have to wait an entire 3 months before I know if it's going to grow back or not. Rgh, rgh rgh. I would just shave my head now and take the plunge, but fortunately I also have a horrible case of dandruff (probably related), not to mention I am very skinny and would look like a prisoner of war. Man, I"m in a bad mood. Three months, I don't know if I can make it I also don't know if this has ANYTHING to do with folligen, as I didn't think it was doing anything, yet I have lost tons of hair in all the places I was putting it, so maybe it was? I don't know if putting it there on the newly slick areas would do any good now anyway, so I guess I'll just stay off of it for a few months and see if it comes back anyway.

The really funny thing is that I read these forums and basically all the info I could about propecia, and was worried about sexual side effects, yet here I am four months later with none of the more common side effects and the worst possible shed side effects. That's got to be incredible luck, since supposedly the vast majority of propecia users never shed, yet I, the guy who had read about it beforehand, actually get it. And it wasn't some psychologically triggered thing, I completely did not expect this to happen, especially not to the degree it has. It isn't helped by that list done by the dermatologist of the "top myths about hair loss," with one of the very highest being that "propecia sheds are normal and are a good sign."

Also, not helped by the fact that I have less hair than any member of my family at any point in the family tree who's under the age of 70...neither of my grandpas had loss remotely close to as bad as mine before about age 50. Terrible.

 

[JDW]

hey man, we're in this together so keep each other updated. It is hard to think it's going to be way into the new year before we know how this will pan out and at this rate I don't know what will even be left of my ahir at that
point

 

[H2O]

barnabas posted this update/comment in another thread..you see the date noted below. There are so many threads people start, it's easy to look at an abandoned thread and not get an accurate indication of what's happening to people. A noob would perhaps read this thread and loose all hope and abandon their regimen. With some additional info such as this, it shows what is the generally accepted wisdom that sheds happen, especially in the beginning....followed by regrowth. It is always a good idea if you run across threads like these dating back a while, to find all threads by a poster and look for their current status. Noone can be so diligent as to update all their past threads...just a word of warning to noobs and everyone else .

Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 6:25 pm Post subject:

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After avoiding looking at my hair for a couple weeks, I've discovered my right temple seems to be regrowing in an area about the same (or maybe even lower) than it was when I started the stuff. Left is still worse than baseline, but right seems to be back to baseline or better. It's more diffuse than before but thanks to the sheer amount of regrowth I'm sure it will thicken up. I'm pleasantly surprised.

A mandatory read for all worried about shedding is Cassin's Sticky thread at the beginning of this section. Good information and worth re-reading every time you might freak out about shedding...

 

[H/B]

the sheds do pass. if you shedd as bad as you say, adding minoxidil will not likely make it much worse, if at all... because those were likely the same hair that minoxidil would have kicked into anagen. if anything the minoxidil my help you regrow faster.

been where all you guys are at, and at times was discouraging. but at 16 months on the big three, i am significantly above baseline and it is still improving. remember, this too shall pass.