Pictures
Description
I’ve been using 1.25mg Fin (Essential Clinic) + Topical Min (Kirkland) since 2020.
Initial 1-3 years results were great, noticeable regrows and thickness.
Since 2024 till now, most progress stalled and some fall / thinning progressively again, but not balding just not better anymore either.
Even adding micro needling (Dr.Pen M8) once every 2-3 weeks.
My lifestyle is pretty consistent since I do bodybuilding, tracking my protein, take collagen biotin supplements regularly.
2025 I got a hybrid job so sleep has been spot on 6-7+ hours.
I’m thinking maybe to switch to Dut and Oral Min?
I’m planning on ordering from Essential Clinic (I’m in Canada and they have been great), and I think they said the oral min is a compound?
Any suggestion or experience with switching from Fin to Dut and topical Min to oral Min would be great!
Pictures are from 2020 till last night.
Pictures
2023
2025 January
2022
2025 Nov 16
2020
Description
I’ve been using 1.25mg Fin (Essential Clinic) + Topical Min (Kirkland) since 2020.
Initial 1-3 years results were great, noticeable regrows and thickness.
Since 2024 till now, most progress stalled and some fall / thinning progressively again, but not balding just not better anymore either.
Even adding micro needling (Dr.Pen M8) once every 2-3 weeks.
My lifestyle is pretty consistent since I do bodybuilding, tracking my protein, take collagen biotin supplements regularly.
2025 I got a hybrid job so sleep has been spot on 6-7+ hours.
I’m thinking maybe to switch to Dut and Oral Min?
I’m planning on ordering from Essential Clinic (I’m in Canada and they have been great), and I think they said the oral min is a compound?
Any suggestion or experience with switching from Fin to Dut and topical Min to oral Min would be great!
Pictures are out of order sorry this forums interface is wildly hard to use…
always consult with a medical professional, but yeah LDOM+Dut and maybe a bit of prescribable topical anti androgens can do the job for most. I don’t think finasteride can maintain it for a life time, for most it is 15-20 years realistically. For lifelong maintenance or even greater regrowth than finasteride you typically need dutasteride. I cannot quantify, but based on my speculation that I pulled from my ass (it is not scientific), maybe 40-50 years dut will maintain or perhaps even regrow like fin does for some people? For topical minoxidil yeah, oral is generally deemed better especially for diffuse thinners like you. 2.5mg to 5mg is generally deemed safe, >5mg and you risk side effects. Though I had seen 10mg loniten users on Turkish hair loss forums who grew hair from near-totally bald areas and some believing in tressless that 10mg is actually worse with anecdotal experiences, it is not really a clear-cut situation but probably with increased side effects. If LDOM+Dut+an FDA-approved anti androgen+Microneedling and praying to almighty God or Allah cannot fix your situation, then maybe it might be the time to embrace your fate and shave it off perhaps also hitting the gym and growing a beard. At least at that point you could say that you had put up a solid fight. This is what I had done, despite continuing treatments (I continue treatments even if I believe I cannot recover my lost hair so I assume myself as a bald guy.) and no you do NOT die, it is NOT the end of the world even if it is not good to go through AGA at all. Trust me I have been going thru it since 17 and 20 rn.
disclaimer:this reply/post is not a medical advice, please see a healthcare professional for that matter. LDOM=Low Dose Oral Minoxidil.
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Thank you so much for such detailed reply, exactly what I was looking for!
I am actually going to ask my GP to see if he can refer me to local Derm and have them do an assessment then get prescription if possible.
Essential Clicnic CA has been great but I think I am ready for the more progressive steps haha
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minor update: NSAAs replaced with anti-androgens in the original response.
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Sorry what’s NSAAs short for?
non steroidal anti androgen, replaced it with just anti androgen (topical obviously since you are a man.).
