Hey Arrow,
Sorry to hear about your current dilemma. I too am a fellow Asian (age 40) engaged in the battle of the receding hairline for going on 8 years now. Trust me, if you THINK you're losing hair, you very likely ARE. Don't bother asking your hairstylist if she thinks you're losing up top; for some reason it's like one of the 10 Commandments of hairstyling to lie when asked about this. "Thou shalt not tell your client his hair is thinning." If you start seeing more hair in the shower drain, that's all you need to know.
In the beginning, I tried all the creams, pills, lotions and hair formulas that I could research and find on Google. I read all the "review" sites, the vast majority of which were and still are to this day, glorified money extracting landing pages. Trolled the most popular forums as well. I've never touched the more pharmaceutical solutions (Rogaine, Propecia, etc.), because I'm not too crazy about potential unintended side effects. Also, the vast majority of druglike solutions fail to address MPB in the frontal crown region, which is where I'm battling.
There are literally hundreds of "solutions." And it is an endless maze. And my takeaway from this 8 year fight is quite simply "old tricks are the best tricks." Without further ado:
1)Polysorbate 80. I know, you, like most guys battling hairloss are like "Polysorbate what?" Without going into details, read this:
http://www.polysorbate.info/ I use this every day, prior to showering. I just apply the oil onto my scalp and let it soak in for 10 minutes before shampooing it out. Totally eliminates the itchy, inflammation type of feeling in your scalp and hair. The first time you use it, you realize how clean and light your hair feels after washing it out. Polysorbate 80 is used in all kinds of things, even ice cream. Despite this, there are sites devoted to throwing this product under the bus. This product has been on the market since the the 80's, and yet very few people have heard of it. Luckily, there is a nat'l retailer that's been carrying this product for eons: Vitamin World. You can grab a bottle on their website for like $8. Super cheap, and lasts a long time. For a product like this to have survived for decades underneath the radar should tell you something.
2)Emu Oil. Closest thing to a miracle product that I've ever tried, and mainly NOT due to it's hair promoting abilities. The ultimate sore muscle, achy joint pain reliever that I've ever tried. And no menthol stink, no greasiness, etc. As a hairloss product, emu oil is one of the very few substances that seems to aid in frontal crown regrowth, which is what I'm all about. Unfortunately, emu oil is NOT cheap, it's something like $300-500 per gallon. Not that you'd be buying it by the gallon, but you get the point. Luckily, there is a emu product sold at national retail locations (Kroger, CVS, Rite Aid, etc) that is marketed as a pain reliever: Blue Emu. In addition to emu oil, it contains other pro hair substances that just also happen to double as pain relievers, like MSM. I'm paying like $15 for about a months supply. In addition to knocking out my sore knees for up to 12 hours at a time, I use it in my thinning areas up top. And I believe it's been working. Just as a pre and post workout muscle and joint pain reliever alone, it's worth it's weight in gold. Truly incredible product, man.
3)MSM. Good old fashioned MSM. Been around for ages. I first bought this 15 years ago to combat springtime allergies, for which it has been effective. But one of it's "side effects" is that it strengthens and accelerates hair growth, unfortunately not just up top, but all over. 1000 mg every four hours is good. Very non-toxic; you could use tons of it if you're into diminishing returns and flushing your money down the toilet for no reason.
4)Biotin. 5000 mg, once a day.
5)Krill Oil. 1000-2000 mg a day.
6)Beta Sitosterol. To combat DHT, lower bad cholesterol and keep prostate problems at bay (DHT related).
This is my CORE. As new treatments and possible solutions arise, I look into them, but #1-6 remains a constant for me. I think right now, ecklonia cava (aka Seanol) is the latest flash in the pan. I tried it and wasn't impressed. If you buy online, I would suggest iherb.com as your main one stop shop; they seemingly have everything (minus the Polysorbate 80 product that I refer to and Blue Emu, though they have tons of pure emu oil products; you can go that route too), and they're pricing is practically the best I've seen on the net. They ship fast.
Listen, I'm no doctor, and I make no medical claims. All I can do is tell you, based on the last 8 years of relentless pursuit what I've found that works the best for me. Like I said, I've tried all kinds of pills, creams, lotions, herbals, heck I've even used a laser comb and this is what has stood the test of time when the dust finally settled.
Two websites I wish had discovered earlier:
http://www.immortalhair.org/
Check the My Current Regimen tab.
http://www.hairloss-research.org/index.html
Check the Updated/News tab.
If I could go back in time 8 years, these are the products I would tell myself to use right from the beginning. I believe it would've made a big difference.