The Ultimate Hair Loss Survival Guide For Men (FAQ)

[bayareamac]

Good taste bro.



I went with aromasin in the end. Currently taking half a pill (12.5mg) every other day, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything tbh. Might have to try Letro instead.



Yeah and it fuking sucks. It's made wearing t-shirts awkward now because they stick out...

How much Fin are using ? Aromatase Inhibitors can have a negative impact on HDL lipoproteins .

[Florida9MM]

My temples seem to be slightly higher, NW1 if I had to guess, and my temple points are disappearing. I'd post pics, but I can't until I hit 50 posts.

There is no MPB whatsoever on Mom's side of the family, but lots on Dad's side. His father had the complete horseshoe for most of his adult life, and his brother is about that bald (IDK, shaves his head clean). Luckily, using meds my Dad has kept most of his hair, and isn't what almost anyone would consider bald.

What does my outlook seem to be from the limited info provided? FWIW I'm on Rogaine now.

[LovePollution]

How much Fin are using ? Aromatase Inhibitors can have a negative impact on HDL lipoproteins .

Gone down to .5 mg a day now.

Currently on Letro to try and sort the gyno. There seems to be a lot of people who have tried it and had good results. Honestly I'm up for trying anything regardless of the consequences just as long as it stops the bitch tits.

[PeterDInga]

lads just got me some generic finasteride 1mg
should i start with 0.25mg or 0.5 mg?

[demfeelsbro]

11 months in to FIN and I seem to be losing ground. Sick of my mood for the day depend on how my hair looks. Really just want to shave it off and be free from this chit, but can't bring myself to do it!! Wot do brahs?? Wot fuking do?!?!?!?

[Famuz]

11 months in to FIN and I seem to be losing ground. Sick of my mood for the day depend on how my hair looks. Really just want to shave it off and be free from this chit, but can't bring myself to do it!! Wot do brahs?? Wot fuking do?!?!?!?

in the exact same spot my bro

[Duffo89]

11 months in to FIN and I seem to be losing ground. Sick of my mood for the day depend on how my hair looks. Really just want to shave it off and be free from this chit, but can't bring myself to do it!! Wot do brahs?? Wot fuking do?!?!?!?

Almost 2 years in and in the same position. Crown is thick but hairline is gradually receding backwards with no sign of regrowth. Feelsbad

1mg eod

[demfeelsbro]

Almost 2 years in and in the same position. Crown is thick but hairline is gradually receding backwards with no sign of regrowth. Feelsbad

1mg eod

It's the opposite for me. I appear to have had regrowth on hairline but crown is thinning! Weird, because I thought fin helped mainly with crown, not hairline. I'm gonna give it until next summer, then BOOOOM mr clean here I come

[Roldadice]

lads just got me some generic finasteride 1mg
should i start with 0.25mg or 0.5 mg?

Start out with 0.25. See how you respond.

[ucunt]

Thinking of trying this as thinning out a little bit now I'm in my twilight years...

Scared as fck about erection sides though, did anyone get them?

[Matt413413]

This is a comprehensive guide gathering all of the relevant and scientifically backed up information with regards to hair loss, and featuring the most frequently asked questions that usually come up. The goal of this thread would be guiding people who would like to do something about their hair, but unable unable to conduct proper research, free of unscientific bias. In retrospect of the previous hair loss thread, I do not encourage you to flood my inbox with private messages, any further questions beyond the scope of this thread should be posted here, publicly. There are many people on this board just as knowledgeable as I am with hair loss and their treatments, and hopefully even more so, that should provide you with a better perspective overall than otherwise.

Please refrain from posting previously answered questions, use the search function if possible, any redundant questions may not be answered. Do not attempt posts convincing people to shave their heads, this is not the proper thread for such. I've already outlined this type of questions in the FAQ, and any further discussions should be done in a separate thread. Most of the questions and their subsequent answers in this FAQ come from either the previous thread, or questions I've personally received through PM. Go through them carefully if you need to, any inquiries you may have is most likely included. If you are not losing your hair, or indifferent towards them, it will most likely be a complete waste of time to go through this thread, but whatever you choose to do, please do not waste time and space for others who seek help.

