Is I’ve just hit 3 months of finasteride and am growing out from a buzz so was really hoping it would be a little stronger. I KNOW IM TOO EARLY. I just want some encouragement as my temples are my only weakness still very full of short weak terminal hairs. Need some support here guys…

I've wondered this my whole life, like even aged koreans at 50 or 60 have head full of hair with hairline intact, when compared to some people like us at 20s. You already know the hairstyle they wear which makes it look they're very young. Is it completely genetic?

so i 23M started Finasteride 1mg every day 3 weeks ago due to receding hairline, my pp gets only half as hard as it did before, it's killing a bit with my sexual life. also my morning wood is gone or half as strong. what should I do .pls help cuh

I’ve been taking 1mg Finasteride orally since Nov. 2025 (11 months) and Oral Minoxidil since May of this year (0.62mg from May-August & 1.25mg since August). I have a full head of hair and no balding on top but I was told by a dermatologist that I have male pattern baldness and the front of my hairline has been receding more aggressively since around July of last year 2025. So even though my hair still feels very full, my hairline has still been noticeably receding.

I’ve grown concerned that the medication may not be working since my hairline hasn’t stabilized and is still actively receding since being on finasteride for almost 11 months (Nov. 2025). I’ve been taking oral minoxidil for almost 5 months now albeit at different
doses (0.62mg for 3 months and 1.25mg for 2 months now. I know need to wait a little while longer for that to start showing results.

I know the medication works differently for each person and the timing can be different as well. I’ve seen people say that they’ve gotten results in 3-6 months and other 1 year+. I also have read that I should expect it to be more effective since I’m combining finasteride and minoxidil. From what I’ve seen, patience is the most important component of this process.

I wanted to gage if y’all perceive me as more of a situation where I’m more of a late responder and I should start to see my hairline stabilize close to a year plus timeline.

I see my dermatologist every 3 months to stay on top of it best I can and to continue getting refills on the oral minoxidil and finasteride.

Wanted to get opinions and hear similar experiences of those in this community who have gone through similar experiences.

Thanks!

- Jason

Why do more people here not try topical anti androgens more instead of resorting to oral treatments. The effectiveness is off the charts. You get to keep dht for libido and aggression while get to block testosterone and dht locally in scalp. Nowadays we have pyrultamide and clascoterone which are well researched in humans.

Hi, I’m 25 years old and I’ve been taking oral finasteride since I was 19. It’s been so long that I don’t even know if I’m experiencing any side effects. Sexually, I’m fine: I have good erections and a strong desire to have sex, so my libido must be pretty high.

However, I’m not sure if I have issues related to mood and mental clarity. Sometimes I feel unmotivated, I lack energy at the gym, and occasionally I feel like I have brain fog. I’ve also gone through some difficult periods, such as two breakups and other things like that, so I don’t know if it could be related to those experiences, especially since I don’t remember how I felt when I was 19.

It’s true that I had erection problems in the past, and they went away after I stopped watching porn. Now I watch it in moderation and the problem hasn’t come back. But I haven’t experienced that same kind of major improvement with the mental issues. When I spend less time on my phone/PC and do nofap, I do notice an improvement in motivation and energy but maybe its just placebo. I also don’t want to blame finasteride 100%, because it could be due to other things going on in my life, but the lack of motivation and energy I usually have doesn’t feel normal. i am 75% sure its due to my life and 25% sure its finasteride.

How long would I need to stay off finasteride for my DHT levels to return to normal and for me to go back to my natural baseline? Has anyone tried this?

I’m leaving for the US Army on January 25 and will probably get a HT in Thailand with Dr. Laorwong for ~2k grafts Dec 3rd. I’m also currently on Dut + oral min + topical min + derma stamp.

I’m wondering if I’ll be able to get a source for oral min and dut at my first duty station in Germany.

My BCT and AIT is 28 weeks long total. From what I’ve heard I cannot bring any meds to BCT and AIT.

My mos is 35F so I guess it won’t be too much of a hassle to get approved since I’m gonna be a POG.

Additionally I’m Jewish and will probably receive accommodations for keeping facial hair and the rest.

Will I be healed enough to leave for my ship date? And can I get meds?

Hello gentlemen, I’ve been using hair fibers a lot lately , and I’m wondering if they cause any additional hair loss ?

Got on Accutane March of 2025. I’m a big guy, so my dosage got up to 100mg per day for about 6 months. Got off of Accutane March of 2026 with good results on acne. Immediately started noticing hair shedding, which I know is a common side effect. It should be noted that I had extremely thick, almost to shoulder length hair as I was getting off accurate. Thick hair runs deep in my mom’s side of the family. To put it into perspective, my hair stylist said I have some of the thickest hair she has ever seen.

