22M – Minoxidil didn’t work, bloodwork showed deficiencies, doctors dismissed me – not sure what to do next

[Beefy_Brown]

Hey everyone,
I’m 22M and have been dealing with noticeable hair thinning, especially at the front and crown. It started gradually around early 2023, when I began working as an online tutor and stopped going outside much. Before that, my hair was totally fine. thick, no noticeable thinning. I used 5% and 10% minoxidil correctly for 3 months (twice a day, direct scalp application, massaged it in), but saw zero results — no shedding, no regrowth, no change at all.

I did blood tests a few months ago and had the following deficiencies:

Zinc: 55.5 µg/dL (ref: 72.6–127)

Vitamin B12: 78.9 pg/mL (ref: 200–835)

Vitamin D3: 20 ng/dL (ref: 30–100)

TSH: 7.89 mIU/mL (ref: 0.4–5.1) – possible hypothyroidism?

Testosterone: 4.265 ng/mL (ref: 2.5–10) – lower end of normal

I went to a dermatologist and endocrinologist. The derm just told me to use minoxidil (which I did with no result). The endo briefly checked my thyroid by hand and said it seemed “slightly swollen, maybe due to stress,” and then dismissed it. He prescribed zinc, B12, D3, and biotin supplements, which I took for 2–3 months, but I haven’t done follow-up bloodwork to know if levels normalized.

Lifestyle-wise:

Last 3 years have been full of stress (relationship/work/family stuff)

Pretty inactive, inconsistent with exercise, and mentally drained most of the time

Masturbation/porn habit has been bad

Noisy, stressful home environment

Hair loss runs in the family: my dad is bald, and both older brothers are severely thinning

I don’t want to rely only on AI or random products. I’m trying to figure out if this is just aggressive genetic MPB, something fixable with health improvements, or if I should be doing something completely different like finasteride, RU58841, or lifestyle changes.

Any help, shared experience, or even a reality check would be appreciated.

[system]

Hey man, I was in the exact same situation as you — thinning at the front and crown, used minoxidil alone with no results, and had a bunch of stress and deficiencies too.

What really made the difference for me was adding finasteride, preferably topical if you’re worried about side effects. Finasteride blocks the hair loss and minoxidil helps regrow what you’ve lost, they work best together.

Now i use a mix of minoxidil and 0.5% topical finasteride, super effective and I’ve had zero side effects.

You really don’t have to overcomplicate it. Just give it a shot and if you don’t feel good on it, you can always stop right away.

Hope that helps.

[Beefy_Brown]

Hey Scott thanks for the reply. How long have you used minoxidil and finasteride? And did you go back to how you were before the hair loss? Did you make any lifestyle changes too?

[system]

Been over a year now. I actually have more hair than before I even started. My hairline has mostly come back, not like when I was a teenager but way better. In terms of density, I’ve got more coverage than I had pre-treatment.