Head Hair - What are you doing to regain head hair

[Rachel]

What was your starting condition, how long have you been restoring your head hair, what is your current condition and what are you doing?

Starting condition, top of head 85% MPB.
Restoring for 16 months.
Current condition, 15% MPB in various stages of regrowth. Thin in areas of regrowth. Early regrowth matching my current hair color.

What am I doing:
2 months finasteride (self administered) then 14 months finasteride with script,

Oral Estradiol which provides SHGB (14 months),

Spironolactone 14 months total T 24 ng/dl,

1 stem cell treatment May 2014 (I did not think it helped any  more than micro needling),

Minoxidial 5% topical 2/day 2 months,

Micro needling 2 times a week with 1.5 mm needles, 1 month, 1 mm needles prior for 2 months)

[MugwortPsychonaut]

Pfft. Wigs. All that other stuff is mega-expensive, and I don't want to put finasteride in my body, even if Mr. Finasteride did indeed brain-up Mega Man. Besides, even if I still had all my hair, not only is it prematurely graying, it's also an out-of-control mess.

So wigs are nice.

[Brenda E]

A cross-post from another thread, but here's where I am:

Thinning temples and crown, receding overall maybe an inch?  Could be covered with the right hairstyle, but I don't want that kind of hairstyle!

My strategy is hitting it hard, using every tool at my disposal.

1.  Finasteride (from family doc - easy to get a hold of)
2.  Minoxidil (from CVS, generic 5%, slather it all over my balding scalp, not just the crown)
3.  This took longer to get, but spironolactone from endocrinologist, and estrogen a few weeks later.
4.  Iron tablet once a day, along with a multivitamin and 2500mcg of biotin.
4.  Hair transplant is on the way for the areas that haven't regrown using steps 1-4.

When it comes to hair loss, I'm throwing every legit chemical I can find at it, no questions asked.

[anjaq]

I had some hair loss at the temples. About 4 cm. I had estradiol oral for 16 years. I am not sure if the hair loss was there before or happened in that time. GRS was 14 years ago. Regrowth now for 8 months. I would say 70% and rising. My treatment is : changed my hormone therapy from oral estradiol to transdermal estradiol and added micronized progesterone to it. In addition to that, I use Zink tablets now and probably most importantly I apply progesterone gel 2x daily to the affected area.
No poisons like finasteride or Spiro will enter my body

I dont even know how it feels like to wear a wig, but I imagine it must be uncomfy...

[EmmaD]

I was very bald (in my opinion) and tried lots of things.

Minoxidil - used for a few months then started to react very badly and had to stop.  Now it only takes one application and my scalp erupts.

Nizoral  shampoo - No adverse reaction but no evidence it did anything.

Finasteride - been on this for about 3 years

HRT - Over 9 months

Result after about 3 years?  Peach fuzz on front third, longer mature hair on crown but still way too thin.  Coupled with front, it is a lost cause!  I have had a couple of transplant consultations and the best a talented group can promise is an adequate male hairline, no chance of a female one.  I would run out of donor material before they finished.  Solution is to work with wigs and just be happy that a good wig will look batter than a failed transplant.  Remember, a bad one is just plain bad!  I have 3, one has lovely hair and the cap is superb.  It just needs styling.  The one I'm wearing is OK.  It is just what it is!

Emma