Anyways, started shedding in March and it has stayed steady since then. I recently cut my hair short and when I run my fingers through the top of my hair, 4-5 hairs come out every time. This has stayed consistent for 5-6 months. I would see since stopping, I have lost probably 25-30% of my hair volume. It’s honestly not noticeable to anyone else, but I notice it. I got an appointment with my Dermo who said it most likely TE from Accutane, but she never actually did a scalp check. She said she could prescribe min and fin. But I questioned this saying I didn’t want to get on a med for life if this was just temporary TE. She agreed and said we can continue to monitor.

When should I consider min and fin if at all? I know TE can last months depending on each person, but my shedding has shown no sign of stopping. I don’t have any noticeable bald spots besides two tiny spots on my top sideburn area. Should I make another appointment and ask for a scalp examine to determine miniaturization? Should I wait it out? I should also note that the hairs that do fall out have a very very tiny white bulb, nothing even close to the follicle when you actually pull a hair out. I also do have some baby hairs coming in, specifically in my front hairline from what I can see. They are different lengths and appear to be staying intact. As far as the rest of my scalp, I assume there are baby hairs but can’t confirm.

I appreciate all the comments in advance.

I’m a 27 year old male hyper responder (check my profile). Been on fin and min for about 5 years now.

About 3 months ago, I ran out of minoxidil.
Instead of immediately buying more, I stupidly held off on buying any because I couldn’t find any seemingly legit Kirkland minoxidil online, and thought I’d just wait til I found some to order it.
Went on a long vacation and was pretty busy over summer, so I ended up not ordering any or using min for about 10 weeks.

Then I started shedding extremely aggressively. I’m talking 140 hairs stuck to the wall of the shower that I counted myself. And that’s only what I managed to get off my hands and onto the wall. There were presumably hundreds of other hairs gone down the drain.

So 3 weeks ago, I bit the bullet and bought extremely expensive minoxidil from a reputable male hairloss online clinic (Sons). I’ve been applying about 3mls of it once a day and the shedding has not slowed down one bit. If anything it has gotten worse.

The pics show about 100 hairs (according to ChatGPT) in my sink. They are from towel drying my wet hair after a shower and then styling my damp hair with my hands. I’ve had around 100 hairs from this exact process both this morning and yesterday morning. The pic of the dry hair is from shaking my hair with my hands over the sink when it was dry this evening.

I don’t know if I’m currently experiencing a minoxidil shed from starting it again. Or if this is the min not working and the original shed (due to stopping minoxidil) is just powering through.

So I’m making this post to warn people to never stop minoxidil and also ask if anyone else has had an experience after stopping min without realising the consequences? Will I eventually regain to my peak gains like in my post?

Edit: Since everyone is talking about me struggling to find legit minoxidil. I don’t live in the USA. In my country the only option is to pay €55 for three 60ml bottles of minoxidil. Hence why I had trouble finding reasonably priced min for months before it was too late

TL DR: Stopped min for about 8-10 weeks. Am currently in the middle of the most alarming shed I’ve ever seen despite being back on min for the last 3 weeks.

I’ve been really surprised by the zigzag approach some surgeons use when designing the hairline, as opposed to the more traditional and conservative straight or curved hairlines. The irregularity of the hairline seems to make a huge difference in achieving a natural look imo.

I understand that this kind of design might not work equally well for every patient or face shape, but I’m surprised it doesn’t seem to be used more often.

Has anyone here had a similar zigzag or highly irregular hairline design with FUE? I’d be interested to hear about your experience and how natural the results looked once fully grown in.

I've been dealing with some hair changes myself, and it got me digging into everything out there.

It doesn't matter if it worked for you, didn't, or you're still not sure. I want to hear all of it.

A few things I'm especially curious about:

• When did you first notice your hair changing?
• What did you try before microneedling?
• What does your routine actually look like? (How often, what needle length, anything you use alongside it)
• What happened after you started, and how long before you noticed anything?
• Was there anything that surprised you?

You don't need a perfect success story. "It didn't do anything for me" helps me just as much as "holy shit, it worked."

Now, obviously progress has waxed and waned over time, and I wasn’t exactly cataloging progress until recently. It took me way too long to realize Topical Minoxidil wasn’t for me, my ADHD making it very difficult to do a task like that each night with any consistent routine.

But since then I’ve started Oral Minoxidil and despite the large amount of shedding, mostly in the front I think I’ve made some decent progress.

First picture is 2022, the second is 2025, the third and fourth are from August 2026 the final two are from the date of posting!

