r/tressless

My dutasteride/oral minoxidil, I purchase from the grey market and have no prescription for as it’s really difficult to attain & expensive in my country. I will try bringing it overseas but I’d like to know how my progress will be affected if I miss doses for a period as long as 2 weeks. Anyone have any experience regarding these?

Been on minoxidil (oral 2.5 mg daily) for over a year now, as well as finasteride (0.5 mg daily) for 6 months, have had less hair fall so I understand it has stabilised. But have had 0 regrowth of temple hairs at all. Maybe a couple little baby white hairs but nothing else. Maybe a transplant is the only option going forward. I’m only 23 with a Norwood 2 so it would be a massive step (and quite an expensive one) feeling a little stuck

I’ve been using oral minoxdil 5mg and dutasteride 0.5mg oral for around 7 months now, and has been working great with slow but steady progress! However, I was on the phone with my doctors awhile ago and she offered to prescribe me 5mg of finasteride for free as I was paying for dutasteride privately. I agreed but I did correct her that I used dut and not fin, however she sent me the prescription for the 5mg fin anyway. I finished my dut yesterday and switched to finasteride this morning, my only concern is will this reverse progress from the dutasteride? Is it just as effective?

thanks in advice guys

what affects it more?

Fin and Min are the only most sought - after hair treatments. However to avoid side effects some people use topical anti androgen blockers.

These days, I've been looking at a surge in posts about topical spiro. Women mostly use it to combat Acne and baldness. It's mechanism is different than Fin , it blocks the androgen receptor itself.

Spiro can be taken orally OR applied topically. Oral Spiro has a higher chance of side effects, mainly Gyno. Topical 5% concentration is less known for sides.

Then is there anybody using it? if not, why not when it does combat MPB?

I think the future of skincare will primarily focus on rebuilding elastin. But I wonder if anyone has ever tried elastin based peptides on their scalp? After the scalp is just skin however anymore minor inflammation there converts to noticeable increases of hair fall.

Elastin might be good for rebuilding damaged barriers. I would consider its use along side a hyaluronic acid gel.

First, some context:

#Early Days I began noticing thinning at the front of my hairline around the age of 18 (mid 2000s). Grew it longer to hide it but desperately wanted to get a transplant in my early 20’s. No one would touch me due to my age – kept saying ‘wait till it gets worse’.

#Taking Meds (Round 1) A few years go by and the frontal thinning is worse. Crown has started too. Jumped on Min & Fin from a hair loss clinic (I won’t name) about 5 years later. Battled with them to remove the acid from their proprietary topical formula as it was literally burning my scalp (running my hand through my hair you could feel dozens of scabs every day). Sucked because it did work to restore the fullness at the front and at the crown. Eventually it seemed to stop working at the front, and I started asking about being considered for a transplant every other month, which they kept pushing back on me, throwing every reason under the sun (this time, they were sales-related, nothing to do with my health or wellbeing). Things like ‘when the rest of your hair falls out you’ll have to pay for laser hair removal on the transplanted parts that remain’. Yeah, weird shit.

#Changing Meds During a checkup with my doctor we talk about my scalp, and he lets me know he can write my a script for a compounding pharmacist to make the meds I was taking. I look into it, and it’s about 90% cheaper to do this than to go to a hair clinic. I call them up and cancel the next day, and they are fucking pissed to say the least. Guess that ‘hair specialist’ wasn’t going to make his sales quota that quarter.

#Taking Meds (Round 2) Fast forward a few more years and I’ve now gone up to a Norwood 2.5. Everything else is still holding on fine. I stop taking my meds for a year or two, as I feel all is lost. Then I say fuck it and get a transplant. 2000 FUE grafts, just to the front. It looks REALLY good. Lots of compliments. I start taking my meds again. My hair is thick and luscious again. It’s as if not taking them for a while made them more effective?

#Covid > No Meds > Round 3? Then covid happens. I spiral into a deep depression which I’m only just now coming out of. Along the way (2022-2023) I get infrequent with my med use, then stop taking them altogether around 2023-2044. Part of that was due to nearly being homeless, and having to decide on food/rent vs the meds. It’s about two years later and life's better, but things seem thinner on top. I compare photos from 2-3 years ago and my hair is flatter, less full, less healthy. In some lighting conditions my hair looks as it did, other times it looks like I can kinda see my scalp through it, though I can somewhat conceal that.

#My questions I want to jump back on Min & Fin again (gotta get a new script, etc).

• How long would it take to ‘kick back in’?
• Will there be a period of shedding? (eg 2-3 months)
• Should I expect it to ‘work again’?
• Anyone else had a similar on-and-off use of Min & Fin?

Thanks for coming to my talk. Would really appreciate answers from those who’ve gone through something like this before!

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Note to mods: Not using this to crowdsource health answers, as I'm jumping back on the wagon regardless. This is more of a curiosity. Kinda like, asking what we all think we're getting for xmas, based on the shape of the box under the tree.