I’ve noticed my hair thinning and hairline receding since I was about 25 or so.
I’ve been using Collagen and Biotin “thickening” shampoo but never noticed any difference. My dad swears by some pills he started taking.
What’s Lemmy think? Is he just paying for pills that are placebo effect?
I started balding in my late teens. Shaved my head for the first time at 20. Never looked back. Wished I’d done it sooner.
Still remember an offhand comment from a girl who said I have a nice shaped head.
A quick once over with the clippers once a week and you’re good.
Whatever you decided to do don’t stress about it! I’m sure that will only make it worse.
Bonus: the freshly shaved head acts as velcro to keep your hat on during windy days!See I have a lumpy awful shaped head but thankfully I’m 37 with thick full hair still, so I might be in the clear. I know what you’re saying though, I bet you looks good with a shaved head!! Honestly some people look better bald (not me though)
Same situation, started at 17 and besides a bit of melancholy right after I first buzzed it all off I* haven’t looked back either.
Shit’s just so convenient.
I use topical Minoxidil. It’s clearly made some difference, replacing a bald patch with a thin patch, and making my scalp noticeably warmer to the touch due to the extra bloodflow. It wasn’t the brilliant instantaneous wonderdrug some people told me it would be, nor totally ineffectual like others said, so I guess it’s something whose efficacy varies from person to person.
Minoxidil and finasteride will prevent further hair loss and thicken up what you still have. I highly recommend them.
Finasteride is a hormone based therapy which prohibits the production of DHT which strangles hair follicles, but it can effect male reproductive health so I recommend taking it typically instead of orally to prevent systemic exposure.
I have been using a combo spray for almost a year with great results.
Ive been taking oral 1 mg finasteride daily for a few years, and it has totally frozen my receding hair line, also my hair is fuller and healthier than it has ever been. No side effects yet, other than during the first week or two I couldn’t feel pleasure while ejaculating (but it came back after that). I’ll stop taking it if I ever try to conceive but for now it’s just nice being able to delay hair loss by a few years
The Big 3 are: Hair Transplant, Hair Systems, or Shaving.
The Medium 3: are Oral Dutasteride, Oral Minoxidil, and Microneedling.
The Small 3: are Oral Finasteride, Topical Minoxidil, and Ketoconazole.
The Meh 3: are Head Massage, Vitamins, and Laser Caps.
It’s all bollocks. You’ll can buy your hair back like Musk, but it takes fuck you money.
Shave it off. That’s how poor people look good when they’re balding. It’s not a disease. Throw off the shackles of the advertising industry and just roll with it.
No there are no thickening products that fix hair loss. Monoxadil and other similar products work but you can never stop using them or your hair will fall out again.
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Minoxidil is produced in 5% concentration creams and foams, and that study is comparing rosemary oil to a 2% preparation. It’s impressive that rosemary oil is comparable at all, but obviously if you’re not taking a therapeutic dose of Monoxidil, it’s not going to work properly.
I started using Rogaine (generic versions) when I was around 25. I’m 40 now. It slowed my hair loss considerably and I have a pretty good head of hair still. My dad was completely done by 35.
I recently added Finasteride to the mix and I’m comfortable with the results.
Some people will tell you to embrace it and that’s ok too. I just didn’t want to if I didn’t have to.
Please don’t take it as an offense, but how do you know it worked? Like, what are you comparing against? If it’s your dad, maybe you just got the right genes from your mom to give you a benefit.
DHT blockers (like what he is taking) are proven to work, but not everyone’s hair loss is due to dht sensitive hair follicles. That’s a genetic lottery.
It can also come with side effects.
Thanks for the additional context
I started thinning rapidly in my early 20s which prompted me to act. Within a few months the thinning stopped and in the back I’ve been about the same since. Front started thinning a few years ago which prompted the finasteride and that seems to be slowing it.
I don’t know for sure, you’re right, but I also see no incentive to prove my experience wrong since the risk isn’t worth it, to me.
Thank you. That makes sense
There no point holding onto hair when it’s really gone. It looks worse than shaving it. Unless you want to pay for hair transplant use need min and fin.
People with hair transplants need to go on finesteride anyway.
I think if you are beginning to bald. Might as well go on finesteride and minoxidil.
They are both proven to work (though not for everyone).
Before you get into products or transplants or whatever, maybe try changing some habits? American College of Dermatology has an article on 10 things you may be doing that lead to damage or hair loss (along with what you can change to do it “right”). “Wrong” things include rubbing your hair dry with a towel and using the wrong-size comb.
Thanks for sharing!
