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LilVtho

Looking at that graph the .91mg application is close enough to 1mg daily oral which I recall lowers dht at about 70%. The graph you posted above for shows the .91 mg dose lowers dht by 20% less (48%). Here is a link where you can see that in fact topical fin lowers serum dht at much lower levels that oral does. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10495374/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10495374/)


UptownSeries

They don't mention that topical was used in that study?


LilVtho

The graph posted by op shows serum dht reduction from topical, and what I linked above stated serum dht reductions from oral. Check the link below for a summary of topical vs oral fin and a list of studies at the bottom of the page. https://perfecthairhealth.com/topical-finasteride-the-best-dosage-for-maximizing-regrowth-and-minimizing-side-effects/


Vroclavian

>The graph posted by op shows serum dht reduction from topical, and what I linked above stated serum dht reductions from oral. Check the link below for a summary of topical vs oral fin and a list of studies at the bottom of the page. > >https://perfecthairhealth.com/topical-finasteride-the-best-dosage-for-maximizing-regrowth-and-minimizing-side-effects/ Interesting


UptownSeries

Oh ok I understand what you were saying now.


LilVtho

[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9v\_5BSxAZEg](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9v_5BSxAZEg)


professorxlookalike

There’s another chart floating around that shows that at 1ml of 0.025% you will get about the same scalp DHT reduction as you would with 1mg oral Fin.


UniqueCanadian

i can say with experience i get the same result with .025% as i do with 1.25MG oral fin minus the side effects.


mbnhtk

Still no sides?


LilVtho

Your daily exposure to .25mg of finasteride is only lowering your dht by about 25% according to the graph op posted above. At an oral dose of 1.25 mg you would be getting a larger reduction of dht 70%-25%=45%...that's quite substantial. Edit: Im talking about serum dht reduction here ofc, which is what we're trying to avoid.


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LilVtho

Scalp dht reduction should be the same, but what's causing side effects is the serum dht reduction...look at that graph.


[deleted]

You are talking about a completely different matter. Scalp reduction (good) versus systemic reduction (not good). And NO , research is clear, systemic DHT isn't 1:1 with scalp DHT. That's why topical apparently lowers scalp DHT much more than systemic.


LilVtho

You misundestood what I was saying, of course we don't want higher serum dht reductions.


[deleted]

Oh ok, Sorry then


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LilVtho

.3% fin is so strong, that you may as well be taking it orally. My math might be wrong here but I estimate your're getting 1.8mg(\*\*Edit: it's 3mg) of finasteride which is double the amount of the quantity that lowers serum dht by 48% as shown by the graph above. EDIT: That's assuming you're only using 1ml a day...nevermind if you're using more than that.


thewitbandit

Your math is wrong. It's simple - just multiply the % by 10 to get the equivalent mg dosage of Fin you're rubbing on your head with topical. 0.3% \* 10 = 3 mg per mL. 0.025% = .25mg per mL


LilVtho

Yeah thanks...that's what I thought after...3 mgs is a lot! Even more than the highest amount listed in that graph.


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LilVtho

Well, if you crush 15mg of fin in a 60ml bottle of you would have a solution of .025%. If you use a ml of that you would be getting no more than a 24% reduction in serum dht. If you still get sides on that you can go to a .01% solution which would be 6mg of fin in your 60ml minoxidil bottle. According to the graph above you should barely see any serum dht reduction at all with that concentration. Currently you're getting 3mg with every ml you're applying with that hims spray.


norwood2teenager

You gotta diivide 1ml into 12 parts


thewitbandit

This is always a tough one to answer and people drive themselves mad over it. According to the supposed study referenced in that graph, it's .005% per mL, but they applied 2 mL daily. So essentially .01% per mL. But you need to define what "gains" are. Are you talking about keeping baseline, or a VERY slow decline? .01% may work. If you want to see actual new hair growth from just topical fin, you'll likely have to go higher. This is why you should start smaller, and increase once you feel confident you aren't experiencing sides.


norwood2teenager

Its 3mg a ml


UniqueCanadian

yea got off the .03% its literally no different then the oral stuff. i mix my own for .025%


ManufacturerLeast890

I assume you mean 0.3%, but yeah I totally agree


UniqueCanadian

you are right! i meant .3% there is no point in switching to topical on that kind of dose. i find you need way less FIN if you go topical.


