Hey guys. Ive been on T for about 9 months now and am starting to really notice hair thinning out on top. Its not terrible and I can still hide it fairly easily (its not a comb over I promise ) but don't want to really put off doing something about it. Being self conscious isn't doing me any favors when compounded with dysphoria. SO, I wanted to ask if any guys ended up taking Finasteride fairly early on in their transition to stop hair loss, and if that caused any trouble with masculinization? I have heard it can make body hair/facial hair growth slow or stop. Honestly, id rather have hair on my head at this point than on my face. However, if it will interfere with other things masculinizing (ie. Muscle growth, fat distribution, and so on) Id definitely want to know. Thanx!

This page seems to explain things pretty well: http://americantransman.com/2010/04/12/beards-baldness-and-whats-in-your-pants/

Summary as well as I know it is: Testosterone converts to DHT via 5a-reductase in the skin (and prostate/genitalia in cismen).  DHT is responsible for head hair loss (in those with the genes for male pattern baldness), facial hair growth, and genital growth.  Finasteride is a 5a-reductase inhibitor, so it will stop head hair loss, but also stop or slow facial hair and downstairs growth.

Fat redistribution, voice lowering, muscle growth etc seem to be more or less untouched, but he recommends holding off on finasteride for the first couple of years if possible.

No personal experience yet, just doing my homework lol

Would going on finastride provide the same (or similar) results as lowering your testosterone dose?

I don't think so...Finasteride only prevents Testosterone from being converted into Dihydrotestosterone, so either you would have slightly more (I think about 5% or so gets converted usually) testosterone in your system, or it would maybe be aromatized into estrogen unless one is also taking an estrogen blocker.