13 months on Finasteride with no results — planning next steps with Dutasteride and possibly Minoxidil

General
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Hey everyone,

I’ve been on Finasteride (1.25mg daily) for about 13 months now, but unfortunately haven’t seen any improvement — no regrowth and no slowdown in shedding. So I’m planning to switch to Dutasteride soon.

I’d rather not add Minoxidil since applying it every day sounds pretty tedious (and oral Min isn’t available where I live). That said, I don’t want to wait another year just to find out Dut alone isn’t enough either. What’s also pushing me to consider adding Min is something I’ve heard — that if a follicle stays inactive for too long, it might eventually die and stop producing hair. So I’m worried about losing even more ground while waiting for Dutasteride alone (without Minoxidil) to kick in. Is that concern valid, or am I overthinking it?

Could starting Minoxidil at the same time help keep those weaker follicles alive until Dut starts working? And more broadly — does combining the two actually lead to better long-term results, or does Min just help you reach the same endpoint faster that you’d eventually get from Dut alone?

For those who’ve used either one separately — how long did it take before you started seeing visible improvements?

Here’s something I’m really curious about: is it common for Finasteride to completely fail for some people while Dutasteride ends up working well? Or should I be prepared that if Fin didn’t help, Dut might not do much either? This is probably my biggest concern right now.

I consulted with a dermatologist about a year ago when I started Fin. She mentioned that Fin, Dut, and Minox can lose some effectiveness if you stop them for a while and restart. Has anyone actually experienced that?

She also said you can taper off Minoxidil slowly if needed. But if you stop and hair loss returns — does restarting work as well the second time, or does it lose effectiveness?

She recommended switching from Fin to Dut gradually — lowering Fin’s dose and frequency while slowly increasing Dut. Does that sound right? How do people usually handle that transition, and what’s a good starting dose or schedule for Dutasteride?

I haven’t had any side effects from Fin so far.

Really appreciate any advice or personal experience you’re willing to share — whether it’s success stories, warnings, or anything in between. Especially interested in hearing from those who didn’t respond to Fin but saw results with Dut (with or without Min). Thanks!

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My man, I had the EXACT same concern as you had a few days before! Go check out my profile, if you want. But in general I have been personally using fin+dut for about 4-5 days. Nothing had happened to me yet, I aim to ditch fin once dut fully kicks in around 1-2 months. Now, I believe you are a Turk or live in Turkey because oral min is not also available here, though you can get it from compounding pharmacies or make one yourself (which I am AGAINST). You may also visist a foreign country where oral minoxidil is available eg. Austria/Germany etc. and then go see a dermatologist there and bring a few months worth of original non-compounded oral minoxidil in its packaging. Usually at 2.5mg. Though you have to bring in the prescription etc. along with you and customs (at any country) may create problems, so beware of that. These are two routes. There also exists “international pharmacies” that claim to be able to ship it to you albeit I am skeptical of their claims.

They do NOT die but go dormant where a prominent response to medication becomes akin to a miracle. See pp405 for that matter. Yes, your concern is also valid, in fact it was what resonated with me while beginning on dut so i decided to hop on fin too and am on it for roughly the past few days.

Whatever follicle that has not gone dormant the moment you began taking dutasteride will stay that way, and the follicles that had gone dormant will (without pp405) likely NEVER come back. But in my belief and while this is not a medical advice, you should also use minoxidil in combination to a dutasteride. For the second question: no, dutasteride may regrow your hair when used alone but it is the minoxidil that handles those tasks primarily. Think of it like this way, you have ship sinking and you close the holes through which leak occurs then remove/eliminate the water that made its way to the ship through the hole in the hull. Dutasteride closes the holes and minoxidil removes the water.

I did not experience it personally but there exists some people who claim that it is the case. Some studies also back it up but I don’t precisely remember. Dut is more potent than fin at any day any time, obviously

DO NOT STOP MINOXIDIL IF YOU HAD LOST HAIR AND WANT TO REGAIN YOUR HAIR BACK. IGNORE WHAT THAT DERMATOLOGIST SAYS TO YOU!

Pro tip: Oral minoxidil is available in Turkey, if you are dedicated enough. Maybe not readily available in pharmacies in its original packaging but you can get it prepared at a compounding pharmacy or use international pharmacies (if legal) or bring with prescription the original oral minoxidil in its packaging from abroad, be sure to explain clearly everything to the customs if a problem arises. Do NOT bring in more than 6 months of medications or you may be suspected, actually it is better for you to keep it to 3 months if you want to be extra-extra safe. If you live somewhere else where oral minoxidil is not prepared by compounding pharmacies and original form of it does not exist then I have no idea how you could obtain it.