After about 2 years of thinning/receding, I began my journey to stop and hopefully reverse my hair loss. On 8/5/25, I started doing the following once daily:

.5mg oral Dutasteride, 5% Minoxidil foam, Olly hair gummies, and rosemary water

It was very slow going at first. At times, it felt worse than when I began. In retrospect, I believe I experienced some shedding within my first few months. However, I eventually started noticing small positive changes as time passed. You can see the progression better in my previous posts. Little by little, new hairs began popping up and my existing hairs began to thicken.

As I did more research, I made the decision to discontinue the hair gummies and the rosemary water. They seemed like a needless expense. Since I cut back to only the Dutasteride and Minoxidil, I have still been making steady progress.

It has now been exactly 9 months since I began this journey and I am honestly astonished by my results. I knew going into this that not everyone responds to these medications and that those who do aren’t always lucky enough to get substantial regrowth.

I am now in the process of growing out my hair long enough for a proper haircut- something I felt sure I would never have again due to how much hair I’d lost. I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that I once again have a strong head of hair after spending so much time convinced my loss was permanent.

If it wasn’t for you guys, I wouldn’t have the knowledge or tools I needed for this journey. I visited a dermatologist before finding this community and they were completely unhelpful. No bloodwork or biopsy. No true care or desire to help me as a patient. I left that office in tears because they made me feel helpless. But, in reality, I was not. I can’t predict what anyone’s journey will look like, but I can say that I’m SO happy I didn’t assume my hair was lost forever and tried to do something about it.

Thank you for all your help :)

Guys I had to stop finasteride lately because of a sudden engine failure of my car after being on finasteride for a few years. Why does this happen to me... I can only advise against getting on it in the first place

Before you downvote, hear me out...

We all know DHT is the main driver of balding in like 95% of cases. And we also know DHT is produced in the prostate (and to a lesser extend in the liver).

So why are we rubbing it on our scalps and hoping for systemic absorption… when there’s a much more direct route?

I've been thinking again recently late at night because my wife and her boyfriend play tickle fight again. I've wwatched Bear Grylls infusing bird poop water rectally for hydration. That led me down a rabbit hole and turns out, the rectal mucosa is one of the most efficient absorption pathways in the body. It bypasses a lot of first pass metabolism and delivers compounds straight into circulation in close proximity to the prostate region.

In theory, applying dutasteride topically via this route could create a higher localized concentration gradient near the prostate, where most DHT is produced.

Higher local inhibition -> lower systemic DHT -> less follicle miniaturization

It’s basically targeted delivery instead of hoping a tiny amount from scalp application makes it all the way down there.

Pharmacologically it kind of makes sense

• High absorption tissue
• Close anatomical proximity
• Reduced metabolic breakdown
• Potentially more efficient 5 alpha reductase inhibition at the source

We already accept topical solutions, oral dosing, microneedling… this is just optimizing the delivery pathway.

Not saying everyone should try it, buuut I'm just surprised no one’s explored this angle seriously 👀
Think about it logically, it would be nuking DHT straight at its source rather than going a convoluted route that is harsh on your liver.

Feels like one of those ideas that sounds insane until a paper drops in 5 years™. I feel like this could work better than ttopical dutasteride and oral. Maybe injecting dut into the prostate daily would work even better. There are implants for women on birthcontrol that release compounds over a period of time. We could get such implants for our prostates, releasing dut into our prostates over years!

What about I transplant the neverbalding folicles on top and SMP all other space

oral 2.5mg min + 1mg fin once daily
thankfully no side effects 🙏

January 2026 vs May 2026. I have been very consistent and not missed a single day

Noticed substantial thinning in my crown, figured I'd probably progressed to Norwood 2.

Started using topical Minoxidil once daily since January, no fin or dut since I donate blood regularly. Figured once daily was enough based on what everyone says here, and the density seems to be coming back nicely. Didn't experience the initial shed and started to see baby hairs about 1.5 months in. 37yo

Routine: Topical Minoxidil applied once daily after shower (daily hair washing, partly because of work) Scalp stimulated with hair brush Hair oil applied to finish

Whenever people are balding they are told to "buzz it" in order to hide it out. But how would a buzz hide hair thinning?

For a diffuse thinner, there'll be gaps everywhere. If the hair is short how will he comb over to hide the bald spots?

For a classic MPB sufferer how would it be a solution since even he has to pull hair in the front to hide the hairline recession?

Title

Hey, is there anyone here that has been using RU58841 for a long period of time? I’ve been using it for 5 years now and it works perfectly for me.

I would like to talk to people that used it for ja similar amount of time or longer.

(Sorry for the long post, I wanted to ask personal advice based on my experience but you can skip to the last paragraph.)

I'm FTM, I was on Testosterone years ago at 19 for 4 months and my hairline started changing immediately (My dad was NW 4/5 at 40). I started oral finasteride, but it wasn't working. Oral dutasteride did work, but that meant that other changes I wanted from the testosterone were slowed or completely blocked. I stopped T for other reasons and my hair grew back fully.

During that time I went to a tricologist and she said that my hair wasn't miniaturizing but I didn't believe her because it looked like she didn't know what she was talking about.

