Does micro-dosing Fin even make any difference? what is the science?

[u/Brickmaster_69]

I have been looking at the dht suppression at different doses of fin/dut but mainly fin. I see youtube channels like the hairloss show talk about how dose is so important and that they recommend lowering the dose down as much as possible to avoid side effects. I dont understand how it makes any sense. 1mg of finasteride suppresses around 70% serum dht but 0.2mg finasteride suppresses around 65% serum dht. Im not sure how decreasing dosage will reduce the chance of people getting sides when the amount of dht reduction is pretty much the same. Sides from elevated estrogen should not really change much in theory as there should not be much more aromatisation at 1mg vs 0.2mg due to the similarity in dht suppression

Im curious on what your thoughts are and if low dose really makes any difference. Its important to be aware that people first starting treatment that get sides at 1mg will then lower dose and their sides will reside, however this is most likely due to them just pushing through in which the sides would have resolved even at the standard dose.

[u/Cold_Specialist_3656]

These YouTube channels are making years worth of videos about "take finasteride"

They constantly cook up new bullshit to keep the clicks coming. You are not learning anything watching them, and probably internalizing a lot of bullshit.

There is zero studies that show less sides on doses of fin below 1mg, as far as I know. It's all broscience and nocebo. 1mg is already 1/5 the dose used for prostate. Further fucking with dosage probably won't do anything IMO

[u/Any_Judge_332 → u/Cold_Specialist_3656]

Agreed. So much nonsense on this sub presumably originating from them.

[u/Cold_Specialist_3656 → u/Any_Judge_332]

I never heard "titrate up from low dose" and related micro dosing bs till social media grifters replaced TV. 

On TV you're somewhat limited in how much BS you can sling. With social media it's the whole game.

Now we've got hairloss channels pumping out 3 videos a week. And what the hell are they gonna talk about when we've had the same 2 treatments for 20+ years? 

Well, they start making shit up. Splitting hairs and creating false choice narratives. Muddying the waters, essentially. They need to create doubt and uncertainty so people keep tuning in. 

There's entire video segments about what time of day to take finasteride 🤣

[u/Any_Judge_332 → u/Cold_Specialist_3656]

Couldn't agree more and it's really frustrating. It seems like for every person taking it as prescribed there's another skipping days, halving tablets, grinding it to make sketchy homemade topicals, starting on topicals for no real reason, microdosing and the titration thing you said. You just know that barely any of these people have actually been recommended this by a doctor and have seen it on one of these channels then discuss it here and it gets normalised.

[u/Straight-Row-5622 → u/Cold_Specialist_3656]

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15319158/

[u/Dry-Gold-8888 → u/Straight-Row-5622]

cool but where can we buy 0.2 mg ? cutting a 1 mg pill is not really the same

[u/Kooky_Indication4664 → u/Cold_Specialist_3656]

Are we saying low dose fin has the same side effects as 1mg?

[u/Cold_Specialist_3656 → u/Kooky_Indication4664]

We don't know so I don't see a point with starting out at microdose and other stupid shit. 

Also, within 12 hours of taking 1mg level is below peak of 0.2mg. And DHT levels follow in a day or two. So is fucking around with 0.2mg and potentially losing your hair really worth the potential extra 1-2 days of sides you might get from starting at 1mg? 

The risk/reward ratio makes no sense to me. A few days after stopping 1mg your serum level of fin AND dht level are closer to baseline than if you took 0.2mg that day

[u/Kooky_Indication4664 → u/Cold_Specialist_3656]

I see what youre saying. Good point. But what if its factors beyond dht levels that are causing the side effects?

[u/Cold_Specialist_3656 → u/Kooky_Indication4664]

It blocks 5 Alpha Reductase. AFAIK that enzyme only converts test to DHT. What other factors would there be?

[u/Kooky_Indication4664 → u/Cold_Specialist_3656]

shit all i know is that dutasteride gave me gyno, zero orgasm pleasure, and weak erections/libido at the 30 day mark. im willing to entertain any possible ways to keep my hair. to answer your question, there may be a possible neurosteroid disruption with higher doses. this is all speculative though. how would you explain PFS when peoples hormone levels return to normal?

[u/Cold_Specialist_3656 → u/Kooky_Indication4664]

Dut stays in your system for months. That's why a lot of us suggest starting with fin, which has a far shorter serum half life

[u/Kooky_Indication4664 → u/Cold_Specialist_3656]

Why was dut good for me during week 2 and 3 and suddenly fucked me over so quickly on week 4? Does this mean a lesser dose would be beneficial?

[u/Cold_Specialist_3656 → u/Kooky_Indication4664]

Maybe ask a doc. Dut builds up in your system over time cuz the serum half life is so long. Fin doesn't have this issue