Success Stories from the Norwood 3 (vertex) and beyond?

Tell us your personal story, how hair loss has affected you, and what you're doing to treat it. Also keep us posted on your progress.

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This section is for you to use to chronicle your experiences with hair loss and how you're treating it. Use this section to give us your story and keep everyone posted on your progress.

This section will prove useful in that whenever anyone wants to know how you're doing they can check here, and YOU can check here as time goes by to reflect on your own situation, what you've learned and the progress you've made (or not for that matter).

Post pictures of your hair loss and regrowth, tell us about your regimen. Keep us updated!

If you're starting a new thread, please call it "{Your Forum ID}'s story", replacing {Your Forum ID} with the handle you use to login to these forums.


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mrsmith
Regular Poster
Posts: 35
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2005 7:21 pm
Hair Loss Type: Don't Know
Have you had a hair transplant?: No

Success Stories from the Norwood 3 (vertex) and beyond?

Post by mrsmith » Wed Dec 14, 2005 7:40 pm

Please post here if you were a Norwood 3 (vertex) or higher and successfully made your way back to Norwood 3 (normal) or Norwood 2 (my goal).

My story:
age 35
I started thinning around age 20 (genetic) and by 21, I was a Norwood 2. This progressed to a Norwood 3. My widow's peak stayed on strong, but the temple sides kept going back.
A young Jack Nicholson or Julian Sands pattern. Julian's looks good (through 80s and 90s) because it was a consistent thickness and healthy.
Sometime around age 24, someone noticed a quarter dollar sized balding spot on the vertex (love it when others notice before u do). The only known treatment in the early 90s was Rogaine. I got a script and results appeared right away. I noticed my hair looking better after only 2 weeks! Thicker hair, then little bald spot stopped. Rogaine was expensive for me then, so I couldn't keep the regimen. If I COULD have, I would most likely be a thick Norwood 2 today.
Age 26 - mostly off treatment
Age 27, I start again. I also clipped hair very short and bleached it. Using the newly available OTC minox, I maintain and regrow, but stay somewhere between a Norwood 2-3. Balding spot mostly grows back in. Not even noticeable and possibly gone.

Repeat on and off. Bleach and treat again at age 30. Works and hair gets thicker and recovers.... no problems, but never regrow temples.

All of the sudden at late 34 and off treatment, my scalp rebells. Massacre upon hair shafts is unleashed. Balding spot grows to golf ball size. It was then that I started using "Toppik". 2004 was a good year until I went off my combined treatments of minox, procerin/saw palmetto (don't laugh or ban me) and Nizoral. I also tried a few other herbal shampoos with tea tree and blue silica. I dye my hair lighter once more and it works.


My Major Observations:

1 - Recovery/Effectiveness - I recovered faster in the early days. I don't it's so much age (to a point) as how long you have been losing. I sincerely feel that people in good cardiovascular shape up to age 40 or so, will have good results. Especially if the loss history is young and more recent.
generic worked as well as rogaine... except maybe in my early days, but

2 - Dye jobs. I feel they helped. I think using a light hair dye is much more gentle than harsh bleaching. Part of it is lessening the contrast if you are light/pale. I have also theorized that the leaving the dye on for 30 minutes or so, acts as a "Scalp Peel".
I notice a difference in how my scalp feels and I notice that the hair looks healthier.
My older cousin bleaches his hair and I swear it looks as if his hair grows thicker when the dye is a regular every 8 weeks.

3 - I tried Ozbrew summer 2005- I think it may have helped, but only if it was mixed with Minox. I did not like the DMSO peel. Sorta worked, but burned like hell and I think it receeded my fragile front line. I now have less than I did on the sides...

4 - Diet. I have noticed that certain foods may exacerbate inflammation, which in turn causes the scalp to become more oily or red. I don't have a great record of what does this for me, but I'll try listed foods I eat.

