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Hair Loss Treatment advice
based on real
world personal experience.
“Rogaine Didn’t Work For Me
&
Unfortunately,
It
Likely Won’t Work for You Either!”
How You Can Win
The Fight Against Hair Loss
Hello.
My name is
James Washington (J.W.).
The reason I
posted this open letter was to document my personal journey as
I struggled
to fight my hair loss.
My hope is that
you or your loved one can learn from my experience with Rogaine and the other products I tried... so that you don't have to
waste time, hope or money reliving my many mistakes.
When it comes
to fighting hair loss, time is key as every minute you waste not doing
something about it – is time that the hair loss process uses
to thin
your hairline even further.
So without
further ado, here’s my story. I apologize in advance for it’s length
but if you’ll bear with me, you’ll see it has a happy ending and
possibly a learning or two for you☺.
To set the
stage; at the time I’m writing this I’m 33 years old and hair loss does
unfortunately run in my family. So while I know that there are many
different causes of hair loss; I was confident that the challenge I had
was genetic in nature and that’s how I approached it.
***Side note: It’s
important that to understand what the cause of your
hair loss is
before you undergo any treatments. You can review a
summary article on hair
loss causes here.***
Right about the
time I turned 29 I started noticing more and more hair in my drain and
in my hairbrush; and while it was troubling, I managed to deny it for
the better part of 2 years.
It wasn’t until
my well meaning mother made a comment about “how lovely the shape of my
head was and how I wouldn’t have to worry about my looks even after I
went bald”, that I really took notice of just how thin the hair on the
top of my head had become.
I was 31 years
old at that time and I couldn’t deny the state of my hair or my
hairless fate any longer. Just like my older brother, my father and my
grandfather… I was doomed to spend the remaining years of my life as a
chrome dome.
My life with a
full head of beautiful hair was coming to an end.
But hold on –
not so fast!!!
I’ve never been
a quitter and I wasn’t about to go down without a
fight. So I decided to take immediate action to explore my
hair loss treatment options. Little did I know it would be a
2 year long fight.
Here is an overview of the hair loss treatment options that I investigated over
about 27 months.
Here is a video review I did of some of the more popular Hair Loss Treatment Products
My
Hair Loss Treatment Journey Begins
My Hair Loss
Treatment investigations:
1) Rogaine
-
Minoxidil
2) Hair
transplant
surgery
3) Propecia –
Finesteride
4) Scalp
Med
5)
Procerin
6) Spironolactone
7) Provillus
Rogaine to the
rescue?
The first
treatment I tried was Rogaine otherwise know as Minoxidil.
At the urging
of my doctor I thought I’d try it out first because he recommended it
and because a big name pharmaceutical company manufactures it. My
assumption being that it must work if a pharmaceutical company
manufactures it. WRONG!
I used Rogaine
for 6 months straight, diligently applying it twice a day using the
spray on applicator as directed but I had absolutely no noticeable hair
re-growth – not even the peach fuzz growth that some people attest to
getting.
I was very
disappointed because it’s not cheap at more than $100 per month and it
took a lot of effort to maintain the twice a day application regimen -
and all this for no results.
Upon further
research I learned that only a small percentage of people that use
Rogaine see success and many of those only re-grow a peach fuzz type of
hair that quickly falls out once they stop.
Now all that
said, I must admit that I didn’t notice any further hair loss while I
was using it, but as my objective was to re-grow my hair I decided to
move on and try something else.
Would Propecia
or a Hair Transplant be my saviour?
Next I
investigated Propecia (Finesteride) and Hair transplant options
.
In retrospect I
think I was more comfortable searching in the mainstream
for my hair loss treatment solution because I still trusted
the more commercially promoted options, but ultimately I decided
against both of these options and here’s why:
Hair Transplant
-
Without any
doubt, hair transplant surgery has made a lot of progress over the
years and the results can be amazing with the right candidate.
The best
surgeons these days use mini and micro grafts that are cut from donor
areas of your head and transplanted to the balding areas. This approach
does away with the “Barbie hair” plug look and really can look natural
and last a lifetime.
But… It’s
really only an option if you can afford it – my quote was $18,000 to
remove a section of bald scalp at the crown of my head and to then do a
transplant. This did not include transportation or accommodation as I
had would have to go out of town for the procedure.
Additionally;
to be a good candidate you have a suitable donor area to support
immediate coverage requirements as well as the anticipated future
coverage needs.
This brings me
to the last negative of hair transplants which is the fact that based
on my genetic predisposition to almost total balding, I would likely
have needed to undergo at least 2 additional transplant sessions in the
future at the same or greater cost.
Ultimately I
decided that hair transplantation was not a good option for me because
I didn’t want the ongoing expense and because if I followed in my dad’s
footsteps, I wouldn’t have enough donor hair to adequately address my
future needs anyway and I’d be left with a transplanted island of hair
on my crown that would have me resembling bozo the clown.
Propecia (Finesteride) –
My doctor was
well aware of my hair loss anxieties and the fact that Rogaine didn’t
work for me so he urged me to consider another pharmaceutical product
called Propecia – so I did consider it…. but I didn’t like what I found.
