# Men's Hair Loss > Introduce Yourself & Share Your Story >  Propecia .5mg/ Minox 5%, Great results!

## g k

HI Everyone. 

I'm new here and just did a bunch of browsing though many posts. Fascinating stuff. Spent far too long just going through everyone's story, its crazy how obsessed a person can become over hairloss!!

Anyhow here is my story. I've been losing my hair for about 10 years. I am 28 now. Its been a slow frontal hairloss, like my dad. He is 60 or so and still has hair on top but its thin and ugly. Just a life long slow balding.

So when I was like 21-22, I went to a doctor to ask about it. He told me just to cope and there is nothing I could do because rogaine and propecia are only for bald spots. That day the doctor should've at least sent me to a dermatologist, and spared me a lot of the pain I've been through from having my self esteem affected from hair loss.

Anyhow like I said I am 28 now. I have been on rogaine 5% for the past 3-4 years. At first I had AMAZING regrowth coming in! I felt so great! But its so hard to not miss a treatment or 2. Because of traveling and stuff, I always eventually missed a dose, and that would **** everything up. So I thought it was a miracle and it turned out not to be. My hair continued to recede regardless of how well I kept up my dosage.
Strange thing: I notice some of my hairs were growing thick/thin/thick/thin/thick/thin like stripes along the hair. I only noticed this when I looked closely, but its like it was struggling to work.

So recently, I went to a doctor, she reluctantly gave me a prescription for finesteride. I am taking .5mg a day I am paying $30/month for a half dose a propecia, and using dirt cheap kirkland minox 5% from online. 

My propecia experience so far:

Within 2 weeks I started seeing activity. at almost 4 months now I see some major regrowth and thickening.

I am very optimistic about my progress so far, but wonder what the future will hold? I am thinking maybe I caught my hairloss not quite too late and I might experience some great results?? What do you think? Honestly I am quite happy with the results so far and regaining more hair would just be so fantastic! I've experienced no dread shed from propecia but realize this could happen, but I am almost at the 4 month mark.

What do you guys think? I'm trying not to be too optimistic, but I do notice I have small hairs all over my forehead. Could they possibly return to normal or close to my original hairline? Realistically a complete stop in hair loss would be great as well.

This is about a month before I started propecia:

3 months after I started taking propecia:

This is about a month before I started propecia:

3 months after I started taking propecia:


My advice to people is to try the propecia half dose. There is a petition online that is asking Merck to re-examine their dosage recommendation of propecia, because appearently  1mg shows to be no more effective than .2mg
I would take .2mg if I could, because I totally believe this study, and am entirely distrustful of big pharma! especially when it comes to things like fertility side effects!(eugenics!).

I would appreciate any thoughts and predictions of how I am doing! It feels great to talk about this and get it all of my chest.

Thanks for reading my story., and I will post updates soon.

*UPDATE*

Things have still been going well. I have lowered my propecia dose by taking .25mg propecia every 3rd day. I have not noticed any difference.

Here is a photo comparing before I started propecia, and 4.5 months after starting propecia(that would be today).



I am really really excited about this. I feel like a new person, and my hair is so much fuller now. I have way more confidence. Just in time too because I felt it dwindling away as I was getting thinner. As you can see my hairline has crawled back from the dead a bit, and the overall density and thickness has increased to a more pleasant amount. Once all the new hairs are grown out longer, it should look great. I also hope to grow much more back, but only time will tell.

I am still keeping a close eye for propecia side effects. Sometimes I feel testicle pressure/sensitivity, but it always passes. Definitely clearer semen as well. I've read a lot of people online have really bad sides and not recovering from them even when stopping the meds. This is a reason I reduced the propecia dosage. I'm thinking I could get away with alternating .5/.25 dosages and still see the same results more or less. This might be my next step. I will post updates in another 1-2 months.

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## Dr. Glenn Charles

I am really glad that this regimen appears to be working well for you. However, certain patients need different doses of medications to obtain similar results.
I try to work with the patients and adjust the doses until we agree that we are getting a good result or we need to try something different. Finasteride doses can vary from .5 mg to 2.5 mg daily. Minoxidil can be used with concentrations from 2%-15%. If a patient feels they have found their optimal dosage a particular medication they should stick with it, and only make changes if they are developing side effects or feel the effectiveness is decreasing.

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## g k

> I am really glad that this regimen appears to be working well for you. However, certain patients need different doses of medications to obtain similar results.
> I try to work with the patients and adjust the doses until we agree that we are getting a good result or we need to try something different. Finasteride doses can vary from .5 mg to 2.5 mg daily. Minoxidil can be used with concentrations from 2%-15%. If a patient feels they have found their optimal dosage a particular medication they should stick with it, and only make changes if they are developing side effects or feel the effectiveness is decreasing.


 Thanks for the info Dr. Charles. I would say that my hairloss is slow and maybe not as aggressive as some, and perhaps the minimum is sufficient for my needs. 

Is it common for a patient to need to increase dosages, with a regimen that at first works very well? 

