An Ounce of Prevention: Inside Nate’s Actual Hair-Loss Stack — What Works and What’s Quackery

Let's start with the foundation.

Okay, so the foundation is finasteride.

I've been on that the longest.

That's a non-negotiable for me at this point.

Non-negotiable, why? Because it's the one with the real long-term data behind it.

The American Academy of Dermatologists numbers around 88% of guys on finasteride see their hair loss slow or stop.

That's roughly two-thirds of them see some actual regrowth.

In my experience, I've seen that more among the younger patients than the older ones, but those stats are out there.

And I've seen other numbers that claim that finasteride is 95% effective.

So it's doing the real work and everything else is really the supporting cast when it comes to prevention.

So how does it work? Finasteride inhibits an enzyme in your body called 5-alpha reductase or 5-AR.

And that's what converts the good testosterone into the bad DHT.

DHT is the hormone that causes hair loss.

Finasteride doesn't get rid of all of your DHT, but it does lower it to the point that it stops with hair loss.

Okay, makes sense.

What's next? Minoxidil.

I've done both oral and topical at different points.

Why not both? Isn't that redundant? Well, it's not so much redundant as it is sequential.

So I started on topical because that's what everyone starts out on.

I didn't like the oily feeling on my head.

And, you know, it takes a while to apply correctly because you got to, you know, put it on your scalp.

What I found is that anything that slows my morning routine down is a friction.

And so instead, when HRI started its partnership with our compounding pharmacy here in town, I added a low-dose oral minoxidil as well as biotin to my finasteride.

And so compliance-wise, it just is much easier.

I find it's hard to forget to take one pill than is a two-step process.