I did start losing hair quite rapidly, and I can say that my hair is thinner than it was, that I do have a very masculine hairline, and that I apparently have no actual baldness. I still lose quite a few hairs every other day. You'll have to keep a close watch on things.
If you are thinking about oral finasteride, let me share my experiences. I was on finasteride for about two years total. I was not ready to face balding at that point. Now that I"m off it, I can see that I did have quite a few side effects. For example, I was no longer getting erections...but I'm so small anyway that it didn't really matter. My orgasms weren't as intense, but they were much more intense than pre-T, so I didn't really notice until after I stopped the finasteride. And I definitely lost some libido, but that was a good thing. I'm back to having trouble controlling my urges again.
My facial and body hair were not completely inhibited, but I'm much happier with my beard now, six months after stopping F. On the other hand, I'm getting body hair in places I would rather not, like the backs of my arms and my back! But I'm also acquiring a fine spray on my chest, so that is welcome.
Finally, I have had an emotional effect. I have a much harder time crying than I did on finasteride. I wasn't expecting this. I mean, I had a hard time crying while I was on it, but I'm even worse now. But, oddly enough, I don't see any other emotional effects.
All in all, I'm glad I was on finasteride, but I'm a bit chagrined that I didn't see some of the effects until after I had stopped.
P.S. I started finasteride about sixteen or seventeen months in, and my voice was already in baritone range and went through a few more small drops while I was on F.