The Dude's Story

[The Dude]

I'm 35 and started thinning a bit in the front and temporal areas over the last 8 years or so with the last 4 years being greatest. No thinning over the crown thank goodness. I used Rogaine for a few years with Nioxin shampoo and conditioner and had a small amount of regrowth at first and then started losing it. I also had a lot of dandruff as a result of Rogaine, which I never had before so I decided to go off of it and switch to Propecia.

Continuing with the Nioxin shampoo and conditioner, I got on Propecia and saw palmetto about 5 months ago and the results were great, with some noticable regrowth in the front and temporal areas where I thought nothing could help. Oddly, about 3 months ago I ran out of saw palmetto and within a month I noticed some of the new growth was gone, so I started taking it again. I also was getting less sleep, and that may have also caused the backwards step. It's been over a month and I still feel like I am not where I was 3 months ago.

Should I be using the Rogaine as well as the Propecia? My doctor says studies have shown the best results with both. I just don't like the dandruff and the messiness of the Rogaine.

 

[Whammy]

Actually your question is pretty interesting because it seems your experience with minoxidil was similiar to many. Typically users if they react positively have some growth over a 2 years period than attempt with maintain what they'd grown. Now what i'm assuming your asking is if now that you've been off Rogaine for a while could you perhaps sort of start where you began and experience results. I don't think anyone has posted on that, and even if it work out that way 5 months to me doesn't seem like it'd be long enough.

What's also interesting is your experience with saw palmetto. There's an article on here that sorta trashes the product as having no proof it actually does something. Whether your loss of hair was a freakish coincidence or not I don't know. I personally would go to spironolactone to inhibit DHT topically, and take a hard look at a CU peptide product before minoxidil.

 

[The Dude]

Thanks. I've seen a lot of posts refer to copper peptide. I have no idea what that is, so I'll have to do some reading.

I ordered the spironolactone 5% cream (I don't want to smell all day long with the 2%). So you would go Propecia+spironolactone+copper peptide and then minoxidil as a last resort? Is that the general consensus around here?

Thanks for the info