I'll start with the easy one first.
Minoxodil is a 60 year old blood pressure medication that's very well understood. People who used it would stay on it for decades. Its effect on hair was discovered when a children's hospital accidentally overdosed a bunch of children who, basically, turned into werewolves by having hair grow everywhere. It works because it opens tiny blood vessels that allow more nutrients and oxygen to get to hair follicles.
Here's the key regarding its safety. The dose you take for hair is minuscule. 2.5-5mg a day is called an "infant" dose. Adults taking it for blood pressure take 10x that amount, daily.
Despite what you. hear, there are NO sexual side effects from minoxidil. It has no impact on hormones. It just opens blood vessels.
The two possible side effects are minor and almost always temporary, disappearing after a few weeks in most cases if they happen at all. You may see a little water retention, ie slight bloating. Most people don't. The other is slightly raised heart rate. Both of these are very rare and go away after a few weeks as your body adjusts if they do.
So yes it's safe, in fact it's actually good for your overall health.
Finasteride reduces DHT. Many men take 5mg daily to shrink their prostate, which is caused by DHT, and don't have any side effects. Even more take a much lower 1mg to stop and reverse hair loss, and have no side effects.
If you're hypersensitive to DHT levels like me, however, 1mg daily kills my sex drive and motivation.
The good news is at a dose of .25mg, side effects are essentially unheard of. I use that dose, and despite my inability to tolerate 1mg, I have no sides whatsoever at .25mg, sexual function is unaffected. The really good news is you get almost all the hair benefits at .25mg that you would at 1mg. So if you're nervous, use a quarter pill a day, and you're not going to have any sides. You could try 1mg, it's fine for the vast majority, if you have sides drop back down and you'll be back to normal in a few weeks as DHT levels return to normal. But it's not really even necessary, so you may not want to bother.
Brother I'm twice
your age, and if I could give my younger self this advice I would. It's much easier to hang on to hair now with a couple pils (or at least one, finasteride) this shit is so insidious it's easy to miss what's happening until so much damage is done you'll never. get back to where you'd like to be.
Don't believe the hysterical crowd. It's not based on solid science. They were traumatized like I was. When libido disappears, and doesn't immediately return when you stop taking finasteride, you start thinking it'll NEVER come back, and you can easily think yourself into ED.
You have a least a basic understanding of hormones by using gear. You know if you crash estrogen life sucks until you make more. The same thing applies to Finasteride. But that's worst case scenario, and completely avoidable at .25mg. Remember, the vast, vast majority of the tens of millions of men using 1mg have no symptoms.
Looking at your hair thinning beyond all repair is more depressing and ED inducing than anything finasteride could do.