posted the first pic a few months ago before starting minoxidil, second pic is ≈5mo after using 5% twice a day + daily vitamins.

I struggle taking good progress pics. It’s all under similar lighting but I can never get the same angle. Also the lighting is fluorescent. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

I've been seeing an ad for minoxidil gummies. Yea instead of biotin its full on minoxidil. But does it work in gummie form? Topical is the best route to go but it drys my hair out to the point where I'm not sure if I'm doing more good than harm.

Has anyone else been on prednisone tapers before, maybe for hair shedding like me rn or in general, and their period was late? I looked up side effects and apparently pred can alter your period. I started off on like 40mg of prednisone a day for 4 days then 30 for 4 days now down to 20 for 4 days but I’m 2 days late. I had some cramping the past few days but nothing else:/

I have been taking Nutrafol for about 3 months (admittedly a bit inconsistent) and I am nearing the end of the bottle. I have thinning in my part and crown. Some results I have noticed are: -Decreased shedding in the shower -Scalp tingling and itchiness has stopped -Hair is growing longer quicker

However, i have not seen improvements in thickness/density, which is what i was hoping for the most. I want to add The Ordinary hair serum and pumpkin seed oil into my routine, and I was wondering if I should continue taking Nutrafol. I think it’s a good sign that I have seen some results, but Nutrafol is just so expensive that I would prefer an alternative supplement if it serves the same purpose, and can help me achieve my desired results. I realize that is important to have patience with things like this, but I don’t know if Nutrafol is worth the investment.

I’m 37 years old. Thinning has been going on for at least 2 years but after stopping combo birth control pill last June the shedding has been so bad. I’ve been on 75mg spironolactone since Jan and it hasn’t helped at all so far. I have POTS and so it’s unclear if I’ll safely be able to further increase the dose. Can’t do minoxidil because I have a clingy cat. I take vit D, Iron, vit C, and zinc daily. Any advice is appreciated

hi everyone! i’m going on month 4 of oral minoxidil at 1.25 mg. I haven’t seen too much progress I had a major shedding era and now I guess that’s been less but I still shed. is it time to up my dosage? will I experience more shedding? TIA

i've been unable to brush my hair for like 3 days now, i feel so unkempt. how often are you brushing your hair and has your method of brushing changed?

my scalp hurts so bad i can’t even workout

Can’t quite believe how much has gone, I’m going for a hair cut next week to get it short in the hopes it’ll help the thin ends. I started oral minoxidil last week so fingers crossed

My friend’s wedding is coming up this summer and as a bridesmaid, she’s gifting us with a hairstylist to do our hair. While my hair has gotten a lot better, I do tend to use a small spritz of batiste brunette dry shampoo on my crown to cover up my thin area every day. Some days I feel like I don’t need it at all, but it gives me a bit of peace of mind.

This is only my second time as a bridesmaid, but the previous time, the hairstylist asked us to come with clean hair—so I’m worried about how to cover this thin spot.

• Should I ignore the instruction, go with that part spritzed, and hope the hair stylist doesn’t care/make a scene?

• Should I plan to try to spritz it after the hair stylist does my hair? If so, I feel like I should keep my hair down and simple so I can easily spritz and blend it in. But I had been thinking about doing an updo and hoping for that the way the hair stylist pulls it back, will help hide the thinness (it’s hard to see it in a normal pony tail/when I’ve had stylists blow out my hair I’ve been surprised that my thin spot doesn’t look as noticeable)

• Should I tell the stylist before they do my hair? My concern with this is I don’t want to slow them down as there are several bridesmaids, I’m embarrassed to bring it up, and nervous one of the other bridesmaids might hear :/

Would appreciate any and all advice!

Hey everyone 💖 I cannot say enough how grateful I am to all those who made such beautiful and kind comments on my post yesterday. I realized I never gave any background to my story. (I added a lot of photos of me in all the ways I cope with my hair loss, bald, wig, head wraps and beanies…)

I’m 45yrs old and have had an extensive medical history. I had a total hysterectomy and oophorectomy in my early 20’s. I had some issues with hormones so I was forced into menopause at 23yrs old. That coupled with breast and skin cancer, over 50 surgeries in 24 years my body is really gone through it. All that anesthesia I believe has played a significant factor in my hair loss. I’ve tried minoxidil and other prescription treatments and still nothing. I wanted to share photos of me in all forms. You’ll see in one photo I’m at the beach and I’m pretty sick there. I had just lost my colon. I have two permanent ostomies. I lost my bladder two years prior. So here I am and why I’m sharing is because I want all you lovely people to be kind to yourself, to love yourself and to do whatever makes you happy. I wear wigs and head wraps sometimes but it isn’t easy. I lost my breasts and yet my hair loss feels more traumatic. Anyways here is me.

Remember you are gorgeous and our hair or lack there of doesn’t make us any less than. Love you all so much!!😘💖

Also I’m new to Reddit and I suck at figuring out how to edit my original post 😂 💞

Is this normal? Im barely losing any hair and it stopped so suddenly. I thought usually on minoxidil the hair starts shedding more

I had a lasik surgery back in 2022 when I was 22 year old and had stress during the first 2 months post surgery. That's when my hairloss started. I thought it's temporary due to stress. But it continued. After 6 months, I went to hospital and diagnosed with subclinical hypothyroidism with hashimoto. I keep taking medication but hairloss wasn't improving. Recently I had ferritin test and the level was 22.5 but hemoglobin is at normal range. I'm seriously confused if the severe hair shedding is due to ferritin or hashimoto or TE or androgenetic alopecia or stress. I lost 60% of my hair and it got very weak. Nothing seems to be helping. My doctor was saying ferritin is in normal level and they checked my eyes and tongue and was saying I've enough iron. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone, This is my first time posting here and I’d really appreciate some advice because I’ve been struggling quite a bit with oral minoxidil.

