proscar and propecia are basically poison, and in some cases cause severe long lasting sexual side effects.
That's not really true - you're taking those statements out of context and should not be stating them as fact.
Finesteride is a synthetic inhibitor of 5-alpha reductase that was approved as 'proscar' in 1992 to treat BPH. It was re-approved by the FDA in 1997 as 'propecia' as a treatment for MPB.
Some people report adverse side effects. Finesteride is currently being
studied by the Swedish Medical Products Agency for
possibly causing irreversible sexual side effects. This does not mean by anymeans that it has been proven to cause irreversable sexual side effects. Nor has it for the many people that use this compound to effectively treat their hairloss issues.
You should both read this article:
Finasteride - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
That's as unbiased as any Ive seen on this compound.
First of all, you need to understand how finesteride/dutasteride work - they inhibit 5AR. They do NOT block DHT.
They block the conversion of a compound that uses 5AR to convert to DHT (or any other compound, for that matter).
I dont know if any of the compounds Swole Mammoth listed convert to DHT via 5AR - from what I understand Epistane does not. So in this case, Finesteride will NOT help you. At ALL.
Finesteride will only reduce systemic levels of DHT if and only if you are using a compound like Testosterone, 4AD, etc. And then, you should only be using the minimum possible effective dose. Personally, I use 250-500 ug (thats MICROgrams) per day to combat genetic MPB. I generally use it for 4 weeks, take a week off, and resume. I have experienced no side effects whatsoever.
In your case, Swole Mammoth, because you are using compounds that are relatively new and their mechanism for effecting hair loss is unknown, I suggest you start attacking the problem from the many other facets that can effect hair shedding. Namely:
1.)Androgens binding to follicle receptors in the scalp
and
2.)Inflammation caused by #1
Jomi was right on suggesting Nizoral (Ketoconozole). Its an effective general anti-androgen and also helps combat inflammation as well. Id suggest heading right over to wholesalehairproducts.com and picking up the 2% version though - from what I understand its much more effective.
You also may want to give Emu oil a try - applied to the scalp 1x a day at night it effectively combats scalp inflammation and irritation caused by androgens (if your scalp itches on cycle - that's what's going on). In addition to restoring essential hair oils that can be sapped by using topical hair. loss treatments.
A topical general anti-androgen like Spironolactone 2% can also be very effective - it kept the hairloss at bay for myself and many others when using 1-testosterone, and other non-5AR converting anabolics.
Finally, LLLT therapy (laser hair brush) is an FDA approved method for hair regrowth and has proved surprisingly effective for many. I'm not sure how it works exactly (I dont think anyone is), but some theories suggest it creates an optimal environment for hair regrowth by super-energizing the cell's mitochondira, or something like that.
Other treatments include shampooing EOD with a Pyrithion Zinc shampoo (head & shoulders), and other topical anti-androgens...a product recently discussed in the hairloss thread called 'Crinagen' may be effective. I have not yet tried it personally, however.
Furthermore- one thing that people need to realize is that it may take a while for your body's hormnal profile to stablize after any hormonal cycle, even an oral with a short half life or a base powder, etc. During PCT, and even a few months afterward, your body is trying to readjust and this imbalance in hormones can cause a lot of issues for some people. Youve seen it all discussed here - delayed gyno, continued hairloss, etc.
BV
, Im slowly trying to back off from it as much as I can, hopefully Ill have it down to <.5mg/EOD after a few months.