Before I start, please note the following: I am not a physician, I do not promote nor condone the use of treatments or medication without professional medical supervision if necessary. I will not be held liable under any event, let that be positive or negative, from the improper use of information in this thread. I will be mostly stating facts and figures based on thorough research from peer-reviewed journals, publications and clinical trials done on human and animal models. The decision and subsequent responsibility, remains completely yours.

Good, let's begin.

1. Overview

1.1 What is androgenic alopecia?

Everyone has some degree of MPB, all males have hair follicles on the vertex and front of their scalps that's sensitive to androgens. But the amount of sensitivity, tissue expression, and androgen levels give us all different ranges and patterns for MPB. People need to understand that hairloss is genetic. No amount of diet, lifestyle, or shampoos will save it. If your genetic makeup writes off your hair, then you are fighting a losing battle. Genetic differences between subjects, such as polymorphisms in 5α-reductase, may also contribute to the intersubject variability, and hence, receptibility to treatment and susceptibility to hair loss. Now getting to the bottom of why MPB happens to some people, while others who have high amounts of scalp DHT with no hair loss, is still under study. So far, the most recent findings on the path to curing hair loss seems to pinpoint Prostaglandin D2, known as PGD2 and its derivative, 15-dPGJ2, as one of the main culprits for AGA.



One would think that people genetically predisposed to MPB somehow undergo increased PGD2 pathway activity in their balding scalps through an unknown mechanism, most likely triggered through DHT production, since we all know DHT is the first variable of the AGA equation. An elimination of PGD2 expression in scalp tissue should help with hair loss in this case. The mechanism for losing hair is definitely not simple. It's all related, one way or another, to your specific hormonal and AR profile, and genetics. Look at this chart.



This goes to show the immense amount of factors coupled that lead to hair loss. There's a reason why 5AR inhibitors stop and reverse hair loss. Literally interfering with any of these pathways or protein codings would help with hair loss, it's also interesting to point out from this chart why Finasteride and Dutasteride are so effective at preventing hair loss, which is also parallel to the model of why pseudohermaphrodites with congenital 5-Alpha-Reductase II deficiencies keep a youthful head of hair throughout their lives. Because it eliminates the mother of all these pathways, DHT. Cut that out of the equation, and you'd experience severe depression in DKK-1 and COX-2 pathways, both which have metabolites proven to exist in high numbers and very active forms on bald scalps. The specificities on the mechanism of how it stops hair from growing is still speculation at this point, but we do have a very good general idea of how they all add up. For example, finasteride has also been shown to work best on people who have high IGF-1 levels, whether or not the effect is direct is not fully known, but keep in mind that DKK-1 activity represses IGF-1 production, so IGF-1 levels may not have a direct effect on hair follicles, but it is simply a marker for weak DKK-1 expression. If we can somehow inhibit the cyclooxygenase-2 enzymes or the PTGS2 gene on one hand, and depress the pathway activity of DKK-1 gene on the other, all in one effective method of treatment, then we can skip the process of inhibiting 5-AR enzymes all together.

1.2 Why do most men lose their hair?

As in regards to where baldness comes from, I wish it was that easy, genetics is like rolling dice, depending on the chromosomes you inherit from each parent, create your genetic makeup and their respective expressions. The maternal lineage seems to be slightly more responsible for MPB, since one of the key factors in it, which is AR sensitivity, is only coded on the X chromosome.



On the other hand, another study shows that it's much more complex than that. It seems family history from the paternal lineage has statistically larger significance.

The heterogeneity in the clinical phenotype further suggests that AGA is inherited as a complex trait disorder. It's reported in one of the studies that 81.5% of bald Caucasian sons had bald Caucasian fathers. The "baldness gene" (assuming this is true for simplicity) comes from both parents, and is additive, not recessive or dominant. What this means is, depending on the count of family members on both sides of your family who have gone bald, this is your odds of going bald as well. If 5/6 uncles (including your dad) and grandfathers on your paternal side are bald, and 2/3 of your uncles and grandfathers on your maternal side are bald, then odds that you will go bald is roughly (5+6)/(6+3)= 78%. It's not what exactly happens on a genetic level, but it's an easy and approximate method to find out the likelihood for your hair condition. The more family members you have, the lower the margin of error.

