12/10/2009 - just an update.

To my eyes, no major difference. The pump BLOCKED up so i used hot water to clear up the pump. Great. It works now. Nearly forgot to say, I stopped using Alpecin shampoo as I ran out. Don't think I will continue with it.

I have also been very lazy, and have not used nizoral for a while.

So upto now, only using propecia and spectral DNC-lotion.

Photo's from the 25th August 2009.

Quick update. Haircut and wash with alpecin. Applied spectral DNC-l about an hour after. Got to say, from the pictures no major difference. It's the 29th August and my hair is slightly longer. I can see alot of hairs due to the spectral DNC-l but definitely not thick hair.

Few weeks later.

Roughly two weeks since the last update. Already had another haircut since and have not seen any major growth or improvements on both sides. Don't let the pictures deceive you too much. From my own opinion, no major change from the last two weeks.

Wet hair update....

I thought I should put a pic of my head wet. The reason for this, is because it is the worse way to demonstrate if your hair is receding or not [strange but true]. Compare with the dry hair photo's you would be worried. Anyway, from the pictures you can see the right side of the hairline is receding more.

Nearly 7 weeks.......[update]

I thought I would keep the pictures small. Click on them to enlarge the photo's. Just make sure your pop up blocker is not on.

Anyway, 7 weeks in and not seeing much difference in density. However, the digital camera can not catch the peach fuzz [aka bum fluff] when look upright. I am quite happy with the spectral dnc lotion. Not one bit of itching one bit which I used to experience with regaine / rogaine.

Just like to say, I have added Alpecin shampoo to my regime. Alpecin is mean't to be a growth stimulator due to the effects of caffeine. I have been told that the caffeine is a vasoconstrictor and after research on pubmed noticed that it affects the Ca2+ pathway. So anyone using this with minoxidil, should allow at least 40 minutes or more before applying alpecin shampoo. Upto now, alpecin shampoo gives you this tingling feeling after you finish. Not bad stuff. Hair does'nt stink and it is actually quite cheap. Costs around £5 (UK sterling).

I will keep you updated. Can some of you people join the blog? At least update your own pictures. It is actually quite interesting to know if anyone if watching this blog. If not I will eventually just stop updating and scrap the whole blog.

Hair cut and update

Just had an hair cut this morning - Trim on the top and a n0.2 on the sides and back. Quite impressed as usually I need to get my gillette blade and start shaving my temple / hairline. For some reason it is not that noticeable. To me anyway...... Left temple photo is on a different angle so you can't really see the hair growth. Mainly vellus hairs and I am expecting them to fall out. If they don't I will just shave them off until they get thicker. As for the right side, definitely better hair but the hairs are limp. No strength. I will give it another month and see how the spectral DNC-lotion is kicking in. If not, shave the vellus hairs again.

PS. Forgot to say, had a hair wash using the L'oreal thickening shampoo.

Update

Left and right temple hair line [click on pictures to enlarge]. Right side, the small vellus hairs are becoming much darker and thicker. Left side very weak.
Just to remember only 4 days since last picture, so don't expect miraculous growth.

Need a hair cut

Stupidly I did not take any photo's from day 1. I have been using spectral dnc-l daily - morning and night. This stuff contains 5% minoxidil and a bunch of stuff. Anyway, vellus hair is growing through and it looks like it is working [see photos]. I never have my hair longer than a size 4 on a clipper. Upto now, I need a hair cut and may even need botox [lol].

5 weeks in with Spectral DNC-lotion

Nothing wrong with my crown. Propecia has kept this.


As you can see...my right side is much more receding than my left. Not the best of pics. My hair is really thick due to the l'oreal thickening shampoo. Photo does not do it justice but my hair is around NW1.5-2.

Yellow stain is due to the spectral dnc-lotion. I have disturbed the hair so slight flaking. Not the best of pics on this blog but alot of vellus hair has come through on the right temple.
[click on pic to enlarge]

Left temple. Vellus hair has been growing through and I decided to shave one side to see if it would thicken the vellus hair. Some really thick black hair is coming through. [click on pic to enlarge]

Regime

1mg finasteride [propecia-merck] - daily use.
Spectral DNC-lotion [5% minoxidil] - morning and night.
L'oreal thickening shampoo - one day on and one day off.
Nizoral 2% - twice a week.
Pantene 2 in 1 shampoo - one day on and one day off

New blog......hair loss...

Every male knows the stress caused due to hairloss. For some reason we evolved to lose our hair on our heads? Why? o why? Maybe it was a way to distinguish us as the alpha male or just to say we were mature enough to have kids? Anyway, I thought it would be great to try and update what I am using to keep my hair.

I first started to notice that I was losing my hair when I was around 19 yrs old. Stress from exams, women, family etc caused my stupid hairloss. Can you believe it is now more than ten years since that happened?

Anyway.....first thing I tried was the 2% minoxidil from regaine. Cost quite alot then and I just used this for the receding hairline. I eventually switched to 5% minoxidil (regaine) and continued for 2 years. To be honest, I was lazy. Sometimes forgot to even rub some in. By 21-22, I thought my hairloss was not that bad and stopped using the 5% minoxidil regaine. What a mistake! A big mistake! I originally thought that the minoxidil was not working and instead it was. I lost a majority of the hair growth by then. Disaster!

I eventually found the god of all saviours and went straight onto finasteride 1mg propecia from merck. Lucky for me no...................side effects. Not at all. The only thing I would say was that in the very first 2 weeks, my balance was kind of off and very sensitive to light. But that disappeared.

Anyway, more than 8 years on propecia, my frontal hairline has started to recede due to stress and I have opted for the Spectral DNC lotion (5% minoxidil). Why not go back to the liquid form of minoxidl? Reason.....the stuff originally dried my scalp and caused irritation. 5 weeks use of spectral DNC lotion and no skin irritation. Some vellus hair has also grown!