My Hair Loss Story

First, Prescription Hair Medications for Hair Loss

I chased conventional hair loss cures for over a decade before giving up on them. Call me vain, but I considered my hair my most important feature. When it started to thin in my late thirties, I became desperate. My lack of confidence, something I always struggled with, grew worse. I was hesitant to speak to people, to look them in the eye. It was affecting the way I related to others and my job performance and relationships suffered.

So, like most guys, I started taking common hair pills, first Finasteride (Propecia), then Dutasteride (Avodart). A Minoxidil formulation completed my drug regimen. Yes, they regrew some hair. But, they also inflicted bad side effects. I watched my body slowly grow softer and my waistline grow bigger as the drugs messed with my hormones. I even started to grow painful, tender man boobs.

One day in the shower my spouse looked at me and said “What’s happening to your body? Your skin looks like an old woman’s!”

The sexual side effects were devastating too – no interest, no performance. And the worst part about it? The sexual side effects would persist long after I stopped taking the meds, a known risk to these medications! The pharmaceutical companies never mentioned that could happen. And for all that I endured, I didn’t even get the hair growth I sought.

Next, Antidepressants

Although I didn’t know it at the time, the drugs contributed to anxiety attacks, panic attacks and depression. These symptoms were so bad I couldn’t get out of bad some days. I even had to take extended leave from work. Interventions like therapy, meditation, and relaxation techniques didn’t work to control the breakthrough panic attacks I kept having on an almost daily basis. On most days, it literally felt like I was standing on a rug and someone kept pulling it out from under me, unbalancing me and making me fall. Work became intolerable, especially meetings with staff and managers. The only way I could get my life back in control was go on antidepressants. These worked, sort of. Although I could finally make it through most days again, I still had moderately severe anxiety and panic. And, if there were any lingering flickers of sexual interest left over after taking the Propecia and Avodart, the antidepressants made short work of them. I was miserable.

Hair Meds and Cancer

Do you know what is a published side effect of Dutasteride and Finasteride? Cancer. And not just any cancer, but a particularly nasty, aggressive form (“high grade”) of prostate cancer that is really hard to treat. Boy, I wished I’d known about the cancer risk when my doctor prescribed these pills. I took these hair pills for a very long time. All I can do is hope and pray I’ll be ok. 

 Cancer was not worth saving my hair, I decided at the time. Neither was dying.

Hair Piece Hell

So I stopped the meds and turned to a hair piece. I paid a truck load of money for the privilege of driving over two hours to get my custom hair system fitted and attached to my scalp. Hey, I looked amazing…at first. But as each day passed, the hair piece became looser and looser. As my own residual thin hairs underneath grew, they pushed up the hairpiece which became looser still. It was hot and itchy and left no way for me to scratch my scalp, especially where they glued the hair piece. Exercising became unbearable. 

On top of that, I had to learn how to replace sticky, messy tape strips every couple of days. These would get caught in my hair and make a huge mess. It was so difficult, I literally had panic attacks. If I didn’t place the strips exactly right the first time, the hair piece would sit askew and look unnatural. Then, every month or so, I would start all over again by making the two hour drive down and back to get the system refitted or replaced.

Despite all of this, I wanted great hair so badly that I kept at it for years, and for several hundred dollars per month, until one day at a party, the hair piece fell to the side of my head. Everyone saw it. Words can’t describe the humiliation I felt. I stopped the expensive, glue-on hair piece system and went back on the hair drugs, despite the cancer risk. The same side effects returned, nor did I experience the hair growth I was seeking.

Hair Transplant $urgery

Finally, I decided on the nuclear option – hair transplant surgery.  Thank god I had the sense to shop around for a good surgeon. He performed two painful hair procedures with good results which took at least two years to grow in, but the hair transplant cost set me back $14,000. Worse, he said I would have to continue the hair drugs to keep my transplanted hair! While the transplant helped my bald areas – my temple and hairline – I noticed that my crown was beginning to thin. So now I faced the prospect of several thousand more dollars provided that I had enough donor hairs to transplant.

It was one or the other – hair or health, but never both. But I wanted both!

Knowledge Is Power

Today…I have both.

How did I do it? I got fed up with the pills, side effects, and empty promises of conventional hair loss remedies. I also stopped listening to doctors and pharmaceutical ads. Instead, I put my background in healthcare and research to work and discovered a powerful set of natural alternatives that work. My hair is fuller and thicker than when I used prescription meds. And the best part? I have none of the bad side effects.

Hair Growth Riot is my project for sharing with you how I did it. It will give you the knowledge and power to kill your hair loss and take back your health. Become informed, use the products I recommend, and get ready for a new you.