For what it’s worth, there’s decent evidence that rosemary oil works just as well as Minoxidil. It’s certainly a WHOLE LOT cheaper…
It’s also much safer to use around cats than topical minoxidil is!
Essential oils are still pretty bad for cats.
Essential Oil Toxicity in Cats
The reason why these oils are risky is that they contain compounds such as terpenes, ketones, and phenols. Your cat’s liver cannot metabolize these chemicals, as it doesn’t have the enzymes necessary for processing and excreting them. As a result, there is always a possibility of their accumulation in the liver building to toxic levels.
https://www.webmd.com/pets/cats/risks-of-essential-oils-for-cats
I didn’t say it was safe! Just safer than minoxidil :) The oil is usually meant to be used as a pre-wash treatment, so it’s not going to sit on your head all day like minoxidil, further reducing the risk of contact with pets.
I’d probably use the pills regardless, but good to know! I have two cats!
Looking on Amazon the price per liter ranges seem very similar to Minoxidil, maybe a little cheaper. First glance the cheapest Minoxidil product I could see was around 111€ / L, the cheapest rosemary oil bottles seem to be about 80€ / L - probably because most are sold as “essential oils”. That being said, it seems you’re supposed to further dilute the oil so I guess it would last quite a bit longer. Still, from what I heard you need to continue to use that stuff or you’ll lose the gained hair again.
The rosemary oil should be diluted in a carrier like argon oil (but it could be something else like jojoba, squalane). At around 3% concentration. So yes, much much longer!
Yes much like Modoxinil, you need to keep using it.
That’s kinda another 80€ / L though. Not sure how you’d get to 3% when the article states like 5 drops per ounce of shampoo as an example, which would probably be around 1 drop for a regular amount of what you’d use to wash your hair with.
You can buy squalane for like 150$ a gallon. But it could be something else too, as long as it’s non-comedogenic
No idea what that is but why not just go for something like sunflower oil?
Because it’s likely comedogenic, meaning it blocks pores.
It’s not, and it is actually cheap-ish. The Ukraine war obviously pushed the prices quite a bit but it is still far cheaper than something like argan oil.
I’ve also heard pumpkin seed oil works as a topical dht blocker. Never dug into it to fact check much, since I still have great hair.
I think the thickening products just try to coat your hairs in oil or something to make each individual hair appear thicker to make the overall hair appear more full.
There are products like minoxidil that actually promote hair growth.
the only thing that works is finding out if you have nutriotional deficencies. minerals, vitamins. protein fat, and fiber. all of this is important. in my case, i had diabetis. so i ate keto. i developed copper deficencie, which led to vitamin c deficencie. very hard to find out. many vitamins and minerals battle each other. what nobody totld me: you dont need fiber to have good poop. you need it for the short fatty chain acids that turns into fuel for cells, or does catalyst stuff that needs be doing to absorb all kinds of things.
fat is essential for hair, likewise proteins. proteins and fat are the building blocks, minerals and vitamins are the cement. nothing will work without the other.
oh yeah you need the sun. if yu have copper deficency, you cant take in iron. and there is many more things like that.
so go to a lab and mak a mineral and vitamin profile.
Yes…or no. There’s more than one reason for balding. You might try a DHT blocker. Caffeine(more caffiene helps, supposedly), vitamin B, and many other things could effect your hair loss.
For a non guessing approach, you want a full blood panel and testosterone/dht level done up at a legit specialist for hair loss.
Or just go the Mr.Clean route.
Kind of. I’ve never bothered with them myself because it requires constant use and is kind of more trouble than it’s worth. It’s the same concept as something like Ginko Biloba in that it does have benefits, but different people will see different results based on their own body chemistry so the results you see will vary from person to person.
balding < bald
just shave it. get a buzz cut if you’re uncomfortable. i know once my hairline starts receding i won’t try to kid myself by spending money on temporary fixes.
I’m the first guy in my family to actually have facial hair and the first one to start balding haha. My dads hair is pretty thick and he gets a tiny mustache. My grandpa’s hair wasn’t bad before he passed away in his 90s and really nothing for facial hair. Never met my great grandpa but he was chickasaw and the few pictures I’ve seen he has very thick hair.
In the next few years it’ll be to the point where I start shaving. It’s right on top where it’s getting really thin and I’m 6’2" so most people don’t actually see it. The other day at a self check out it thought I didn’t scan something and showed a top down camera view and I was like damn that’s bad.
I think Minoxidil is the only thing proven to work. You can take it orally or apply it to the scalp via a serum or shampoo.