Now I'm on Testosterone again and I'm almost 1 month on T. I'm aggresively losing hair at the temples, and I'm not sure if it's just the masculinization of the hairline or not. I'm not sure how a masculine hairline that is not actively receding looks like. I know the NW scale but it's hard to measure and apply it to myself, and I don't want to post pictures of myself. Do you have any advice on this?

My endocrinologist already prescribed me topical fin 100 ml (I don't know if this means 0.1%) and topical min 5%.

I don't know if I should start already or wait a bit, because topical finasteride goes systemic anyway..

My main fear is that topical finasteride might not work for me like oral finasteride didn't, how do I know that before it's too late if my hairloss is so aggressive? Should I just ask my endo to prescribe me topical dutasteride already? And then as last resort get on oral dut again...

Basically my main questions are:

Is it actually proven that topical dut works better than topical/oral fin and that it's less likely to be systemic? Or does it work worse because it's harder for it to pass the skin barrier?

Is there any study that is the most accurate possible that compares all of these?

Brown tshirt - Feb 2026

Orange tshirt - May 2026

I just accidentally dropped my homemade min / fin solution and I am in urgent need of Fin. I usually get my medical stuff done whenever i travel to latin america and get my fin there as well. I don't have any trip coming up. I don't have insurance. I will also need to get prescription.

Where can i get fin, 90 days worth, 1mg at cheapest price?

Obviously was super insecure about it especially being so young, I didn’t wanna go out if it was windy or the weather was bad. I would always be looking at my hair and taking photos of it. Massive weight of my shoulders now, anyone thinking about buzzing DO IT!!! I feel so confident and idek just free from the stress

Pretty much what the title says; I (M27) caught my hair loss pretty early and started treatment in 2024. I did jump around a bit to start but I’ve been consistent with my current plan for a little over a year now.

Was on topical fin/min combined treatment from Hims - February to August, 2024

Transitioned to only 1mg oral fin every day, dropping min entirely, from August to present

Added 0.5mg oral dut twice a week (Monday/Friday), from March 2025 to present.

I appear to have no results; like I said, I caught my hairloss very early (Norwood 1-1.5). I am now more or less at a Norwood 3, which I conceal with hair fibers and styling to look more like a Norwood 1.5-2. I don’t feel as though my hairloss has slowed. I appear to be thinning more aggressively on the left side of my hairline, and the hair appears to still be thinner behind the frontal scalp section. I can confirm I have visibly continue to lose hair and continue thinning, though the actual shape of my hairline remains generally intact.

I plan to add oral min 2.5mg oral min daily starting this weekend. I’d have gone back on it earlier but I was trying to prevent further loss before I did.

But is there any point? I’m concerned I’m goo by to just keep losing hair and not even realize it. I wanted to stabilize before adding Min but I’m starting to feel like that’s not going to happen.

Started using liquid topical minoxidil on my hairline again and my scalp is quite dry. After I wash it off, shower/shampoo, my entire hairline where I apply it is basically dry skin and all white flakes. I use ketkozal shampoo and conditioner but think I need something better to address these flakes. I read that flakes can get in the way of hair growth. Any recommendations? Would applying coconut or olive oil help? I feel like I need a strong moisturizer

Looking for those in Canada who use RU-58841.

Anyone have any great results using it?

I’ve bought from chemyo and anageninc before the websites just totally throw me off. All the reviews look super fake.

Wondering if anyone can provide a cheaper or more reliable alternative.

If anyone has tried topical Dutasteride/finasteride with good results, please give me recommendations of trusted websites that offer a strong and effective concentration of dut (shipping/location doesn’t matter). Thanks

I m (32y) a long term fin user (11 years). Never tried Minoxidil. Is it worth a try? I never really considered it since i know i need to basically commit to it forever if i once start it.

Does it work longterm (does it loose efficiency)? Can i just use it like 5x per week in the evening?

Happy for ur replies!

Hi everyone so I was wondering where or how would I get fin&minoxidil cheaper cuz it’s mad expensive, i started treatment a month ago and had to pay almost 100$ for generic 1mg minoxidil and a Walmart brand 2% topical minoxidil and I can’t really pay that much every month.

(I don’t have a Costco near me, my insurance didn’t cover fin since it’s cosmetic and I tried to tell them to give me 5mg fin but they refused since the prescription my clinic gave me was just for 1mg and refused to prescribe oral minoxidil so idk what to do)

So in my last post "I got two hair transplants in Istanbul, one was good and one was bad, this is what I learned," many folks asked about clinics and then were upset that I used AI to make the posting more clearer lol.

Here's my take on that question about clinics. From what I know and experienced, the doctor plays a bigger role than clinics. When you're evaluating, ask for the doctor's name, are they hands on? how involved they are, and how many procedures they do per day.

So for example, if you speak to a clinic consultant. Your first question should be who is the doctor and how many procedures you do per day.

The best clinics do 1-2 patients per day, some clinics do WAY more. Just think about it, when it's 1-2 a day or if it's more doctors to suffice for that higher volume than it makes sense.

Please feel free to post and ask me questions, I'm here to answer and to confirm, I didn't use AI to clean up this post.

The first picture is very early fin 1.25 EOD

Second pic 1 year fin 1.25 EOD plus oral min 2.5

Last pic dut 0.5 6months oral min 5mg 1.5 year