Finasteride stopping me from tanning & turning my beard and eyebrows white?

Hey guys,

Been on Fin (1.25mg EOD) for a few years now. It maintained my baseline (no regrowth), and I have zero libido sides, which is great.

But I noticed something weird: I basically can’t get a tan in the sun anymore. A few months ago, I upped my dose, and now I’m suddenly getting white/light hairs in my beard and eyebrows. It’s definitely not natural aging – my dad still has fully dark hair, and the hair on my scalp/body is totally normal. I also got my Vitmain D and B12 checked and they were ok.

I found this study:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5859039/ From what I understand, Finasteride actually inhibits melanin production. Interestingly, this seems to be caused by the molecule itself and isn’t linked to the 5AR-inhibition.

Has anyone else experienced this? I’m thinking about changing my protocol to let my melanin recover and have two ideas:

Switch to oral Dutasteride: Since it’s a different molecule, maybe it doesn’t mess with melanin production? Couldn’t find any studies on Dut and melanin, so just guessing here.

Switch to Topical (Fin or Dut): I know it still goes systemic, but the concentration in the blood would be much lower.

What do you guys think? Has anyone dealt with this and found a workaround?