Hair regrowth treatment - snake oil or does it work?

Hair regrowth treatment - snake oil or does it work?

Author
Discussion

NicoG

Original Poster:

658 posts

215 months

Friday 12th July
quotequote all
Hello,

As usual I prefer to defer to the PH populous for real-life facts about this sort of thing....

So, sailing home from the Isle of Wight last a few weeks ago, I was sent a photo of me sailing away.

Now, this photo was taken from at least 25 metres away, and I was horrified to see that my thinning foliage was visible even from this range, on a fairly low-quality photo.

A hastily taken top-down "seflie" shortly thereafter confirmed the state of affairs, despite my hitherto thick coverage...

Simple question then - have any of you suffered a similar affliction, and have you done anything about it? Did it work?

A mate of mine started thinning heavily in his mid twenties, I saw a photo of him recently and it looks as though he has reversed the tide rather successfully. I haven't seen him in years, so am reluctant to send him a message saying "hi mate, congrats on your engagement, have you been using WunderBarnet since we were at law school together four years ago....?"

Thanks!


Radec

4,395 posts

54 months

Friday 12th July
quotequote all
Probably had a hair transplant

Shaw Tarse

31,675 posts

210 months

Friday 12th July
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Tattoos of tiny rabbits?

simons123

201 posts

23 months

Friday 12th July
quotequote all
Finastride is your answer.... probably one of the few things that actually works. Why do you think all the celebrities have great hair..... FINASTRIDE. Just get a prescription from your doctor.

However I'd also recommend Nioxin....I have very very slight thinning on sides...a barber with amazing hair told me he was going bald but started using Nioxin shampoo which is available from Amazon and it worked wonders....seems to be working for me too in terms of hair loss which has slowed massively.

Hugo Stiglitz

38,038 posts

218 months

Friday 12th July
quotequote all
simons123 said:
Finastride is your answer.... probably one of the few things that actually works. Why do you think all the celebrities have great hair..... FINASTRIDE. Just get a prescription from your doctor.

However I'd also recommend Nioxin....I have very very slight thinning on sides...a barber with amazing hair told me he was going bald but started using Nioxin shampoo which is available from Amazon and it worked wonders....seems to be working for me too in terms of hair loss which has slowed massively.

Digger

15,179 posts

198 months

Friday 12th July
quotequote all
Snake Oil . . .

As in no man-made chemical cocktail has ever been created that completely reverses natural hair loss, & promotes hair growth, producing a full head of hair.

No Sireee smile


gazza285

10,186 posts

215 months

Friday 12th July
quotequote all
Stop messing about and accept your lot. No amount of chemicals, combovers, or transplants have ever enhanced a head in a natural looking way. If you don’t like what’s left, then off with the lot.

Buy a hat for when it gets cold.

_DJ_

4,962 posts

261 months

Friday 12th July
quotequote all
Finesteride is indeed the answer. If you can tolerate it, it will almost certainly slow down your hair loss. Best case, some hair will regrow. The other often recommended drug is minoxidyl. That will thicken hair and extend the hair growth cycle so that more head it on your head at any one time.

You can take both orally or topically. By mouth is more effective, but also more likely to cause side effects.

_DJ_

4,962 posts

261 months

Friday 12th July
quotequote all
gazza285 said:
Stop messing about and accept your lot. No amount of chemicals, combovers, or transplants have ever enhanced a head in a natural looking way. If you don’t like what’s left, then off with the lot.

Buy a hat for when it gets cold.
Sorry, but that's not true.

Hugo Stiglitz

38,038 posts

218 months

Friday 12th July
quotequote all
Finestre- has been reported to cause depressed mood, depression, suicidal thoughts and sexual dysfunction

From the Web, true? I'd rather stay bald.

_DJ_

4,962 posts

261 months

Friday 12th July
quotequote all
Hugo Stiglitz said:
Finestre- has been reported to cause depressed mood, depression, suicidal thoughts and sexual dysfunction

From the Web, true? I'd rather stay bald.
That's true, and a reason people use sprays rather than tablets. There's a debate as to how many people suffer from those symptoms. It'll be single digits and of those, on a scale from feeling slightly down to suicidal.

The vast majority of people have no side effects apart from more hair. It was originally used (at 5 times the dose) to treat enlarged prostates.

gazza285

10,186 posts

215 months

Friday 12th July
quotequote all
_DJ_ said:
Finesteride is indeed the answer. If you can tolerate it, it will almost certainly slow down your hair loss. Best case, some hair will regrow. The other often recommended drug is minoxidyl. That will thicken hair and extend the hair growth cycle so that more head it on your head at any one time.

