I’ve been taking spironolatone, 200 mg a day, for two weeks now, with the intention of dropping some muscle weight and thinning out the body hair before beginning estrogens. For the past few days my scalp hair has felt thicker. I know it can’t be new growth. Are the hair shafts themselves supposed to get thicker? Has anyone else experienced this? Two weeks time doesn’t seem like long enough to be experiencing any physical differences, but I’m not just imagining this. kay2
Hi Kay:
The spiro should help your scalp hair to thicken up, but it will probably take a lot longer than 2 weeks. Maybe it is helping strengthen your hair at the root level however. Changes such as losing muscle mass and body hair take a long time, possibly a year or more to be really noticeable.
You will need to continue taking spiro along with the estrogen, since the spiro will counteract the testosterone while the estrogen feminizes you. You would need a lot more estrogen without the spiro’s effects.
Another thing which would help with scalp hair is proscar=propecia=finasteride. If you buy it as proscar it is cheaper, but you have to cut the 5mg tablet into 4.
Anti-androgens such as spiro don’t seem to influence facial hair that much however once it is fully developed. Maybe if someone started very young it would help.
Alicia
Hi Alecia, guess I was having a blonde, well, grey moment. I realized when I showered this morning that I had been using my wifes shampoo with conditioner for the past couple of days instead of my usual. I believe I was experiencing wax build-up.
I’ve done my research on hrt and am doing this under a doctors supervision, who has had several TG patients over the years. As much as I would like to be taking estrogen, it’s just not an option right now. The doctor was in agreement with me about starting out this way and felt that continuing with the diet and excercise that I was already doing should have me well prepared when the time comes that I can begin estrogen.
He also suggested Propecia, but we decided to give the spiro a chance to work first. My head is still covered with hair, it’s just pretty thin. Kay
Hi Kay:
The spironolactone should help to thicken your hair. I am on both spiro and propecia right now. You may want to evaluate your scalp hair after 6 months and a year, and then have your wife or hairdresser give you their opinion.
It has helped thicken my scalp hair a lot.
It is s good thing to be under medical supervision since spiro causes potassium retention, so you need blood tests at regular intervals. If you take estrogen, then blood clotting and liver functioning should be checked also.
You should only take estrogen if you are planning on transitioning and going full time some day, or having SRS some day. It will effect your love life too, as spiro may also to some extent. I started both spiro and estrogen concurrently through a supervised program. Self medication can be risky, especially if we think more drugs than necessary is better.
Good luck, Alicia
Hi Alecia,
From what I understand, the elimination of DHT in the
scalp is the key to turning back the clock on hair growth,
and that Propecia and Spironolactone both are capable of doing this. I asked my doc about using a topical hair growth
stimulant, along with the spiro. He told me that there’s plenty of products out there that advertise hair growth
results, but the oral Propecia (and it’s generics)is the
only thing that he would recommend/prescribe.
I guess I should clarify what I thought was obvious. Yes,
I do want and intend to fully transition. I’ll leave it at
that, as this forum ia about hair removal, and I guess I’m already stretching the boundaries by discussing growing hair.
If there’s anything TG you’d like to discuss, please, send me a message. I saw in one of your earlier postings that you have your srs scheduled soon. I’d love to hear more
about that.
Bye, Kay
Hi Kay:
I don’t feel it is stretching the boundaries of the forum that much since it is all related, and this is the best folder for that.
Besides that we have a lot of issues that other people don’t, so we should talk about them a bit here and share knowledge and perhaps inspiration.
Alicia
PS- For hair growth you could also try Minoxidil or Rogaine,
but it is expensive and would not work as well on its own. It is good for geting a hair transplant started though, sort of like fertilizer.