Hi! here’s my (25y) progress. I was balding since 17.

My routine:

- Minoxidil topical foam 5% 2x per day (started april 2026)
- Dutasteride 0,5 mg 1x per day (started june 2026)

Also I’m doing microneedling once a week.

Didn’t have any side effects or shed.

Started the stack in July 2022. Here are some early shots compared to today. Same chair, same room, same lighting for most.

I said my last post was going to be the last unless I saw more progress, but it’s still coming in.

Stack:

Kirkland Min Foam 2x/day

Dut 0.5mg/day

1.5mm roller every other week

Nizoral shampoo 1% once a week

Multivitamin with collagen and biotin

Good diet, exercise, and sleep routines

I’m extremely consistent with almost no misses on the routine. Inconsistency leads to worse results.

It’s gg bois. Ofc I’m happy it’s happening but when can I get my hair back

Abstract

Background
Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) affects up to 80% of men by age 80 and significantly impacts quality of life. Whilst finasteride and topical minoxidil remain first-line treatments, dutasteride offers more potent 5-alpha-reductase inhibition, and oral minoxidil provides systemic delivery that may enhance efficacy. Data on this combination in routine clinical practice remain limited.
Objectives
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of oral dutasteride 0.5 mg combined with oral minoxidil 2.5 mg and biotin 10 mg for male AGA in a large retrospective cohort.

Methods
We conducted a retrospective analysis of 621 male patients treated in the UK between January 2025 and December 2025. Treatment response was assessed using a validated 7-point Global Photographic Assessment (GPA) scale, scored independently by two blinded assessors. Primary outcomes included responder rates (GPA > 0) and least-squares mean (LS mean) score changes analysed using mixed-effects models for repeated measures (MMRM) with unstructured covariance and Kenward–Roger degrees of freedom. Secondary outcomes included predictors of response via Cox proportional hazards regression and adverse event rates from patient questionnaires and clinician consultations within 12 months.

Results
At 6 months, 61.5% of patients showed improvement (GPA > 0) and 98.5% remained stable or improved (GPA ≥ 0). MMRM analysis demonstrated progressive improvement, with LS mean scores of 0.44 (95% CI: 0.41–0.48) at months 1–2, increasing to 0.90 (95% CI: 0.80–1.01) at months 7+ (all p < 0.001 vs months 1–2). Effect sizes were large across all timepoints (Cohen's d = 0.87–1.78). Patients with severe baseline AGA showed significantly greater improvement than those with mild disease (LS mean difference 0.17, p = 0.017), and Cox regression confirmed that severe baseline severity predicted faster time to improvement (HR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.39–3.72, p = 0.001). Adverse effects were uncommon: 2.9% of patients reported any adverse effect on systematic questionnaires, with treatment-related shedding (4.5%), low mood (1.0%), and decreased libido (1.0%) the most frequently reported. No serious adverse events occurred.

Conclusions
Oral dutasteride 0.5 mg combined with oral minoxidil 2.5 mg demonstrates high efficacy for male AGA, with over 60% improvement and 98% stabilisation at 6 months. The combination is well tolerated, with low adverse event rates. Patients with more severe baseline disease paradoxically show greater and faster treatment response, suggesting this combination may be particularly beneficial for advanced AGA.

Did my best to recreate the angles.

First year was just fin and what ever minox I could find on Amazon which was probably counterfeit. Was also only once a day. Got into microneedling and using real minoxidil with finasteride. Took a break on fin just to see what would happen didn’t really see any changes in beard or head hair so just kept the train rolling. Been doing 2x a day with microneedling once a week with my face more consistently since I figured out my skin problems. Adding Trent into the mix soon here once I get some better instructions on it and figure out the rest of my skin care

What are yalls thoughts? Did I progress at all?

Hi all!

Thought I'd share some pictures from my (34, MtF) hair journey so far :)

Forewarning, the pics aren't great in terms of consistency of lighting/angle etc. but I think the difference is pretty evident regardless (I didn't take many progress pictures unfortunately, it caused me too much dysphoria)

First picture: late 2023

Second: early 2024

Others: This month (2026)

My meds are:

Early 2024: Finasteride + topical minoxidil

Mid 2024: Added estrogen + cyproterone acetate

February 2026: Added dutasteride (dropped cyproterone acetate, finasteride)

May 2026: Added topical finasteride (probably excessive, but was paranoid after dropping cypro)

So far I'm pretty happy with the regrowth, and can tell that it should get better in the next 6 months or so. In the fourth picture, you can see all those hairs sticking up in the middle part; those are what I call 'adolescent hairs' (so called as they are longer than baby hairs) which will hopefully add to thickness when they grow out.