You can take both orally or topically. By mouth is more effective, but also more likely to cause side effects.
What price vanity? I’d rather be bald…




_DJ_

4,962 posts

261 months

Friday 12th July
quotequote all
Indeed. They're both FDA approved, and every medication that messes with your hormones will have side effects in some (and in this case very few) patients.

The pays your money, you take your choice.

As you say, it's for a cosmetic reason so for some, any risk is too high - 'just shave your head, bro' etc etc.

Edited to add: if you really want to put people off,.Google 'post finesteride syndrome'. I'm not sure it's been proven to exist, but makes for great ammunition in an internet 'debate'.

The guidance on minoxidyl is based on using topical, but it a bit confused (how will hair grow elsewhere if you are only applying it to your scalp). It's also the method rather than the drug that causes the minor side effects mentioned mainly because it contains alcohol in some formulations.

The fact is, nothing other than those two drugs will do anything meaningful for hair loss, until you want to go off label for something like dutasteride.

Edited by _DJ_ on Friday 12th July 22:43


Edited by _DJ_ on Friday 12th July 22:47


Edited by _DJ_ on Friday 12th July 23:40

48Valves

2,165 posts

216 months

Friday 12th July
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This is the solution

https://amzn.eu/d/0eVd6LDE

Miocene

1,445 posts

164 months

Friday 12th July
quotequote all
You've had pretty much all the replies needed already, the only thing I can add is that photos always make it look worse than it is.

TwigtheWonderkid

44,668 posts

157 months

Saturday 13th July
quotequote all
gazza285 said:
_DJ_ said:
Finesteride is indeed the answer. If you can tolerate it, it will almost certainly slow down your hair loss. Best case, some hair will regrow. The other often recommended drug is minoxidyl. That will thicken hair and extend the hair growth cycle so that more head it on your head at any one time.

You can take both orally or topically. By mouth is more effective, but also more likely to cause side effects.
What price vanity? I’d rather be bald…



Have you read the list of possible side effects that come with a box of paracetamol, ibuprofen or aspirin?

worsy

5,952 posts

182 months

Saturday 13th July
quotequote all

RemarkLima

2,568 posts

219 months

Saturday 13th July
quotequote all
_DJ_ said:
Indeed. They're both FDA approved, and every medication that messes with your hormones will have side effects in some (and in this case very few) patients.

The pays your money, you take your choice.

As you say, it's for a cosmetic reason so for some, any risk is too high - 'just shave your head, bro' etc etc.

Edited to add: if you really want to put people off,.Google 'post finesteride syndrome'. I'm not sure it's been proven to exist, but makes for great ammunition in an internet 'debate'.

The guidance on minoxidyl is based on using topical, but it a bit confused (how will hair grow elsewhere if you are only applying it to your scalp). It's also the method rather than the drug that causes the minor side effects mentioned mainly because it contains alcohol in some formulations.

The fact is, nothing other than those two drugs will do anything meaningful for hair loss, until you want to go off label for something like dutasteride.

Edited by _DJ_ on Friday 12th July 22:43


Edited by _DJ_ on Friday 12th July 22:47


Edited by _DJ_ on Friday 12th July 23:40
A point of note, FDA approved doesn't mean it's good, it just means that it's doing something beyond doing nothing, and isn't going to harm you directly. The bar is pretty low.

Topical treatments are still absorbed into the skin and body (how contact poisons work), so you can still get hair growths outside of applied area and additional side effects. A friend swears by minoxidil and it's 100% worked for him... However, for me, I know that I do not tolerate many things particularly well, for example I couldn't get past 2 days of oral terbinafine as the stomach cramps were debilitating!

Some people will be fine, others not so

_DJ_

4,962 posts

261 months

Saturday 13th July
quotequote all
I agree. The amount of the drug that goes systemic from topical application is far less than when taken orally.
I've never heard of anyone getting hair growth anywhere other than their head from topical minox (apart from those who use it to strengthen their beard).

However, it is a very common side effect of taking it orally.

bloomen

7,448 posts

166 months

Saturday 13th July
quotequote all
Go bald.

Wait for a stem cell treatment of some sort that reignites your own teeny tiny follicles.

That's what I'm doing.

Until then, I don't think screwing with your body's information superhighway is worth the potential problems.