Hair Loss, Regrowth and Propecia

Four years ago I would go out to a night club and wear one of my favorite shirts and nicely pressed slacks and I would be told that I looked forty years old. It was very hard to take as I had just turned 36. I would go on to hear this kind of talk a lot around this time.

I moved to a new area and when I would go out, I would always get funny looks and reactions. I've always been an independent person so I didn't mind going out to a local establishment alone but I was always friendly and had some kind of magnetism that seemed to always attract people.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm just an average looking guy. I am tall and have always stayed in good shape and have always had a friendly and good sense of humor. Because I'm a bigger guy, people seem to make friends with me as I may make them feel comfortable. This is how it had always been since I was twenty years old. However, it wasn't happening anymore. Inside I was still the same sarcastic, humorous and friendly person but on the outside I must have appeared to look like a loner or a psycho-serial killer.

I have never went out of my way to make new friends. However, occasionally when you would just come across people I was getting negative reactions. I knew that there was nothing at all different about me except for one thing. I was still big and had a good body, I was still tan, I still had nice, clean white teeth. I still wore brand new expensive shirts. The only thing that had changed was my hair. It was thinning and looked miniaturized and it was very apparent.

I knew that this was my only draw back but I really didn't know what to do about it. I always made a good living and the thought of hair transplants was totally out of the question. I thought about just shaving it as it seemed "that look" was becoming more common. But I could just never come to do it as I always had this thought in my mind that there was a solution.

I bought a bottle of Propecia and for some reason I kept it in my medicine cabinet for about 6 months. I think that I was scared to take it. Everything that I had read seemed to imply that there were too many side effects. At the time, I hadn't began to do any real research.

So I just hung in there and decided to start scouring the internet and do as much research as possible. I went to the discussion forums and I started to listen to a radio talk show about hair loss. The more that I researched, I started to realize that I must take the Propecia right away or my hair is going to start looking worse.

Even though I was still a little nervous I finally made a decision and I just went for it. I went to a Dermatologist and requested a prescription and he agreed that my hair was miniaturized and he felt that I would be a perfect candidate for Propecia. I had read in these forums that others were experimenting with this "big three" regimen and when I decided to get the prescription for the propecia, I would also start on the other two products as well. My plan was to give myself one full year of taking the three products and I would pray that the routine would work. After ninety days I was starting to see progress. As each month went by I would tell myself that I'm at 15% and now I'm at 20% and so on. Now that I look back, I see that I was being way too conservative. When I thought that I was at 50% of the way there and on the road to recovery, I was probably really only at 20%. I still had another 80% of improvement to go. As some people would say, I hadn't even "scratched the surface"

After almost three years of this regimen I must say that I am very happy and that my results are definitely better then expected. I was a guy who had obvious hair loss to anybody that knew me or not. Now I'm a guy that still has a little frontal recession and still a little thinning in the crown and for the most part has a significant amount of hair.

I went out to a local establishment recently and a 27 year old guy talked to me for about an hour and he told me that he was 27 and that I'm "what 32,33?" I said try 39. He said "really, wow you actually look about 32 and you seem like a 32 year old" Of course the first thing that comes to your mind is that he was just trying to be nice and just complementing me. But I really believe that he was sincere as I have been getting a lot of this kind of treatment for the past year.

I can go out now and I have that magnetism again where people want to know me or talk to me instead of looking at me like I'm some crazy man. I still wear the nice shirts, I still work out and my body still looks as good as it did when I was 36, my teeth are still nice and white and I still look tan. The only thing that is different is my hair. It doesn't look thin and miniaturized anymore. It looks like a normal full head of hair.

I truly believe that the way your hair looks tells a lot about a person's age. The hair is the frame for your face and I must say I know that my hair looks 10 times better today then it did back when I was 36. You would think that since I have androgenic alopecia that my hair would look thinner and worse each year.

Actually the reverse has happened for me and time is actually on my side instead of against me because I have reversed the progression of my hair loss. Instead of having a higher level of DHT in my scalp miniaturizing my existing hair follicles, I take finasteride, better known as Propecia. Finasteride has been proven to block Type II 5 alpha reductace, the enzhyme that converts testosterone to DHT.

Although Propecia is the main player of The Big Three, there are still two other products that I feel must be taken. The three products taken together seem to work in a synergistic manner. Propecia does its thing, minoxidil has its role and nizoral also plays a key part. However, one plus one plus one equals four as far as the overall effect of the treatments. Nizoral makes Minoxidil more effective and Mixoxidil works better when taking propecia.

I have been taking the Big Three now for almost three years and I must say the regimen has really changed my life.