1.3. Am I balding?

Miniaturization may be the best way to identify androgenic hair loss. Do you have thinner and shorter hairs all over the edge of the hairline? Only 15% of all hair is in telogen phase at any given time, if you do have a lot of weak hair on the hairline that's in a telogen phase (thin and shorter hair), then you probably have MPB. It will take about a year or two for these hairs to stop growing completely, and whether or not the hair follicles behind them will have tissue expression that let's them suffer the same consequences might still be too early to tell. If you cannot see any miniaturization, then your hair loss isn't likely androgenic. Shedding might be from AA or Telogen effluvium. Check for Hypogonadism or Hypothyroidism. Every male gets a receding hairline, the severity of it gets classified as either a NW1 or a NW2, both are not considered male pattern baldness. But you cannot maintain a NW0 for life. Generally, anything beyond NW2 is officially MPB.



2. Treatments

2.1 Do treatments work?

Only a minority do, the only treatments proven to work are listed here. Supplements, shampoos, vitamins, minerals, laser therapy, all of these are controversial at best. And have no solid basis in medical literature. I'm personally not a big believer in natural oils and remedies. The results seem inconsistent and there isn't enough clinical trials done this matter to assess it's efficacy in terms of hair counts. Treatments, with whatever you choose, should be a life time commitment. Any changes in regimen triggers hair sheds. You should construct a regimen you are comfortable with and stick to it for best results. The following treatments do work for AGA, so read and learn carefully about each one and how they all fit together.

2.2 How long until I see results?

Normally, it takes quite a while to see any decent results. A typical timeframe would be shedding and slowing down of hair loss from 0-3 months, hair loss halting or improving starting from 3-6 months, some visible regrowth from 6-9 months, and the final saturated hair condition on the 12-24 month mark. Some treatments work faster than others. For example, ketoconazole and minoxidil typically show results faster than all the others. So don't feel pressured, a follicle can be dormant for three months before growing out again, be patient until the very end before deciding whether they are working for you or not.

Scam alert everyone. This whole thread is a scam. It's meant to deceive you into believing that going bald is a bad thing thus just creating more fear about going bald.

Well how exactly is going bald a bad thing when over what like 60 percent of males go bald or something?

It's not a bad thing. It's a normal thing that happens.

[ucunt]

Scam alert everyone. This whole thread is a scam. It's meant to deceive you into believing that going bald is a bad thing thus just creating more fear about going bald.

Well how exactly is going bald a bad thing when over what like 60 percent of males go bald or something?

It's not a bad thing. It's a normal thing that happens.

Negged for wasting our fking time again.

[Knice1232]

I have noticed that I shed mostly white hairs. Is this a sign of a type of hair loss?

[ragingcrayon]

I have noticed that I shed mostly white hairs. Is this a sign of a type of hair loss?

I think thats doublefukkuopecia

[Knice1232]

I think thats doublefukkuopecia

que?

[ragingcrayon]

que?

work on it. you'll understand eventually

[Knice1232]

work on it. you'll understand eventually

OK. But seriously, when my hair sheds, it appears that they are mostly white and not the dark hairs. Does this mean anything different than regular hair loss shedding?

[Deify]

I'm happy this thread is still going. Been off fin for 5.5 months now. The hair shedding really started a few weeks ago, the amount of hair on my hands when showering is scary.

I'm much happier now than I was on fin. It certinaly affected my libido and erections negatively. I'm not even sure if I'm back to 100%, but I'm also on other ADHD meds that are known for sexual SE.

The most noticeable thing for me was the stress response. Finasteride effectively destoryed my stress response feedback cycle. It may not be a problem to a lot of people, but since I've been under stress during my period on fin, it was an eye opener for me. I'm much more in control of my emotions and focus now, I'm less fearful and more confrontational to what life throws at me, and feel less 'feminine' overall.

