I found myself wondering - what (if any) effect does HRT have on male-pattern baldness?

As you can see, my hair-down-to-the-waist days are long past anyway (but then henna and a bucket is a young man's game ), but these days I have a receding hairline and an incipient hole at the crown. My transman friend told me that after he transitioned, his hair "relocated", so now he's balding and furry (it looks good on him!). What happens to older men's head hair if they go on HRT?

I have a receding hair line, and I am very thin from the front to the crown.  Minoxidil is probably a good thing to use.

Finasteride works, you can get some regrowth, I'm not sure how much.  YMMV.

My hair is thinning quite a bit.

I really don't know about these treatments. Even if the hair does regrow, will it ever be what you want it to?

For my part, if the time comes, I'll use a hair piece. On the other hand, a completely bald, shaven look can be quite stunning.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gail_Porter

Thanks - I'm used to having it short like this, it's not like I particularly plan for longer locks, I just wondered how the HRT affected this, if at all. I'm more interested in getting rid of the facial stuff!

I have been using 5% minoxidil for about a month and i wana say, i see a little tiny bit of a result. The instructions say that it may be necessary to use the product for 4 months sometime before real results will be seen. Has anybody else seen any results from this stuff.

   Androgenic alopecia (and some body hair growth)  is caused by a very specific hormone, dihydrotestosterone, (sp?) which is converted in your body from testosterone. Antiandrogens like spironolactone and Androcur inhibit the way your body absorbs testosterone, allowing feminization. After awhile, because your testes aren't being stimulated my T, it slows down production of it. Unfortunately, your body will still convert some of the T that remains so, unless you address your hair loss specifically, HRT won't do lots for it. HRT should arrest head hair loss but won't do much to regrow what's already gone.
 
  Finasteride (Propecia), however, might help... It inhibits the conversion of T to DHT. From the inside out, hair follicles are no longer being effected by DHT; follicles that are still "alive" but made dormant might wake up and grow again. Finasteride also has a lessening  effect on body hair for some people. The key is that hair restoration meds only work on hair follicles that have only more recently stopped producing hair. How recently depends on the individual.

    Minoxodil (Rogaine) might wake up follicles that are still alive from the outside. The effects of the drug are reported to be increased by concurrent application of tretinoin, a topical medication used to fight acne. The big drawback is that the effects will be maintained only as long as you use it... The hair you got back will probably fall out after you stop using minoxodil. It's also only indicated for crown loss, not the receding part.

  I was on HRT for 2 1/2 years when I started using finasteride. I was still kinda hairy (it runs in my family) and my hairline hadn't changed at all. I took it for a year and regained about 3/4" of hairline on my temples and lost almost all of the yucky body hair. My results may be atypical (I think my whole family is androgen senstitive cuz right now, my older sister is hairier than me, lol) but I think finasteride is worth a try.

I hope this helps :-)

Quote from: JessicaR on February 28, 2011, 08:33:42 PM
   Androgenic alopecia (and some body hair growth)  is caused by a very specific hormone, dihydrotestosterone, (sp?) which is converted in your body from testosterone. Antiandrogens like spironolactone and Androcur inhibit the way your body absorbs testosterone, allowing feminization. After awhile, because your testes aren't being stimulated my T, it slows down production of it. Unfortunately, your body will still convert some of the T that remains so, unless you address your hair loss specifically, HRT won't do lots for it. HRT should arrest head hair loss but won't do much to regrow what's already gone.
 
  Finasteride (Propecia), however, might help... It inhibits the conversion of T to DHT. From the inside out, hair follicles are no longer being effected by DHT; follicles that are still "alive" but made dormant might wake up and grow again. Finasteride also has a lessening  effect on body hair for some people. The key is that hair restoration meds only work on hair follicles that have only more recently stopped producing hair. How recently depends on the individual.

    Minoxodil (Rogaine) might wake up follicles that are still alive from the outside. The effects of the drug are reported to be increased by concurrent application of tretinoin, a topical medication used to fight acne. The big drawback is that the effects will be maintained only as long as you use it... The hair you got back will probably fall out after you stop using minoxodil. It's also only indicated for crown loss, not the receding part.

  I was on HRT for 2 1/2 years when I started using finasteride. I was still kinda hairy (it runs in my family) and my hairline hadn't changed at all. I took it for a year and regained about 3/4" of hairline on my temples and lost almost all of the yucky body hair. My results may be atypical (I think my whole family is androgen senstitive cuz right now, my older sister is hairier than me, lol) but I think finasteride is worth a try.

I hope this helps :-)

Hey do you know of any products that contain Finasteride that can be brought over the counter? Thanks in advance for the info.

Thanks for the info! This is still all very new to me, so it's good to hear other people's experience.

From personal experience, I can tell you that Finasteride does inhibit body hair growth.  As for OTC, not that I'm aware of, but you can always see your doc and ask for a prescription due to "male pattern baldness".  Walmart sells it for $9/30 days.

Quote from: JessicaR on February 28, 2011, 08:33:42 PM
It's also only indicated for crown loss, not the receding part.

So, good for the Friar Tuck but not for those of us with high temples.

Never mind. I could live with the Gail Porter look.

Quote from: spacial on March 01, 2011, 05:31:38 PM
So, good for the Friar Tuck but not for those of us with high temples.

Never mind. I could live with the Gail Porter look.

The doc I saw said Finasteride works for both (I realize the original comment was in regards to Minoxidil), but its not going to grow hair where it wasn't to begin with.