I’ve written a lot about hair loss to establish a base of information but I’ve never compiled everything I do for my hair loss protocol into an actual post of its own. I feel it’s important to add a personal touch and my experiences alongside the more informative content I create.
I know that it helps to see what other people in a potentially similar situation are doing so hopefully, my experience will be of great value to you.
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Introduction
To start, my hair loss is not that bad in terms of overall appearance. I am a diffuse thinner who more recently just started to experience a left temporal recession. I have lost a fair amount of density though but like a classic diffuse thinner you cannot blatantly notice.
Basically – no crazy transformation photos but I will be doing a 6 month comparison to provide an update for my post on topical finasteride, especially for my temple area which is key for facial aesthetics in my view. A lot of guys even in hair transplants don’t opt to restore the temples. As you will read they are an area I heavily target and I’m not talking about the temple recession areas – I’m talking about heavily targeting the temporal points to get that NW 0 appearance.
Only under harsh lighting can I see the extent of my hair loss – this is what caused me to start looking into the research after avoiding it for two years. I avoided treating my hair loss for two years because I was honestly hesitant about pharmaceuticals like I know a lot of other guys are.
My goal with this hair loss protocol is to thicken up and maintain what I already have. On higher doses of pharmaceuticals (Xyon Health Topical Finasteride) my entire temples and hairline showed baby hairs in just a month and a half – so I have faith I can easily restore so much ground if I used a heavier protocol, unfortunately, I just don’t enjoy being on heavier doses. My main goal though is to find a balance between regrowth, maintenance, and little to no side effects/systemic load.
I do not doubt that one day I could go into much heavier options for achieving truly baseline hair – and that may be something I choose to go after. Just know that this protocol is designed for me personally to thicken up existing hair while balancing systemic loads of pharmaceuticals to a point where I don’t have side effects.
Finasteride
Core to any serious hair loss protocol my choice of antiandrogen is the 5ARI finasteride. I currently choose to microdose topical finasteride to achieve that personal balance between regrowth and systemic suppression.
I currently use .25 mg three times weekly but I have the goal of increasing the frequency at the very least and potentially even working up to higher doses consistent with some of the studies I base my protocol on. I’ve already started to see the baby hairs coming back in just 2 months of use with even this light of a protocol, I’m happy with my current state and will continue from here.
Ketoconazole Shampoo
I currently use two ketoconazole shampoos consistently which are the Nizoral generic 1% ketoconazole shampoo and the Intelligent (Intelligent.shop) super volumizing shampoo which contains .9% ketoconazole.
In the past, I’ve tried many different types of shampoo and conditioners for hair growth but in the current day I love using the generic Nizoral 1% and then the Intelligent brand as well. Both of these don’t offer the highest strength of ketoconazole possible (which would be 2%) but again I have other priorities such as hair appearance, convenience, cost, etc.
The main reason is I love how these brands make my hair feel and appear – extremely thick and dense. They also both smell nice and are easy and relatively cost-effective for me to obtain as well as they are from reputable sources.
I have tried other brands of 2% ketoconazole shampoo but I need to try the 2% Nizoral brand which will probably replace the 1% if they feel similar. Otherwise, I am happy with my current state of shampoo, on days I want a more “normal” shampoo and conditioner I can use Intelligent’s and when I want the “full strength” more dry thick feel I can use my Nizoral.
The Intelligent shampoo & conditioner combination has different ingredients that promote hair growth compared to Nizoral which is more of a generic formulation used just for the ketoconazole which is why I use both interchangeably.
Conclusion
As for my protocol – that is the entirety of it! It may not seem like a lot of work and that’s because it isn’t, this is a fairly rational protocol designed to get a lot of yield from the things I choose to do. You won’t see me performing wild head massages for 30 minutes daily or on the other end of the spectrum draining 2 hours daily applying hair loss topicals in a specific order.
If you are confused about why I don’t include microneedling it is because I’ve shifted to a more neutral to negative view on the topic even as someone who has purchased and used a high-end microneedling device a few times. Before diving heavily into the topic I was a fan of it because it offered some way for me as a non-minoxidil user to potentially stimulate growth – unfortunately, some studies did show early scar formation which does concern me. Longer-term data is needed for me to confidently recommend and personally use the technique.
This is something I’m able to afford, do consistently, and am extremely happy with. I think that is the key and something people should experiment with and do research on to find a similar “happy point” for their own goals.