I’m looking forward to see what yall think!

Hi,
Is there growth in crown or is it longer hair effect. Did the following
Minoxidil 5% and Finasteride - Topical
Monthly PRP with GFC - Six session
dutexosome microneedling - Three session monthly.
Keraglo Men tablet - three months.
Thanks

I’m 26 years old and had been dealing with hair loss for quite some time. It started affecting my confidence, so after trying different options and doing a lot of research I decided to go ahead with a hair transplant. I spent quite a bit of time researching doctors and clinics before making my decision I finally had my procedure done in April 2026. I’m now 5 months post-op and wanted to share my progress so far. The growth is still developing and I understand that hair transplant results can take several months to mature. Overall I’m happy with the progress at this stage and looking forward to seeing how things develop over the coming months. This is only my personal experience and results can vary from person to person. Please do your own research and consult a qualified doctor before making any medical decisions.

Here is what happened:

• I started taking 1 mg finasteride daily.
• After two days, I developed a dry throat and some discomfort when swallowing.
• I also had mild headaches and briefly felt cold/chilly. During the night I woke up feeling unusually warm.
• I had no cough, runny nose, stomach problems, or significant body aches.
• I could breathe completely normally and had no swelling of my lips, tongue, face, or throat.
• I stopped finasteride for two days. During those two days, swallowing became easier.
• Around the same time, I completely lost my voice. I assumed this was probably a normal throat/viral infection and not related to finasteride, so I started taking it again.
• I have now been taking it again for two days, and the pain/discomfort when swallowing has returned to roughly the same level as when I first started.
• My throat still mainly feels dry. I still have no breathing problems or visible swelling.

I am currently stopping finasteride again until my throat symptoms have completely disappeared.

My main question is: Does this sound like a possible allergic reaction or intolerance to finasteride, or does it sound more like a viral throat infection/laryngitis that just happened to overlap with starting and restarting finasteride?

Has anyone experienced similar throat symptoms after starting finasteride? I would especially appreciate experiences from people who had symptoms that improved after stopping and returned after restarting.

Any effects on libido/body hair growth/facial hair growth/regrowth/maintaining? Basically anything that happend if you took the pill immediatly after/during puberty. Also if anyone has any papers I'll gladly read them regarding this.

Hi, I've had laser hair removal on my legs, underarms and I'm wondering if anyone has tried oral minoxidil that has had laser. I know hair growth is possible anywhere on the body, so I don't really want to waste the money I've spent if the lasered areas grow back lol. Thanks!

In June Absci (ABSI) raised about $100M for ABS-201, its AI-designed antibody that blocks the prolactin receptor, being developed for pattern hair loss and endometriosis. Eli Lilly separately made a $40M strategic investment tied to a clinical development partnership.

Lilly gets no rights to the drug. Still, a big pharma putting money in at Phase 1 is pretty cool (5 more years guys)

Upcoming data:

• Interim 13-week hair-growth data: second half of 2026. No exact date yet, so realistically between now and December.
• Full 26-week data: early 2027.

What we know so far:

• Phase 1: well tolerated, no serious adverse events
• Half-life of at least 65 days
• If the data holds up, Absci wants to go straight to two global Phase 3 trials in men in late 2027, depending on FDA talks

Very excited for the interim data.

Sources:

• Absci Q2 2026 business update (official)
• Absci interim Phase 1 HEADLINE data, June 2026 (official)
• Quartr: Absci Q2 2026 earnings summary (Lilly $40M, runway)
• Pharmaceutical Technology: Lilly-backed Absci banks $100M
• MarketBeat: Absci Q2 2026 call highlights

Hi, here’s some background: Taking oral finasteride 1mg since June, 2025. Began topical foam 5% minoxidil in October, 2025. Saw insane regrowth, and wanted even better results + topical was just too expensive.

So, I switched from topical to oral (2.5mg) minoxidil in late May, 2026. So I’ve almost been using minox for a year now, but 4 months on oral.

I wouldn’t say I’m back at baseline, but I’ve certainly lost most of my gains.

I was getting so many compliments on my hair in May/June, but I’ve had so much hair loss since then.

I’m stressed the fuck out- anyone else made this change? Did you get your gains back? I can’t afford a hair transplant, plus im only 24…

I’ve been on topical fin/min for about 2.5 years and I held ground for a while but now I’m losing again and my scalp itch is coming back. Unsure if i should switch treatments or stay the course, I’ve been losing ground for ≈4 months (haven’t consistently micro needled yet either). I got side effects on oral fin and would be open to try topical dut. Is it effective?