Paladin
January 11th, 2012, 09:18 AM
Hi all,
Well it's been a year since I buzzed off my long hair and started over from scratch. As some of you may recall, my hair was thinning rather badly and my hair looked pretty lousy. So starting with the new year of 2011 I did one final fresh buzz and started on my "hardcore regimen" to improve my hair to mane-worthy condition.
To give a bit of a play-by-play before posting the pics, for the first few months I had unbelievable success. My hair densified and thickened considerably and I posted updates here a couple of times. Around May or so of 2011 I started shedding... a LOT. Couldn't figure out why, but i was getting rather depressed about losing a lot of what I'd gained so quickly. So in August I decided to pull out my hail-mary play and started using Finasteride (propecia) in the form of generic Proscar tabs, divided into quarters. I then started going through a BIG "dread shed" but it finally stopped a few weeks ago.
For a time I used Nizoral shampoo every day, but that just brought the shed back. I backed off to every other day (still more than recommended for Niz) and the shed finally stopped.
So, long story short, my first year of regrowth and improvement had its ups and downs but at the end of it, despite all the shedding and paranoia, my hair is still way better than it was before I buzzed it and started on the regimen. Now that the shedding has stopped, I am pretty confident that the REAL regrowth and improvement will begin, making my hair (and mane) even better. I'm not having any sides whatsoever from Fina, been on it for about 5 months now, nor am I having any ill effects from anything else I'm using (minoxidil, Niz, and supplements).
Admittedly, I got lazy around mid-year last year once the shedding started and blew off my supplements altogether. At that time I was just using Minox and Niz. I probably wouldn't have lost as much of the new growth as I did if I hadn't psyched myself out.
But regardless, after a year of off-and-on effort to improve my hair, I'm fairly satisified with it and can't wait to see how it improves from this point forward. Around the same time I started Fina I , with regret, trimmed a couple inches off the sides and back due to a job I needed to get. That only lasted 2 months and now i've got a great career going at one of the top companies to work for in the nation, where anything, and I mean ANYTHING goes regarding appearance, dress, and hair. So it's all onward and downward from here on out!! :cheese: But without further adieu, here are my pics...
Me a few days ago, hair parted in the middle:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/EdwardNorth/Me121311.jpg
From today, parted on the right side to try something different:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/EdwardNorth/image12.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/EdwardNorth/image10.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/EdwardNorth/image11.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/EdwardNorth/image13.jpg
And here's the back of my head, crown area definitely improved from what it was before the regimen:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/EdwardNorth/image14.jpg
And just for reference, here is a pic of me before i buzzed the old "mane"... if you can even call it that lol:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/EdwardNorth/Thinlonghair.jpg
I'm still pretty self-conscious of my high hairline... even though it's pretty much been this high my entire life, I have seen some new growth along it. Hopefully by the end of THIS year it will have improved drastically and I'll actually have a mane again. I'll keep y'all updated and be glad to answer any questions about my progress or regiment that you may have. :cool:
Wish me luck!
Well it's been a year since I buzzed off my long hair and started over from scratch. As some of you may recall, my hair was thinning rather badly and my hair looked pretty lousy. So starting with the new year of 2011 I did one final fresh buzz and started on my "hardcore regimen" to improve my hair to mane-worthy condition.
To give a bit of a play-by-play before posting the pics, for the first few months I had unbelievable success. My hair densified and thickened considerably and I posted updates here a couple of times. Around May or so of 2011 I started shedding... a LOT. Couldn't figure out why, but i was getting rather depressed about losing a lot of what I'd gained so quickly. So in August I decided to pull out my hail-mary play and started using Finasteride (propecia) in the form of generic Proscar tabs, divided into quarters. I then started going through a BIG "dread shed" but it finally stopped a few weeks ago.
For a time I used Nizoral shampoo every day, but that just brought the shed back. I backed off to every other day (still more than recommended for Niz) and the shed finally stopped.
So, long story short, my first year of regrowth and improvement had its ups and downs but at the end of it, despite all the shedding and paranoia, my hair is still way better than it was before I buzzed it and started on the regimen. Now that the shedding has stopped, I am pretty confident that the REAL regrowth and improvement will begin, making my hair (and mane) even better. I'm not having any sides whatsoever from Fina, been on it for about 5 months now, nor am I having any ill effects from anything else I'm using (minoxidil, Niz, and supplements).
Admittedly, I got lazy around mid-year last year once the shedding started and blew off my supplements altogether. At that time I was just using Minox and Niz. I probably wouldn't have lost as much of the new growth as I did if I hadn't psyched myself out.
But regardless, after a year of off-and-on effort to improve my hair, I'm fairly satisified with it and can't wait to see how it improves from this point forward. Around the same time I started Fina I , with regret, trimmed a couple inches off the sides and back due to a job I needed to get. That only lasted 2 months and now i've got a great career going at one of the top companies to work for in the nation, where anything, and I mean ANYTHING goes regarding appearance, dress, and hair. So it's all onward and downward from here on out!! :cheese: But without further adieu, here are my pics...
Me a few days ago, hair parted in the middle:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/EdwardNorth/Me121311.jpg
From today, parted on the right side to try something different:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/EdwardNorth/image12.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/EdwardNorth/image10.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/EdwardNorth/image11.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/EdwardNorth/image13.jpg
And here's the back of my head, crown area definitely improved from what it was before the regimen:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/EdwardNorth/image14.jpg
And just for reference, here is a pic of me before i buzzed the old "mane"... if you can even call it that lol:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c203/EdwardNorth/Thinlonghair.jpg
I'm still pretty self-conscious of my high hairline... even though it's pretty much been this high my entire life, I have seen some new growth along it. Hopefully by the end of THIS year it will have improved drastically and I'll actually have a mane again. I'll keep y'all updated and be glad to answer any questions about my progress or regiment that you may have. :cool:
Wish me luck!