About The Author

Mark Brassia is a consumer advocate who has been researching the hair loss industry for about four years. He handles many calls and emails from consumers who have been ripped off by scams and bad hair loss products. He is a hair loss sufferer himself and has spent thousands of dollars on many products that din not work and he has good advice if you are dealing with hair androgenic alopecia. The web site is http://www.ReGrowNow.com and it is set up to educate the hair loss sufferer with real facts, articles and information.

Female Pattern Baldness: What Causes Hair Loss In Women?

So many men go bald and nearly all women seem to have heads full of hair. The question, naturally is if baldness discriminates on the basis of gender. That would be grossly unfair. Well, it would be unfair but the fact is even women suffer from hair loss. And if there is something that goes by the expression 'male pattern baldness', there is also a thing called 'female pattern baldness'.

Of course, there is no denying the fact that baldness is more prevalent and more apparent in males than in females. However, women suffer more than men when they sense that they are losing hair at an abnormal pace because females tend to attach a great deal of importance to the quality and quantity of hair. And why shouldn't it be, given the fact that hair are an integral part of feminine charm.

In some cases, female baldness can be hereditary. Mostly, menopause brings hair loss in women, which is determined by one's genetic heritage. In other words, if a female loses hair in menopausal stage, it is because her mother too suffered from hair loss at that particular stage of her life.

Another cause for female baldness are certain ailments, especially those that come with extended bouts of high fever. Among them are typhoid fever and scarlet fever. Such fevers are a medically established cause of hair loss. There are certain medications, the use of which may also result in hair loss. But in such cases hair loss is gradual.

Malnutrition and a dysfunctional endocrine system have also been found to trigger a slow hair loss.

Fungal infections can also cause hair loss. These fungal infections are chronic bacterial attacks or a result of the presence of ringworms.

Chemotherapy tends to destroy all the rapidly developing cells including the hair follicles, as they also consist of active cells. The baldness thus caused is not temporary but total.

A condition called Alopecia universalis also causes permanent loss of body hair including those on the head and those that form the eyelashes and eyebrows. The causes of the ailment is not fully known and the research is on in this area.

What is quite apparent is a fact that female hair loss does not set in early phase of life unless there are some other reasons for it, like some ailment or malnutrition. So, no cause for beauty-worries for the young ladies and for the relatively older ones, too. Things are pretty much bright unless the genes are unfavourable.

About The Author

To get more information on hair loss, hair loss and women and hair loss treatment visit http://www.hair-loss-updates.com/.

5 Natural Steps to Prevent Hair Loss

It is always easier to stop something ahead of time instead of waiting and stopping it after it has already happened. This is the same with preventing hair loss in comparison with waiting until you’ve already lost your hair and trying to re-grow it. Preventing hair loss can be done as early as age 18 or 20 and it is a wise decision especially if you have a family history of baldness or thin hair. The sooner you plan ahead the sooner you will see results and the less of a chance you will go bald in the future. No one wants to go bald and you don’t have to if you take the proper steps. Here are a few remedies and solutions to preventing hair loss to the best of your abilities.

1. Number One- Eat and drink biotin. Biotin is a very essential vitamin that will aid in hair growth and you can get this in foods such as honey, milk and bananas. A great, healthy and tasty way to get biotin is to make a blended shake with these ingredients and yogurt.

2. Number Two- Stop stress! Stress is one of the leaders for hair loss reasons and the least amount of stress you allow in your life the better for your hair. Get a stress ball, get a massage and do whatever you can to release all the stress from your life.

3. Number Three: Massage your scalp every time you shampoo your hair. Massaging your head in the shower not only cleanses your scalp but it also increases the blood flow and circulation within your head. This is even more important as you age because circulation slows down the older you get and you should keep circulation in mind.

4. Number Four: Sleep! Sleep cures a lot of problems and it is vital to keeping the entire body in sync and healthy. Your hair is only one of the things that will benefit from getting proper sleep (7 to 9 hours of sleep per night consistently).

5. Number Five: Get Vitamin B in your everyday foods and supplements. Vitamin B is one of the most essential vitamins you can get and Vitamin B6 a key to healthy hair. If you don’t feel that you are getting enough Vitamin B in your foods everyday then you should look into getting a good vitamin supplement to go with your daily regimen.

While baldness is largely a hereditary issue, that does not mean you can’t prevent it and fight against it. Once again, the best time to begin the hair loss prevention time is in your late teens to early 20s. Getting a head start on your hair loss potential is a good idea and will pay off in large ways as you get older and your hair thins out.

About The Author

Mike Hammel owns and operates http://www.hair-loss-gone.com Hair Loss Products