I just discovered this sub and of course I’ll go through the top posts, but meanwhile I wanted to tell you about my situation and hopefully get your help.
I’m about to turn 29 in two months. I always had dark, thick full head of hair. I even grew it long (chest length) two years ago and found out for the first time it’s actually wavy. Since then I’ve been wearing it short, shaving it about twice a year. About four years ago I started getting some grays on the sides. Now I have grays everywhere and my hair’s getting gray rapidly. I might become a silver fox in about 5 years - IF I HAVE ANY HAIR LEFT!
I’m being overdramatic but after I shaved my hair in July, while it was newly growing, I noticed it was looking slightly sparse on the top. I thought I was being pessimistic and let it go. Now my hair’s about 5 cm. long and I definitely can feel the lack of density when I run my fingers through it. It is not as dense/thick as it used to be at the top, and it is definitely way less dense at the crown area. I believe I’m starting to show signs of male pattern baldness. My hair feels less dense compared to two or even a year ago.I feared this day would come knowing my dad also suffers from it. I’ll try to post some photos later for you to see but I don’t know if it’ll work - my hair is too dark and my camera is too shabby to catch any details.
My question is about the use of minoxidil and finasteride.
a) Are both of these medications lifelong commitments, or will I be able to stop once I (hopefully) reach a desired outcome?
b) Do you recommend I start one of these medications, or use both?
c) Is there a difference between oral or spray? What’s the best way to use these products?
d) In my country I was able to find drugs with finasteride 5 mg or 1 mg. Which would you recommend?
Oh, I think I should mention what changed in my life in the last year, as I believe this is when my hair started thinning: I do have an extremely stressful life but this was sort of always the case. I started taking hair vitamin gummies and I’m also on accutane. Maybe I’m taking too much Vitamin A with these products? I’ll get tested this week and share the results here. I don’t know if posting links is allowed but this is the supplement facts of the gummy I use: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71BhK3Zqj+L._AC_SY879_.jpg (If the link doesn’t work and you’re curious about how much of what this product contains, just google VitaBear hair gummy.) I know this was too long but I’m really looking forward to your help - because I know I won’t look good bald Thanks brothers
Finasteride and minoxidil work in VERY, VERY different ways. One thing you should understand is that finasteride typically is not used for regrowing new hairs (although if you are a diffuse thinner and have begun treatment early it will help nevertheless in regrowing hairs to a significant extent in my belief.). Finasteride is a DHT inhibitor that inhibits the production of DHT hormone via binding to the Type II isoenzyme of steroid 5-alpha-reductas. DHT is a hormone that is derived from the testesterone and almost always the sole responsible of AGA (or balding for layman’s terms). DHT’s role in post-puberty exists but it is inhibition is often negligible as to the extent of DHT inhibition by finasteride might be concerned. Most men do NOT experience PFS, side effects etc.Minoxidil is what regrows the lost hairs at is a potassium channel opener and vasodilator, it widens blood vessels to deliver more nutrients to hair follicles but primarily signals the hair follicle to enter into anagen phase, occasionally followed by a shedding where hair follicles in telogen phase shed away to make room for newly growing hair. No shedding typically means you are a poor responder to the dose (eg 1.25mg) or concentration of minoxidil (eg %2.5) that you apply. For men with AGA, typically the finasteride is prescribed at 1-1.25mg while the minoxidil in its topical form is available OTC at 5% for people over the age of 18 and is prescribed orally (eg. loniten) at 2.5mg to 5mg range, though some doctors may prescribe it at higher doses like 7.5mg. Now you know what is finasteride and minoxidil, the thing is finasteride and minoxidil typically are chronic and lifelong commitments, they are NOT stoppable once you get the results. Minoxidil’s potassium channel opening effect is NOT permanent just like finasteride’s DHT inhibition, as both of these drugs have half-lifes where the amount in your blood stream (or scalp for topical minoxidil/topical finasteride) will decay over time. Keep also in mind that A)finasteride can be found topically and this is the reason why I included topical finasteride in the previous sentence and B)the exact mechanism through which minoxidil works is not fully understood, it is believed to be through widening of blood vessels and prolonging anagen phase and/or forcing the hairs to enter into anagen phase and shedding telogen hairs (shedding telogen hairs but only if hair is forced into premature anagen). Minoxidil basically is like the opposite of DHT in the way it works, but its full mechanism is a bit of mystery. By the way, premature anagen or shedding telogen hairs etc. these notions should not scare you, for centuries this is the way the humans developed drugs, by cheating the nature through chemical formulations It works and is typically safe at the end of the day for the long-term usage.
