new thread
I have been concerned for some time about thinning hair. I may not be going bald, or I may just have some natural thinning i.e I may not have a problem!--but I'm taking no chances, so I have started taking Propecia (Finesteride) as of 1 week ago.
Apparently it takes 8 months to 2 years to see the full effects of the drug, but the real benefits seems to be in the fact that it lets you preserve the hair that you already have. If I can keep what I have now on top for the next few decades I'll be a happy man!
The side effects are pretty terrible though so my fingers are tightly crossed that I react fine to Propecia over the next 3 months or so, becuase if I do I'll know then that I won't be getting any side efects in the future either.
By the way on a good site about causes of hair loss (http://www.skinbiology.com/2004RussiaHairRemodeling.html) , one of the reasons given was:
"Excessive hair cutting – Dr. George Michael (founder of the George Michael Long Hair Clinics) emphasized that longer hair is healthier hair. It is possible that hair follicles require some tension produced by the weight of a heavy hair shaft in the same manner that muscles and bones whither when not stressed and exercised. Michael remembered that, in the Russia of his youth, women in their sixties often had healthy, waist-length hair. Later, when he worked in New York City, he found that virtually no women of this age possessed such healthy hair."
Friends,
I have used propecia for the past three years. Does it prevent hair loss? I cannot say, for I do not know what the status of my hair would have been had I not used it. I am reluctant to stop since is miminal trouble and I do not want to take the chance. I have had no problematic "side" effects. It has not prevented adequate sexual response, or I would have cheerfully chosen baldness, or boldness as indicated in a previous post.
However, this is the same medication which is proscribed for prostate conditions which prevent normal urinary flow, and ordinarily Rx at 5 MG a day in contrast to the 1 MG a day for propecia. I see no reason not to persuade your physician to give you a Rx for finasteride at 5 MG and break the tablests into 1/4 which is my practice.
Over the past two years I have traveled in India and China, and bought generic finasteride 5 MG, at very low price, but since I am not convinced that these generics are equivalent, I have been alternating them with the Western (US, Europe) products just to make sure that I am getting the active agent.
Bottom line, I have a good bit of hair for a 72 year old, as of today, but not so much that I do not welcome chemical support, and intend to continue to take 1 MG or 1.25 mg finasterid daily.
I am unable to use Rogain for it results in itching and scalp sensitivity, otherwise I would.
I welcome other's response.
James
Wow! 72! And you only started the process of maintaining your hair (at least with Finesteride) at 69!
You must have had decades of thick hair or at the very least far-from balding hair so as to start a treatment such as Propecia so (relatively) late in life.
Lucky you!