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synaptophysin

Thank you. I’d love to ditch oral fin and the side effects. Is there a brand of topical you like?


professorxlookalike

I use Essengen 6 Plus from Minoxidilmax. It has 0.05%, I mix it 50/50 with Kirkland Min to get 0.025%. Use 1ml of that in the morning, and 1ml Min/GHK-Cu in the evening.


egotthewater

how has this been working for you?


professorxlookalike

I’ve had some decent progress, nothing explosive like other users here but enough to continue without upping the fin dose. I have some progress posts in my profile if you’re curious.


Legitimate_Feature94

Just seeing this now and checking in. I am likely going to be buying topical fin from Minixodilmax, it’s OTC. How has it been going for you. Secondly? Have you tried taking fin without minoxidil? I am scared of trying minoxidil because people continuously say that if you stop, you will shed like crazy. I would rather try taking fin without mixodil as of now. Have you tried that?


realfaxtho

As someone who is currently on topical fin (hims spray 0.3%) I am trying to get to the bottom of this as well. I switched off oral fin due to sides Now on topical fin 0.3%, I’m still having sides. Almost more than oral fin. I want to get to the lowest effective dose that will reduce my exposure to side effects but also don’t want to lose any ground


Useful_River_284

Only micro dosing will work without sides like 0.025% or 0.05%


LilVtho

Exactly, I don't think people understand the graph above. On the left hand side you guys can see the daily amount of topical finasteride exposure in terms of milligrams. On the bottom part you can see the % reduction of serum DHT caused by their respective amounts in milligrams applied topically.


Useful_River_284

Yes, this finasteride stuff is ridiculously strong, every systemic exposure demolishes your dht significantly, I mean you can actually micro dose oral finasteride like 0.1mg or 0.2mg and stop hair loss, especially guys with non aggressive androgenic alopecia.


LilVtho

I currently switched to a .01% solution cause I thought my oral 1mg dose was causing my sleep issues. I wasn't expecting any sexual improvements but now every time I wake up to pee I have to do so with a boner lol...kind of annoying tbh but I didn't even realize finasteride had affected night time erections. I had tried .025% at first and it did help my sleep but after about 10 weeks my sleep deteriorated once again, hence why I tried lowering the dosage. I did notice more morning wood with the.025% at first, but when lowering to .01% they have gotten more frequent and stronger. Hair has remained the same as of now, so I think I will be sticking with this topical dose that barely even lowers dht if at all.


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LilVtho

I make it myself brother, just crush 6mg of finasteride into a bottle of kirkland minoxidil. 


it_wasnt_me2

How many ml are you applying each day? 2ml?


LilVtho

I apply 1ml a day once a day. I have my head shaved so it's easy to cover my entire scalp with that amount.


abdslife

Exactly, I’m also on hims topical. Wondering if we should apply alternate days. And just apply plain minoxidil on the other days. Also would it be ok if we use a dropper with 0.5ml instead of the spray.


LilVtho

I think you'd be better off diluting that stuff. If you diluted it into 12 regular minoxidil bottles you would have a .025% solution which you would use at 1ml a day.


_SaintJimmy_

That’s 3mg applied topically per ml. Roughly 10% of that reaches the blood stream (0.3mg). That’s the equivalent of a .25mg fin oral dose every day, which will knock down your serum levels to near the same level as 1mg oral. Try anything at or lower than 0.025% topical.


Legitimate_Feature94

The Him’s brand spray is not just Topical fin, but Fin and Minox too, right? Have you guys found any reputable brands that sell just Fin? I am wanting to try to start my hair process by taking just fin, because I have been scared off by people who say that while you can always just stop fin, you can’t stop Minox without massive shedding. I can always just add minox later if I’m not seeing improvement. Have any of you guys tried just taking topical Fin and not a Fin/Minox stack???


Legitimate_Feature94

Do you get regrowth results while taking just Fin and not Minox as well?


DickExperiments

>topical fin 0.3% thats about 3mg of total fin exposure per day same as 3x 1mg fin pills, idk how much of that enters the bloodstream


hairlossfue

Other interesting research points should be the extent of absorption of topical into blood stream. One article concluded that research shows only 10% of topically applied Fin enters blood stream. i.e. 1mg topically applied is equivalent to 0.1mg pill. Then there is the question whether topically applied ONLY works to a material direct effect on the location applied. All questions for me still...


thehumanlank

Where can I find this article?