You need minoxidil for regrowing what you had lost and finasteride for preventing further loss. It is up to you to decide and up to your doctor to give medical advices/recommendations. I canNOT give medical advices, however I want to state that typically you would need both if you had lost ground and want to prevent further loss.
Depends on how you respond. Oral is generally more effective though is systemic and topical has a lower-response rate but its effects are localized. For finasteride, oral is what you would typically be prescribed and for minoxidil it would be topical, in all likelihood. Though topical minoxidil is very hazardous to pets, so you may get an oral variant if you mention it to a doctor. He/She may write it off/prescribe it to you in an “off-label” way, that is a medication approved by FDA is prescribed outside of its use case, it is legal from what I know but not done frequently.
It is NOT up to me to give medical advices so I cannot recommend anything however finasteride is typically used at 1mg-1.25mg range for androgenetic alopecia (AGA) treatment. 5mg is for BPH typically speaking.
Abbrevations and their meanings:
*AGA=Androgenetic Alopecia, BPH=Benign Prostate Hyperplasia, DHT=Dihydrotestosterone, OTC=Over-the-counter, PFS=Post-Finasteride Syndrome.
you may be interested on these:
Just because they are from wikipedia does NOT mean that they are not trustworthy also, these are well explaining materials. Ignore what your teachers told you in school, wikipedia is solid.
my current treatment: LDOM 2.5mg+dut 0.5mg+1/5mg proscar for 4-6 months+ketoconazole 2% semiweekly.
a) Yes they are lifelong commitments. If you stop, you will lose the progress you made and go back to balding within a year.
b) Finasteride is what you want to prioritize starting. That is what will stop your balding. Minoxidil is optional but using it in conjunction with finasteride can yield better results than using either medication on its own. Note, though, that not everyone is a responder to the topical version of minoxidil.
c) Topical finasteride formulations are rather new. Doctors who work in the field find oral finasteride gives more reliable results. It’s also MUCH less of a hassle. Since oral finasteride has a very good side effect profile to begin with, meaning few people get side effects from it, topical finasteride is typically only considered if someone cannot tolerate the oral version at all.
d) 1 mg per day is easiest but splitting the 5 mg tablet into quarters and taking 1.25 mg per day is also an option.
Hey man, first of all thank you for the detailed explanation! I have one more question. Are finasteride 1mg and 5mg drugs usually the same in their composition? (Maybe my English isn’t good enough to ask this question correctly. Basically, what I’m wondering is if I get finasteride 5mg that is used for BPH, and divide it into 4 pieces of 1.25mg and use it like that, will that be extremely similar to using 1mg that is made to prevent hair loss? I’m asking only because 1mg is quite expensive but of course I’ll buy the 1mg if that is more suited for hair loss than 5mg cut into four pieces.)
Hey simon, thank you so much for your answer. Another user mentioned that finasteride 5mg is used for benign prostatic hyperplasia. Would cutting it into 4 and taking it as 1.25mg pieces still work like taking 1mg finasteride, or would it not work since it was designed for BPH? Thanks
That’ll work! In fact, many people do it that way, and some doctors even prescribe 5 mg tablets for androgenic alopecia because they tend to be much cheaper
Typically yes for the active ingredient, not sure for other ingredients eg. excipients etc. but if you can find please get propecia (1mg pill) as always under the supervision of a doctor. In fact, I use proscar tablets myself and divide them to 5 (or 4) that means I take 1/4 or 1/5 of proscar 5mg per day, roughly 1 to 1.25mg of finasteride active ingredient it has as an ingredient. BUT, you cannot be sure in the dose you receive and cutting it is NOT easy with a blade, if possible A either get a pill cutter or B just get propecia.
Thanks brothers
It works and is typically safe at the end of the day for the long-term usage.