I feel that maybe the years I was on rogaine, although unsuccessful in stopping my hair loss, managed to preserve the follicles longer. Adding the propecia seems to have awakened them.

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## g k

*updated in original message*

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## rotsen182

hi GK how are you doing?.. can you post new pics?

cheers..

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## g k

Ok here is an update.



What happened was at about 7-8 months I started getting sides. Essentially my dick went numb. Also brain fog. So rather than lower the dosage which I should've done I freaked out and skipped 2 days _then_ reduced to 1/4 pill.

Skipping those 2 days turned out to be a mistake, because I shed a lot of what I gained. However I still have far more hair then when I started. So for the past couple of months I have been on 1/4 with minimal sides and its been bushing up again. Looking at the pics I have lost a little since the shed, but I am still very happy with it. I remember right before the shed I would look in the mirror and it was almost as though I had no hair loss at all! I was so happy and would show off my hair a lot by running my fingers through it. Its not so bad now(definately way better than when I starter propecia), and I see where all the hair had grown back prior, it is starting to come in again. I am just hoping it will come in with the same vigor as it did  on 1/2 pill. I would actually like to knock it down to 1/6, because I still get very mild sides, and based on Rotsens progress I have faith that it is still effective. I am going to add the keto+sali acid shampoo, and also try out Dr. Lee's spiro topical since it will be easy to apply and hopefully effective.

So far my hair loss battle has been pretty effective. I think I have a fairly passive for of hairloss, as the pictures you see is the result of about 10 years of hair loss. In that time I've lost about an inch of temple.

I am happy with my hair now, it looks thick, dark and youthful(whereas before propecia it was pale and limp looking).

The funny thing is a few years back when I starting on just rogaine, I grew almost all my hair back. But I found that even missing a day of treatment would cause major sheds. Because of travelling and other stuff I ALWAYS ended up missing a day eventually so it was very annoying.

I think I can grow most of my hair back but its really a matter of finding a routing that works perfect for my case. I can't believe how many hours I've dedicated to reading up and experimenting on hair loss....I should get a job as a hairloss consultant lol. The tricky thing is having the patients to properly gauge the results.

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## g k

I also experienced a couple other snags. I increased my minox dosage to try and compensate for the lowered propecia, but I've discovered that anything over 1 ml of 5% makes my hair fall out a lot. I've experienced this twice. The thing is I never had the dread shed otherwise from the standard dosage. Plus I don't think I want to put more of that stuff on my head anyway.

I also started neglecting the keta shampoo, but I think it contributed to my success so I am now being very consistent with it.

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## gsp2010

Hey GK. Just wanted your advice on your experience. Im 25 and been on propecia about a month now and after doing extensive reading on propecia and sides I decided to do .25mg every 3-4 days or so like I believe you had intially. Did you get sides when you started going to .5mg or were you still on the .25mg when you got them 7-8 mo out?

Again my biggest fear is the sides (sexual and increased weight) thats why im doin the smallest dose possible even if it sacrifices results to some extent and whatever info you can give me that would be awesome. Thanks for sharing your experience.

P.S.  Yeah that nizzoral shampoo 1% or 2% is good stuff.

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## g k

> Hey GK. Just wanted your advice on your experience. Im 25 and been on propecia about a month now and after doing extensive reading on propecia and sides I decided to do .25mg every 3-4 days or so like I believe you had intially. Did you get sides when you started going to .5mg or were you still on the .25mg when you got them 7-8 mo out?
> 
> Again my biggest fear is the sides (sexual and increased weight) thats why im doin the smallest dose possible even if it sacrifices results to some extent and whatever info you can give me that would be awesome. Thanks for sharing your experience.
> 
> P.S.  Yeah that nizzoral shampoo 1% or 2% is good stuff.


 
OK Ill try to summarize in an organized way:

.5mg: Starting having sides after 6 month. It felt like my system broke down and I just got bad sexual sides and brain fog. I also got very strong hair growth. Like serious thick black hair, prickling out of my scalp.

.25mg: I've been trying to grow it in now on .25mg, and it seems to be working. After about 2-3 months I can see the fuzz coming back just like it did on .5mg, and in the same spots. I am not sure if it will come back with as much vigor as .5, but I suspect it will be close if anything. Sides are very very minimal and I can live with this.

.333mg: I started on this to "work my way back up", but everytime I do, the sides are too strong. right away.

.16mg: I am experimenting with this dosage. The sides on this dosage are almost non-existant, and as rotsen has demonstrated he has received quite vigorous results from this. I think once I get my new shampoo and spiro, I will reduce to this ammount.

I suspect that low-dose fine is as effective as regular dose fin in the long run. There is study that concluded that .2mg is almost as effective as 1mg/daily. Logically then .16mg wouldnt be much different than .2mg and thus would be an ideal dosage! But I will soon find out!

I do have to say tho that everyone is different and has different needs from this drug!

Another point I'd like to make is that I believe missing days is detrimental to the regimen and it is better to take a low dose everyday. Although it is possible eod would also work well on low dose, I have been reluctant to experiment much after my drastic shed when I missed 2 days.

