Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm 43 and had always had really thick hair. About 5-7 years ago it started thinning and I went to a doctor who told me I was worrying about nothing, some thinning was natural and with hair as thick as mine I had nothing to worry about. Two more years pass and I'm really starting to see it in my hairline, and worse, it's uneven -- the left side is starting to thin and recede noticeably, the right side not so much. Instead of the Jude Law -- the classic widow's peak -- I look more like a prank victim with one side shaved. So I switch the side I'm parting it on, cut it shorter and do the spiky, cover it up thing. I also went to another doctor who prescribed Propecia, which I've been taking ever since. The Propecia was good for stopping / reversing loss on the rest of my head, but the hairline continued to get slowly worse. I'd checked out Rogaine but found very conflicting claims as to whether or not it would work on the frontal hairline. Last year -- actually 14 months ago -- I decided what the heck, it's only $40 or something, might was well try it. From other reviews on here I expected it would take a while to see results so I decided I would give it one year. Now that I'm just past the year I figured I'd come on here and share my experience. For me, it's been great. It took quite a while to see anything significant. Early on I saw some wispy hairs growing in but for probably six months the changes were minimal. I stuck with it very religiously, applying each morning and night without fail. I'd guess that in a year I probably skipped applying it no more than a dozen times. I took pix along the way so I could track for myself whether or not it was working and I put one from the start and one from an hour ago below. They're both shot at the same angle, showing the side where the loss was greatest. What you can't really see from it is that the entire hair line thickened quite a bit. I haven't regrown my teenage hairline and didn't expect to. But for the minimal cost and inconvenience of rubbing the stuff in, I'm thrilled with the results. A few things I've found are: 1) Since I'm only applying it on the front it lasts me way longer than stated. I just placed my third order so basically I'm getting six months out of a pack. 2) It would last longer than that but when you get to around 1/4 - 1/3 of the can it starts to get thick and greasy. For the first 2/3 of a can it comes out very light and goes in without feeling sticky or making your hair seem damp. That last third of the bottle looks like you're applying vaseline. At first I figured I'd save the ends for the night time application when nobody but my wife is seeing it, then I figured for the cost of a cup of Starbucks forget it. So I chuck the last third of each can. Don't know if another brand would prove better in that regard. 3) Don't understand any complaints about smell. If it has one my wife and I can't detect it. Bottom line for me is that I was really unhappy that the awkward hair line I had developed had totally limited how I could style my hair and I didn't like the way I looked in pictures. 14 months in I'm quite pleased with the results so far. With all the research going into hair loss there will probably be something in 5 or 10 years that works much better and when that day comes I won't have done something drastic and irreversible -- like a hair transplant. I've had friends with worse hair loss comment on how lucky I am that I haven't lost mine and I always tell them what I'm doing and recommend they give it a shot. If you're reading this then you're considering it and I'd give the same advice. It might not work for you, but for minimal cost and effort what's to lose?