Hey buddy (firstly, sorry if this is too long to read),

Hope all is well on your end. I can understand what you may be going through; although truthfully we experience things differently as individuals. Some of us may not think too much about this issue while others may want to resolve it to the best of their abilities.

Firstly, may I ask how you know you are experiencing male pattern baldness? Did you consult with a dermatologist or was it mainly googling about male baldness and looking in the mirror?

I am no expert in this field but I would like to share a little of what I've experienced with this issue.

My first recommendation is to go see a dermatologist; because that is what I did.

I've always had a widows peak (and still do) and I'm not sure how to describe my hair type but I guess you could say that it is moderately thick but the individual hair strands are fine. You'll see others with a lot of hair AND their individuals strands are super thick like fibre optic cable thick (a bit of an exaggeration but you get the idea). Those guys are blessed, let me tell you that.

So when I was younger like in my teens, I didn't know what a widow's peak was and I when I reached my mid to late teens my friends kept teasing me that I was going to lose my hair by my mid 20s because of the widow's peak 'v' line they saw on my hairline. Most of my friends had straight hair lines so maybe that's why my widow's peak kinda stood out?

Anyway, I didn't do much research but instead got worried about losing my hair by my 20s. So I tried all sorts of stuff, from thickening shampoos to ointments to hair tonics and on the diet end I ate biotin, lots of greens, soya milk what have you.

Thankfully my hair stayed with me throughout my 20s and I figured maybe it was because I tried all that stuff - is why it stayed with me.

Then there was a particular time in my late 20s just pushing 30 that work got really stressful and I myself noticed my hair thinning. I panicked of course, I thought heck, maybe my friends were right but they were just a decade wrong on the timeline haha.

First thing I did was went to the hair care centres and it may work for some people but I highly doubt those who diagnosed me were doctors or dermatologists. All they did was take the magnifier and look at my scalp, told me something along the lines of 'most people with thick hair have two or more strands per root' and I only had one strand per root and it is a sign of balding/thinning. But their package and treatment cost too much so I didn't even go for it.

I decided to do something about it and visited this dermatologist in KL, on Jalan Imbi. I can give you the name via PM if you'd like, or if you google 'Jalan Imbi Dermatologist' the clinic name will show up. He told me that actually it is hard to say whether I am truly experiencing male pattern baldness, but that there definitely is some thinning going on. He said not to worry and prescribed me with 5% Minoxidil to start with.

Thankfully the Minoxidil worked because my family and friends actually noticed something different about my hair although they kept saying they could not really pin-point it. I only went to the dermatologist a second time for a follow up consultation and second bottle of minoxidil. After that I bought minoxidil from Mudah and thankfully no issues so far.

If you are concerned about side-effects, it's better to see a dermatologist, thankfully I had none except that my eye brows got thicker and longer which I'm not complaining about. Also, about how long you have to use it, well, they say basically it's not a cure and you'd have to keep using it or the thinning will start again. There was a period between 2014-2016 that I didn't use it for close to a year and a half because I wanted to test whether the thinning would start again and thankfully it didn't. Now I use it sparingly, like 2-3 times a week sometimes I skip a few weeks.

At the same time, I was also researching shampoos to combat thinning and among the many options, I tried Nioxin. So far these two have worked for me. The Nioxin I don't use everyday because it is expensive for a shampoo, I use other brands on the days I don't use Nioxin.

Diet wise, biotin I have stopped because I didn't really see the differences.

Hope this helps bro and again, sorry if too long to read.

PM me if you have any questions.

All the best and I hope you manage to find a solution.

Haha, that's a good point! However, for me at least, no increase in amount or length of hair in funny places. So far just my eyebrows.

I think firstly different people respond differently to the drug and secondly the solution is only applied topically and it doesn't get into the bloodstream so it's not being circulated throughout the body.

So far no negative side-effects bro. Minoxidil is used topically and not ingested. Even I would be more careful if it comes down to ingesting supplements etc.

Dude that's nuts! RM32 per bottle?

Wow that's the cheapest so far.

How are the results on your beard and for how long have you been using it on your beard?

Beard on brother!

Hope the results will continue to grow in

Have you visited https://www.beardprofile.com/ ?

Good resource for minox beards...I'm going for one myself

This post has been edited by McF7y: Sep 7 2017, 01:23 PM

You can give them a try for sure.

Everyone's hair loss experience is different, although there are probably similarities in general. Also, hair loss can be due to a number of reasons and one needs to find out the reason for his/her hair loss before seeking the appropriate treatment.

I strongly suggest seeing a dermatologist first to determine one's hair loss; this is because they can determine the cause and then suggest the appropriate treatment. Cost-wise, I found it cheaper to get the consultation from the dermatologist + the cost of the medication. Consultation cost me RM80 and the medication cost me RM120; I must admit that the medication was quite expensive because I later found cheaper alternatives on Mudah that cost only RM45 and a few posts above, someone quoted RM32 from another website.

The hair-care centre I went to before I saw a dermatologist quoted me a packaged costing thousands of ringgit - money I didn't necessarily have - to spend on hair care. But there are many of these centres now and you can give them a try if you wish.

Chinese herbs I heard that they are good too; like I mentioned a few posts above, my dad used a shampoo from a sensei he goes to regularly in Klang for other health issues and thankfully that shampoo worked fine.

All the best dude!

Hi bro,

Maybe it's the angle or just the picture but to me, your hair looks quite thick dude.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, this could be caused by a number of factors: genetics, hormones, environmental factors...the list goes on.

I'm not a doctor or specialist; just sharing my experience...I would strongly advise you to visit a dermatologist to get a diagnosis. He/she can best advise you on the type of hair loss that you are experiencing and from there prescribe you a treatment that best suits you.

Alternatively, chinese medicine is also good from what I've heard.

All the best bro.