Ultimately, it’s coming up to a year since starting treatment and my hair feels worse than it was.
For a few years my hairline has been really thin - the rest of my hair including the crown has always been thick. Since June 2025, I have been taking 0.5mg dutasteride daily, 2.5mg minoxidil daily, and using Nizoral around twice a week. I am an otherwise healthy 21 year old male. Between June and December 2025, I feel like progress was made - my hair was getting thicker around the hairline ever so slightly, I was seeing less hair fall during washes and throughout the day. In December I was happiest with it, and I felt positive about its progress.
However in January, I believe the second shed started and all the progress went away very quickly. I suffered from increased thinning and hair fall. This devastated me, but I was assured this was just a phase and it would grow back. But 5 months later, at the end of April, it feels like it’s worse than ever. My hair is super thin, I can’t style it, it’s not changed in 5 months. It’s almost been a year (less than 2 months away) since I started the drugs and I have nothing to show for it. I feel like I’ve been scammed.
I understand that progress is slow and not linear. I’m trying not to be reactionary or jump to conclusions about increasing the dosage. I’m wondering if anyone has been in the same situation - how did they cope, did their hairline improve, do you have any specific advice? I just want to know I’m not alone in this problem. Thanks in advance.