Early signs of baldness, what to do?

:bravo:

If you don’t wanna use chemicals, you can also try the laser thing. Despite sounding fake as hell (shine lasers on head, reapeat, hair will grow), people have good results. It is like 10-15 minutes 3 x per week though, which is significant. You can google “hair laser therapy” or “lllt hair” or something like that for info. I would try rogaine foam, but get a generic at home if you can. Costco in the states sells a 6-month supply for like 45 bucks. I wouldn’t recommend the liquid as it makes your hair look greasy (and thinner), and it irritated my scalp a lot. Good luck!

Best,
Tyler

Well it’s been two years and during those two years I have been using Rogaine.

The results, I see almost little to no difference. I can tell it’s getting slightly worse but I think the Rogaine has held onto a lot of my hair so I make sure to apply it daily as instructed.

One odd result from taking Rogaine is that I feel that you get fewer white hairs. I’m sure I should have gotten a couple by now but I still completely lack any white hairs on my head.

I’m sure eventually the Rogaine won’t be enough but let’s see how long I can keep using it for.

I had incredibly good results with Minoxidil (applied daily) plus electrotherapy to stimulate blood flow on my scalp. I had the treatment when I was back in Vienna (Austria), but I think it should be possible to find it in Taipei, too.

I now shave my head (and I found I love it, especially in summer), but back then I went from having thin, sparse hair to full, strong looking ones in about a month. A couple of warnings: these are not cures for baldness, rather treatments. The effects disappear quickly once the therapy is discontinued. Also, nothing short of implants will do anything for a receded hairline.

Electrotherapy and laser-combs all smell like snake-oil. have any of them been proven in a real peer reviewed study?

Only real proven baldness treatments are:

  • minoxidil
  • ketokonozole
  • finisteride.

Last one is not recommened due to a growing number of users online reporting perminant side effects.

[quote=“Rabidpie”]Well it’s been two years and during those two years I have been using Rogaine.

The results, I see almost little to no difference. I can tell it’s getting slightly worse but I think the Rogaine has held onto a lot of my hair so I make sure to apply it daily as instructed.

One odd result from taking Rogaine is that I feel that you get fewer white hairs. I’m sure I should have gotten a couple by now but I still completely lack any white hairs on my head.

I’m sure eventually the Rogaine won’t be enough but let’s see how long I can keep using it for.[/quote]

Are you using foam or liquid, and where are you buying it from? Rogaine Foam seems expensive here in Taiwan, and haven’t seen any generics.

Good point about the peer reviewed study. I must stress I am reporting my personal experience and nothing more. I had tried minoxidil alone with almost no results, while the electrotherapy did help a lot (or better, I did see results when doing it. Correlation does not imply causation and all that).

I guess Google scholar might help is shining some light onto this issue.

I use Minoxidil, Propecia, and Nizoral Ketoconozole shampoo.

You need to be careful not to use keto shampoo more than 3 times a week or the hair looks horrible.

I started with the minox for 4 months to some success then added in the propecia next. Keto was added later.

After about 8 months i have a 40 percent improvement. Not so good but much better than before.

Im now experimenting with adding tretinoin cream in my minoxidil to cause the scalp skin to shed
I think its helping but i dont recommend others try it as it may cause other side effects.

What is your job? You must be making six figure salary…

All those drugs cost an arm and a leg. Just a month’s supply of minoxidil was enough to bankrupt me, let alone all of them combined. And the side effects are a burden compared to any therapeutic effect that you might get… if you get any that is.

A lot cheaper to shave it if it gets really bad.

The only thing that stops hair falling is the floor.

[quote=“Taiwan Luthiers”]What is your job? You must be making six figure salary…

All those drugs cost an arm and a leg. Just a month’s supply of minoxidil was enough to bankrupt me, let alone all of them combined. And the side effects are a burden compared to any therapeutic effect that you might get… if you get any that is.

A lot cheaper to shave it if it gets really bad.[/quote]

Oh I forgot to say… i order the minoxidil from ebay usa and ship here.
Super cheap $60 for 12 months supply. Screw the gouging pharmacies.
For propecia i just get proscar which is cheap and split it in fourths.

The nizoral shampoo and tretinoin cream are from the dermatologist. Nizoral works great if you have an itchy head and red scalp inflammation.

Side effects for me are minimal… i am not worried anyway because if you are bald likely you wont be getting much anyway.
Having hair loss really adds age to a person. Before treatment i would tell someone i am in my 30s and i had people laugh and say no way you must be 40 plus. Doesnt happen now.

If you want to see yourself with hair in ten years, take pictures now.

There’s no point trying to fight it. I was very lucky to start losing my hair before even hitting twenty (let me explain!) because I didn’t have a mid-life crisis to go with it. I knew I wasn’t old yet, so I didn’t associate it with growing older. I was just like, ‘oh, that’s unexpected, but OK’. I bought trimmers and I just trim it down to a number 1 every few days.

Go for it, it’s masculine, and hot, and not having hair makes life ten times easier to manage. No awkward silences or alternatively, awkward conversations at the barber’s, no spending money on products. Propecia is expensive and unnatural. You risk killing your sex drive and lactating.

Hairloss was probably the best thing that happened to me back 8 years ago although hard to have seen it that way back then.

Gives you great new cheap hairdo, more confidence and you won’t like me to say it but more attention from the opposite sex… Once you get to grips with it, you’ll only be able to see your new secret power you’ve unleashed.

It’s only drawback you need to cover it in cold weather and cap it to avoid sunburn at times.

It’s a difficult thing to do… the first time you hold the trimmers in your hand set to a number 1. But once you take the plunge, it’s easy. And now I’m ten times more confident about my appearance. A guy going bald and trying to hide it is a much worse look than a laidback guy accepting it and rocking the look. Remember that!

Shave your head.

Completely bald=hot.
Bald spot=old.

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Unless you have the head shape for it, ie. Vin diesel, the reality is that baldness is unattractive. Some people just accept it, but I want to stave it off for as long as possible.

However I know the end result.

"New Stem Cell Research Could Cure Baldness, Scientists Say "

" This is according to a study published in Biophysical Journal that has revealed that a single protein, responsible for helping hair follicles create new life, also determines when they die.

Stem cells responsible for healing the body are also found in hair follicles.

The study has discovered that a protein known as TGF-beta can turn on or off hair stem cells, making them grow or die."

Write me up to be your rabbit!

I know of something to keep your hair in.

A cardboard box. Boom Boom!

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Propecia is very risky, some men never get their sex drive back after taking it.

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If you’re looking at Propecia, there’s another one in Taiwan that’s cheaper and supposed to be much more effective looking at Reddit sources, called dutasteride. Or you can get the cheap version of Propecia called finasteride. I don’t know how one can afford Propecia, it’s like 18k NTD for a month or two of supply. I’d rather go bald.