Hair Loss, Hair Found
30 ways to disguise, slow down, or even stop the balding process - Page2
Minoxidil and Propecia
There are also two pharmaceutical options. Personally, I’ve become a slave to minoxidil, better known by its commercial name Rogaine, which is now available without a prescription for half of what it once cost. Minoxidil is a topical lotion that works on active follicles which are still capable of producing hair, potentially reducing the rate of follicle miniaturization and unshrinking follicles so the active follicles can grow wider, more pigmented hairs. I can’t prove it, but I swear my hair is thicker since I started smearing my scalp with the stuff twice a day.
Also popular is Propecia (finasteride), the first FDA-approved pill to treat balding in men. Taken once a day, this prescription drug works by inhibiting the production of DHT, thus increasing the ability of follicles to grow new hair. In three clinical trials lasting up to two years, nearly 2,000 men in their 20s and 30s with mild to moderate hair loss experienced marked hair growth, a success ratio of more than 80 percent. About 2 percent of the subjects had reduced sexual desire or erectile dysfunction, but more than half the impacted libidos self-corrected among those who stayed with the drug, as their bodies adapted to it; for those who quit, the side effects reversed.
Hair loss - Beyond the Fringe
Pattern baldness leaves most men with “fringe” encircling their heads. This hirsute horseshoe usually hangs on forever, so guys willing to go under the knife can cultivate it to fill thinning areas. Flaps, plugs and other grafted-on methods are among the most costly cures for baldness, though the final tally can fluctuate wildly depending on what you need, where you live, whom you consult and how you’re scheduled.
Teddy, my sister’s 50ish fiancé, swears by his new hair plugs, which have healed nicely and which he swears are worth the headaches he suffered for a few weeks after each outpatient surgery. Because he chose a doctor who prided himself on aesthetic-based results, Teddy’s hairline looks quite natural. But my pal Brian, who had a hair transplant last year at age 23, calls it “the biggest mistake of my life.” Brian’s new scalp line is positioned unnaturally at the front of his head, and the hair is patchy and brittle.
“I hated it so much that, once it healed, I shaved my head,” he confesses. “But the scars from my surgery are so obvious that I looked like a plane-crash survivor. So I let my ugly new hair grow back, and I wear a cap whenever I’m not at the office.”
Stories like Brian’s keep a lot of guys circling the hairport without coming in for a landing. Still, surgical advancements continue to result in aesthetic upgrades, insists Nasser Razack, M.D., author of Conquering Hair Loss. “There’s no reason why anyone today should go bald if they don’t want to,” he says.
Which is just about everyone, including me. I explain all this to Dan as I sit awaiting my monthly trim, declaring that I will be meeting my impending chrome domedom head-on, so to speak. But Dan, who’s tired of my whining, has his own idea for the future of my hairline.
“Smile,” he says, firing up his scariest pair of electric shears, “and think of Buddha.”
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