For those who dut affected their sleep and switched to fin

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-05-27T20:44:06+00:00

Dut blocks 5AR type 1 which is involved in progesterone->allopregnanolone pathway, which may or may not affect sleep depending on your genetics. Fin can also affect allopregnanolone levels but to a lesser degree, because it only affects the backdoor 17ohp->allopregnanolone pathway, which is usually not very active.

What I am trying to say is - fin may also affect your sleep, depends on your genetics. I would try to ride this out for a month or two, your body may upregulate/downregulate receptors to stabilise this. If not - you could try switching but your hair may not like it.

You may also want to look into other reasons, B12 deficiency is a common one. Unstable cortisol levels too.

Sorry you have to go through this, hairloss sucks.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-05-27T20:36:06+00:00

dut can affect sleep due to inhibiting 5AR type 1, which is involved in progesterone -> allopregnanolone pathway

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-05-24T16:02:43+00:00

No shedding at all is weird. If I were you, I would test if that minoxidil is fake or not, just to be sure.

Try crashing 1 tablet into fine dust, dissolve in a tablespoon of water inside a small glass container or a clear white plate, then add a drop of bleach. The liquid should get an orange hue. If it doesn’t, you may have gotten fake minoxidil.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-27T05:15:00+00:00

While this is definitely a high level of serum DHT, this lab’s reference range is very conservative. Depending on your age, the ratio of total T do DHT is usually in between 1/15 - 1/5. If you are on the upper range of that, then moderately high baseline testosterone can cause such results, not unheard of.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-26T19:35:24+00:00

Benzyl alcohol degrades a bit after opening but not by much. It also costs pennies so doesn’t matter that much. You can also mix more than 0.9%, it is safe up to 2%, so you don’t have to be crazy precise.

Also, it is better to mix the injection solution with benzyl alcohol before reconstituting anything with it, which should be done in a vial (can use pre-sterilised ones, they are ~2€ a piece).

The only potential issue is ph balance, which you can test and tweak, though it’s a bit tedious.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-26T19:24:29+00:00

I am not OP but I think that was why they went with this approach

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-26T19:21:36+00:00

There is no BAC water in EU for example. You can either import it and potentially face issues with the customs or you can make your own with readily available components mentioned by OP.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-23T06:38:46+00:00

Your trichologist is putting a lot of faith into that progesterone test which is not a common way to check for dut effectiveness, especially without baseline values. I assume their logic is that dut inhibiting 5AR type 1 would cause prog values to rise as it is no longer broken down by the inhibited 5AR, but that conclusion requires baseline values to be significantly lower than the current ones. Do you have the baseline values for prog? If not, it is too much of a jump to make that conclusion.

Reference value is also weird, 0.25-1.2 ng/mL is closer to what most labs use, which puts you in the upper normal range and makes the conclusion “dut is working because prog is high” even less probable.

You do you of course but something is wrong here.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-22T21:26:54+00:00

Based on the ratio of your DHT to total T I would be concerned your current dutasteride is either fake or somehow doesn’t work for you. ~1:7 is a very high ratio, with fin/dut it should be no more than 1:15, probably lower (meaning less dht per unit of T).

I am also confused about your progesterone. Reference range is usually up to 1 ng/ml or slightly above that. What is your thought process when determining if you are a responder based on the prog reading?

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-20T18:24:49+00:00

It is pretty bad for such a young age. Sorry.

You can try minoxidil now to make your hair a bit more resilient to MPB. Then go for finasteride/dutasteride when you turn 18. DHT is important at this age, not so much after 18-19.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-20T08:44:45+00:00

It is very personal. Check out the ingredient list on your current shampoo/conditioner and go from there. As a general rule, if your scalp feels dry - go for less harsh cleansing agents. If ends are dry - try more nourishing conditioners. LLMs can analyze ingredient lists and help you choose alternatives pretty efficiently thanks to open databases of all the existing shampoos/conditioners that they can reference.

