WHILE I AM NOT A DOCTOR AND THIS IS NOT A MEDICAL ADVICE, It is in my belief that all men after 20-21 should consider using finasteride. DHT is really not that good for your body post-puberty and brings hairloss, adult acne, ages skin and may in the future cause prostate enlargement. Finasteride/Dutasteride are the only ways to keep DHT (primary hormone that drives MPB) to a halt or at least keep it in the bay for long term, say 20-30 years. It is likely that you will even see some regrowth, this is what happens typically compared to placebo groups.
This is general advice but if your hair is thinning, even in the slightest you should do these things:
A) Forget about what people say that your hair was already that way (oh you were born that way etc.) and immediatly visit a dermatologist/trichologist
B)Show your hairline. They have special devices that they can use to look at your hair at near-microscopic (maybe even microscopic I don’t know) levels. If he/she does not want to do it, ask for the doc to do it. That is a sure-fire way of getting to know whether it is MPB or not. If miniaturization of hair strands is detected, then you very, very likely have MPB. Especially if it is occuring in the norwood pattern across the scalp area.
C)Ignore rosemary, fenugreek whatever that stuff is if it does not empirically (that you observe) promote exceptional hair growth in you. There are only two medications for MPB:finasteride/dutasteride (different medications but do the same thing, so I list them as one) and minoxidil.
D)Don’t worry about shedding, your hair still likely has not miniaturized let alone follicles going dormant (at which point MPB treatment becomes very hard or impossible). You still have time my man. But better early than late, be as early as possible. DO NOT underestimate balding, DO NOT think while it is happening right now it may actually take a few decades, like 15-20 years for you to fully go bald. You may end up going bald in less than 5 years. Norwood reaper is a good magician, there is a chance that he will arrive way way earlier than you think!
Q: Since I am not experiencing hair loss anymore and I have stabilized, is it safe to skip anti-DHT solutions until I start seeing hairs/until my hair starts to thin out again?
A:No, not at all. If you experience no problems as in no side effects and your enzymes etc. are healthy hop on anti-dht as soon as possible. But I would suggest you to visit nevertheless a doctor and tell him/her about it, ask whether finasteride may be inappropriate for you (eg. for your liver). You may be requested to get a blood test conducted, do it. Talk it in detail. If you get a green light, hop on the fin. Start with a low dose, then up if no negative effects are observed. 1 mg is solid.
Q:Is it okay that I don’t see white vellus hairs on my scalp (like the middle or front) but I see lots on the temples?
A:Yes, entirely depends on where you apply the minoxidil spray.
Q:Will minoxidil cause new hairs to grow on the scalp or just thicken out the existing ones?
A:Both. Minoxidil is a vasodilator that widens blood vessels thus promoting the growth of hair follicles. You will NOT get any new hair follicles out of thin hair, but if the hairs in those areas have miniaturized or miniaturizing you may reverse that process and get full terminal hair (if follicles there are not dormant, yours probably are not yet, so dont’ worry.). You will get the hair that you had prior to any hairloss, at NW0 or if you are diffuse thinning, you will have the pre-thinning thickness restored.
Q:Any advices you’d give me regarding my hair and my hairloss?
A:1)Find a proper dermatologist (don’t be like me who ended up finding bad ones), 2)If you experience no negative effects (obviously not without a doctor too), get on fin and carefully up the dosage. Maybe you may even consider getting on dutasteride, as I do (0.5mg avodart is what I use). But be careful, while their side-effect ratios are roughly same, still exercise caution as it takes longer (while reversible) for side effects for dutasteride to fully disappear. 3)Ask your doctor for oral minoxidil, I use 2.5mg variant. By ask, I don’t mean like go and ask for a prescription, tell him/her like “oh there exists oral forms of minoxidil maybe they could be used etc.”. If you are told that it is suitable for you (given your BP is healthy and have no hyper/hypotension related problems), begin using oral minoxidil 2.5mg per day, not only it is more convenient it actually is more effective against MPB. But get BP measurements after taking oral minoxidil, roughly an hour or so after taking it, play it safe.