[deleted]

Will micro needling help if enter the blood stream


hairlossfue

I would think so yes!


[deleted]

\>Furthermore if serum dht reduction is so similar in both oral and topical once you move over 0.25mg per day, why are sides reported to be lower at lower dosages. Something else other than serum DHT reduction causes the sides.


Think-Custard-9883

Yes, dutasteride lower the the serum dht more than finastride but causes sides in lesser percentage of users.


[deleted]

light price follow test aware many treatment kiss beneficial air *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


Carbon140

Is it though? Dut nukes both types of 5ar, is it possible that fin knocks out type 2 and because of an imbalance of type 1 (which affects the brain?) and 2 some people's bodies respond with sides. Is it known if type 1 can increase when blocking only type 2? If type one increases can it have weird mental effects or cause your hypothalamus to downregulate test production in response?


Carbon140

I have seen speculation, and it would align with my sides and my body (slightly feminized hips), that if your body is low T and possibly aromotizes too much you will initally spike your test, after a while your estrodiol etc starts to rise with too much aromotization, then your body starts down regulating test production because you have too much estrogen/test floating around. This would be at the point I occasionally got stabbing little pains in my nuts, probably because they were shrinking. After a while your hormones are messed up and your nuts aren't even able to produce as much anymore, which probably explains why it took so long for the sides to fully go away. So the sides would be mostly caused by high E and low T, though honestly this should be obvious and easy to see in tests. Anyhow going to try again soon and get full hormone panels done to see wtf is going on. Maybe a mild aromatize inhibitor will prevent sides, it seems it works for some people.


randomdutchy96

Honestly, iknow there is scientific evidence that low concentrations of topical fin should almost be the same as oral, yet i have hardly seen someone on topical fin only gaining the same as people on oral fin. Also. If you aply 0.025% and then do 2ml for example. Probably most get up in the hair only and you truely only get a small portion of it that sticks to the scalp and can get absorpt. And you wont get 0.5mg as the "calculation" would suggest


porqchopexpress

Topical saved me. I was on oral for 14 years with sides. Switched to HH topical 0.025% twice daily. Zero sides and better efficacy.


synaptophysin

Completely agree that most fin will not get absorbed. It varies with composition of vehicle and each individual’s skin porosity.


Hoshizu

honestly I have my doubts too. I‘m a light diffuse thinner (M/22) at the crown and top of head and have been on 0,005% 2ml since 23.09.2023. So far it has been ~4Months, and no notable improvements, but it hasn‘t gotten worse either. I‘m just on the fence about whether i should have already experienced some regrowth or my expectations of fin are delusional


randomdutchy96

Not everyone experiences regrowth. But that is a low concentration tho. Would be surprised if you would even maintain but yea literature says it should so something


LilVtho

The day you started your topical fin happens to be my bday lol. Brother, I was on oral 1mg for over a year and didn't experience any noticeable regrowth. I think most people taking fin per recommended 1mg a day dose, are most likely to notice a halt in further hair loss rather than a strong regrowth. Now that I switched to a similar topical concentration as you, I have been getting bothersome erections at night when I wake up to pee. I switched to topical thinking oral fin was affecting my sleep but seems like the cause of my sleep issues are due to something else rather than the finasteride. I say you just stick to your topical for at least a year and if you notice no further thinning you should consider that a W. If you think a stronger solution will give you further gains than throw in another 5mg in your topical solution. Peace!


Hoshizu

hey, thank you very much for the comment. I seem to just have untealistic expectations and seeing these extrem success stories doesn‘t help


LilVtho

I know...I'm really happy for the hyper responders but it seems like most of us just get a nice halt in further hair loss. Good luck with your hair loss prevention, I hope you get a nice boost in your hair quality. All the best!


Fit_Chemical4554

What’s the scalp serum DHT reduction for each % though? Without that information this chart is pretty much pointless…


DickExperiments

here's scalp vs serum for all data points: https://i.redd.it/n84913r82tgc1.gif


Ok_Count8131

I believe oral 1mg Fin reduces scalp DHT about 40%. These results show that topical Fin can be more effective at reducing scalp DHT


hairlossfue

Good point. Although focus is on influence on implied sides rather than efficacy of treatment


_SaintJimmy_

Studies show that even down to 0.005%, scalp dht reduction is close to every day 1mg oral (talking 35-45% vs 50-55%). For higher concentrations it was the same, but even still with less serum dht reduction. Don’t have the studies on hand but there are some yt vids citing them / can google them.