Hope this helps!(did not proof read this)

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## g k

Also one more important point I would like to make, is that my body can "get used to" and "adjust" to low dose side effects, more so than higher doses.

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## gsp2010

Thanks for the quick reply. It was very informative. I'll let you know my results with every 3-4 day dosing since it is how i started finesteride for the first time 1 month ago. I don't think it can hurt me vs someone switching to it after doing it daily. You may already have read this, but the studies i read on finesteride showed a one time dose as low as .04 mg reduced baseline dht levels for 1 week till baseline levels returned. You probably already know this but that was kinda why i thought i'd experiment with the drug very very cautiously to start since Im still 50/50 on if anyone should ever use this drug to begin with.


p.s. You always take the drug daily or eod then?

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## g k

Actually I was aware of that study and I think its a great idea...I just dont know why I would've shed after just 2 days....It could've been something else but its the only thing I can think of.

I have always used the drug ED, but when I first started fin I took 1mg EOD, achieving the same results as .5mg ED.

All The info I just gave about dosing is for ED.

Please let me know the results of your experiment because quite frankly the recommended dosage for this drug is FAR too high and harmful, and the only people who can figure out a happy medium is ourselves.

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## rotsen182

hi GK

how is your low dose treatment going,  im doing pretty good with mine at 0.8mg last two months, i might give a try a even lower dose, let me know how u doing..

cheers

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## g k

> hi GK
> 
> how is your low dose treatment going,  im doing pretty good with mine at 0.8mg last two months, i might give a try a even lower dose, let me know how u doing..
> 
> cheers


 Hey man,

Actually I originally misunderstood you...I thought you were taking 1/6th of a propecia pill, no proscar....So lately I've been on 1/5th propecia(.2mg), and its no different than any dose I've been on before. No surprise really because the studies show that it is just about as effect as a 1mg dose. I am actually considering going EOD as well, thinking there wont be much difference.

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## Mane Man

What is EOD?  I'm learning a lot on this thread.  Thanks.

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## rotsen182

EOD = every other day..

GK my bad yours is a micro dose.. lol   im planing to bring down the dose of finas and minox too little by little ,..

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## g k

Yeah I think its been very effective keeping it at a low dose...Because of its flat dose response over .2mg

However I would advise against lowering the rogaine dosage. Every time I've done this I've lost hair. The hair you grow is dependent on the amount of rogaine you used to grow it. 

I find that in the big 3, rogaine is the powerful force behind the regrowth.

However if you want to experiment go ahead, these are just my thoughts.

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## rtpatter

GK how is it going with your lowered propecia dosage and sides

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## Jcm800

Bump.........

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## chrisis

Thanks for the bump there, interesting topic. I will be trying a lower dose after experiencing sides myself. 

I'd like to make the point that if side effects are mostly in people's heads (the popular go-to defence on this forum), then lowering the dose shouldn't make any difference. The fact it does says it all.

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## Jcm800

No worries mate - I'm curious to know how this guy got on, there's been a lot of radio silence tho so doesn't bode well?

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## chrisis

Maybe he's moved on. I'll be documenting how I get on with lower dose but obviously it's gonna take time and I'm not 100&#37; ready yet.

Another point about this topic is how it took 8 months for this guy's sides to kick in. That's a long time for something that many claim might have been "in his head" to show up. I know I keep banging this drum but my experience was identical except it took 3 months. Also he described his dick as going numb - this is the perfect word. It's like someone just disconnected all the nerves - scary and very real.

I'm not entirely against finasteride (I'm going to be taking it again, after all!), but I am entirely against the tired excuses I read and hear. People should feel free to say finasteride worked for them without side effects, however I wish they'd quit pretending to be expert psychologists in the psychosomatic mechanisms of drugs. Honestly sick of being patronised like that.

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## Jcm800

Yeah i hear you dude. Perhaps he's ran away and joined a hippy commune?! Could have gone the other way tho and he's having a bad time. Hope he's ok either way. 

I tend to believe a lot of what I've read about this drug. I'll be watching your progress and wish you luck. If I ever dip my toes in the Merck(y) waters it won't be with 1mg I'm sure.

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## chrisis

This is the thing: even if you start on 0.25mg, how long before you know you're ok to move up? If the sides creep in up to a year later (and beyond?), it's a tricky question.

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## Jcm800

Yeah that's that problem. Some guys think they're fine til many months later. It's fkn Russian roulette. Some guys get away scot free, such a big gamble, that's why I haven't rolled the dice yet personally.

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## chrisis

Spencer spoke about a comparison between fnasteride and birth control for women last night, suggesting that women don't report side effects because they "don't need to get it up". That was so unbelievably frustrating. It's not an issue of simply getting it up! It's as if your dick doesn't belong to your body any more. Any sensory nerve endings down there have been almost entirely muted. Besides the point, men and women are completely different and drawing parallels between two completely different drugs is entirely pointless. 

*banging my head against a wall*

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## johnnyoso

I use 1mg of propecia as .5mg wasn't enough.  If you want a reliable site that doesn't ask for a prescription its http://www.trustpill.com they are great.

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