Before you take Propecia, understand the risks no one’s talking about—sexual dysfunction, depression, and a culture that still treats baldness as disease.
You saw it one morning. A bit more scalp than yesterday. The temples giving way, the crown not holding. Then came the quiet panic, the frantic search: how do I stop this?
Everywhere you turn, one name keeps appearing: Propecia.
Just take it, they say. It works.
But before you reach for the prescription, ask yourself:
What exactly are you trying to fix? And at what cost?
Because for many men, Propecia hasn’t just taken away hair loss. It’s taken away much more.
Finasteride—marketed as Propecia—was approved to treat male pattern baldness in 1997. It works by lowering DHT, the hormone that shrinks hair follicles. That part’s well understood.
What’s less understood—or less admitted—is what else happens when you start interfering with your hormones.
Loss of libido. Erectile dysfunction. Genital numbness. Brain fog.
Depression. Anxiety. A creeping sense of unreality.
For some, the damage doesn’t stop when the pills do.
Dr. Michael Irwig, one of the few researchers willing to challenge the mainstream narrative, found that otherwise healthy men experienced persistent sexual dysfunction long after discontinuing the drug. The FDA has since added warnings. But the marketing machine hasn’t slowed.
The irony?
Most men start taking Propecia to feel better about themselves. What they get is disconnection—from their bodies, their minds, their relationships.
We’ve quietly rebranded baldness as illness. As a flaw. As a failure of upkeep.
And that’s the deeper poison.
Because baldness isn’t a pathology. But treating it like one has created an entire ecosystem of shame. There are clinics for it. Telehealth prescriptions. Instagram influencers “normalising” it. The implication is clear: if you’re balding and doing nothing, you’re giving up.
You’re not.
You’re opting out of a racket.
We’re not here to shame anyone who chooses treatment. But let’s stop pretending the pressure is purely aesthetic. This is social conditioning disguised as health.
At March, we don’t push restoration. Because your scalp doesn’t need to be fixed. It needs to be cared for.
And your confidence shouldn’t come with side effects.
Some men lose their hair. Others lose themselves trying not to.
Read Holding On for my personal perspectives on navigating this struggle.