In doing my
research on Propecia I learned that there are a ton of side effects,
not the least of which is possible impotence.
As scary as
impotence is, even more concerning to me was the warning that it may
effect your sperm and that you are warned not to get pregnant while on
it.
Well that was a
definite deal breaker for me because my new wife and I were planning to
have a family soon and I would not take even the smallest chance that
taking a drug to prevent hair loss would cause my future
unborn child harm.
So Propecia was
definitely off the list.
Mainstream products didn't work
for me. What's next?
At this point I
had been searching for a hair loss solution for about a year and my
hair loss was really getting noticeable now.
I was getting
desperate, had been totally turned off of the pharmaceutical options
and decided to try some of the less publicized products – and boy am I
glad I did!
My Scalp Med experience -
The next
product I tried was prompted due to an infomercial that my wife and I
caught by chance one Sunday morning.
The product
being advertised was called Scalp Med and the slick infomercial made it
seem like the answer to my prayers.
I ordered it right away at a cost of about $175 for a 2-month
supply.
Unfortunately
despite my enthusiasm, the experience went downhill quickly from
there.
The product
took 6 weeks to arrive. It turns out Scalp Med is a very goopy cream
that you apply to the scalp twice a day.
The problem I
had was that it left my hair feeling wet and gummy all the time; and
worse, it really irritated my scalp. So much so that I couldn’t bear to
use my entire 2 months supply.
I tried to get
through to their customer support to take them up on their guarantee
but they proved to be impossible to get a hold of, so I gave up and
just wrote the entire fiasco off as another negative learning
experience.
Down but not out… I try the
double whammy of Procerin & Spironolactone.
What intrigued
me about Procerin was the fact that it contained all natural
ingredients.
Seeing as the
drug route didn’t work for me; I figured an all-natural product
couldn’t deliver any worse results and it didn’t threaten my
health.
Procerin comes
in both a tablet and a serum formulation. Both are touted to block DHT.
You can
learn more about DHT here.
To
give the Procerin a fair shot, I purchased 3 months of tablets
for about $70.
At the
recommendation of a friend; I also decided to try Spironolactone, which
comes in a roll-on tube.
My thinking was
that the Spironolactone (which is also billed as a DHT blocker) and the
Procerin in combination might be the knock out punch I was searching
for.
Unfortunately
the only knock out was my wife.
Believe it or
not, I had to stop using the Spironolactone after only 1 week because
my wife threatened to kick me out of the house due to the fact that my
head smelled so foul.
I don’t know if
the Spironolactone would have worked or not but with a smell like that,
it certainly should have been able to work miracles.
Despite that, I
did continue to use the Procerin tablets for the entire 3 months.
Unfortunately I didn’t see any improvement in my hair’s
thickness during that time – and actually think it may have gotten a
little thinner. So I stopped using it.
It truly is
darkest before the dawn.
I had become
all but convinced that there was nothing that could help my cause and
then one day while surfing the internet I happened across a hair loss
discussion forum. I must have spent 3 hours just reading
posts.
There were lots
of horror stories, many of which I could relate too, but there were
also lots of success stories – most of which were the result of a
product called Provillus.
I participated
in the forum for about a week before I became comfortable enough that
all the testimonials were real; and then I jumped in head first
(literally) one last time.
And then there was Provillus.
Besides the
compelling real life unsolicited testimonials, I was also impressed
with the fact that Provillus uses a proprietary formulation of all
natural ingredients that work together to stop hair loss while
providing the nutrients required to enable the hair follicles to
re-grow hair.
Stop hair loss
& re-grow hair… could it be true?
My wife and I
crossed our fingers and decided to give it a good 3 month test
run.
I received
my 3-month supply (6 bottles) in less than 2 weeks and it cost
me about $160.
But was
it worth it?
To my utter
shock, I actually believe that I started to have hair re-growth within
the first month. My wife and I started to feel this fuzz sprouting in
areas that were previously bald. You be the judge...
Within 2 months
there was definite and substantial re-growth and by the end of 4
months, the results were almost miraculous.
Me after 4
months on Provillus:
Need I say
more?
My
Journey Comes To Happy End.
In
closing...
Over the span
of almost 3 years; I went from being an anxious, scared, depressed,
desperate, no-hope, stinky head guy… to a reborn happy husband and
father with a full head of hair.
It’s funny how
losing your hair can change your personality.
It affects who
you are, your perception of yourself and how you interact socially with
people.
I had almost
lost the essence of who I was because of my hair loss; but I can
honestly say that thanks to Provillus, I’m back to my old self
and
better than ever according to my wife.
If you’re in
the market for a hair loss treatment product that actually works; I
couldn’t urge you more strongly to give Provillus
a fair shot.
By that I mean
you should try it and be sure to use it for at least 3
months.
Hopefully
within your first 3 months you’ll see the same great results I continue
to experience to this day.
You can click
here to visit
the Provillus web site.
Thanks again
for visiting my website.
I hope my story
helps you to addres your hair loss challenges without all
grief I experienced.
I sincerely
wish you all the best in your journey.
Take good
care;
J.W.
James
Washington
James(at)Hair-Loss-411.com
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