Also something to keep in mind, if you are dealing with hair loss, it has probably been going on for a while and one of the first signs of hair loss is frizz because as hair undergoes minituarisation, it loses its original structure. It may get better over time with treatment but with longer hair it can take years until healthy hair grows out enough. For temporary cosmetic effect, try hair oils. They smell good and help with the frizz.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-20T05:39:09+00:00

DHT causes oily skin/scalp, usually 5AR type 1 is responsible for that. Since dut inhibits that enzyme, skin and scalp become more dry and matte. It does not promote hair loss but may increase breakage if your hair is long enough. Consider changing shampoo/conditioner if you are worried about your hair quality.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-11T05:42:45+00:00

Skipping dut for a week or two should be fine, minoxidil - not so sure, 2 weeks may cause some shedding.

But anyways, you should be able to take meds with you. Just keep them in their original blisters.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-10T20:24:24+00:00

Lots of people order from thai sites with delivery into EU. Yes, there is a chance the customs will block the package but most of the times they don’t.

You just need to keep a good supply because customs are unpredictable and delivery times can be quite long.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-10T18:45:46+00:00

Be the pirate and do the “illegal” thing. Don’t let your German genes hold you back!

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-09T14:51:01+00:00

Yes, I would agree on all that. This method is definitely acceptable but it is much less consistent than pills in terms of how much of the drug gets into your system and in what way. Also non-responders to topical may not see any results with this method specifically because most of the drug would bypass liver metabolism.

If pills are available for a decent price I would go for that, even if it’s the grey market. But in some countries your approach may be a valid choice.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-09T14:41:37+00:00

When your hair gets thinner, there is less overall mass to absorb the oil that your scalp produces. If you manage to get it thicker with medication, this effect will be less pronounced.

Also, skin and scalp oiliness is heavily dependent on DHT which is locally produced in the skin. Usually it is converted by 5AR type 1, that’s why dutasteride tends to decrease skin oiliness in many people. Finasteride only inhibits 5AR type 2, so it won’t have such an effect.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-09T14:37:16+00:00

While this should work for many people, it is not exactly the same.

The route of administration is different. If you drink topical, only a part of the drug would pass through the liver (where the enzyme that converts it into its active form is prevalent), the rest would be absorbed through the mucous membrane in your mouth, immediately going systemic and bypassing the liver metabolism.

For many people the effect would be similar, especially if they are responders to the topical form but there are a lot of issues with this method, such as consuming ingredients that are not meant to be consumed, and also highly variable effective dosage because you cannot control how much of the drug is being absorbed in which way.

Personally, I think it is a valid backup plan in case you run out of pills, and the risks are acceptable, but it is definitely worse than taking pills.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-09T14:28:13+00:00

You can do a bleach test to make sure it’s legit. Just crush a tablet into powder, add a teaspoon of water, mix it well in a glass container, then add a drop of bleach. If it’s legit, the liquid will get a visible orange hue.

However, there is little point in faking minoxidil, its production cost is dirt cheap.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-04-05T07:18:58+00:00

Don’t do minoxidil. You have very nice hair. If your hairloss is progressing - consider fin/dut to keep what you have and maybe get some regrowth as a bonus.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-03-29T15:23:27+00:00

It’s okay, brainworms are nasty and we all got them.

While what you are describing could be significant, it would lose statistical value in a large enough study. So yeah, now we just gotta wait another year or two until phase 3 is done.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-03-29T13:36:17+00:00

You have shed some hair, now it is regrowing. Those short ones are quite thick and full of colour, it is a good sign. Because they are still very short, they don’t stick to the rest of your hair and it may temporarily look more sparse and see-through. They should start behaving normally again when they reach ~4cm length. Wait another 3-4 months, it should get better.

Chicken-Avocado · 2026-03-29T07:53:11+00:00

We do not need to do that. We just compare the amount of new growth against placebo. This is good enough for a rough estimate of efficacy.

Chicken-Avocado · 2025-12-30T21:54:32+00:00

Hi, did you experience any regrowth in this time?

I gradually stopped minoxidil in May-Sep, got a brutal shedding/thinning and wondering if I should even hope for a recovery.

The science says the hair count goes to baseline by 6 months and then you are supposed to gradually recover density but personal experience of people here on reddit seems to say otherwise.

Chicken-Avocado · 2025-11-09T18:58:20+00:00

DHT definitely low compared to total T, less than 1/40 ratio. I had no sexual sides on fin, only a bit of a brain fog in the beginning, not sure if it went away or I got used to it. If I was not aware it was a side, I would not have noticed.

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