Hair has pulled back a little on the hairline and temples. So far, I'm very happy with what I have, and expected things to be much worse. It takes up to a year to get back to baseline, so I'm not holding my breath.

Hey OP,

Did you have a tapering schedule to get off Fin? I've read that cold turkey causes problems. I've been 1mg/ED for the past 5 months, starting 0.25mg/ED tomorrow. But I want to get off this ASAP.

To thread:
My anecdote.
- I started Fin 5 months ago.
- Month 1 - 3: No sides.
- Month 4: There were times where my train of thought would go off on tangents in the middle of a sentence (brain fog / memory). This has never happened to me before - I've always been able to keep my thoughts in a logical train of thought.
- Month 5: Noticeably weaker erections, loss of libido, watery semen. Depression. Anxiety. Lack of emotional control.

It's entirely possible my issues are not due to Fin. However they correlate with what others experience. I'd rather lose my hair then deal with "What if this pill is causing my issues?" on the daily.

[mikeoc322]

Look, it’s not complicated.

If you have side effects, get off it.

Don’t rationalize staying on it.

Heed the advice of those of us who already made that mistake.

It’s not worth it.

Everybody — and I mean EVERYBODY — who compromises health for vanity regrets it eventually.

I get it. Shaving your head is a bitter pill to swallow.

But it’s worth it in the end. You’ll learn to accept yourself for who you are, not how you look. Then, and only then, do you develop true character and confidence.

You have to divorce yourself from the realm of the superficial in order to gain your freedom back.

Shaving my head was the best thing I ever did. No more stress. No more anxiety. No more insecurity. No more fuss. No more mucking about.

It’s no wonder I get significantly more female attention now. My girl loves it. Just don’t go slick bald. It’s not necessary. Take everything down short and clean and maintain a stubble. That will give you some texture. Then get jacked and tan and you’re set.

[LMSghost]

Because the POTUS resembles anything a progressive modern well-coherent man strives to become?

It's becoming less and less clear that DHT is actually what cause MPB. At the very least, they are far from the bottleneck of the process.

I haven't lost any hair for almost a year off of fin, because I'm staying lean, and depleted myself of all PUFA reserves, which can take upto 4 years to fully oxidize, but can be as fast as 60 days depending on initial conditions. I've been comical about an old thread that came up sometime shortly after this thread was made, preaching dozens of vitamins and minerals to restore hair, of which I was highly critical of. Now I stand corrected, but the difference is now I know why it was right, and they didn't. Some of the things you should actively try to take is:

Vitamin Bs, C, D, E, K, Magnesium, Aspirin, Sodium bicarbonate, Ashwagandha, and Cyproheptadine.

And most importantly, avoid linoleic acid.

The only thing I have to carry on from my fin ingestion is lack of penile sensitivity, almost none on the skin under the head, and it's harder to keep an erection for more than 5 minutes. I'm working on to get those back.

I'm going to sound like im trolling but I am not. I can't remember which psl forum it was but I remember reading your thread on fin and calling bull****. You kept saying the sexual sides weren't a problem because of trannies having no DHT or something like that but you were a virgin who was happy to be a virgin because you were very religious which is a sign of low IQ. I wouldn't be surprised if you're back extolling the virtues of fin soon enough.

[brendanpooley01]

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[RoxyFoxy22]

I started my process of getting perfect skin with laser treatment and mesotherapy. My dermatologist showed me what she did to others from different perspectives... like botox/skin treatments/hair treatments and dermatosis.

There was a completely bald guy and after some sessions of mesotherapy his scalp was full of thick hair. So maybe you guys can try that in USA. The cost is like 100 euros/session here. Idk there

[Tzaddiq]

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So exciting

[M3lony]

Look, it’s not complicated.

If you have side effects, get off it.

Don’t rationalize staying on it.

Heed the advice of those of us who already made that mistake.

It’s not worth it.

Everybody — and I mean EVERYBODY — who compromises health for vanity regrets it eventually.

