I’m one of the countless who have started taking Dut and trying to figure out the best way to transition off of Finasteride to Dut daily. It seems that doctors and users do not agree on this topic. Some have suggested, and it seems in theory, that taking a loading phase of Dut is the best route since it takes 3 months of 0.5mg to reach steady state serum levels and possibly more at the tissue level. My current routine went from 1mg Fin to 0.5mg finasteride daily and 0.5mg Dutasteride daily. In theory, I’d do this for 3 months to not cause a shed from a medication gap, switch cold turkey, minimize simultaneous new medication shed, and stop fin shed. Since Fin binds to androgen receptors at the tissue level (scalp), and if finasteride is already binding to it all before dutasteride is introduced, does that prevent dutasteride from being able to bind to those receptors? And is it probably better to discontinue Fin and just keep doing dutasteride? People have great results when adding dutasteride 1x or 2x a week, which sounds counterproductive. In theory, thought would still leave Duta to block type 1 receptors, but fin still blocking type 2? I’ve seen, admittedly, just a few horror stories when people go up to 3x a week while using finasteride. They get better results once they go all in on one or the other. As much as I researched this, I’m still ignorant of how these drugs work at this level since most talk about its DHT blocking is usually blood /serum DHT and not at the scalp/tissue level.

Hi! I was stupid and stopped fin for a couple of month due to travelling at that point my hair was great and after I realized what I had done, I went immediately back of 0.5mfs every other day but my hair went absolutely bad and shedded for two more months. I’m devastated right now.

When you get benefits from finasteride, you must remember that the drug and your stabilized hair loss go hand in hand.  Stopping finasteride causes “Catch-up Hair Loss” which means that when you stop the finasteride, you not only go back to where you were when you started taking it, but you lose what you would have lost had you not taken it in the first place.  Please, if you are on finasteride and you are not having problems with the drug, stay on it. 

Any idea if ursolic acid can help with male-pattern hair loss? In the study below, it says it reduced DHT.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22266360/

Ursolic acid appears to be an interesting possible treatment for a variety of conditions including an enlarged prostate, inflammatory diseases and some cancers however it is not approved for clinical use. Although it is easy to extrapolate its effects on prostate hypertrophy and its relationship to hair loss, there is no proof that this has value nor that it is safe for the treatment of hair loss.

See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5928337/

I’ve heard mixed things on this. Some doctors have said that it can cause micro-scarring and make the scalp not viable for a transplant. If that’s the case I might want to stop. Generally I do like 1mm dermastamp once weekly.

Microneedling done at a 1.25mgg depth doesn’t go deep enough to cause significant scarring. On average, the hair follicle goes down to a depth of between 5-7 mm, so the growth of the hair follicle in the dermis is unobstructed by any scarring.

Hey all, I am soon going to start using topical minoxidil. The only brand (Linn Minoxidil) I could get a hold of somewhat easily where I live (the Netherlands) is a spray. The manual says to spray six times on the balding spot. But I am a norwood 3.5-4, and hence would like to spray both on my diffusing crown and receded temples. The manual however does not specify how to treat multiple areas, i.e do I just do three sprays on the temple and three sprays on the crown? Or do I have to use the spray on i.e the crown alone? Was wondering if anyone here has faced this issue/knows the answer.

First, you must be aware that only 40 % of men will respond to the topical minoxidil. On the other hand, the oral form is 100% effective because it is metabolized in the liver into its active form. I generally prefer to agree with the manufacturing instructions; however, with the topical minoxidil that I am familiar with, one good application a day works well. I recommend applying it after a hot shower on a damp scalp to increase absorption. If you do not get a good response to the topical, you may assume that you are one of the 60 % of men who do not respond to the topical form. If you are committed to going the minoxidil route, the oral form requires a prescription. I have seen wonderful results from oral minoxidil.

I have a question regarding the mechanism of action behind androgenetic alopecia. I see some people saying that we lose hair as males with pattern hair loss because the scalp hairs are more sensitive to DHT in the area of balding (pattern). I also read that some people say that the conversion from test to DHT (via. 5AR) is greater in the scalp tissue than in other body parts. This begs the question: why would you ever need to block DHT in the whole body by using oral meds like fin and dut If the “problematic” test conversion happens in the scalp tissue, then topical dut/fin or a topical anti-androgen should be enough ? Anything I am missing something? Thank you!

Hair loss occurs in males because we carry the genes for hair loss, and our DHT hormones trigger hair loss. The genes are programmed to determine when hair loss starts, but most men get it before age 26. I have seen men develop hair loss as late as in their early 50s, but this is an exception to the rule. If we decided to cut off your testicles, I doubt that you would have hair loss, but that is an extreme approach to reduce the impact of DHT. Topical finasteride goes through the skin and into your body as it gets absorbed through the skin/scalp.  You might as well take the oral finasteride. There is a type of liposomal topical finasteride where most of it stays in the scalp, but this is expensive and only covers part of the scalp.  If you spread it around the scalp, it raises the cost considerably.

I have been applying minox foam to my pubic hair for the past 3 months. My pubic hair was quite long to begin with, but now the hairs are over 4 inches long. Typically they would be only at 2-3 inches at the longest. I was doing this experiment to see if it would make sense to use pubic hair in a hair transplant and my research has lead me to believe minox is a valid solution to the length issue when using pubic hair for scalp hair transplant. I will continue to apply once a day, 1 ml for the foreseeable future (wife is not happy)

Pubic hair has been used for hair transplants in the past. The problem is its very curly nature and it may not match your hair characteristics.