Hey guys, I 21M started noticing a receeding hair line in the front of my head and started using teetree oil and a hair growth shampoo but I haven’t really seen an progress. I’ve been getting ads for hims, happy head, and dermose. i was wondering what people thought about these companies and whether its worth spending the money.
The only drugs that stop hairloss are finasteride/dutasteride, there isn’t anything else that can stop androgenic alopecia. If you want to increase hair density, you can use minoxidil in combination with finasteride. You don’t need anything else, you will only waste your time and money. A dermatologist should prescribe you finasteride if you have AGA. GL
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There exists only two treatments for androgenetic alopecia:
1)Drugs that prevent the production of DHT. DHT as a hormone is what is primarily responsible of male-pattern-balding [MPB or androgenetic alopecia (AGA)]. It starts gradually with thinning in front and loss of density around crown and it progress through the norwood pattern until nearly all of the hair in the top part of scalp is gone.Scalp is basically the skin that covers your head except your face. There also exists something known as diffuse thinning but then this type of hair loss still follows a norwood-style pattern albeit far-far less pronounced than classical receding in front thinning in crown (pure norwood) type of hair loss.
Drugs in this category are called as "DHT inhibitor"s and they work by inhibiting the 5AR enzyme that converts testesterone to DHT. Most well-known of them are finasteride (FDA approved for hair loss) and dutasteride, typically used for prostate enlargement.. Prostate enlargement and male-pattern-balding (AGA, or just known as balding) is actully interconnected because both owe their existence to DHT hormone. Dutasteride is more powerful than finasteride and while unapproved for treatment of MPB some people use it for that purpose (for example, myself).
2)Drugs that are used for regrowing hair, these typically are vasodilators meaning their widen the blood vessels to pump more blood to hair follicles so they grow instead of shrinking.
Most notable example is minoxidil typically available in oral (0.625 mg to 5mg) or topical (2.5-5%, 5% is better) form. Some people use it at 7.5mg or higher (for oral) and 7% or higher (for topical) because they believe it is more effective but I advise you to stick with what is known and safe. Also yes minoxidil is an old hypertension medicine but don’t let that scare you, it is generally assumed safe at small (0.625-5mg) doses in oral form and for topical equal or less than 5% concentration.
Anything, I repeat anything other than these eg. teetree oil or hair growth shampoo are BS. Pure BS. Microneedling, dermarolling/stamping and ketoconazole (I use keto myself btw) sometimes may be recommended but keep in mind that one microneedling and dermarolling may ruin a future hair transplant or cause skin infections if done improperly and ketoconazole is by no means a substitute for a good oral/topical vasodilator and an anti-dht medication used for AGA treatment. It is disputed whether ketoconazole has any effect on DHT, although it is good for scalp infections.
Now there exists other drugs, eg. pp405 etc. with wildly different mechanisms of action but a) these are NOT yet on the market and purely at clinical trials as of late 2025 b) they are not FDA approved (at least yet).
RU58841/Pyrilutamide type of chemicals are anti-androgens [they block both T (testesterone) and DHT from binding to relevant androgen receptors] and they can also be classified as part of the first category however these in my opinion differ from finasteride/dutasteride type of drugs as they require EXTREME care in application (because they target not only DHT but testesterone too) and not yet approved for anything. Plus they are more expensive from what I see, and if something like dutasteride cannot fix your hair loss I doubt these ever would.
DHT (the primary causor of balding) is usually useless post-puberty and contributes to acne, AGA, BPH and from anecdotal experience the slight aging of skin (I could not find a study/research for this particular claim but sounds reasonable to me as my skin aged with DHT too).
The MPB and heart disease is also thought to be interconnected, though whether DHT plays a role here is not something I know.
My current stack: 1.25mg fin (finasteride for short, brand: proscar) (for 1 month transitionary period to dut only)+0.5mg dut (dutasteride for short, brand:avodart)+2.5mg min (minoxidil for short, no brand I get them prepared.). Ketoconazole twice a week.