I get it. Shaving your head is a bitter pill to swallow.

But it’s worth it in the end. You’ll learn to accept yourself for who you are, not how you look. Then, and only then, do you develop true character and confidence.

You have to divorce yourself from the realm of the superficial in order to gain your freedom back.

Shaving my head was the best thing I ever did. No more stress. No more anxiety. No more insecurity. No more fuss. No more mucking about.

It’s no wonder I get significantly more female attention now. My girl loves it. Just don’t go slick bald. It’s not necessary. Take everything down short and clean and maintain a stubble. That will give you some texture. Then get jacked and tan and you’re set.

Shaving my head for a year now, didnt regret it either. Defenitely gave me a release. I started with a few mm in the beginning but nowadays Im just no guarding every 3-4 days. The more my hairline gets visible the worse it looks.
Obviously my hairline is still getting worse so I wonder if there ever comes a point where you look better slick bald than with texture.

[jesseb22]

What ever happened to that guy swizztemples or swisstemples? Had a website i think and claimed he grew all his hair back.

[ucunt]

Okay boys this is a harsh one to write, but I took fin for 4 weeks end of last summer. 1.5mg/week (that's right boys, split over a week.)

Four weeks is all it took to get just a little suspicious of sides, just a little edgy and feeling just a tiny bit (as I remember reading here) feeling just a little "disconnected" from my boner. Thought that'd be it and that'd be the experiment over, so I stopped taking it. All side effects vanished, like they're supposed to, and so I went on with my life...

...For two weeks.

After that two weeks EVERYTHING stopped working. HUGE anxiety, sleep for 2-3 hours/night, ED like you would never imagine in your life. I realised at that point I'd had the 'crash', and the permanent side effects really weren't made up fantasies and they really really do happen. And the horror stories were happening to me. And there was NOTHING anyone could do to fix it.

And it's still going on 6 months later. Only slightly better in some respects, in some none. I can't lift any more, I've lost my gf, I can barely think through the fog enough to keep my job. 4 weeks is all it took.

Brahs I have lost the guy I was for my whole life before, and now I'm nothing at all.

PLEASE PLEASE boys do NOT touch this poison. EVER. WHOEVER prescribes it to you, find another way to get where you want. If you're losing your hair just shave it. It is not worth trying to survive this life. This is no life.

If I manage to fix myself then I'll post back, but it's not looking good.

[AIV0IVYM0US]

Damn you guys still on fin? GET OFF OF IT ITS DANGEROUS you're ruining your balls lmaoo

I tried it for 5 months and realized it right away stop lying to your self GET OFF OF IT.

[Ascendent]

Update on RU:

It ****ed me up. Legitimately, I did a week trial (wasted money that) with topical premixed. Severe headaches, body aches, and actual hair loss. Tossed it.

I have been back on Fin (0.5mg/EOD) for some time now, and added a few other things. Nizoral shampoo, OGX (Niacin, caffeine, DHT Blocker shampoo), Regenepure shampoo, Biotin shampoo and recently picked up a bottle of CEL MD stem cell shampoo.

Rogaine/Azealic acid EOD.

I have not lost any more hair in the 5 years I've been fighting it.

[getbig_ttt]

It ****ed me up. Legitimately, I did a week trial (wasted money that) with topical premixed. Severe headaches, body aches, and actual hair loss. Tossed it.

I have been back on Fin (0.5mg/EOD) for some time now, and added a few other things. Nizoral shampoo, OGX (Niacin, caffeine, DHT Blocker shampoo), Regenepure shampoo, Biotin shampoo and recently picked up a bottle of CEL MD stem cell shampoo.

Rogaine/Azealic acid EOD.

I have not lost any more hair in the 5 years I've been fighting it.

Fin worked so well for me. It felt like not a single hair fell off my head for 2 years. Had some regrowth and hair was thicker.
Sides were absolutely brutal.


Can't wait for future treatment to come out...

[apo99]

future baldo here,

been on fin 3 years now, very little sides,

hairloss has been frozen since then.

Stuck at a solid NW 2.5, considering adding rogaine soon.