I started on 1.25mg about 6 months ago, then increased to 2.5mg (as recommended by my dermatologist), and I’ve been on that dose for the past 5 months. While it’s been effective, it’s also given me some pretty tough side effects—mainly fluid retention and difficulty breathing. Two days ago, I decided to drop back down to 1.25mg.

The thing is, I’m worried the side effects might still come back, since I’ve read they’re not always dose-dependent. I’ve been dealing with AGA and TE for over 10 years, and out of everything I’ve tried, oral minoxidil is the only thing that’s actually worked. I’d be heartbroken if I had to give it up, but of course, I can’t continue if the side effects are unmanageable.

Has anyone else had a similar experience—bad side effects at 2.5mg but tolerated 1.25mg just fine? And if so, how did you cope?

Thanks so much in advance!

I've been taking Dutasteride since August. I think it's elevated my depression, made me gain weight and has lowered my libido. I wish I could go off it, but I'm so eager to have it help with my hair. Anyone else have these side effects? What else can I do? I also take oral minidoxil and Diane. Had a hair transplant in December. Thanks!

I have lost a lot of hair in past few years and I continue to do so. The treatment is helping a bit but my confidence is shattered. I keep feeling ugly all the time. Some of my friends suggested that maybe having short hair will make them look better. I need some opinions please 🥹

hi guys! i’m new to this sub and i’ve been losing hair for a little over a year now, started rapidly after coming off bc, then never grew back and am still losing hair, just more slowly i believe. i have an upcoming derm appointment and have kinda accepted the loss, as i am going to teach myself how to install wigs, and don’t really mind having to do that for the rest of my life. anyway, im just kinda curious if anyone else has experienced hair regrowth in the hairline, but continued loss in the back of the head? im experiencing this right now and its very confusing, and im going to ask my derm about it too.

Has anyone seen their libido level out / return on DHT inhibitors? I noticed a dip when starting Finasteride 0.25 but found that I could always get ‘in the mood’ when my partner initiated and although I felt a dip, it eventually kind of returned as I got used to the meds. Now I’ve just gone up to 0.50 and my libido is as flat as a fart. I have a new partner and we usually get our groove on quite frequently but recently, I feel a bit numb during sex. I’m amazed this person even wants to have sex with me rn and don’t want to spoil this chance to connect with somebody. Would love to hear how things turned out for you guys and if you could eventually overcome it.

I have been taking oral 2.5 minoxidil for several months. I was already derma-planing my face because I love the way it feels. The peach fuzz has definitely thickened and now grows back within days. I can live with this. I am curious how many of you found that it turned from peach fuzz to a full on beard? That would have me reconsider. My hair started to thin, and I watched my Mother develop a bald spot, so I started proactively. Please respond if you had significant facial hair thickening after 3-6 months? Thanks!

I guess I just wanna vent and this sub is always so understanding. I started losing my hair last year and it progressed a lot. When I went on minoxidil and spiro, I had lost 90% of my hair so I found this place called High Definition Hair in NY on instagram and I purchased one of their custom wigs. Yesterday I received the wig and it looks horrible. The lace at the front is extremely noticeable and is even a different complexion than me. Mind you, this was almost $200 shy from being a 6k wig. I brought up this issue to the guy who I was working with and he convinced me that no one will look that closely at my hair and it’s not noticeable and that’s how it’s supposed to look, but if you know HDH, their wigs are supposed to blend seamless and look natural. I just feel so emotional and down about the whole situation. Because I was so desperate due to my hair, I lost all that money, which is a lot for someone like me. How can someone look at the hairline and gaslight me into thinking that’s normal or no one will look that close? I feel so stupid because of my horrible choices.

After over a year of excessive shedding and probably thousands of dollars on vitamins and serums and shampoos, I finally started 5% topical minoxidil about 9 weeks ago. My hair is still excessively shedding and there is no sign of regrowth. I know it takes time but when I read that people completely stop shedding or see baby hairs around this 2 month mark I want to scream. Saw a dermatologist (my 3rd) this week and she said use my topical steroid once a day as well and come back in 2 months. I asked about DHT blocker and she said no. I am so sick of hair being everywhere and my hair looking awful everyday. Like a lot of you, my hair was thick and I always got complemented on it. Now it’s dry: stringy and sparse. I am 57, probably post menopausal and on HRT (estrogen and progesterone only). No insufficiencies or healthy issues. Why will it not stop falling out!!? 😭

I am going through hair loss due to perimenopause, and I bought boldify in dark brown to try out to help cover it up, After first putting it on I was so happy, the colour match was perfect and the coverage was great, in fact I could not quite believe how great it was and thought I had found my solution. I didn't over-do it and was very careful when applying as well. However some hours later I noticed there was some dark clumping on my scalp, so basically it just looked like some brown patches on my scalp - not great. I tried it again a few times, tried using less, tried using more, etc, just to experiment, and the same thing always happens.

I was wondering if anyone here knows why it is happening and/or what I can do? I suspect it is probably more of an issue for people with very dark hair like myself. I don't have much money so to get recommendations re products would be great, where anyone feels I should add/try something else. I've obviously looked online and on Reddit but still just really not sure what to do. I did once try using a hair spray just to see if it would make any difference but the same thing still happened. I feel like I can't go outside without wearing a hat right now, which sucks.

So thanks so much for any and all recommendations and advice!

I just couldn’t handle it and when I saw the wonderful post by @sudden-elephant7089 I was inspired to share. 💜 Thank you ☺️ 💞✨