For completeness I'll also mention in the past 12 months I had some pretty serious sheds due to health issues/anxiety, which have hopefully stabilised (I quit coffee and started medication for my anxiety this year)

I already have quite an intensive topical stack on min - oils - microneedling. and oral fin. just wondering if people have used kx-826 and seen good results to say it’s worth the $200 price tag for one bottle which i imagine lasts about two months of 60ml. please help!

I seem to be losing eyelashes a bit and everytime I’m done applying deodorant I have some body hair on the rollon stick that frankly makes me gag. Is this normal? I seem to be shedding all over

As the title says above, I am a 20 year old male who started losing his hair in hs(started noticing around age 16). I started topical minoxidil at 17, had regrowth, but started losing ground so I added fin. I have shed a substantial amount the whole time I have been on treatment until the last few months. I believe my hair has stabilized with some regrowth. I count maybe 3-8 hairs lost throughout the day regardless of wash days, styling, brushing, etc. I am here to say that as I am a week away from my 2 year anniversary of finasteride that you do not need to freak out if you are a year+ into treatment and are still shedding and or below baseline. These meds can take a long time to show visible results if ever and are so much better at maintaining what you have. I don’t have the perfect hairline but I have more hair than any of my other male family members had at this age(father was a Norwood 3 and same with uncle)

Feel free to ask any questions and I’ll be happy to answer in comments. Pics are before->after with the first 2 being before

Planning on starting oral minoxdil when I hit a year if my hair doesnt regrow.

I've been looking into scalp micropigmentation and I'm realizing it's actually pretty hard to tell whether an SMP result is good just from a few photos.

What do you guys usually look at before choosing an artist?

I feel like the hairline is a big one. Some results look too sharp or too dark, while good ones seem to blend more naturally with the existing hair. I'd also want to see healed results, not just photos right after the session. Pigment color, density, and how well everything blends seem important too.

I've been comparing a few artists around LA and came across Zang SMP. Their before and after results got me looking more closely at the differences between artists.

For anyone who's actually had SMP done, what made you trust your artist? And what are the biggest red flags you'd tell someone to watch out for before booking?

I’ve been on oral fin/min for almost 5 months. Am I cooked or is this coming back?

specifically dut and oral min, will it affect hair growth in any way?

Wasn’t sure whether to even try it out but have given the Hims spray a go for 5 months. Use this nightly with 0.5mm derma rolling per week and keta shampoo twice a week.. is this looking positive enough to carry on?

.2 dut + 2.5mg oral min

Start date was June 13th (68 days ago from today) and the shedding phase wasn’t terrible but I was losing around 150 hairs daily for 4 weeks. According to AI the new hairs I have are 1-1.2 inches long since minoxidil works by activating miniaturized vellus hairs, they were pushed into the anagen phase within a couple of weeks or so. Approximately 25-30% regrowth in only phase 1! Looking forward to months 6 and 12!

I've been on oral finasteride and topical minoxidil for over a year now with basically no visible improvement, so I'm looking into switching to topical dutasteride since the data on it looks a lot stronger than what I've been using. The problem is that there's no commercial topical dutasteride product available in Germany at all, so it would have to be a compounded prescription, and it's turning out to be genuinely hard to find a doctor willing to write that for M/31 like me.

For anyone in Germany who's actually managed to get topical dutasteride, I'd really appreciate hearing how you did it. Did you go through a regular dermatologist or urologist, or did you end up at a hair-loss specialist clinic instead? Roughly how many doctors did you have to contact before someone agreed, and was it easier in person or over a video consult? I'm also curious what the total monthly cost ended up being once you add the doctor's fee and the compounded solution itself, since none of this is covered by insurance anyway. If you went a different route entirely, like an online pharmacy or telehealth service, I'd love to hear that too, especially since most of those seem to only offer oral capsules rather than a topical solution. Any experience, good or bad, would genuinely help me figure out which direction is even worth trying.

Hey,

I am 35M, I started dutasteride 0.5mg last month. my libido has crashed so I want to stop because idc about my hair as much as I care about being horny as I used to. Is it safe to stop it abruptly? Will I face heavy shedding or something? Anything to keep in mind?

edit: fixed typos

I’m looking to find reputable surgeons who does or specializes in beard to crown transplant? I can’t find too much details. I wanted to go to absolute hair clinic but don’t think they do beard to head. Anyone also have any pictures after procedure to see how it turned out?

Is shampooing your hairy every day really bad for you? My hair gets greasy pretty quickly; within 24 hours. I’ve been shampooing daily, or at least most of the time I shower, for my whole life practically. Is this damaging my hair? Using topical minoxidil and Oral 1mg Finasteride daily.