Hey guys. Just need a little help here. I have been quartering Proscar for 7 months now. At around the 2 and a half month mark, my hairloss stopped. And I mean really stopped. Almost no shedding whatsoever. And since then I've seen maybe a little regrowth (just overall thickening). But at the 4 and a half month mark I started a shedding phase and it hasn't stopped. I am shedding not quite as bad as before I was on Proscar, but still it's nothing like when I stopped my hair loss the 2 months prior. I'm just confused on what the heck is going on here. I am positive Proscar was working for me... and then what, it's just stopped working? I haven't even been on it for the full year. If any propecia experts could give me some advice, explainations or experiences I'd appreciate it.

Cheers,

danger

My understanding is your hair goes through cycles of growth/shedding, so what you are experiencing seems pretty normal. if it continues beyond a month or so, then I'd be more concerned.

Mr. T

I agree with T. You probably just happen to by in the midst of a normal shedding cycle... nothing to worry about. Stay the course. Proprcia does indeed work. I have been on it for almost 4 years, and I can absolutely testify to its effectiveness, even long term. I have an identical twin brother who is not on it, and the difference is amazing!

Just wanted to bump this up. Please anybody reading this that has any experiences or answers, write something.

Cheers,

danger

Yep....agree with all the replies so far and the same happens to me and I've been on it for years (although the sheds are not as dramatic anymore).

There are actually 3 ever-repeating stages of life for normal hair. They are growth, rest and fall-out. Normal hairs are all on their own schedule so shedding is staggered and usually not noticeable.

I've either heard this before or actually developed my own (unscientific) theory, but I believe that starting to use Propecia may actually reset multiple hairs onto the same schedule, therefore causing them to reach the fall-out stage at the same time. This, I believe, is the reason many Propecia users experience the disconcerting heavy sheds every 3-4 months or so.

I have found that, even with very nerve-wracking sheds, I have never been able to perceive any visible thinning and I've actually thickened considerably in the crown area.

So, hang in there!

trying2moveahead

I read that some people seem to think using Nizoral shampoo seems to combat the sheds. I think it might've been Dean, at HLH, who said that. I may be wrong. Whatever the case, he's had good regrowth in his crown area ao I want to investigate his regimen.
My crown seems to have gotten worse since using Propecia. I think it's still neccessary for the long term plan though. Here's a comparison pic. The left is in Feb. 2003, which is when I started taking it. The right is from 2 weeks ago. I know the photos are not in the same lighting, angle, etc. But what do think? Has it gotten worse?

crown_comparison.jpg (25 Kb, 159 downloads)

TS808, you are right about the lighting - it makes it very difficult to tell. It appears about the same - just more reflection of light in the pic on the right.

It is hard to tell, but it does appear to be very nearly the same to me.