31M Considering Topical Minoxidil vs. Min-Fin for Early Hair Thinning - Seeking Advice

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31M (UK). Early signs of hair thinning (I’ve noticed subtle changes over 1 year; others haven’t). I want topical-only right now. Debating Hims vs a private clinic.

Private clinic’s plan:

  • suggests a topical serum including Minoxidil 5% and a few other things, but not Finasteride.

  • raises concerns about DHT blocking at my age and mentions PFS as a risk.

  • suggests trying Min first for 3 months to gauge response before adding in Fin.

  • states Fin can be avoided if Min works.

My concerns:

  • opting for Min only will give the appearance of higher density, while still allowing DHT to damage follicles.

  • Min peaks at around 1 year and declines thereafter. Some studies do show retention for up to 2-2.5 years. However, it is not clear if adding Fin at a later stage can retain these gains.

  • Fin sides. I’ve researched various scientific studies. In many cases, the placebo group has a higher reported incidence of side effects vs the treatment group(s).

Questions for you:

  1. Anyone gain density on Min-only and maintain for 2+ years?

  2. If you added topical fin later, did you retain those gains?

I appreciate your thoughts as I’m torn between going with the clinic’s plan (Min only now) or combination therapy (Min-Fin). :folded_hands:

Thanks!

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min can give good gains for hair density, and some users report holding onto those gains for over 2 years. If you’re worried about DHT, adding topical fin later could help maintain gains, since it targets DHT directly. Remember, min is more about boosting growth, while fin deals with DHT, so they work differently. Starting with min is a solid choice, but adding fin later is totally possible if you need more control over DHT. Check out the Beginner’s Guide for more tips.

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@Henryk Thanks for your input and I appreciate the guide, which I have been reading.

Is there merit in trying Min in isolation, as the clinic suggests, rather than adding in Fin at this time? I can see that it could be useful to gauge the efficacy of topical Min treatment over 3 months.

However, it still seems to me that a DHT blocker, like Fin, is going to be necessary to add in at some point to retain gains (if any) made on Min.

Many thanks

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The conventional wisdom is that you should do both for AGA. Min is fertilizer, fin/dut is weed killer.