Coffee - bad if over 8-12 oz a day
Red meats and fatty fried foods: They may hurt more than arteries
Breads: maybe wheat allergies causing inflammation or reaction.

Goods:
Soy: Everyday I use it in cereal or make a drink with it.
Tea - good, Green is better
Honey seems to help, but I'm not certain.

IMHO, diet and general health matters. Reducing Cholesterol probably helps.


I just finished a month of Minox 2%, Saw Palmetto, Omega 3&6 and Nizoral and I have honestly maintained. I also haven't used Toppik in a month. I was able to thicken by diffuse areas and hide my bald spot when using. Going without was hard, but at least I stopped losing. To compensate for Toppik I chose to dye my hair lighter. I'm normally a gingery light brown, but went to a dark golden blonde. Less contrast with scalp.

New regimen starting this week:
finpecia (expecting in mail soon)
reorder minox
Omega 3/6
add MSM 1000 mg
and Couvre to help me through.
Sorry for the long ramble. I would be VERY gleeful to progress backwards to a Norwood 2 or early 3. I really don't WANT to regrow all the temple hair. I just want the top to be thicker and the bald vertex to grow back. I hope it can. there's hair growing all through it, but it's so thin and diffuse that the scalp can be clearly seen and it looks bald. I hope I'm not too late.

Many of the famous don't have full temples. If I was 20 I would be worried and want to stop it, but very few celebrities over 25 have full "boyhead" hair on the temples. Most are a Norwood 2 or maybe an early Norwood 3. If I still notice maintenance and results within 2-3 months, I'm hoping a good solid year of combined treatment will bode well.

Now I look forward to your stories.
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HairLossFight.com
Site Admin
Posts: 1218
Joined: Sun Aug 24, 2003 3:24 am
Hair Loss Type: Androgenetic Alopecia (Male Pattern Baldness)
Norwood Level: Norwood III Vertex
Have you had a hair transplant?: Yes

Post by HairLossFight.com » Mon Dec 19, 2005 12:18 am

Mrsmith,

Thanks for sharing your story in such detail with us. Your situation for the most part sounds similar to what I have gone through.

I have managed to maintain my hair since I started battling the hair loss and over the past decade I have largely kept the hair loss at bay. Slowly though I have noticed gradual thinning and a larger "bald-spot". I put that in quotes because my bald-spot still has hair all over it. It's just much thinner than elsewhere.

Anyway I am considering a hair transplant to fill in the bald spot and beef up the hair line. If I do this I'll still treat the hair loss with Propecia and the lasercomb and the odd topical or two. I think even after a transplant it's worth it to keep using products just in case your transplanted hair are also susceptible to some degree to MPB.

Have you considered, or are you considering a hair transplant to augment your treatment at all?

Regards,
Sam

mrsmith
Regular Poster
Posts: 35
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2005 7:21 pm
Hair Loss Type: Don't Know
Have you had a hair transplant?: No

Post by mrsmith » Tue Jan 31, 2006 1:49 pm

I haven't considered the transplant option. If I can find a way to finance it, and I am in a good maintenance plan, I would do it.

I don't think I would go back to a boyhood hairline, but I would fill in the temple areas that crept out last year and the "balding" spot area.

My spot is the same; still has hair. It's just much finer and lighter hair (light blonde) in contrast with the ginger brown everywhere else. If I use Couvre and brush it through, the hair darkens and looks 80% fuller.


I think I must advise everyone against the OzBrew first stages.
Seriously, I may have done it wrong, but I think the DMSO(?) peel killed about an inch of temple hair near the top of my head.

I haven't reordered the minox, but I've been on the finpecia and saw palmetto. I still believe in the nutrition additions and will keep those.

gorillaz
Occasional Poster
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 12:29 am
Hair Loss Type: Don't Know
Have you had a hair transplant?: No

Post by gorillaz » Fri Jun 09, 2006 1:55 am

Mrs Smith, it was really interesting and worth the time it took to read ur story, keep us posted abt wotz happenin nex.

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