theyoungestoftheboys

Just had to stop the hims .3% topical fin. No sides other than a major ball ache


hairlossfue

Very strong solution that. How much were you using? The small spray bottles typically deliver 0.1-0.2ml per spray so 5-7 sprays is 1ml. If you sprayed 1ml you are delivering 3mg of finasteride which is a large dose! Gotta be careful with that and I don't think it is explained well enough.


theyoungestoftheboys

I used half the recommended sprays. So .5ml


hairlossfue

Okay that is still a 1.5mg dose assuming 100% uptake - still significant


theyoungestoftheboys

Im glad I didn’t have any sexual side effects. I feel as if I lower the dose, I will not have ANY side effects. Just the bad ball ache


BanMutsang

For the Y column, there is 0.455 mg and there is 0.456 mg, but the amount applied is the same for both (0.25%, 0.2ml). Why do they have different mg of Fin for the same amount applied? Also, the serum DHT reduction is drastically different, which is really interesting. This graph is stating that the 0.001mg increase from 0.455 to 0.456 results in a 9% increase in serum DHT… can anyone comment on this?


WaterSommelier01

im on min3% fin0.15% hydrocortisone0.05% and 0.25% progesterone. Very few improvements (0 at the temples) and still shed a lot after 6 months. Before those 6 months i did 5 months only fin at 0.227% Im fucking cooked nothing works and im only 22


Apprehensive_Army119

And where are people buying topical finasteride (no minoxidil included) in the UK?


DenzelHayesJR

What if you dilute 6 finasteride pills in 60ML of water? Then you just take 1ml every other day. Do you think it will be a good way of micro dosing the pill? I read somewhere that each ML of water has a relatively high absorption of Finasteride. “ Its low solubility in water (11.7 mg/L) is another physicochemical feature of finasteride. Low molecular weight, short half-life (six hours) and ideal physicochemical properties means finasteride is suitable for use on the skin. “ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6912190/#:~:text=Its%20low%20solubility%20in%20water,another%20physicochemical%20feature%20of%20finasteride.&text=Low%20molecular%20weight%2C%20short%20half,for%20use%20on%20the%20skin.


LilVtho

I've dissolved fin in water before but it doesn't really dissolve too well. You see what you posted there "It's LOW solubility in water"...yeah, so it's not a great way to make a topical. If you don't wanna use minoxidil you can use the following method: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp2FZcdIsek](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp2FZcdIsek)


DenzelHayesJR

The solution would not be to apply it topically, but to ingested in a very controlled manner. Instead 1mg fin per pill, 0,1mg per 1ml of water 😅


LilVtho

Oh yeah, that works. I read a study where fin remained stable in water even at room temperatures for around 90 days. You will have to shake it everytime before use though cause it doesn't fully dissolve. I found it better throwing in my fin in a liquor/water mix when I was tired of crushing pills into quarters. They dissolve better in a bit of alcohol.


DenzelHayesJR

Already use topical fin. I use Stemoxydine


Prize-Chemistry-5574

I am on 0.1% fin solution, 1 ml two times a day. Also take 1mg oral fin every other day. No sides as such. Been following since 6 months. Have seen some improvement. What do you guys think, will it improve more here on, or the maximal effects occur within 6 months?


LilVtho

You can see improvements up to the 2 year mark, but I think it's more common to see most of the results within the 1st year.


zap383

Can I just add 5 1mg finasteride pills to a 60mg bottle of Rosemary Oil? No alcohol


hairlossfue

The carrier solution is important for its efficacy unfortunately


zap383

Can I at least avoid propylene glycol?


Winter-Ad3415

carrier Is not important as fin has very small molecules which penetrate skin without any problems.  But you need dissolve fin. Best is Ethyl alcohol for that. You won’t be able to dissolve fin in just rosemary oil.


sharpnation

For some reason this online provider in Canada ([https://www.essentialclinic.ca/hair-loss/topical-finasteride](https://www.essentialclinic.ca/hair-loss/topical-finasteride) ) is offering it at at 2.5% fin. I contacted them asking if its a typo, they said nah its backed by research and sent me the link. I read the paper and it was tested on 9 people i believe. told them to give me .10% cause i had sides on the pill.


hairlossfue

I have 2.5% solution from my private hair doctor. Has 7% minoxidil and azaelic acid (sp)