Some need the stronger dutasteride for it.
Both medications are known to stop and even revert hair loss, but the real regrowth usually happens if you additionally take oral minoxidil.
I am on dut+min for years now.
Neither of those three is without side effects though and they can‘t revive „truly dead“ follicles, so this is great news.
I did that, and it completely ruined my libido for almost 3 years. Never again.
Yet half a year later I decided to take the deal with the devil: What good is my libido if I can't get hookups anymore due to hair loss? I'd rather keep my hair and lose my libido. And so I went on finasteride again. The most feared and vilified medication in existence. I just took the finasteride and swallowed lots of tadalafil every day and things just worked that way.
Half a year ago I decided to switch to dutasteride because I felt like I was slowly losing ground again. I still couldn't get it up without my penis pills and was always nervous about timing them correctly to not be embarrassed during sex. But then I ended up in a relationship which kind of reduced this stress. If I can't get it up, I can't get it up and I don't care. There are other ways to satisfy my partner.
And guess what: My penis actually works and I can have sex -any time I do not plan it. What I want to say is: I read all this nightmare fuel about fin and dut and suffered from severe nocebo.
People worrying about hair loss are neurotic. Those that take fin or dut after reading all their scary side effects must be super neurotic. We are easy prey to the nocebo effect and playing mind games with ourselves.
Personally I care about my libido much more than a head full of hair. And preferences around hair vary.
I think it's a bit uncharitable to label people who are losing a physical feature they like as "neurotic". I agree it's not the end of the world (been shaving my head bald for 15+ years now and mostly like it better this way), but c'mon, just because you've made peace with your hair loss, it doesn't mean people who haven't are mentally defective.
> Those that take fin or dut after reading all their scary side effects must be super neurotic.
I don't think "neurotic" means what you think it means. I'd probably say "reckless".
I tried fin and dut in my 20s, and even though I was lucky and never saw those side effects, I do regret taking something like that without doing my homework first.
Estrogen causes breast tissue to grow. Some men naturally almost have enough estrogen to cause them breast growth, either due to being an estrogen super-responder or already having a high estrogen level.
If they increase their estrogen level just a bit they will grow breast tissue.
I have been tiptoeing around this topic because, while I desperately need testosterone supplementation (my levels have never been high and they're now in the toilet), my situation is made more complex by having a metabolic disorder wherein I must avoid the estrogens (and since testosterone is partially metabolized to estradiol, I would need an aromatase inhibitor) and one of the few attractive features I have is a head full of thick wavy/curly hair, nice enough that it had been requested I grow it out and donate it for wigs. I am hesitant to gamble with one of my scarce obvious assets.
So, yes, I definitely want to find a counterbalance that would not kill the libido (I have almost always lacked) I would like to, uh, relaunch more successfully.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16839328/
Daily tadalafil reduces estrogen by 16.5 percent.
Finasteride increases it by about 15%.
That should cancel itself out + increases libido.
IMHO a finasteride 1mg and tadalafil 5mg combination pill should be offered, as it would mostly eliminate libido and breast growth side effects.
It's a deal
My favorite term I heard from female friends is "cap-fishing" - meaning a man places a photo wearing a cap (to conceal baldness) on his first photo in a dating app.
Finasteride is more hit-or-miss.
You’re basically eliminating the most potent testosterone analog in your body because it can also damage hair follicles
Everyone’s different, but I was not willing to trade my manhood for my hair
I'd never read about that as a side effect so at first I didn't connect the dots, but it was almost daily. Stopped after I stopped taking it - I looked it up out of interest and it's a rare side effect. I wasn't keen on it because it was a neurological side effect.
The dreams themselves didn't bother me but I also found myself more tired than usual, and I'm not overly bothered about my hair so dropped it. Others will probably tell you about the more common side effects, but wanted to drop this one in as it's not often mentioned!
How long did you take it? It generally takes months to get noticeable effects.
- look dangerous so people take you more seriously
- always have a “good haircut”
- swimming / bath - no need to dry hair
- solves dandruff immediately
Just positives really
Buuut I always did feel a little bit jealous of guys with fulls set of hair.
That’s why after almost 15 years of full chop, just did “an elon musk” and got myself some implants. And honestly it has been so worth it, just from the feeling you get to run fingers through your hair.
Note that this isn't guaranteed.
If baldness was as unattractive to women as many men think it is, male pattern baldness wouldn't have evolved.
They don't know what men care about either. https://www.basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2011/12...
> How many times have you heard women complain about high heels, insinuating that it's men's fault they wear them?
> Many.
> How many times have you rejected a woman because her shoes were too flat?
(I say this as a 42 year old who misses my hair)
When he graduated college and started working in finance, he found that the baldness was a major advantage, making him look older and therefore letting him avoid the stereotype that young people are immature / unreliable / ignorant / untrustworthy.
You're trying to defend the idea of evolving baldness so as to repel women, which is the opposite of the example you cite in "defense".